Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness

"The interesting genesis of that, is during last album--right at the end--I came up with a piece of music called "Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness." I really loved the way it sounded. I bought a piano, and I didn't really know how to play, so I wanted to write music that I could play that would help me practice. So I wrote that piano piece; it was the first thing I ever wrote on the piano. So it was somewhat based on this prior thing. It was a good way to wake up in the morning and work. I worked on it everyday. It dawned on me to open the album with it, and people said, "You're insane, don't open the album with piano piece! You're insane. That's totally the wrong thing!" We wanted to open with something GRAND. We actually talked about a 64-piece orchestra version of that song, and somehow, in the end, it ended up--with some embellishment--as that particular piano piece. "

1995