Smashing Pumpkins

From LoveToKnow Music

Smashing Pumpkins
Genre	Rock Music
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Active	1988-2000
Albums	Gish (1991) Siamese Dream (1993) Mellon Collie (1995) Adore (1998) MACHINA (2000)
Songs	Tonight, Tonight 1979, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Adore
Website	SmashingPumpkins.com

The Smashing Pumpkins were a rock band popular in the 1990s that became famous for their signature guitar-heavy sound and Corgan's lyrical prowess. They sold more than 12 million albums in the United States and were one of the most commercially successful bands in the 1990s. Due to internal disputes, a changing artistic direction and poor album sales, the band broke up in 2000. Lead singer Billy Corgan has remained active in the music industry, forming and subsequently dissolving the rock band Zwan and releasing a solo album entitled TheFutureEmbrace. Corgan recently announced plans to reform the Smashing Pumpkins.

Photorazzi

Early Years

Singer and guitarist Billy Corgan met guitarist James Iha and the two began writing songs with the aid of a drum machine. In 1998, Corgan met D'arcy Wretzky who would later join the band as bassist. It wasn't long until jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joined the band. When asked how he chose the name "Smashing Pumpkins", Corgan responded "It could have been any vegetable."

Gish, the band's first album, was released in 1991. The Pumpkins' trademark layered guitars made their debut in tracks like I Am One. The album was a mild success, but during the tour the internal balance of the band was shaken. Iha and Wretzky began and dissolved a short relationship and Chamberlin became addicted to narcotics and alcohol. Corgan entered a depression and began writing songs for the upcoming album while living in a parking garage.

In 1993, the seeds planted during the Gish tour came to fruition. Siamese Dream was released and became an instant hit. Corgan said he became a workaholic during the production of this album, often spending long days in the studio to combat his depression. He later went on record saying if the album didn't sell well, the Smashing Pumpkins would break up. After selling four million copies in the U.S. alone, Siamese Dream is now considered one of the band's best albums.

Mellon Collie and Adore

After relentless touring following the release of Siamese Dream, the Smashing Pumpkins took some time off to write and record another album. Corgan had written 56 songs by the time they hit the studio. The result was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double-disc album with 28 songs and over 2 hours of music. The album sold 16 million copies and pulled in numerous Grammy nominations for tracks such as Tonight, Tonight, 1979, and Bullet with Butterfly Wings.

During the Mellon Collie era, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin overdosed on heroin in his New York City hotel room. He was arrested for drug possession and subsequently fired from the band. Corgan stated that Mellon Collie would be the last rock album from his band and that rock itself was becoming stale due to a lack of experimentation.

One of the most shocking moves made by the Smashing Pumpkins was the radical departure from their famed style. The 1998 album Adore represented an enormous shift for the band and introduced experimental melodic tracks, a darker ambience, and a wider range of vocals from lead singer Billy Corgan. Without Chamberlin, a drum machine was used for the tracks and guitars were rarely found on the album. Instead, complex melodies and piano tunes fill the electronica album.

The MACHINA Albums

Towards the end of the 90s and in the early 2000s, the Smashing Pumpkins were waning. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who had recently went through drug rehab, returned and worked with the band on recording their final album, MACHINA/The Machines of God, released in 2000. The familiar Pumpkins sound had returned but with a noticeable influence from Billy's stint in electronica. The album was also Corgan's first concept album. After the release, D'arcy left the band and was substituted by bassist Melissa Auf der Maur for touring and the music videos.

May 23, 2000, Billy Corgan announced on a live radio interview that the Smashing Pumpkins would be breaking up. Although MACHINA was the final album released with the Pumpkins' record label, Corgan had another album's worth of songs. MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music was released in September of that year for free distribution on the internet. You can download the entire album at Billy-Corgan.com.

On December 2 the Smashing Pumpkins performed their final concert at The Metro, the same club in Chicago that started their careers over a decade earlier.

Smashing Pumpkins Reunion?

On June 21, 2005 Billy Corgan released his solo album titled TheFutureEmbrace. The same day he took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune paper. In it he expressed his solemn interest in re-forming the Smashing Pumpkins, saying it has been a secret he has kept for over a year. "I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams." Corgan said. No official information has been released since then. However, Jimmy Chamberlin publicly confirmed he would re-join the band and later said a reunion tour and new album are being planned for 2006.