"Eye" 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...

, released in 1996 on the soundtrack to the David Lynch

David Lynch

David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...

 film Lost Highway. Along with the song "The End Is the Beginning Is the End

The End Is the Beginning Is the End

"The End Is the Beginning Is the End" is a Grammy Award-winning song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It is the first full-band song released as a single by the Smashing Pumpkins in the aftermath of their 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness...

" from Batman & Robin and "Christmastime" from A Very Special Christmas 3

A Very Special Christmas 3

A Very Special Christmas 3 is the third in a series of Christmas-themed compilation albums produced to benefit Special Olympics. The album was released on 23 September 1997, and production was overseen by Bobby Shriver, Al Cafaro, and Linda Feder for A&M Records.-Track listing:# "I Saw Three...

, "Eye" represented a period of work on compilations done by the Pumpkins in between the release of the two albums Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP...

and Adore. It also appeared on their greatest hits collection Rotten Apples.

Song history

In the aftermath of the quadruple-platinum Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP...

, Billy Corgan's music publisher suggested he collaborate with basketball superstar and rapper Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...

, who had begun work on You Can't Stop the Reign

You Can't Stop the Reign

You Can't Stop the Reign is the third studio album released by Shaquille O'Neal. It was released on November 19, 1996 for Interscope Records and featured production from the likes of DJ Quik, Poke and Tone, Mobb Deep and Easy Mo Bee. The album was moderately successful, making it to #82 on the...

. Corgan began work on a programmed backing track loosely inspired by Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...

, but the collaboration fell through. Meanwhile, film director David Lynch and Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

 mastermind Trent Reznor

Trent Reznor

Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...

 were assembling the soundtrack to Lynch's new film Lost Highway. Lynch, who later would call Corgan a "magical musician", rejected Corgan's submission, "Tear", which would eventually be included on Adore. Corgan quickly finished off "Eye" and Lynch loved it, using it in a nightclub scene in the film.

So far, "Eye" has been performed live by the band on their 1997, 2008, and 2010 tours, opting for a guitar-driven sound with live drums (by Matt Walker

Matt Walker (drummer)

Matt Walker is a musician and former drummer for Filter, The Smashing Pumpkins and current drummer for Morrissey.Matt Walker began his career in Chicago in the mid 80s, when Matt began playing drums for the already well known Scott Bennett of Scott Bennett & The Obvious and did double duty playing...

, Jimmy Chamberlin

Jimmy Chamberlin

Jimmy Chamberlin is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the former drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. After a drug-related incident with touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996, Chamberlin was fired from the band and joined The Last...

, and Mike Byrne

Mike Byrne (musician)

Michael William Byrne is the drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins. When Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan called for rehearsals to replace Jimmy Chamberlin, Byrne auditioned and was chosen out of thousands of applicants...

, respectively) in lieu of a drum machine.

Reception

The song became a hit, reaching number eight on the US Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

in 1997. Corgan later said the surprise success of "Eye" as a single inspired the band to continue with the new electronica-tinged direction as they began work on Adore.