Smashing Pumpkins
Created | Updated May 5, 2002
One of the greatest bands to come out of Alternative Music of the nineties.
Hailing from the Midwest, Chicago Illinios, the band formed in 1988.
Billy Corgan (lead singer, guitar) befriended James Iha (guitar) after his own stint with another band (called the Marked) and they decided to work together. D'arcy (bass) argued with Billy after a show they had both gone to, and was added to the group. After playing with a drum machine for awhile, they heard of Jimmy Chamberlin (drums) and enlisted him in the band.
The name of the band, itself, has been under speculation (as varied reasonings behind the name exist) but it seems to have been sort of a joke. Nicknames include: SP, the pumpkins... And in 1995 they appended the word "the" to the beginning of their name.
They were rivals of the band Nirvana(considered the origins of the label 'alternative music'), for reasons including Billy Corgan befriended Kurt Cobain's (lead singer of Nirvana) wife, Courtney Love, before Kurt actually did; their musics came out about the same times (thus leading to critics comparing, or saying that the pumpkins were riding on the Nirvana bandwagon.) They also shared the producing talents of Butch Vig (who belongs to the band Garbage).
In a way, they superceded Nirvana (after the demise of Kurt Cobain).
With the success of Siamese Dream and later going platinum on a double disk album (Mellon Collie) [which none of the critics actually believed would do well just because of its lengthy nature.] (Now it seems like most everyone who listens to what is considered alternative music, own either Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie.) The band was on top of the world, even though some problems sprung up with the death of the touring keyboardist and also a girl being killed in a mosh pit during a concert.
Rumors flew around on the internet prior to the release of Adore, speculating that the album was going to be something entirely new. (Including a forged email from the record label Virgin.) Adore was something completely different, something that didn't achieve the same level of sales as their former albums. (This is because they did something/ expiriemented with something they wanted to do... not what the mass public wanted to hear. One has to applaud an artist who isn't just doing it for the market.)
When Machina came out, alternative music was losing appeal against the pop music acts taking over the radio dial, and did not do as well as other albums. There was a secret meaning written into Machina (and a contest to figure it out) and in May on a radio station it was announced that the band would break up after they finished with the tour. (The reason is believed to be because Billy had his fortune told, several years ago... His 33rd year was seen as the year he would completely change his life... Which by ending the band he had been in for over a decade, completely changed all of the band members lives.)
the releases
Gish (1991)
Siamese Dream (1993)
Pisces Iscariot (1994)
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
The Aeroplane Flies High (1996)
Adore (1998)
Machina and the Machines of God (2000)
Machina II, friends and Enemies of Modern Music (2000) (only 25 records were printed, but it was distributed online via fans.)
the sound
Angsty songs with a mix of heavy and soft sounds.
the soap opera
James and D'arcy dated for awhile, but had a messy breakup.
The group went through theraphy together, and sometimes one wonders if any of the band members actually liked each other. (For example, D'arcy was constantly picking on quite James.. And they all seemed overtrumped by Billy.)
Billy recorded all the guitar parts of Siamese Dream, making one wonder how exactly <i>that</i> made the other band members feel. But the group does not seem to be comprised of equals, more of Billy Corgan (doing most of the writing) and everyone else.
Jimmy was kicked out of the band, in 1996, because of a drug habit that lead to the death of keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin. Jimmy was replaced for the rest of the tour by the drummer from Filter, Matt Walker. (There is speculation about how the album, Adore, would be different if Jimmy hadn't been kicked out of the band. And also, there has been a sense of regret in the last interviews that Jimmy was kicked out at all.)
D'arcy left the band in 1999, for reasons unclear (she wanted to start a family, wanted to start acting or something else) and was replaced by the Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur (who ironically got the gig in Hole, because she threw a bottle at the band's concert in Canada, ended up being recommended by Billy to Hole's frontwoman Courtney Love).
Billy announced the future break-up of the band back in May of 2000. At the Metro on Decemeber the 2nd, the band played what was touted as the 'last concert.'
Hailing from the Midwest, Chicago Illinios, the band formed in 1988.
Billy Corgan (lead singer, guitar) befriended James Iha (guitar) after his own stint with another band (called the Marked) and they decided to work together. D'arcy (bass) argued with Billy after a show they had both gone to, and was added to the group. After playing with a drum machine for awhile, they heard of Jimmy Chamberlin (drums) and enlisted him in the band.
The name of the band, itself, has been under speculation (as varied reasonings behind the name exist) but it seems to have been sort of a joke. Nicknames include: SP, the pumpkins... And in 1995 they appended the word "the" to the beginning of their name.
They were rivals of the band Nirvana(considered the origins of the label 'alternative music'), for reasons including Billy Corgan befriended Kurt Cobain's (lead singer of Nirvana) wife, Courtney Love, before Kurt actually did; their musics came out about the same times (thus leading to critics comparing, or saying that the pumpkins were riding on the Nirvana bandwagon.) They also shared the producing talents of Butch Vig (who belongs to the band Garbage).
In a way, they superceded Nirvana (after the demise of Kurt Cobain).
With the success of Siamese Dream and later going platinum on a double disk album (Mellon Collie) [which none of the critics actually believed would do well just because of its lengthy nature.] (Now it seems like most everyone who listens to what is considered alternative music, own either Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie.) The band was on top of the world, even though some problems sprung up with the death of the touring keyboardist and also a girl being killed in a mosh pit during a concert.
Rumors flew around on the internet prior to the release of Adore, speculating that the album was going to be something entirely new. (Including a forged email from the record label Virgin.) Adore was something completely different, something that didn't achieve the same level of sales as their former albums. (This is because they did something/ expiriemented with something they wanted to do... not what the mass public wanted to hear. One has to applaud an artist who isn't just doing it for the market.)
When Machina came out, alternative music was losing appeal against the pop music acts taking over the radio dial, and did not do as well as other albums. There was a secret meaning written into Machina (and a contest to figure it out) and in May on a radio station it was announced that the band would break up after they finished with the tour. (The reason is believed to be because Billy had his fortune told, several years ago... His 33rd year was seen as the year he would completely change his life... Which by ending the band he had been in for over a decade, completely changed all of the band members lives.)
the releases
Gish (1991)
Siamese Dream (1993)
Pisces Iscariot (1994)
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
The Aeroplane Flies High (1996)
Adore (1998)
Machina and the Machines of God (2000)
Machina II, friends and Enemies of Modern Music (2000) (only 25 records were printed, but it was distributed online via fans.)
the sound
Angsty songs with a mix of heavy and soft sounds.
the soap opera
James and D'arcy dated for awhile, but had a messy breakup.
The group went through theraphy together, and sometimes one wonders if any of the band members actually liked each other. (For example, D'arcy was constantly picking on quite James.. And they all seemed overtrumped by Billy.)
Billy recorded all the guitar parts of Siamese Dream, making one wonder how exactly <i>that</i> made the other band members feel. But the group does not seem to be comprised of equals, more of Billy Corgan (doing most of the writing) and everyone else.
Jimmy was kicked out of the band, in 1996, because of a drug habit that lead to the death of keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin. Jimmy was replaced for the rest of the tour by the drummer from Filter, Matt Walker. (There is speculation about how the album, Adore, would be different if Jimmy hadn't been kicked out of the band. And also, there has been a sense of regret in the last interviews that Jimmy was kicked out at all.)
D'arcy left the band in 1999, for reasons unclear (she wanted to start a family, wanted to start acting or something else) and was replaced by the Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur (who ironically got the gig in Hole, because she threw a bottle at the band's concert in Canada, ended up being recommended by Billy to Hole's frontwoman Courtney Love).
Billy announced the future break-up of the band back in May of 2000. At the Metro on Decemeber the 2nd, the band played what was touted as the 'last concert.'
