Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" got remade into an upbeat '80s pop number
The career of William Patrick Corgan, bard of the ennui-stricken youth of the ’90s, has been many things, but predictable is not one of them. Smashing Pumpkins frontman; musical consigliere for Third Eye Blind; potential romancer of supernatural shapeshifters; noble defender of Nickelback; guy willing to piss on Radiohead; man who wants to mail you a box of food; they’re all there in his rich and distorted-guitar-laden past. The man has worn many hats in his time—some metaphorically, yes, but also literally, as a quick Google search will reveal.
This unpredictability makes for a roller-coaster ride of media coverage (including that time he was on an actual roller coaster looking all sad, ah, we had fun with that one, didn’t we), but it also means we have to look twice when, say, someone remakes “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” as an intentionally corny ’80s pop tune, taking the angsty vocal track and dropping it into the newly upbeat version of the song. Did Corgan do this himself? He did not, this time anyway; it was a YouTuber named Martijn Frazer. But our point is, it could’ve been him, and the fact that it wouldn’t surprise us if he had seems significant. Look upon Martijn’s works, ye mighty, and despair—or rather, don’t, because the formerly dour anthem is now chipper as can be:
The Muppet-like animals playing along, the animated interludes, the guy dressed as a…fairy godmother, we think? It all adds to the feel-good vibes of this song, which wouldn’t have been out of place on a Wham! album. True, when he howls that he is still just a rat in a “caaaaaaaaaaaage!” it doesn’t exactly convey “cuddly funtime vibes,” but the music, which completely leaves behind the dark riffs and melodies of the original song, works overtime to sell you on it regardless. He may be going by William these days, but this version of the Smashing Pumpkins hit? This is definitely the sound of a Billy.