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"Muzzle" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins from their third album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". It was one of the last songs written by Billy Corgan for "Mellon Collie", with the song's lyrics referring to what Corgan thought the public's perception was of him at the time. It was rumored to be the Smashing Pumpkins’ fifth and final single from this album, as is evidenced by the fact that a promotional single for the song was issued to radio stations worldwide. However, the song "Thirty-Three" was released as the fifth and final single instead.
There was a rumor that a music video was actually filmed for "Muzzle" with drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, but was never released. Billy Corgan has, however, denied this. The band went on to perform "Muzzle" for their next television appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with replacement drummer, Matt Walker.
"Muzzle" reached number ten on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks and number eight on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks. It reached number one on the alternative chart in Canada.
"Written at first on the piano in my crude Lennon-ish tinker toy style, this song possibly more than any other in the collection demonstrates the power of the old band collective to convert up ideas rapidly; from doleful sea shanties into epic rockets.
It took me nearly a month to convince Jimmy to play with such joyful abandon on his fills, and I cited the great Big Star as an example where playing loose didn’t necessarily mean playing poorly. This notion opened up a whole new gateway to Jimmy’s drumming, where emotional expressionism took priority over his vaunted technical precision. Some- where in my mind I was thinking of Bobby D in repeating the core themes with variation at the end, but it was a leftover memory of a clever song device from a source I could never recall. The idea of a muzzle refers to thinking my life would be far simpler if I just kept my trap shut."
- Billy Corgan, 2012 Reissue Liner Notes
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