Arriving on the national scene a couple years after Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the Smashing Pumpkins made music that was bigger, shinier and more stuffed with sounds than most alt-rock competitors. Their dense, layered sound and dynamic songwriting, alternately angst-ridden and dreamy, made the Pumpkins a chart-topping success in the Nineties.
Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan grew up in a Chicago suburb with his guitarist father and moved to Florida at age 19 as leader of goth band, the Marked. Returning home, he worked in a record store and formed Smashing Pumpkins with guitarist James Iha, focusing on Cure-inspired mope-rock. Soon, the duo added bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and—mostly on the strength of Chamberlin's dexterity and bombastic style—explored heavier material.
The band's first single, "I Am One," on Chicago imprint Limited Potential led to a deal with indie super-label Sub Pop, who had launched Nirvana and Soundgarden. In 1991, the band's debut album, Gish, produced by Butch Vig (Nirvana's Nevermind), became a college-radio favorite and eventually went gold in 1994. The 1993 major-label follow-up, Siamese Dream, fared even better, debuting at Number Ten and ultimately selling more that 4 million copies, largely on the strength of "Today" — which peaked at Number Four on the Alt-Rock chart—and making the group alternative-rock stars.
Emphasizing both the virtuosic interplay of Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin and Corgan's confessional lyrics, the Pumpkins employed a Mellotron, strings, and multiple guitar parts on Siamese Dreams, as they continued to edge closer to progressive rock than to punk or grunge.
Corgan indulged his prog-rock jones full-on with 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Number One, 1995), a double-disc set that proved enormously successful, selling over 9 million copies and launching four singles onto the pop chart, including "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" (Number 22, 1995), "1979" (Number 12, 1996), and "Tonight, Tonight" (Number 36, 1996).
During a 1996 summer tour, Chamberlin and touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin both overdosed on heroin at the same time. Melvoin died and Chamberlin was arrested and subsequently fired. Filter's Matt Walker filled his seat for the remainder of the tour, but the band's quietly intimate next album, Adore (Number Two, 1998), was recorded using session percussionists and drum machines. When Adore stalled at platinum and failed to produce to a single that charted higher than Number 42 ("Ave Adore," 1998) it was considered a commercial failure compared the band's previous sales.
Chamberlin was brought back on board in 1999, and MACHINA/the machines of god (Number Three, 2000) represented a return to hook-laden guitar rock. Wretzky quit shortly before the album's release, and was replaced for the ensuing tour by Melissa Auf der Maur of Hole. Sales of MACHINA proved no better than Adore's, and during a radio interview on May 23, 2000, Corgan announced that the band would break up at the end of the year.
As the Pumpkins finished their tour commitments through the end of 2000, Corgan revealed plans for one final album of unreleased material from the band. He also hinted at a solo career, an avenue James Iha had already tested via Let It Come Down (Number 64), his 1998 album of singer/songwriter-style love songs. The Smashing Pumpkins officially broke up on December 2, 2000, following a four-hour show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro, where the band had debuted in October 1988. In early 2001, the album Machina/Friends and Enemies of Modern Music became available on the band's official Web site.
Corgan and Chamberlin reunited in 2001 to form the short lived Zwan, which recorded one album, 2002's Mary Star of the Sea. Though the record debuted at Number Three, it quickly fell off the charts and didn't nearly as well as any Smashing Pumpkins album. A Corgan solo album, 2005's TheFutureEmbrace also sold poorly.
Days after TheFutureEmbrace came out, Billy Corgan announced his commitment to reviving the Smashing Pumpkins through a full-page ad he placed in the Chicago Tribune. "For a year now," the ad read, "I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams."
In May 2007, the "reunited" lineup debuted, with Corgan and Chamberlin augmented by guitarist and bassist Jeff Schroder and Ginger Reyes respectively (Corgan said Iha and Wretzky had decline the opportunity to reunite). Later that month they released new single "Tarantula," and in July, the new album Zietgiest. The hard-rocking collection debuted at Number Two, selling 145,000 copies its first week and ultimately selling over 500,000 copies. Since then, the band has released sporadic single and Corgan had said the band will not likely release any further full-length albums.
Corgan and Chamberlin continued to record as a duo, releasing the four-song EP American Gothic in January 2008 and the singles "Superchrist" and "G.L.O.W." later that year. That November, the group released the DVD If All Goes Wrong, which chronicled the group's 2007 concert residences in Asheville, North Carolina and San Francisco, California. In late 2008, the band embarked on a controversy-riddled 20th Anniversary Tour. Around this time, Corgan said the group will make no more full-length records in order to focus exclusively on singles, explaining, "The listening patterns have changed, so why are we killing ourselves to do albums, to create balance, and do the arty track to set up the single? It's done."
Teargarden and Oceania: 2009–2013
In March 2009, Corgan announced on the band's website that Chamberlin had left the group and would be replaced. Chamberlin subsequently stated that his departure from the band is "a positive move forward for me. I can no longer commit all of my energy into something that I don't fully possess." Chamberlin stressed that the split was amicable, commenting, "I am glad [Corgan] has chosen to continue under the name. It is his right." Chamberlin soon formed the band Skysaw, which has released an album and toured in support of Minus the Bear. In July 2009, Billy Corgan formed a new group called Spirits in the Sky, initially as a tribute band to Sky Saxon of The Seeds, who had recently passed away. The following month Corgan confirmed on the band's website that 19-year-old Spirits in the Sky drummer Mike Byrne had replaced Chamberlin and that the pair was working on new Pumpkins recordings.
The group announced plans to release a 44-track concept album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, for free over the Internet one track at a time. The first track, "A Song for a Son", was released in December 2009 to moderate press acclaim. In March 2010, Ginger Reyes officially left the band, prompting an open call for auditions for a new bassist. In May, Nicole Fiorentinoannounced she had joined the band as bass player, and would be working on Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. The new lineup went on a world tour through to the end of 2010. One of the first shows with the new lineup was a concert to benefit Matthew Leone, bassist for the rock band Madina Lake, at the Metro on July 27, 2010. In late 2010, all four members contributed to the sessions for the third volume of Teargarden.
On April 26, 2011, Corgan announced that the Smashing Pumpkins would be releasing a new album titled Oceania, which he labeled as "an album within an album" in regards to the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, in the fall. As with the previous recording sessions, all four band members contributed to the project. Also, the entire album catalog was to be remastered and reissued with bonus tracks, starting withGish and Siamese Dream in November 2011. The pre-Gish demos, Pisces Iscariot, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were released in 2012 with The Aeroplane Flies High being released the following year. Adore will be released in 2014 while Machina/The Machines of God and the yet commercially unreleased Machina II/Friends and Enemies of Modern Music are expected to be combined, remixed, and released in the same year. The band did a thirteen-city US tour in October 2011 followed by a European tour in November and December.
Oceania was released on June 19, 2012 and received generally positive reviews. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on the Billboard Independent. The album spawned two singles, "The Celestials" and "Panopticon". The band proceeded to tour in support of the album, including a US tour involving playing the album in its entirety. By September 2012, Corgan stated that the band had already begun work on their next album. However, despite this, the band concentrated on touring, playing at Glastonbury Festival, Dour Festival and the Barclays Center, where they recorded Oceania: Live in NYC, which was released on September 24, 2013, without much comment on new material.
Day for Night and Monuments to an Elegy: 2014-present
In September 2013, Corgan stated he was commencing work on "a pair of albums", though did not clarify whether or not either were Smashing Pumpkins material. On February 5, 2014, Corgan confirmed he was writing new Smashing Pumpkins material.
On March 25, 2014, Billy Corgan announced, via the band's website, that a new record deal with BMG will result in two albums coming out in 2015, titled Monuments to an Elegy and Day for Night, respectively.
Studio albums
· Gish (1991)
· Siamese Dream (1993)
· Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
· Adore (1998)
· Machina/The Machines of God (2000)
· Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000)
· Zeitgeist (2007)
· Teargarden by Kaleidyscope (2009–present)
· Oceania (2012)
· Monuments to an Elegy (2015)
· Day for Night (2015)