At The Hard Times we think it’s important to look back on iconic albums that made influenced us and have stood the test of time. Is that why today we’re looking back on The Smashing Pumpkins critically acclaimed magnum opus? No. We’re looking back on it now for the same reason we look back on it every day. Because of this lame tattoo we got in the ‘90s.
In October of 1995 “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” changed the way we incorporate the steam-punk aesthetic into goth-grunge forever. In that same year a future writer for The Hard Times who greatly overvalued this accomplishment would turn 18 years old and make a decision that, in retrospect, maybe he should not have been legally allowed to for a few more years.
The album’s first single “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” has gone on to become a rock standard. Between that song and other indelible hits like “1979,” “Zero,” and “Tonight, Tonight” one could argue that this album possesses a timeless quality. This tattoo however, a sardonic looking renaissance girl coming out of a star accompanied by the words “I’m in love with my sadness,” does not.
Here’s a tip: Never decide you like a piece of media so much that you want to see it on your own chest every day for the rest of your life. So why not simply get the tattoo removed? Because in order to get a tattoo removed you have to go to a person who removes tattoos. Imagine you were a person who removed tattoos. Imagine someone came into your office with some faded Billy Corgan horseshit on their chest. Imagine the smirk you would not quite be able to repress from seeing said tattoo. I think that smirk would literally kill me. It’s easier just wearing shirts all the time.
Despite all my rage this was an incredibly bad decision.