The End Is the Beginning Is the End
Encyclopedia
"The End Is the Beginning Is the End" is a Grammy Award-winning
song by American alternative rock
band The Smashing Pumpkins
. It is the first full-band song released as a single by the Smashing Pumpkins in the aftermath of their 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
. It is the first release to include a performance by drummer Matt Walker
who would later perform on several tracks on Adore and all of James Iha
's Let It Come Down album.
said of the song,
He further commented that the song's lyrics were meant to represent the Batman of the 1940s, when he was a "darker character".
Many fans saw the new metal
guitar and electronica
-driven sound of "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" as a taste of the sound of the next Smashing Pumpkins album, with Corgan himself saying the sound is "probably like what you would expect from us in the future." However, the loud guitars of "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" are relatively nowhere to be found on the band's next album, Adore.
Despite its Grammy win and a strong promotion in conjunction with Batman & Robin, "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" has not had a strong commercial legacy in the US. While it was well-received by American rock radio, the song found particularly strong chart success in other countries, reaching the top ten of both the Australian
and UK Singles Chart
s. The band performed the song live several times around its release in 1997, but never again.
Since the single and video were released under Warner Bros. Records
, the band were unable to use them for future releases, leaving them notably absent from their Greatest Hits DVD
and CD
releases.
was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
, with Joel Schumacher
's input. It features the members of the Pumpkins floating in front of images from Batman & Robin. The video is notable for being only one of two Smashing Pumpkins videos to have a different drummer besides Jimmy Chamberlin
(Kenny Aronoff is briefly visible during the "Perfect" video) and is the only video with Matt Walker on the drums before his departure. The video was also nominated at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
for Best Editing
, Best Cinematography
, Best Special Effects
and Best Direction
.
The music video for this song appears on the second disc of the Batman and Robin: Special Edition DVD (also on the Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989–1997 DVD boxset 8 disc version), released in October, 2005.
-inspired elements, while the other instrumental, "The Ethers Tragic", is comprised solely of its guitar parts. "The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning" is a slower, less rock-oriented version with different lyrics. This version appears on the Batman & Robin soundtrack as well.
"The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" was used in a trailer for the 2009 film adaptation of Watchmen
(which, coincidentally, made its first appearance attached to the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight
). Its appearance in that trailer helped the song break into the iTunes
Top 100 during the summer of 2008, and the Smashing Pumpkins added this version to their tour roster in August. The band played "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" through the rest of their 2008 tour.
Prior to its inclusion in the trailer, it was "a version of that song that never seemed to get any notice", but as Corgan ultimately discovered, "[certainly] the massive jump in online sales seems to indicate it might be worth it for us and for the movie". Corgan complimented its use in the trailer, but joked that his fans "seem to be confused when the outside world appreciates our work".
Grammy Awards of 1998
The 40th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and R...
song by American alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
. It is the first full-band song released as a single by the Smashing Pumpkins in the aftermath of their 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP...
. It is the first release to include a performance by drummer Matt Walker
Matt Walker (drummer)
Matt Walker is a musician and former drummer for Filter, The Smashing Pumpkins and current drummer for Morrissey.Matt Walker began his career in Chicago in the mid 80s, when Matt began playing drums for the already well known Scott Bennett of Scott Bennett & The Obvious and did double duty playing...
who would later perform on several tracks on Adore and all of James Iha
James Iha
James Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...
's Let It Come Down album.
Song
Frontman Billy CorganBilly Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...
said of the song,
He further commented that the song's lyrics were meant to represent the Batman of the 1940s, when he was a "darker character".
Many fans saw the new metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
guitar and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
-driven sound of "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" as a taste of the sound of the next Smashing Pumpkins album, with Corgan himself saying the sound is "probably like what you would expect from us in the future." However, the loud guitars of "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" are relatively nowhere to be found on the band's next album, Adore.
Despite its Grammy win and a strong promotion in conjunction with Batman & Robin, "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" has not had a strong commercial legacy in the US. While it was well-received by American rock radio, the song found particularly strong chart success in other countries, reaching the top ten of both the Australian
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
and UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
s. The band performed the song live several times around its release in 1997, but never again.
Since the single and video were released under Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, the band were unable to use them for future releases, leaving them notably absent from their Greatest Hits DVD
Greatest Hits Video Collection
The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits Video Collection is a video album containing nearly all of The Smashing Pumpkins music videos released prior to the band's breakup in late 2000...
and CD
Rotten Apples
Rotten Apples is a greatest hits compilation album by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. In the US, it was released in 2001 along with a bonus disc titled Judas O. The album's concluding track, "Untitled", was the Pumpkins' final recording before their breakup...
releases.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are a team of American music video directors, also husband and wife, that received critical acclaim for their feature film directorial debut, Little Miss Sunshine....
, with Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
's input. It features the members of the Pumpkins floating in front of images from Batman & Robin. The video is notable for being only one of two Smashing Pumpkins videos to have a different drummer besides Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the former drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. After a drug-related incident with touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996, Chamberlin was fired from the band and joined The Last...
(Kenny Aronoff is briefly visible during the "Perfect" video) and is the only video with Matt Walker on the drums before his departure. The video was also nominated at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
for Best Editing
MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Editing in a Video. Five artists are tied for the record of biggest winner in this category, each having won the award twice: Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Madonna, The White Stripes, and Gnarls Barkley. The latter two, in fact, won...
, Best Cinematography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Award winners for Best Cinematography in a Video. Madonna is the biggest Winner in this category with 3 wins....
, Best Special Effects
MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Special Effects in a Video....
and Best Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Direction in a Video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards....
.
The music video for this song appears on the second disc of the Batman and Robin: Special Edition DVD (also on the Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989–1997 DVD boxset 8 disc version), released in October, 2005.
Other versions
The single contained three other versions of the song, titled as different tracks. "The Guns of Love Disastrous" is an instrumental version based around the tracks' various electronicaElectronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
-inspired elements, while the other instrumental, "The Ethers Tragic", is comprised solely of its guitar parts. "The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning" is a slower, less rock-oriented version with different lyrics. This version appears on the Batman & Robin soundtrack as well.
"The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" was used in a trailer for the 2009 film adaptation of Watchmen
Watchmen (film)
Watchmen is a 2009 superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and starring Malin Åkerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson. It is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons...
(which, coincidentally, made its first appearance attached to the 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
). Its appearance in that trailer helped the song break into the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
Top 100 during the summer of 2008, and the Smashing Pumpkins added this version to their tour roster in August. The band played "The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning" through the rest of their 2008 tour.
Prior to its inclusion in the trailer, it was "a version of that song that never seemed to get any notice", but as Corgan ultimately discovered, "[certainly] the massive jump in online sales seems to indicate it might be worth it for us and for the movie". Corgan complimented its use in the trailer, but joked that his fans "seem to be confused when the outside world appreciates our work".
Track listing
The Remixes
Official versions
- Album Version - 5:09
- Fluke Vox Mix - 6:44
- Stuck in the Middle with Fluke Alternative Mix - 5:39
- Stuck in the Middle With Fluke Instrumental - 6:43(Promo only)
- Rabbit in the Moon's Melancholy & the Infinite Madness Mix - 9:28
- Rabbit in the Moon's Melancholy & the Infinite Dub - 7:56(Promo only)
- Hallucination's Gotham Ghetto Beats - 6:16
- Rabbit in the Moon's Infitie Radio Edit - 5:13
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U. S. Hot Dance Club Songs | 34 |
| U.S. Billboard Rock Songs Rock Songs Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs... |
12 |
| U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs | 4 |
| French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
41 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
40 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
6 |
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
10 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
5 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
19 |
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... |
37 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 7 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
74 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
37 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
10 |