“The End is the Beginning is the End”
MTV’s Week In Rock
May 2, 1997
Typed by: Sachin Bansal
Kurt Loder: With the upcoming Batman and Robin soundtrack (names other bands)
will be a new song by Smashing Pumpkins called “The End is the Beginning is
the End”. The band also gets to shoot a tie-in video for the song and Chris
Connelly (MTV news) stopped by the set to ask the question “Have you guys
sold out, or what?” Here’s the answer...
4.26.97
Warner Bros. Studios
Burbank, CA
[Segment now goes to the set of the video for the song. Scenes of the video are shown with Billy and the band dressed in black.]
Billy Corgan: I can already hear people going, you know why is he writing a song for Batman?
Joel Schumacher (director of “Batman and Robin”): He is so dumb!
Billy: Right.
Joel: It was either Georgie Parker or Pauline Kale, one of those brilliant ladies who said “If you’re sitting around Hollywood wondering if you’ve sold out or not, you have.”
Billy: So yes, we’ve sold out. And, a..
Joel: Thank god!
Billy: [waves arm up in agreement]
Joel: It’s okay. No one is more disenfranchised and disconnected and more alternative than Batman.
Chris Connelly: Some 9 months into his involvement with Batman and Robin and Billy Corgan says he still doesn’t know what happens in the movie. That actually may have helped him write “The End is the Beginning is the End” and that certainly didn’t keep him and the rest of the Smashing Pumpkins from stuffing themselves into neoprene for director Joel Schumacher’s video.
[A clip from the video of Billy dressed in black and singing]
Joel: I’d always loved Billy’s music and the band and I mean, it was a dream come true that he would do a song for Batman.
Billy: For me it was kind of a very artistic thing to do because it was very free. You know I wasn’t talking about myself or I wasn’t trying to represent the Smashing Pumpkins but I was trying to represent Batman.
[Scene of Batman flying through the air from the movie with “Siva” in the background]
Joel: What he managed to do was kinda take all of the Batman legends from 1939, the TV show, the movies and capsulate it into this fantastic sound.
Billy: It’s probably what you’d expect from us in the future. It’s such a large leap from the last album that I think people are going to be pretty surprised. It’s just the sound I’ve had mulling around in my head for a year.
[A clip from the video of Billy again singing]
Chris: Lyrically, Corgan said the song tried to get under the twisted skull of the caped crusader. For the video, Schumacher plans to combine footage of the Pumpkins and fleeting glimpses of Batman and Robin.
[Footage shown of Billy and Batman, Robin, and Batgirl]
Joel: We didn’t even have to put film in the video because I don’t think it’s important to make an infomercial for the movie. I wanted the group to be, but he really wanted to explore Batman’s brain.
Billy: The video was more of its own kind of take on Batman’s mythology if you will.
Joel: So the images from the film will sort of whirl around inside (waves arms)
Billy: It’s not really about the film, but more about how Batman thinks things will go around.
Chris: So what’s inside Batman’s brain?
Billy: You will find out.
Joel: We’re not going to tell you everything.
Billy: I can tell you one thing, Uma Thurman is inside Batman’s brain. She will be there.
[A clip from the movie where Poison Ivy, Thurman’s character, is talking to Batman)
Kurt: Well, joining the Pumpkins on the soundtrack will be R.Kelley, Jewel, and Bone Thugs ‘N’ Harmony among others. There’s more in store so stick around.
[Commercials]