The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero

What this video is

Released April 23, 1996 as the third single from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 'Zero' arrived at the height of the Smashing Pumpkins' commercial and critical peak. The double album had made the band one of the defining acts of mid-90s alternative rock, and this video — shot in a Roman-inspired mansion with masquerade guests and carnival freak show staging — channeled the album's grand, maximalist…

Why it matters

A landmark in mid-90s alternative rock video production, 'Zero' demonstrates how post-grunge acts leveraged major-label budgets to pursue art-directed, high-concept visuals over performance clip conventions. Yemchuk's directorial approach — rooted in fine-art photography and surrealist tableau…

The director

Yelena Yemchuk (born 1970, Kyiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian-American photographer, painter, and film director. She immigrated to Brooklyn, New York as a child and studied at Parsons School of Design (New York) and ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena, CA).…