The Smashing Pumpkins

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Chicago, United States (1988 – 2000, 2007 – present)

The Smashing Pumpkins are an influential American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Billy Corgan and James Iha met in a record store, and began performing in local nightclubs with their bassist, D’Arcy Wretzky, using a drum machine. Playing with a drum machine frustrated both the band and their audience, and so Chicago jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was hired soon afterwards.

Less influenced by punk than many of their contemporaries, the Pumpkins had a densely layered, guitar-heavy sound, with powerful loud-to-soft-to-loud transitions, while still picking up grunge, heavy metal, power pop, psychedelic rock, shoegaze-style production.

In later recordings, namely Adore, the fourth album, an electronica flair filtered in after Jimmy Chamberlin temporarily left the band for drug rehab. Though Jimmy Chamberlin returned for their fifth album, Machina/The Machines of God, electronica undertones remained. The emotional tone of bandleader Billy Corgan’s songs ranged from angry (

X.Y.U.) to dour (

Disarm) to jubilant (

Cherub Rock).

Selling more than 18.3 million albums in the United States alone (as of 2006), The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s. However, internal fighting, diminishing sales, drug problems, cultural vitality, and what is speculated to be improper treatment from their record company, hampered the band in their later years, leading to the 2000 break-up.

Tagged as:

rock, alternative, alternative rock, grunge, 90s
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Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
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Adore
The Smashing Pumpkins
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Rarities & B-Sides
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Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins
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Top Tracks

1	1979 full track	9,690
2	Bullet With Butterfly Wings full track	7,744
3	Today full track	7,417
4	Tonight, Tonight full track	7,059
5	Disarm full track	6,900
6	Cherub Rock full track	6,112
7	Zero full track	5,602
8	Ava Adore full track	3,830
9	Perfect full track	3,270
10	Mayonaise full track	2,331
11	Stand Inside Your Love full track	2,229
12	Here Is No Why full track	2,100
13	Thirty-Three full track	2,069
14	Rocket full track	2,048
15	Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness full track	1,982

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indie-cool wrote:
just now

@MrDafman: I do, and I think they both look like that vocalist from that emo band... My Chemical Romance. there, I said it

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danielforster wrote:
1 hour ago

tour, new songs soon, please tall bald man.

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gaz_nokiamusic wrote:
2 hours ago

Gish is the dish you wish!... Still a cracking album, but I can't help but fear another case of 'Ten' syndrome!

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aNTi_mAtTeR wrote:
4 hours ago

im starting to like gish more than anything else.

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optimistic_tour wrote:
5 hours ago

Zeitgeist sounds exactly like Corgan making what he thought people wanted to hear, and not what his personal feelings wanted to do. That's why it's not nearly in any way as good as anything the Smashing Pumpkins released before breaking up almost a decade ago. Both Zwan and the Corgan solo album are better than Z, and I love every single album and b-side collection from before, so I certainly can't be accused of generic "corgan-hate" - it's simply that Zeitgeist was the first album I actively put away to not be listened to again by this band. Which was really sad. I grew up with SP and was upset to know they were "coming back" when he had stated numerous times in the 90s that when the band ended, that would be it, and he wouldn't try to repeat himself. That he'd move on and do something different, etc...

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gaz_nokiamusic wrote:
7 hours ago

@quicksand89: Nice save indeed! @MrDafman: I haven't seen Inglorious Basterds yet but the moment anyone say's look-alike I remember reading somewhere that Billy Corgan said when he had hair people would mistake him for Geena Davis... still makes me chuckle because I can see it!

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MrDafman wrote:
7 hours ago

does anyone else think that Billy Corgan looks like the guy who played Frederik Zoller in Inglorious Basterds? (when he had hair)

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skywake wrote:
10 hours ago

I get that he wanted to make new music but when that music became Zeitgeist you can't be surprised people were unimpressed. There were a few good tracks on it but most of the time the genius was hidden underneath multiple layers of Corgan's not-so-great vocals. I am ok with music that isn't angst, I am over angst as much as Billy Corgan tries to make it sound like he is, but when the replacement for angst is the sound of zombies dying colour me unimpressed.

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AJackWithOneEye wrote:
13 hours ago

Huh? Gish is one of their most important albums. It proved that the Pumpkins could be great without Billy being such a control freak and egomaniac.

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toyboat_toyboat wrote:
14 hours ago

i can understand not liking zeitgeist but you're retarded if you think gish is a bad record

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jacobthebruce wrote:
14 hours ago

i'll give this band a chance.

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Iced_Out wrote:
17 hours ago

lol, nice save.

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quicksand89 wrote:
19 hours ago

.................. are good too!

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AndresCobain wrote:
yesterday evening

i like siamese dream, mellon collie and adore but gish and zeitgeist.............

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kreptoman wrote:
yesterday evening

i consider Siamese Dream their finest moment, altough generaly people say that mellon collie is their best.

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Isab3lla wrote:
yesterday afternoon

I agree with AprilPhantom about Zeitgeist. Anyway, I can't decide only one album that's the best. I love Adore but it would be wrong if I compared that album with SD which I also like a lot. Gish is good, not their best, same with Mellon...

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gaz_nokiamusic wrote:
yesterday morning

@kittensanddoves: Well said, artists will always face the proverbial double-edge sword when making new music... at the end of the day Billy's being true to himself, even if at the expense of fans and for that I respect the dude!

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quicksand89 wrote:
yesterday morning

Its all good stuff c'mon now.

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Iced_Out wrote:
yesterday morning

I loved Machina... Zeit was "meh". First half started out strong for me, the 2nd half was a bore IMO.

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lux_crusader wrote:
yesterday morning

D'arcy wasn't on Machina, or at least not all of it

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