The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band from Chicago, United States, formed in 1988 by Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin. Corgan is the group’s principal songwriter and the only constant member. The band’s line-up changes over time, but key members across its history include Iha, Chamberlin, Wretzky, Melissa Auf der Maur, Ginger Reyes, Jeff Schroeder, Mike Byrne, Nicole Fiorentino, Jack Bates, Katie Cole and Kiki Wong.

Style and early formation

The band’s sound combines alternative rock with elements of dream pop, grunge, neo-psychedelia, progressive rock and rock, and it also draws on gothic rock, heavy metal, psychedelic rock, shoegaze and electronica. Corgan forms the group after returning to Chicago from Florida following the end of his previous band, the Marked. He meets Iha in a record shop, and the pair begin writing songs with a drum machine, influenced by acts such as the Cure and New Order.

The first live performance takes place in July 1988 at Chicago 21, a Polish bar in Chicago, as a duo with drum machine. Wretzky joins soon after, and Joe Shanahan of Cabaret Metro agrees to book the band only if it replaces the drum machine with a live drummer. Chamberlin then joins, completing the original line-up, which first performs together at Cabaret Metro in October 1988.

Early releases and breakthrough

The band first appears on record in 1989 on the compilation Light Into Dark. Its debut single, I Am One, arrives in 1990 on the Chicago label Limited Potential, followed by Tristessa on Sub Pop. The group then signs to Caroline Records and records its debut album Gish with producer Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, with Corgan playing many of the guitar and bass parts himself. Gish comes out in 1991 and achieves underground success.

After touring with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction and Guns N’ Roses, the band signs to Virgin Records. Siamese Dream, recorded in Marietta, Georgia and again produced by Vig, is released in 1993 and reaches number ten on the Billboard 200. It sells more than four million copies in the United States and brings the group wider recognition. The sessions are marked by internal tension and disagreements about recording methods.

1990s commercial peak

In 1994 Virgin releases the compilation Pisces Iscariot, which reaches number four on the Billboard 200, and the VHS release Vieuphoria also appears that year. Corgan also circulates the limited five-CD box set Mashed Potatoes, containing demos, interviews and live recordings from 1988 to 1993.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is recorded in 1995 with Flood and Alan Moulder. Conceived as a double album, it contains 28 songs and focuses on themes of life and death. Released in October 1995, it debuts at number one on the Billboard 200, becomes the best-selling double album of the decade in the United States, and receives seven Grammy nominations. It wins Best Hard Rock Performance for Bullet with Butterfly Wings. Other singles include 1979, Zero, Tonight, Tonight and Thirty-Three. Unused material is later gathered on The Aeroplane Flies High.

During 1996 the band tours worldwide in support of the album and appears in the The Simpsons episode “Homerpalooza”. That year also brings several setbacks: audience member Bernadette O’Brien dies at a Dublin concert after being crushed in the crowd, a Belfast show is cancelled, touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin dies of a heroin overdose in New York, and Chamberlin is arrested on drug possession charges and dismissed from the band. Matt Walker and Dennis Flemion join the touring line-up for the rest of the tour.

Electronic shift, split and first reunion

After Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band increasingly uses electronic elements. The 1997 singles Eye and The End Is the Beginning Is the End reflect that change, and the latter, recorded for Batman & Robin, wins the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. Adore, released in 1998, marks a major stylistic change with greater use of electronic instrumentation and drum machines. It reaches number two on the Billboard 200. To promote it, the band undertakes a charity tour across North America, donating all ticket revenue to local charitable organisations, and also performs at Dodger Stadium dressed as the Beatles while opening for Kiss on Halloween 1998.

Chamberlin rejoins for the 1999 Arising tour. During work on Machina/The Machines of God, Wretzky leaves and Melissa Auf der Maur replaces her for touring. The album appears in 2000 and reaches number three on the Billboard chart. Corgan announces the group’s planned break-up in May 2000, and the companion release Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music is issued independently in a limited vinyl edition with permission for fans to distribute it online. The farewell concert takes place in December 2000 at the Metro in Chicago, with the single Untitled released to coincide with it.

After the break-up and later line-ups

After the split, the compilations Rotten Apples and Judas O appear in 2001, along with The Greatest Hits Video Collection. Vieuphoria and Earphoria are later reissued on DVD and CD respectively. Corgan and Chamberlin then form Zwan and release Mary Star of the Sea in 2003 before that group ends later the same year. Corgan also collaborates with New Order, publishes the poetry collection Blinking with Fists in 2004, and releases the solo album TheFutureEmbrace in 2005. Iha works with other artists and continues to run Scratchie Records, while Wretzky largely stays out of public view.

Corgan announces plans to revive the Smashing Pumpkins in 2005. Chamberlin rejoins the reunion, while Iha and Wretzky do not. The band’s first show since 2000 takes place in Paris in 2007, with new members Jeff Schroeder, Ginger Reyes and Lisa Harriton. Zeitgeist follows later that year and reaches number two on the Billboard chart. The band also issues the EP American Gothic, the singles Superchrist and G.L.O.W., and the concert documentary If All Goes Wrong. Corgan says during this period that the band focuses on singles rather than traditional albums.

Chamberlin leaves again in 2009 and is replaced by Mike Byrne. Corgan launches Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, first planned as a 44-song concept released online one track at a time. Ginger Reyes leaves in 2010 and Nicole Fiorentino replaces her. Two EPs from the project appear before the original plan is abandoned. Oceania, linked to the project, is released in 2012, reaches number four on the Billboard 200, and is followed by international touring and the live release Oceania: Live in NYC. The back catalogue is also remastered and reissued in expanded editions.

Later albums and current line-up

The band signs to BMG in 2014 and releases Monuments to an Elegy. Byrne and Fiorentino leave before the album is completed. Tommy Lee plays drums on the recording, while Brad Wilk and Mark Stoermer join the touring line-up. A follow-up album titled Day for Night is announced but not released.

Chamberlin returns as touring drummer in 2015 for The End Times Tour with Marilyn Manson and continues on the In Plainsong tour. Iha makes guest appearances in 2016 and then officially rejoins the band in 2018 alongside Chamberlin. The reunited line-up launches the Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, focusing on songs from the first five albums. Jack Bates handles bass, with Katie Cole contributing additional instrumentation and backing vocals. Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. is released in 2018.

Cyr follows in 2020 and is preceded by the singles Cyr, The Colour of Love, Confessions of a Dopamine Addict, Wrath, Anno Satana, Birch Grove, Ramona, Wyttch, Purple Blood and Dulcet in E. In 2022 and 2023 the band releases Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, a sequel to the narrative begun on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and continued on Machina/The Machines of God. During this period it also organises The World Is A Vampire festival and touring events in Mexico, Australia, the United States and Canada.

Jeff Schroeder leaves in 2023. In 2024 the group holds an open application process for a new touring guitarist and selects Kiki Wong. That year it tours the United Kingdom and Ireland with Weezer and releases Aghori Mhori Mei, its thirteenth studio album. The standalone single Chrome Jets follows in 2025, along with a remastered edition of Machina/The Machines of God, the eight-record box set Machina: Aranea Alba Editio, and Zodeon at Crystal Hall, a vinyl release made up of bonus material from the Atum sessions and additional tracks.