Bullet with Butterfly Wings

Last updated

"Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
Bullet with Butterfly Wings.jpg
Single by the Smashing Pumpkins
from the album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
B-side
ReleasedOctober 16, 1995 (1995-10-16) [1]
Recorded1995
Genre
Length4:16
Label Virgin
Songwriter(s) Billy Corgan
Producer(s)
The Smashing Pumpkins singles chronology
"Rocket"
(1994)
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings"
(1995)
"1979"
(1996)
Music video
Bullet with Butterfly Wings on YouTube
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bullet with Butterfly Wings"Billy Corgan4:16
2."...Said Sadly" James Iha 3:09

"...Said Sadly" features Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt on vocals.

1996 Re-issue [29]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bullet with Butterfly Wings"Billy Corgan4:16
2."...Said Sadly"James Iha3:09
3."You're All I've Got Tonight" Ric Ocasek 3:10
4."Clones (We're All)"David Carron2:43
5."A Night Like This" Robert Smith 3:36
6."Destination Unknown"Dale Bozzio/Terry Bozzio/Warren Cuccurullo4:14
7."Dreaming"Debbie Harry, Chris Stein5:11

US 7" double A-side single [30]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."1979"Billy Corgan4:24
2."Bullet with Butterfly Wings"Billy Corgan4:16

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [51] Silver200,000
United States (RIAA) [52] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

In other media

The song is used, slightly edited, as the title song for the Animal Planet reality television series Whale Wars , which follows the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as they chase Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. [62] The song is also used in the South Park episode "Whale Whores", which parodies Whale Wars. [63]

"Weird Al" Yankovic performed the chorus in "The Alternative Polka" from his Bad Hair Day album. [64]

The song was featured as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5 . [65]

It was also used in the launch trailer for Dead Space 2 . [66]

The song was the TNA Lockdown wrestling pay-per-view theme song for 2009. [67]

Parts of the song were used in the exposition of the 2022 film Black Adam . [68]

A stripped-down remix by A.P. Laurenson was uploaded in 2016, [69] which had gone viral and later served as the basis for various trailers, including Rampage in 2018, [70] Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in 2022, [71] and The Last Voyage of the Demeter in 2023. [72]

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