The Smashing Pumpkins’ music video for their 1998 song, “Ava Adore,” is proof that sometimes, artistic mistakes are just magic-making opportunities in disguise. One such “accident” was hiding in plain sight in the eye-catching video, as Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan would later explain.
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But without Corgan’s behind-the-scenes context, no one would be the wiser. The flub only made the award-winning video better.
The Mistake Hiding In The “Ava Adore” Music Video
There was a lot on the line for the Smashing Pumpkins in 1998. The band had essentially taken over the alt-rock scene with the release of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in 1995, and while this success was obviously a great milestone in their career, it came with its fair share of challenges. Audiences wanted a Mellon Collie part two. Record labels were after even better sales numbers. Put that all together with the stress and hard work of an international tour, and the Smashing Pumpkins were under quite a bit of pressure.
That kind of pressure can make work environments tense and high-strung, which might have led to the music video director “freaking out” after catching a fairly glaring mistake in the Smashing Pumpkins’ video for “Ava Adore.” The music video follows Corgan, looking particularly vampire-esque with red eye makeup and a black high-collar frock with puffy white sleeve details. Sometimes in slow-mo and sometimes sped up, Corgan sings to the camera as he walks through various scenes with lots of extras and elaborate sets.
In the middle of the song, the music video breaks the fourth wall as the camera pans to reveal the individual sets, the camera crew, and the undecorated studio. “I think it was an accident,” Corgan later explained. “Maybe because they thought it was a test take, the camera operator swung the camera around, and you saw the entire set for just one moment. We watched the test take, and they’re like, ‘We got seven more minutes.’ And I’m like, ‘But I got to see this at least one time to at least tweak it.”
The Smashing Pumpkins Video Required Intense Synchronization
With a set and musical project as massive as the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins’ lead single off their highly anticipated 1998 album, Adore, it’s no wonder that the film crew wanted the video to be exactly right. So, when a senior member of the team discovered a camera operator had revealed the entire set during the shoot, they “freaked out,” according to Corgan. Still, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman insisted that he watch the “accidental” footage “so we have a chance to get the video we’re paying $800,000 for.”
$800,000 in 1998 translates to roughly $1.5 million today, which is to say, the Smashing Pumpkins’ video for “Ava Adore” was no small feat. The production style reaffirmed that the band had moved into a new tier of the music industry reserved for international stars and multi-genre chart-toppers. Even the seemingly small detail of Corgan and the actors moving in slow- and fast-motion required intense synchronization with the cameras and music.
Ultimately, the crew’s hard work paid off. The video garnered the band the 1998 VH1 Fashion Award for “Most Stylish Video.” (It was 1998, after all.)
Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images
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