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The Smashing Pumpkins are an American Alternative Rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988.Although frequently referred to as simply "Smashing Pumpkins," and credited as such on the covers of ''Gish'', ''Siamese Dream'', and ''Zeitgeist'' (and related singles), the band's name has more often been presented as "The Smashing Pumpkins," dating back to their first demo tape, and exclusively so between 1995's ''Mellon Collie'' and 2002's ''Earphoria''. While the group has gone through several lineup changes, The Smashing Pumpkins consisted of Billy Corgan ( Vocals / Guitar ), James Iha ( Guitar / Vocals ), D'arcy Wretzky ( Bass / Vocals ), and Jimmy Chamberlin ( Drums / Percussion ) for most of the band's recording career. Disavowing the the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered, and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of Gothic Rock , Heavy Metal , Dream Pop , Psychedelic Rock , Progressive Rock , Shoegazer -style production and, in later recordings, Electronica . Frontman Billy Corgan is the group's primary songwriter—his grand musical ambitions and cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's albums and songs, which have been described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land."Shaw, William. "Appetite for Destruction." ''Details''. December 1993. The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the musical mainstream with their second album, 1993's '' (guitar/vocals), Ginger Reyes (bass/vocals), and Lisa Harriton (keyboard/vocals) in 2007 to tour behind their new release, '' Zeitgeist ''. HISTORY Early years: 1988–1991 , D'arcy Wretzky , Billy Corgan , Jimmy Chamberlin .]] At the age of nineteen, singer and guitarist Billy Corgan left his native Chicago , Illinois , moving to St. Petersburg , Florida with his Gothic Rock band The Marked . The band had limited success and quickly broke up. Corgan returned to Chicago, taking a job in a record store. While working there, he met guitarist James Iha. Adorning themselves with Paisley and other psychedelic trappings, the two began writing songs together (with the aid of a Drum Machine ) that were heavily influenced by The Cure and New Order .Kot, Greg. "Pumpkin Seeds," ''Guitar World''. January 2002. Corgan met bassist D'arcy Wretzky in 1988 after a show by the Dan Reed Network where they argued the merits of the band. After finding out Wretzky played bass, Corgan stated his band's need for a bassist and gave Wretzky his telephone number. Wretzky soon joined the band, and she and Iha later had a short-lived romance.3 The first performance of The Smashing Pumpkins was on . After this show, Cabaret Metro owner Joe Shanahan agreed to book the band on the condition that they replace the drum machine with a live drummer. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was recruited for the band after a recommendation from a friend of Corgan's. Chamberlin was at first an unlikely match, as he knew nothing of alternative rock at the time. As Corgan recalled of the period, "We were completely into the sad-rock, Cure kind of thing. It took about two or three practices before I realized that the power in his playing was something that enabled us to rock harder than we could ever have imagined." On October 5 , 1988 , the complete band took the stage for the first time at the Cabaret Metro. Although not an official member of the band at this point, Chamberlin would soon be announced as such, and the complete four-person lineup from this first show at the Metro would be unchanged for the next seven years. In 1989, the group had recorded a handful of demo tapes, which appeared later on the bootleg release ''. writing some songs for the upcoming album in the parking garage where he lived at the time.8 Mainstream success: 1992–1994 With the breakthrough of alternative rock into the American mainstream due to the popularity of Grunge bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam , The Smashing Pumpkins were poised for major commercial success. At this time, and amid their protests, the Pumpkins were routinely lumped in with the grunge movement. In a Halloween night interview on MTV 's '' 120 Minutes '' in 1993, Corgan remarked, "We've graduated now from called 'the next Jane's Addiction' to 'the next Nirvana,' now we're 'the next Pearl Jam.'"9 The group nevertheless contributed the song " Drown " to the platinum-selling soundtrack of the 1992 movie '' Singles '', a film set in the Seattle grunge music scene. '' (2001). They performed "Geek U.S.A." live with fifty professional Corgan said that in the wake of Nirvana's landmark 1991 album '' Nevermind '', "We felt a great pressure that if we didn't come up with a record that was huge, we were done. It was that simple in our minds. We felt like our lives depended on it." Corgan's depression deepened to the point where he contemplated Suicide .10 Corgan has said on various occasions—most notably during the band's 2000 performance on ''VH1 Storytellers''—that " Today " was written as an ironic statement about this period of suicidial thoughts. See also 11 To counteract his depression, Corgan worked overtime, saying he practically lived in the studio for the 1993 follow-up album, '' Siamese Dream ''. The album was recorded at Triclops Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia , mostly between December 1992 and March 1993. The band lived in Marietta during the sessions, as Butch Vig reprised his role as producer. The decision to record so far away from their hometown was motivated partly by the band's desire to avoid local friends and distractions during the recording, but largely as a desperate attempt to cut Chamberlin off from his known drug connections. In this respect, the strategy failed, as Chamberlin quickly managed to find new connections and often was absent without any contact for days at a time. The recording environment was very difficult, and the band fought constantly. The contemporary music press portrayed Corgan as a tyrant during the recording sessions. Corgan admitted there was some truth to the accusations, though he felt the press misunderstood the situation.Mundy, Chris. "Strange Fruit: Success Has Come at a High Price for this Chicago Band," ''Rolling Stone''. April 21 , 1994 . Rumors circulated that he had recorded all the guitar and bass parts himself. It was never confirmed exactly how much each member participated on the album; Corgan did say he performed a majority of the guitar work, but only because he could record tracks and parts in far fewer takes.Azerrad, Michael. "Smashing Pumpkins' Sudden Impact," ''Rolling Stone''. October 1 , 1993 . In all, it took over four months to complete the record, with the budget exceeding $250,000. Despite all the problems in its recording, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at number ten on the '' Billboard '' charts, and sold over four million copies in the U.S. alone.12 MTV put the Videos for the songs " Today " and " Disarm " into heavy rotation, garnering the Pumpkins international attention. While the Pumpkins were successful, they were not universally adored by the alternative rock community. Participants in the indie scene had derided the band as careerists since their early days. Indie Rock band Pavement's 1994 song "Range Life" refers to the band with the lines "I don't understand what they mean/And I could really give a fuck," which have been widely interpreted as an insult (although Stephen Malkmus , lead singer of Pavement, has stated "I never dissed their music. I just dissed their status.").13 Former Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould called them "the grunge Monkees ," and fellow Chicago musician/producer Steve Albini wrote a scathing letter in response to an article praising the band. He countered that the Pumpkins were no more alternative than REO Speedwagon and said they were created "by, of and for the mainstream" and "stylistically appropriate for the current college party scene, but ultimately insignificant."Albini, Steve. "Three Pandering Sluts and Their Music-Press Stooge," ''Chicago Reader''. January 28 , 1994 . Others such as Courtney Love of Hole (who dated Corgan before marrying Nirvana's Kurt Cobain ) were vocal supporters of the band. In 1994, Virgin released the B-side s/rarities compilation '' Pisces Iscariot '' which outperformed ''Siamese Dream'' by reaching number four on the ''Billboard'' charts. Also released was a VHS cassette titled '' Vieuphoria '' featuring a mix of live performances and behind-the-scenes footage. Following relentless touring to support the recordings, including headline slots on the 1994 Lollapalooza tour and at Reading Festival in 1995, the band took time off to write the follow-up album. ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'': 1995–1997 Corgan worked nonstop over the next year and wrote, according to statements in interviews, about fifty-six songs for the next album. 14 Following this spell of concentrated creativity, the Pumpkins went back into the studio with producers Flood and Alan Moulder to work on what Corgan described as "'' The Wall '' for Generation X ,"DeRogatis, pp. 46, 80. a comparison with Pink Floyd 's famous two-LP Concept Album . The result was '' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness '', a Double Album featuring twenty-eight songs and lasting over two hours (the vinyl version of the album contained three records, two extra songs, and an alternate tracklisting). The songs were intended to hang together conceptually as a symbol of the cycle of life and death. Praised by '' Time '' as "the group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet,"Farley, Christopher John. "A Journey, Not a Joyride." ''Time''. November 13 , 1995 . ''Mellon Collie'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' charts in October 1995. Even more successful than ''Siamese Dream'', it was certified nine times platinum in the United States15 Sales for double albums are counted for each disc, thus 4.5 million copies of the double album package have been certified. and became the best-selling double album of the decade to date.16 It also garnered seven 1997 Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year. The band won only the Best Hard Rock Performance award, for the album's lead single " Bullet With Butterfly Wings ." The album spawned five singles—"Bullet with Butterfly Wings," " 1979 ," " Zero ," " Tonight, Tonight ," and " Thirty-Three "—of which the first three were certified gold and all but "Zero" entered the Top 40. Many of the remaining songs that did not make it onto ''Mellon Collie'' were released as B-sides to the singles, and were eventually compiled in '' The Aeroplane Flies High '' box set. As a testament to the band's popularity, Virgin Records originally intended to limit the set to 200,000 copies, but produced more after the original run sold out due to overwhelming demand.17 In 1996, the Pumpkins embarked on an extended world tour in support of ''Mellon Collie''. Corgan's look during this period—a shaved head, a longsleeve black shirt with the word "Zero" printed on it, and silver pants—became iconic.18 That year, the band also made a guest appearance in an episode of '' The Simpsons '', " Homerpalooza ." With considerable video rotation on MTV, major industry awards, and "Zero" shirts selling in many Mall s, the Pumpkins were considered one of the most popular bands of the time.1920 But the year was far from entirely positive for the band. In May, the Smashing Pumpkins played a gig at The Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The venue was overcrowded and despite the band's repeated requests for Mosh ing to stop, a seventeen-year-old fan named Bernadette O'Brien was crushed to death. The concert ended early and the following night's performance in Belfast was cancelled out of respect for her.21 However, while Corgan maintained that moshing’s “time {Link without Title} come and gone,” the band would continue to request open-floor concerts throughout the rest of the tour.22 The band suffered a personal tragedy on the night of July 11 , 1996 , when touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin and Chamberlin overdosed on Heroin in a hotel room in New York City . Melvoin died, and Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession. A few days later, the band announced that Chamberlin had been fired as a result of the incident.23 The Pumpkins chose to finish the tour with another drummer and keyboardist, a decision that Corgan later said was the worst the band had ever made, damaging both their music and their reputation. Meanwhile the band had given interviews since the release of ''Mellon Collie'' stating that it would be the last conventional Pumpkins record,Di Perna, Alan. "Zero Worship," ''Guitar World''. December 1995. and that rock was becoming stale. James Iha said at the end of 1996, "The future is in electronic music. It really seems boring just to play rock music."Graff, Gary. "Smashing Pumpkins—Rave of the Future," ''Guitar World''. December 1996. ''Adore'', ''Machina'', and breakup: 1998–2000 After the release of ''Mellon Collie'', the Pumpkins contributed multiple songs to various compilations. Released in early 1997, the song “ Eye ” relied almost exclusively on electronic instruments and signaled a drastic shift from the Pumpkins’ previous musical styles. At the time, Corgan stated his "idea {Link without Title} to reconfigure the focus and get away from the classic guitars-bass-drum rock format.”24 Later that year, the group contributed " The End Is The Beginning Is The End " to the Soundtrack for the film '' Batman & Robin ''. With Matt Walker on drums, the song featured a heavy sound similar to "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" while still having strong electronic influences. The song later won the 1998 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance . Though Corgan announced that the song represented the sound people could expect from the band in the future,25 the band’s next album would feature few guitar driven songs. Recorded following the death of Corgan's mother and his divorce, 1998's '' Adore '' represented a significant change of style from the Pumpkins' previous guitar-based rock, veering into electronica. The record, cut with assistance from studio drummers and drum machines, was infused with a darker aesthetic than much of the band's earlier work. The group also modified its public image, shedding its alternative hipster look for a more subdued appearance. Although ''Adore'' received favorable reviews and was nominated for Best Alternative Performance at the Grammy Awards, the album had only sold about 830,000 copies in the United States by the end of the year, which lead the music industry to consider it a failure.26 The album nonetheless sold three times as many copies overseas. On June 30 , 1998 , the band embarked on a seventeen-date, fifteen-city charity North American tour in support of ''Adore''. At each stop on the tour, the band donated 100 percent of tickets sales to a local charity organization. The tour's expenses were entirely funded out of the band's own pockets. All told, the band donated over $2.8 million to charity as a result of the tour.27
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