Try, Try, Try

Infobox Single
Name = Try, Try, Try

---

Artist = The Smashing Pumpkins
from Album = Machina/The Machines of God
Released = September 11, 2000
Format = CD
Recorded = 1999
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 5:09
Label = Virgin Records
Writer = Billy Corgan
Producer = Flood and Billy Corgan
Certification =
Chart position = * #73 (UK Singles Chart)
Last single = "I of the Mourning"
(2000)
This single = "Try, Try, Try"
(2000)
Next single = "Untitled"
(2001)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Machina/The Machines of God
Type = studio
prev_track = "The Sacred and Profane"
prev_no = 5
this_track = "Try, Try, Try"
track_no = 6
next_track = "Heavy Metal Machine"
next_no = 7

"Try, Try, Try" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third and final single from their fifth album, "Machina/The Machines of God". It was written by Billy Corgan, as was the b-side "Here's to the Atom Bomb". Much like many of their later singles, "Try, Try, Try" was not a commercial success and the accompanying, anti-social and graphic music video did nothing to help that. It was not long before the single's release that Corgan announced the dissolution of the band. Many assume that the whole song was intended as a message of love and regret for the band's guitarist James Iha, who according to a 2004 [http://billycorgan.livejournal.com/3257.html entry on Corgan's blog] , was in charge for the breaking up of the band. Another hint of this was the Corgan-Iha semi-humorous interaction during the explanation of the song's meaning during August 24, 2000 "VH1 Storytellers TV performance.

The music video for "Try, Try, Try" was a very different approach for a Pumpkins video, featuring only Corgan seated in a chair, despite instrumentation in the song from the other band members. The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and was adapted from a short film he made entitled "Try", which followed the story of two homeless drug addicts in Sweden. The video juxtaposes the somewhat upbeat music with graphic footage of a drug overdose, prostitution and larceny. Ironically, there is also a very vibrantly happy dream sequence past the middle of the video, featuring a "perfect family" that suddenly takes an extreme turn for the worse. The fifteen minute short film version, "Try", expands the footage of the music video greatly; the lead female is also heard in a voice over waxing philosophically about her situation during the entire film. Sparse ambient sections of the song are used in this version of the video and Billy Corgan is nowhere to be seen. The long version also features a different ending. Both the music video and the short film are available on the DVD version of the Pumpkins' "Greatest Hits Video Collection".

The video never saw much airtime, however, as its extremely graphic content caused it to be banned from MTV very early on.

An alternative version of "Try, Try, Try" appears on the third EP of the album "Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music" [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/919143 Smashing Pumpkins, The - Machina II / The Friends & Enemies Of Modern Music EP 3 ] ] ,the "Untitled" CD single as well as a mis-pressed promo of the "Untitled" CD single [ [http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=206428 Smashing Pumpkins Untitled - mispressed 3-track Europe Promo 5" CD SINGLE (206428) ] ] The alternate version is a more sparse version of the song, orchestrated on acoustic guitar with a repeating keyboard part, as opposed to the piano, synth, and electric guitar-heavy "Machina" version.

Track lising

#"Try, Try, Try" - 5:09
#"Here's to the Atom Bomb" - 4:26

References