"Tristessa" is a 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...

. The single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 was the Pumpkins' second ever release, and their first, and only, release on Sub Pop

Sub Pop

Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...

. Sub Pop released it as their "Single of the Month". It was written by Billy Corgan

Billy 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...

 and later re-recorded for their debut album, Gish

Gish

Gish is the debut album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in May 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan described Gish as a "very spiritual album"...

. The title is a direct allusion to Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

's 1960 novella of the same name

Tristessa

Tristessa is a novella by Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac set in Mexico City. It is based on his relationship with a Mexican prostitute...

. There were about 4,000 of the original 7" single pressed in pink vinyl, while the rest were pressed in black vinyl. A failure to change the wax color between pressings resulted in about 100 that were pressed in grey-colored wax. These are especially rare and have sold for several hundred dollars apiece.

Following the release of "Tristessa", the Smashing Pumpkins were targets of a bidding war by multiple record labels, and ended up signing to Caroline Records

Caroline Records

Caroline Records started out as a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Records label during the early to mid 1970s. The label originally specialized in putting out budget price LPs by mainly progressive rock and jazz artists generally not considered to have a great deal of 'mainstream' or...

. Unlike "I Am One

I Am One

"I Am One" is the debut single by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the band's first ever release and remains the only single issued by the band with co-writing credits to both Billy Corgan and James Iha. It charted on the UK Singles Chart at a peak position of number...

", which was also re-recorded for Gish, "Tristessa" did not receive a second single release, and neither version of the song appears on the 2001 greatest hits collection, Rotten Apples

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...

.

Critical reception

CMJ called it "a grinding, drawled-out, lascivious rocker with a chisel-sharp pop aesthetic". The Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

called it "a piece of scratchy acid-rock", and the Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

said it was an "epic rocker". Spinner

Spinner (website)

Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."...

wrote, "a decade after the onset of diminishing returns, 'Tristessa' remains an absolute monster".

Track listing

1. "Tristessa" – 3:40
2. "La Dolly Vita" – 4:15
3. "Honeyspider" – 2:55 (present on UK 12" only)