Fuck You (An Ode To No One)
"For the solo in 'Fuck You (Ode To No one),' I played until my fingers saw blood," he claims. "You can't play a weak guitar solo in such a propulsive song. It's got to be attack-style. To do that, I put on the headphones and stand one foot away from the amp. I turn the amp up so loud that I literally have to play harder than the feedback, because if I stop playing even for an instant, the whole thing explodes."
Guitar Player - 1996
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M.E: What are you're major feels about the 'Mellon Collie' set?
BC: It's hard to explain the subtleties, but there's a song on teh album called "Fuck You", which is really a pretty heavy Pumpkins sound and it's like, "How many songs like that do you need?" I think that "Fuck You" really says it pretty good. There were a couple of other songs like that. Not that they sounded exactly the same, but they just made you feel the same way. and i think that was the rest of them, so screw the other songs.
M.E: Is there any particular reason for including that song? It really stands out like a sore thumb...
BC: I don't think it stands out like a sore thumb at all. Do you?
M.E: Yes, in terms of the feel of the rest of the double album, but also probably as much for the title as anything else
BC: Well, in the Pumpkins' way of thinking that's why it's on there. Do you know what i mean? [laughs]
1996-juice magazine
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CORGAN: I used a '74 Strat, commonly known as the "I love My Mom" guitar. That guitar has since been painted baby blue. I used it on the main rhythm of "Muzzle," through the reach setup.
GS: That's a fantastic guitar sound.
CORGAN: Yeah. The guitar is made of a heavier wood so it's got the basic Strat sound but with more bottom, more of a low-fi kind of sound that's real nice. It sounds good for certain songs. I played that guitar on "Bullet," too, because it has a little more "Chunk" on the bottom end.
GS: How is the "Muzzle" verse section played?
CORGAN: Again, I use a lot of 1st-position chords. As far as other electric guitars go, I bought an Epiphone SG from a crack dealer. That's the guitar I play on "An Ode to No One". It has this weird, EMG-type pickups in it, and you get that low-mid, Black Sabbath esque "superchunk" sound. When I was recording the solo to "Fuck You," I kept ending it by throwing the guitar against the amp, just to see what kind of sound it would make, and I broke the screws that hold the pickups in, so they were flopping around and banging against the strings! [laughs]
GS: Was that a useful sound?
CORGAN: No. It don't sound as cool as you'd think. It was just an annoying thud, followed by a high-pitched whine. Not much to get excited about.
GS: Can you demo "Fuck You" for us?
CORGAN: Sure. The first verse is all single notes. For the second verse we switched to power chords. The chorus is based on an ascending octave figure. For this octave lick, I must the A string the whole time.
GS: There are some really wild noises during that solo. Are you using a Digitech Whammy pedal?
CORGAN: No, not there-but there is a bunch of Whammy on the record. James uses a Whammy for his solo in "Zero." For "Fuck You," I stood in front of the amp, which was turned up so loud that I could barely play without it feeding back all over the place. It created a bizarre interaction of sounds. I did use the Whammy during the breakdown section of "Bodies" [beginning at 1:56] to drop the harmonies a whole step.
GS: At the end of "Fuck You," it sounds like you're bending the neck of the guitar backwards, raising the pitch of the held chord.
CORGAN: That's exactly what i'm doing. That's a funny story, because when I recorded the rhythm guitar tracks to "Fuck You," it was the first time I tracked with the album's co-producer, Alan Moulder. Flood, whom I'd been tracking with, had left town. I recorded the first rythem track and did a little neck pull at the end. Then I did the other track without listening to the first track, which is how I always do guitar double tracking.
At the end of the second track, I pulled the neck again and said to Alan, "Okay, watch this." The I played them both back, without the drums, and we listened for discrepancies. Alan absolutely could not believe I did the neck pull-out of time, no less-at exactly the same moment, It's kind of a tribute to Alan, really, 'cause I did it to freak him out. I've double-tracked for so long now that I know all of my little idiosyncrasies. I knew from the "feel" in my body when to do the pull
1996-guitar school
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"It's like a beautiful plain picture. There's a lot of space in there if you really listen for it. It may not come across on the first listen, but I think it's there. It's hard to explain the subtleties, but Fuck You is a pretty heavy Pumpkins sound and it's like how many songs like that do you need? I think that song says it pretty good. There were a couple other songs that were like that. Not that they sounded exactly the same, but they made you feel the same way, and Fuck You was the best of the bunch so screw the other songs!"
Rip Magazine-1996
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CORGAN: I think this is absolutely the most solid representation of everything we've ever been. I think it represents periods of the band that have already come and gone. For example, I think in '92 we were the best rock band that we ever could have been. I don't mean that to sound self-deprecating - a bad reflection on what we are now. But in '92 we had total attack, style, thinking - we were extremely aggressive onstage.
To me, that was our peak as a rock band. Unfortunately, I don't think we ever got that on tape. And I think there's a reprentation of that aspect of the band on songs like "Fuck You" and "Jellybelly." I think I finally got that on tape, albeit after the time when it was most alive. We play better now, but we don't have the same attack. So I really think this record is a big exclamation point on seven years of Smashing Pumpkins
Guitar World 1995