Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness changed my life. I got it in my Easter basket when I was 15 years old, and I have never been the same. I was a sad teenager, and the music held me like a cradle. It gave me hope that there were people out there like me. It inspired my writing (I would much later in life go on to get my masters in wriring). I saw a picture of Billy Corgan at a radio station, and it dawned on me, in my bedroom that day, that radio and music would be my career path. I celebrate 26 years in radio this year. I’ll never forget hearing Porcelina for the first time on my Discman, lying down on my daybed, just overcome with a wash of emotion for music that never went away after that night.

Mellon Collie opened up the floodgates of creativity and belonging for me. It shaped me in innumerable ways and I’ve been grateful for it every single day for the past thirty years.