So many ways to count to zero - a collection of Covers of "Zero" by Smashing Pumpkins

The first time I heard the song "Zero", I remember exactly where I was. It was a version of the Smashing Pumpkins classic covered by Evanescence, and it was a grainy video download of a concert.

My reflection, dirty mirror
There's no connection to myself
I'm your lover, I'm your zero
I'm the face in your dreams of glass

Only, at the time, I didn't know it was a cover. I loved the riff, the solo, the nonchalant aggression in the delivery. It wasn't until I was much older that at some point I discovered it was by The Smashing Pumpkins.

In about a month's time, I'll be going to go see Evanescence, so I remember well this song that had an impact on me in my teenage years, and wonder if they'll perform it live. So instead, I've gone over the last few weeks, of actively seeking out various covers of the Pumpkin's Zero, in order to delve deeper into the song and what feelings and emotions it evokes within me.

So save your prayers
For when we're really gonna need them
Throw out your cares and fly
Wanna go for a ride?

Here's the original video. Look at it - SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO.

The swings from aggression to high pitched notes add tension, and the tempo feels quicker and heavier than the original. As soon as it begins, its over. But I think there's a better version.

Here is another female fronted, rocky cover of the same song.

She's the one for me
She's all I really need, oh yeah
She's the one for me
Emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness
And cleanliness is godliness, and God is empty
Just like me

However, the next verse is the one that, to me, contains all the lyrical impact, packaged into less than 25 words, as though it was a contest entry.

Intoxicated with the madness
I'm in love with my sadness
Bullshit fakers, enchanted kingdoms
The fashion victims chew their charcoal teeth

A song unabashedly about disillusionment, depression, and seeing beyond the facade that is often portrayed by others.

I never let on
That I was on a sinking ship
I never let on that I was down

This one takes a further, much more aggressive tone and delivers rather well on the imagery throughout the video. It's much more metal than the original, and has a very take collection of undertones, depicting a male figure performing either an autopsy or mutilation of a female subject.

You blame yourself
For what you can't ignore
You blame yourself for wanting more
She's the one for me
She's all I really need, oh yeah
She's the one for me
She's my one and only

This one is even heavier. There's no hidden messaging in the video itself; but its shaky-cam views of a street interspersed with the live performance of the band is a little suggestive toward the original meaning of the song, or at the very least, one of the potential perceived meanings.

When we delve into contemporary interviews of Billy Corgan's motivations and meanings for this song, it is about the worthlessness of the individual for being an individual; and how spiralling into apathy is very easy.

Throw in some unrequited love for a cosmic ideal of a feminine beauty as pursuit; pursuit that never really ends - "all I really need", ends up being about something you can never obtain.

I like "sad" music. Is this sad music?

What are your favourite covers of "Zero"? Is there one that I've missed?

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