My Zero T-shirt

Marília Maggioni Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, BR

I joined the Smashing Pumpkins Message Board back in the late 90-00’s and made great friends overseas. One of the kindest person there was Sherry, aka Hollasher, and knowing the huge fan I was plus how hard was to find some band stuff here in Brazil those days, she sent me this Zero T-shirt. It is precious to me, like everything related to MCIS, the first SP album I’ve ever listened to and where it all started. 

A reason to live

Melissa McCann California , US

I was about 19 years old when I painted this in 1999. I suffered from severe depression and anxiety. I spent much of my Highschool years confined to mental hospitals. Mellon Collie gave me a connection and release to what I was going through. Painting was also very therapeutic, so it just seemed natural to paint something “Smashing Pumpkins”. I suffered a lot of abuse and felt like taking my life. Feeling so alone but having a connection to lyrics and a sound that moved me literally saved my life. Bullet with Butterfly Wings was my anthem. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your music, and everything. 

Very First Concert

Nicole Semiraro Aberdeen, New Jersey, US

Infinite Sadness tour  February 1, 1997 at the old Charlotte coliseum…. I was 8 years old and my parents took me to my very first concert. Fountains of Wayne opened for SP. Fast forward 24 years later, my parents and I got to see SP again last month at Sea Hear Now. I’m still on cloud 9! 

Rocker boys dig it!

Jenifer Calgary, Alberta, CA

The shirt says “Zero” and had the star, but that’s what it was. It was a journey to find it in long sleeve(like Billy’s). Rocker boys dig it! Whenever someone who knew about SP, saw me wearing it, they would immediately approach me and start a conversation. This pic was taken in the year 2000.

SP saved me

Wim Van Kelst Antwerp, BE

When Mellon came out, I was in my 2nd year of studying for nurse. Emotionally I was going through a tough period and listening to SP helped me to hold on. The concert in Flanders Expo Gent was the highlight of that period. Looking forward to it and the energy of that night saved me from getting depressed. I still remember the amazing light show, Jimmy on drums and the band performing on an extremely high level. Thank you and love to you all @

The world is a vampire

Tim Tarragindi, AU

Playing in my band with my fave shirt of my fave band.  The ‘world is a vampire’ shirt.  Mellon collie had been out afew years by then but it was still a proud time for me to rep the band that inspired me to play in the first place.  

Mellon Collie Tattoo

Matthew SOUTHAMPTON, GB

A tattoo I got back in 2018 or around then. Truly love the Pumpkins and Mellon Collie/Adore are both albums that I felt I could relate to in a very special way. Shoutout to Oceania, doesn’t get enough love. 

Anyways, thanks for the great music, and thanks WPC for our brief but interesting chats we had over direct messaging back in the day! 

Gish and The Rapture

Jay Columbus, OH, US

In the year 2011, I learned to play bass. The album Gish was my “go-to” play along record.  2011 was also the year of “The Rapture”, which was predicted on May 21.

Unsure what to believe, if I would be snatched into the heavens, I sat alone in my apartment complex. It was the 13th floor in an old high rise. I plugged my bass in, turned on “Snail” and played along – 10/10 volume. If I was going out, this is the way I would go.

The moment came and went. That memory will last forever. 

Thanks SP/WPC. Thanks GISH.

Daydream

Ciara Richmond, Va, US

I remember going back and listening to the deluxe version of gish and hearing demos, mixes. And studio versions. I felt so complete after it, like I had come full circle after Siamese Dream, Pisces Iscariot, MCIS, Aeroplanes, and Adore all came out.

Pumpkins Peppers and Pearl Jam ay the Aud in Rochester

Guy Rochester NY, US

Very Influential

Chris Charlotte, US

I made a mixtape for a girl that I had a crush on in High School with songs from Gish on it. The girl still didn’t go out with me, but she did start dressing like Billy Corgan : /

Merch pic

Matty Edmonton, CA

Just wanted to say that the 2012 Oceania tour was absolutely magical, it’s a beautiful album and it was an absolute delight to see performed entirely.

Smashing Pumpkins Reunion Tour

Penny Queens, NY, US

On my way home after seeing the Pumpkins at Jones Beach in August 2019. 

Teenage angst

Ferran Gimeno València, ES

Winter of 2000. 15 year old me. My dad took a picture of me trying to cheer me up, as I just broke my leg playing football, and I just returned from hospital. Music was my way to escape reality. SP were non-stop on my record player. Dawn to Dusk. Twilight to starlight. A lifechanger. 

Playing it out

Gilberto Morales San Juan, Puerto Rico, PR

Smashing Pumpkins have been my favorite band since the first album came out. This is the guitar I learned the first album on. 

Family ties

Jollie San Francisco CA, US

My parents taking me to another amazing pumpkins concert.  My mom is a huge fan since early 90’s and we share the experience of loving the songs!!

Tonight, tonight

Chiara Guidobaldi Foligno, IT

Firenze rocks 2019. One of the last festivals before covid. Your first gig I’ve ever been to. I love you. I miss you. Come back. ❤️

my favorite smashing pumpkins memories

David Gorman Dallas, TX, US

i heard i am one at a record store and I was hooked immediately. I streamed gish on Spotify. Unknowingly i played a song from siamese dream on rock band im pretty sure it was today. and that’s what got me into siamese dream. Which has classics like today, quiet, disarm, cherub rock, mayonaise etc. after siamese dream i heard zero and I got into mellon collie heavy. jellybelly, tonight tonight, zero, take me down, xyu, where boys fear to tread, 1979 etc. I love smashing pumpkins so much

my daydreams

wang xin shenyang, CN

drum, music style & leading vocal is my top triple, billy create a new form of music to hit everyone. whole album is less than 50 minutes, but feel more than 24 hours, what a masterpiece!

mirror

Reza Medan, ID

infinity sadness tour is my wishlist from smashing pumpkins 

First tour and MTV

Mark Philadelphia, PA, US

Seeing them on a bill for the first time opening for the chili Peppers in New York , with then unknown band Pearl Jam on the list, MTV interviewed people after the show asking what they thought of the opening act , I went on and raved about Smashing Pumpkins blowing everyone away , and they stopped me and they said “ no, we mean Pearl Jam”  When Pearl Jam got famous first I realized the politics in the music biz was real, because Smashing Pumpkins blew everyone away and MTV only wanted to talk about Pearl Jam.  

16th Birthday

David Piet Buffalo Grove, Illinois, US

July 19, 1997, Saturday afternoon… I got my driver’s license in the morning at the Libertyville DMV. My older sister was nice enough to let me take her car that day, a metallic green Jetta with a 6 disc changer in the trunk. I dropped Gish in and drove around listening to that album on repeat. I’d listened to it a zillion times before that day and certainly 10 zillion times since but for whatever reason, that day, that moment, a scorching hot, sunny summer afternoon, driving up and down Lake Cook Road, every time I hear Snail, I think of that day. It was perfect.

saved by the bell

willem Sint-Niklaas, BE

i remember laura-ann, writing me a letter

i remember concetta (M)

i remember hearing (TM) a doorbell ring, on snail…

i remember wondering why, and why not

in my memory, 300 characters are not enough

legacy

Megan clemson, SC, US

The smashing pumpkins have always eluded me, having been born a year after their debut album released. I grew up listening to rock music, following the footsteps of my older cousin who loved the pumpkins. Besides adoring “1979”, I was pretty intimidated by them. They seemed too.. intense and smart for me, even though no other band has ever seemed that way to me before. I think I projected the sort of reverence I felt for my cousin onto them. He was always a little too great for me to cling to, I admired him more than I could understand. He was always out of reach. He always wore his ZERO shirt in high school. He took his own life last summer, I was devastated. I got to keep one of the shirts in his closet, and I picked his ZERO shirt, though not really feeling much like a SP fan yet. It’s sat in the back of my closet for months until a few months ago, while looking for clothes, I felt hypnotically compelled to grab a hold of the shirt and just.. be with it. Later that week, amongst his old collection of books and dvd’s his family has kept, I found the music video collection and decided to watch it instinctively. I was immediately so impressed. I had no idea Gish was so beautiful. I’m so in love. I just wish I could ask him what he thought of these songs. The CD for Mellon Collie is kept in the cabinet with his ashes. I know their music comforted him a lot in his life. Thank you smashing pumpkins. 

Trip to the Mall

Rizzo E Longmeadow, US

It was probably 1998… maybe ’97 so I was probably 12… I had fallen in love with the singles from Adore that were coming out and had gotten melon collie which was just such a juggernaut of an album… I was very quickly becoming a fan. My mom brought me to the mall because I had “earned” a new cd.. these mall trips back then served as a chance for me to fill in my pumpkins collection for what I had missed. I walked into Sam Goody and decided on Gish. Took it home and the rest is history. From that day (probably 12, in 6th grade), until now my very favorite song in the world is Rhinoceros. 

Going Fishing

Alexander Mount Vernon, US

I was on vacation with my friends family in the summer 1999. We went to the Florida keys for week.  We went fishing on the boat first time for me. We used live bait to catch Fish.  On that trip I took my CD player with me and listened to Gish on the boat and at the condo. One day I felt like I was sick so I stayed in bed listening to Gish my friends mom said I needed to get out and enjoy the vacation…. I won’t forget feeling sea sick on the boat and.listening to Gish….    One of those memories.