In the summer of 1996, my parents met. My Dad was nineteen years old; musically into post-grunge, nu-metal, and horrorcore rap. My Mom was thirty-six, just recently went through a very bad divorce. Her ex-husband was a real asshole who left her for another woman (he had cheated on her with) because she was willing to have numerous threesomes with any female at the local bar. Well, despite the age gap, they fell in love. My Mom’s favorites artists were Bob Dylan and The Moody Blues. My Dad, fond of the Smashing Pumpkins unconsciously created a bond between their music tastes. Probably like most boomer parents of the 1990s; she admired the ’70s nostalgia of the pumpkins. She always collected vintage antiques and toys; victorian aesthetics were always a part of her. So to no surprise, the album also caught her attention. “That album was the soundtrack to our life, that played as we fell in love.” 

She used to draw pictures of him with his exact features before he was ever born. He resembled a young Chino Moreno from Deftones, in my opinion. We have a home video from october of 1996 and during the last few seconds, a recording of the local radio announces the popularity of ‘mellon collie & the infinite sadness’ as the camera focuses on him working on an automobile. Years later, as I claim mellon collie as my favorite album (and smashing pumpkins being my favorite band) I can’t help but feel it was always fated.