An introductory drum roll drops out and is replaced by a single suspended electric guitar, which is then paralleled by a snare, filled in with the bass, and--crash!--"Cherub... read more

An introductory drum roll drops out and is replaced by a single suspended electric guitar, which is then paralleled by a snare, filled in with the bass, and--crash!--"Cherub Rock," the opening track, is enveloped in an explosion of metal guitar. So the journey begins. This album is pre-experimentation vintage Pumpkins. Produced by Butch Vig (Garbage, Sonic Youth, Nirvana's Nevermind), Siamese Dream is first about guitars. Lots and lots of guitars. A very close second is Jimmy Chamberlain's unquestionably excellent power drumming. Throughout each song, Billy Corgan delivers angsty lyrics in his signature breathy whine. "Disarm" is a nice intermission halfway though the album. As the title of the song suggests, it throws the listener into a different mood with its full string arrangements and radiant orchestral chimes. But then it is back to the aural masochism--a pain that rarely sounds so sweet. --Beth Bessmer (hide)

Emotionally over-the-top pop extravaganzas like the string-swelling "Tonight Tonight," the Metallica-influenced alternative rock of "Zero," the techno via new wave of "1979"--the 28 songs on this swell two-disc... read more

Emotionally over-the-top pop extravaganzas like the string-swelling "Tonight Tonight," the Metallica-influenced alternative rock of "Zero," the techno via new wave of "1979"--the 28 songs on this swell two-disc album are as eclectic as their themes are epic and ambitious. Billy Corgan's thin whine isn't much of an instrument, but he makes the most of it by writing smart songs that take emotional chances that more-typical alt rockers would deem uncool. Pessimistic and feeling trapped but still wanting to believe in love, in a future, in something--this is the sound of Gen X at the millennium, with all the self-indulgence and power that would suggest. --David Cantwell (hide)

Upon the release of Gish--the group's debut--in the summer of 1991, more than one rock aficionado hailed the Smashing Pumpkins as the best band to come out of... read more

Upon the release of Gish--the group's debut--in the summer of 1991, more than one rock aficionado hailed the Smashing Pumpkins as the best band to come out of Chicago since Ministry. A bold statement, yes, but one backed up by Billy Corgan's Hendrix-like riffs and searing signature guitar tone. Intriguing songwriting is evidenced from the start as well, with the driving, amped-up rock of "I Am One," "Siva," and "Tristessa" contrasted with the soothingly eerie psychedelic flavor of "Rhinoceros" and "Window Paine." Gish predates the band's movement toward the loop-based electronic sounds heard in their late-'90s works, yet the seeds for this transition are definitely apparent. Electro guru Tricky even sampled the backbeat from "Suffer" in the tributary "Pumpkin" on his sex-soaked Maxinquaye. Butch Vig shows off his chops as producer and cultivates signature dramatic moods on Gish, which helped put the Smashing Pumpkins on the map as one of the most important alt-rock bands of the '90s--much to the delight of the decade's disenfranchised youth. --Brad Zinser (hide)

With Adore, Smashing Pumpkins return to the forefront of rock to do a dance with a new partner. Trading white-noise vocals and guitars for caramel crooning and dense... read more

With Adore, Smashing Pumpkins return to the forefront of rock to do a dance with a new partner. Trading white-noise vocals and guitars for caramel crooning and dense synthesizers, frontman Billy Corgan drives bandmates James Iha and D'Arcy to a lush aural plateau. The darkness is still there--evidenced in the techno throb of the single "Ava Adore"--but the Pumpkins also tinker with Lennonesque lullabyes ("Behold! The Night Mare"), midtempo electronica ("Appels and Oranjes"), and tender calliope music ("Once Upon a Time"). Smartly, Corgan rarely upstages the watery sounds going on behind him; the trademark midsong blowouts are almost completely absent. Adore will strike your ears and heart in a way you didn't think the Smashing Pumpkins could. --Jason Josephes (hide)

With the doubters hovering round his band following the rock-is-dead pronouncement that preceded the flawed electronic dabblings of Adore, Machina finds Billy Corgan desperate to prove everyone, not... read more

With the doubters hovering round his band following the rock-is-dead pronouncement that preceded the flawed electronic dabblings of Adore, Machina finds Billy Corgan desperate to prove everyone, not least himself, wrong. On their fifth album, the Pumpkins attempt to reclaim the higher ground they dominated with the peerless Siamese Dream and the sprawling 28-track opus Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. As a result, they hit the ground running on Machina, exploding into life with "The Everlasting Gaze" and its firestorm of guitars and heavy metaphysical thunder. There are some quintessential Pumpkins moments here, notably "Stand Inside Your Love," which soars away on a spiraling guitar solo, and "Try, Try, Try," which taps into Corgan's ever-present melancholy. At 73 minutes long, Machina overstays its welcome, beginning to flag, ironically, at the self-aggrandizing "Heavy Metal Machine." No matter--the Pumpkins have made their point with brutal grace. --Mike Pattenden (hide)

The Smashing Pumpkins' greatest-hits album, Rotten Apples, traces the band's evolution (or devolution, depending on your feelings about the band's radical sonic shift in the mid-'90s) from its... read more

The Smashing Pumpkins' greatest-hits album, Rotten Apples, traces the band's evolution (or devolution, depending on your feelings about the band's radical sonic shift in the mid-'90s) from its early days to its status among the kings of alt rock. For fans of the Pumpkins' beginnings as a tripped-out indie/art rock act, Apples opens with some of the band's strongest material. "Siva" and "Rhinoceros" (from Gish, the Pumpkin's first--and arguably best--album) seamlessly mixed dream pop with noisy goth-rock as prime examples of the Pumpkins' early '90s sound. Apples also showcases three stellar tracks ("Cherub Rock," "Today," and "Disarm") from Siamese Dream, the Pumpkins' breakout album. This disc makes the band's mid-'90s directional swing obvious, though, starting with "Bullet with Butterfly Wings," the aggressive alt rock/alt metal concoction released on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Fans of songs like "Zero," "Tonight, Tonight," and "The Everlasting Gaze" will be happy to know that pretty much every cage-rattling hit made it to this disc, along with the previously unreleased dream pop track "Real Love" and an untitled new track (that sounds a lot like the Siamese Dream-era Pumpkins) to round out the mix. --Jennifer Maerz (hide)

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track (hide)

The Smashing Pumpkins are a big rock band, molded by leader Billy Corgan after stadium and progressive rock giants from the Seventies. As such it's only fitting that... read more

The Smashing Pumpkins are a big rock band, molded by leader Billy Corgan after stadium and progressive rock giants from the Seventies. As such it's only fitting that after only two albums they would release a collection of B-sides. The result, Pisces Iscariot, is not only a good compendium to their other work, but it's a very good record in its own right. Most of the 14 tracks follow the Pumpkins' blueprint, traveling sonically from soft to loud and back again. Among the slew of originals previously available on singles and imports is a hauntingly beautiful cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide." Surprisingly there's less fat here than on 1995's bloated Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. --Greg Emmanuel (hide)