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At the age of 19, Billy Corgan left Chicago, Illinois, moving to Florida with his Goth band The Marked. The band had limited success and quickly dissolved, and Corgan returned to Chicago, taking a job in a record store. There he met guitarist James Iha and they began writing songs with the aid of a drum machine. In 1988, Corgan met bassist D'Arcy Wretzky at a gig in Chicago and the two became friends; she would join the band shortly after, and Wretsky and Iha would eventually have a personal relationship. Though they played their first gig with a drum machine, jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was brought in to the band after a local club owner agreed to book the Pumpkins provided they threw out the drum machine and recruited a human drummer instead.
In 1990, they released their first record, a limited edition single called "I Am One" on local Chicago label Limited Potential. The single sold out and they released another single, "Tristessa" on Sub Pop Records after which they signed to Virgin Records. To give them indie credibility, Virgin matched the band with Sonic Youth producer Butch Vig and released their 1991 debut album Gish on Virgin subsidary label Caroline Records. Named after actress Lillian Gish, the record fused heavy guitars, psychedelia and dream pop and went on to become a minor success.
During the Gish tour Iha and Wretsky went through a messy breakup, Chamberlin became addicted to drugs and alchohol and Corgan entered a deep depression. To counteract his depression, Corgan worked overtime, playing all of the guitar, bass and vocal tracks for the 1993 follow up album, Siamese Dream. He went on record saying if the record didn't sell well, the band would break up. Siamese Dream sold four million copies in the US, and the videos for the songs "Today" and "Disarm" garnered the Pumpkins international attention.
In 1994, Virgin released a B-sides/rarities compilation Pisces Iscariot, and a live CD/VHS set entitled Earphoria and Vieuporia, respectively. The latter two were re-released in 2002, with Vieuphoria released on DVD.
Following relentless touring to support the recordings, the band went back into the studio with producer Flood to work on what Corgan described as "The Wall of the '90s," in comparison with Pink Floyd's famous double concept album. The result was Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double-disc (triple on vinyl!) album release with over 2 hours of music. While the idea of an overriding concept was dropped somewhere along the way, Mellon Collie became even more successful than Siamese Dream, selling over twelve million copies worldwide. It also garnered seven 1996 Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year.
The band's fortunes changed significantly on July 12, 1996, when touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of a heroin overdose in New York City, and Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession. Chamberlin was subsequently fired.
Though the band continued to record and tour, their profile had taken a marked downturn. Recorded following the passing of Corgan's mother, 1998's Adore album represented a significant change of style incorporating electronica, trimming much of the guitar-driven sonic underpinnings and infused with a much heavier mood. Adore received mixed reactions from fans and critics alike. Shortly following the release of Adore, Corgan declared rock to be dead due to a general lack of creativity amongst other rock artists, a statement that angered many fans as well as the rock/metal music press.
The return of a rehabilitated Jimmy Chamberlin for 2000's MACHINA/The Machines of God signaled a return to a more familiar Pumpkins sound, but failed to widely connect with fans. MACHINA also brought Corgan's desire to write a concept album to fruition.
The band's lineup changed again at this point. Bass player Wretzky departed during the recording of MACHINA/The Machines of God, and former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited for the "Sacred and Profane" tour in support of the album.
In May 2000, Billy Corgan announced the band's decision to disband at the end of that year following additional touring and recording. In a first for an established band, the group's final album, MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, was released in September 2000 in a limited pressing on vinyl with permission and instructions for free redistribution on the internet by fans. The Smashing Pumpkins' final commercial recording was a single, "Untitled".
On December 2, 2000, Smashing Pumpkins played their final concert at The Metro, the same Chicago club where their career had effectively started twelve years earlier.
Smashing Pumpkins won many awards during their careers (including two Grammy awards: Hard Rock Performance 1996 for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", and Hard Rock Performance 1997 for "The End Is the Beginning Is the End"), headlined several major tours, appeared on a few movie soundtracks and released an impressive number of songs in a fairly short time.
Corgan and Chamberlin would reunite in 2001 as members of Corgan's next project, the shortlived Zwan. Their only album, Mary Star Of The Sea, was released to mixed reviews, and after cancelling a few festival appearances Corgan announced the demise of the band in 2003.
On February 17, 2004, Billy Corgan posted a bitter message on his personal blog calling Wretzky a "mean spirited drug addict" and blaming Iha for the breakup of Smashing Pumpkins.
Discography
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