Cherub Rock guitar solo

The Smashing Pumpkins, 1993, from Siamese Dream. Solo by Billy Corgan.

Corgan's heavily layered fuzz solo mixes glam-rock bends with a wall of overdubbed tone.

Cherub Rock opens Siamese Dream with a wall of layered fuzz guitar, and Billy Corgan's solo emerges from it. He builds the lead from glam-rock bends and big, sustained notes, stacking overdubs until the guitars sound like a single enormous instrument. The tone is thick and saturated, with a creamy fuzz that became one of the album's defining features. The solo is less about speed than about texture and melody. Corgan showed that alternative rock could embrace big guitar solos without losing its edge. Listen for the moments where multiple guitar layers join in, thickening the sound and giving the solo its overwhelming, orchestral weight.

Cherub Rock by The Smashing Pumpkins is ranked #267 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Billy Corgan and the song was released in 1993. It appears on 2 lists, placing as high as #8 (Alternative Nation).

In our lists

The 25 Greatest Alternative Rock Guitar Solos — #11
The Best The Smashing Pumpkins Guitar Solos — #1
Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1993 — #6
The Greatest Fuzz Guitar Solos — #8

Sources

Who played the guitar solo on Cherub Rock?

Billy Corgan played the solo on The Smashing Pumpkins's Cherub Rock (1993).

Where does Cherub Rock rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#267 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 80 published lists; it appears on 2 of them.