The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are a _____ (enter label here. Suggested are: rock, hard rock, alternative, pop, techno) band from Chicago, IL.
The band presently consists of Billy Corgan (vocals, guitar), D'arcy Wretzky-Brown (bass, other vocals), and James Iha (guitar, other vocals).
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BAND:
Believe it or not, this is as brief as it's going to get: The band started when Billy met James, a graphic arts student, and the two started writing "Doomy little goth-pop songs together".
Meanwhile, D'arcy, a young lady from Michigan, was stranded in Chicago and it's very fortunate that happened. One night, Billy and D'arcy met at a Chicago nite club and got into an argument supposedly about the band that was playing that night. Having learned D'arcy played bass, Billy was interested and invited her to play with him. Despite the very nervous state she was in, Billy decided she was nice and asked her to join a band with him and James. The band played a few gigs at the Metro, owned by Joe Shanahan, but Joe told them that their drum machine just wasn't cutting it. He introduced them to a young jazz drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin.
Jimmy worked out well, and the band released it's first album Gish in 1991.
The success continued and Siamese Dream was released in 1993. Hits off SD include Cherub Rock, Today, Rocket and Disarm.
By 1995, the fans were waiting anxiously for a follow-up to the last, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was released with the track list as long as the name. Hits off Mellon Collie include Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Zero, 1979, Tonight Tonight and Thirty-Three.
The band toured for 18 months around the world on their Infinite Sadness tour. As record sales began to climb drastically, Mellon Collie is now the best-selling double album of all time.
Everything seemed to be going so well for the Pumpkins until one night in New York when Jimmy and the touring keyboardist, Johnathan, overdosed on drugs. Jimmy recovered. Johnathan didn't. This tragedy made Billy, James and D'arcy wake up and finally realize that Jimmy's problems just weren't going to go away. They fired him a few days later, still continuing the rest of the tour with Filter drummer, Matt Walker and The Frogs keyboardist Jimmy Flemion.
Still recovering from the bliss of the supreme Pumpkin madness Mellon Collie had caused, pumpkin fans were waiting for a new album. There were rumors flying that the new album would be all techno or all acoustic. No one knew for sure, but in June '98, Adore was released. With the first single Ava Adore taking over the radio, MuchMusic and MTV, some fans were delighted, some turned off. I find the album fabulous. With the new use of computers in making songs, it creates new sounds for the band, but they still have the original sound as they always have.
Their new single Perfect was just released this week, continuing the theme of the 1979 video.
My Graphic Arts Project, switching around Pumpkin heads!
A recent D'arcy picture, screaming with horns
Billy, D'arcy and James
Live D'arcy, Winnipeg Arena, MB Sept. 24/96
Live Billy, Winnipeg Arena, MB Sept. 24/96
Another Graphics Project: A Pumpkins Notepad!
Billy, James, D'arcy and me (btw, this is another Multi-Media project, but can you tell??)
A great pic of D'arcy
Laying on a sidewalk
Pumpkins on the Simpsons
Group picture
Misc:
The Smashing Pumpkins @ Winnipeg Arena Review
NEW: SMASHING PUMPKINS IN-STORE, my story