
We will always remember, Tonight
David Toronto, Ontario , CA
Mellon Collie has made an indelible impact on my life, leading me down the rabbit hole, from exploring SP’s vast catalogue to going to my first paid concert to connecting with fans around the world. “1979” drew me in but it was another song that got me hooked. I remember my brother bringing home Mellon Collie. From the first swell of strings, I was so enthralled by “Tonight, Tonight” that I demanded we play it again and again that night. I connected with the song so deeply that it’s the first SP CD I bought and I would later get it signed by the band. I had its poster block mounted and my wife even made me a beautiful custom cake inspired by the video for my birthday this past summer. While Mellon Collie as a whole is a masterpiece, “Tonight, Tonight” remains my favorite song of all time by any artist.
Blasphemy In My Old Jangly Walk
Mathew Hudson Arnold, MO, US
When I was 16, my parents got me my first digital music player: an iPod Shuffle 2nd Gen. (The first one that was really tiny, didnt have a screen, and had a clip on the back). It was criminally limited with only 1GB of storage but given the fact it was 2007 and up until that point I was still carrying around a CD Player and a CD wallet, I was stoked to have it and instantly loaded it up with music and was practically updating that thing like everyday with new music. Since I could only have a handful songs on it, I usually stuck to only adding a selection of songs from a bands album instead of the whole thing but I couldn’t help but make an exception for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The album wasnt new to me by any means as I heard it for the first time a few years earlier when a friend of mine put it on in their car and always remembering how blown away I was while listening to introductory title track. As much as I loved the album and had pretty much every song off both discs, I had never listened to it from start to finish, all at once, in order. And now that I had my iPod, I didnt have to swap out discs to do that. So one Saturday morning, I decided to go for a walk and listen to entire thing, not ending my walk and not going back home until it had ended. Needless to say, it was a very long and exhausting trip I made walking all around my hometown but it was more than worth it to hear the album in its entirety as a whole. That experience has always been not only one of my favorite memories I’ve had that’s associated with music but one of the most important memories of mine as well. Oh and final side note, there have been so many albums I’ve listened to that have had just some incredible closing tracks on them but none of them will ever be as powerful and as moving like Farewell and Goodnight is.

Accepting Zero
Guillermo Leon Restrepo Brentwood, New York, US
Finding MCIS was the the first time I can really connect and relate to music in a personal way, and has helped me accept who I am, and I’m glad to say I’m more sure of myself now. When Smashing Pumpkins announced the SAOSB tour, you best believe I instantly got myself a ticket and it was the first concert I been to, and will cherish it for the rest of my life!

My school was hell, but SP save me.
Stephanie Martínez Santiago de Chile, CL
Is not that I hated school, but I hated my classmates. This music free me from all that machism abuse that existed around me. My corrosive character on mondays it was for the same reason, I hated to go to school because, I was useless to know how to stop been abused. And then, I took refuge in my music. Mcis was like my wall. The one that gave me strength after the blows that my teammates gave me and the mistreatment of my colleagues. It was my only escape route. I don’t remember what exactly happened at that time, I just remember having my shredded siamese dream cassette in my jacket, and the mcis disc 2 in my cassette player. I don’t remember how I get hurt, I only remember SP.
Peace in Uncertainty
Nick Scottsdale, AZ, US
This album saved me. When I got it, my family had to move in with my grandparents. It was a hard time for all of us. Listening to this album on repeat brought me peace.Thanks, SP!
1979
Jean Santacoloma Bogotá, CO
At that time I was on Army service year. I had to save three months of payment for buying that album, but worth it. Then I heard 1979 song, and I felt like a little tribute, for us 16eeners. Thank you
Joy/Tears/Friendship/Love/Loss
Blake Indianapolis, IN, US
This album was everything at a time I most needed it. It had more than an impact, it forged my path in many ways. Struggles, hope, faith… everything. My best friend and I are forever connected because of it.
From my crush to Cancun
Chio Cancun, MX
MCIS was my first aproach to SP. I listened Tonight in my crushed’ car and I fall inmediatly in love. Months later I moved on at the other side of the country, Cancun and it was the soundtrack of this new life. I was listening Porcelina during a travel boat to Cozumel, and a group of dolphins came out, jumping near the boat!!! My tattoo is from the art of MCI.
Stateside
Gregg Elkridge, MD, US
I returned from 4 years in Germany serving in the US Army on October 26, 1995. I landed in Boston setting foot on US soil for the first time in 4 years and insisted in the ride home to N.H. That we stop at a record store so I could pick up MCIS. The next 7 days as I reacquainted with home, friends and family I also acquainted with this masterpiece! Thank You!
An album as my savior
Guillermo Larios Veracruz, MX
I was battling crippling depression during high school, I was presented with MICS and once I picked it up, couldn’t put it down. Made me understand that it was okay to be depressed and that things would get better. I’m a doctor now and help those with mental health issues on my free time. Thanks, SP!

Power
Sanithna Atlanta, GA, US
The night before the release, I remember sitting in front of my radio, my face inches away from the speakers, eagerly listening to the broadcast of the Riviera Theatre concert. The excitement of hearing the band in real time, “live,” just on the other side of the radio, playing with such energy and ferocity, filled me with so much excitement. Even my anticipation hadn’t been enough to prepare me for the new songs. When the power went out in Chicago, I scrambled to find extra cassettes to keep recording. I knew that I would run out of tape and I didn’t want to miss a single minute. At one point, my dad came in to my room and I was smiling from ear to ear, staring at the EQ lights, overflowing with joy, and he sat with me to listen to the entirety of “X.Y.U.” Looking back now, that night made it pretty clear that MCIS was an entirely different beast. It was, from ambition to execution, levels and evolutions beyond everything that had come before it (even my beloved “Drown”).
I spent all of my saved money on the tour’s merch, which gave me a pretty heavy rotation of shirts to wear, but the one in this picture was my absolute favorite.

my boy wearing MCIS shirt
Agung Nugroho Jogjakarta, ID
I have a son and his name is Abisatya Nugroho..we used to call him ATA….my boy was born in 17th March 2012…so whenever Billy Corgan celebrate his B-Day, I celebrate two events… my boy’s and Billy’s…and you know what,… whenever I play 1979 in my car while we’re going to work and school, my boy loves this song sooo much… that’s why i wanted to buy him an SP shirt as a Birthday Gift…so i found this shirt and took a picture of my boy wearing it..by the way, i want my SP collectibles item would be a legacy to my son someday

I stopped the idea of killing my self because of Billy
Michelle Dvorak Connecticut , US
Billy Corgan literally saved my life by being so public about his depression

Small Night Club
Anna DeVicariis San Diego, CA, US
Seeing a big band at a small night club. I was so happy to hear that the band was playing a local club that my friends and I frequent at. Even better to get a rare ticket with art done by the band. A one of a kind ticket that was limited. Smashing Pumpkins helped me get through my teen year’s. No matter what mood they had a song. Thank you SP for always being there.
Sing a Long
Aaron Wait Adelaide, South Australia , AU
As a teen my friend was lucky enough to be looking after his uncles $40,000 professional karaoke machine. We used to sing the whole double album from beginning to end.
Only good memory from my high school years
Luz Yalj Buenos Aires, AR
My high school years were hard. Not many friends, different interests and background from that of my classmates. My best friend of those years passed away this very day, Oct 23rd, in 2012. Her name was Sole, and when MCIS came out we were 15 and we used to play. it day and night. I treasure this album enormously and will play it today as usual, as an homage to both SP and Sole.
Poetry
Cheyney Idyllwild-Pine Cove, US
When I was a teenager I was always hungry for new music, but I was not happy with what was popular at the moment. One day I found a Melon Collie album cover missing its CDs but I read the lyrics of all this songs because it was like poetry. When I finally heard it, it was better than I imagined. It remains a major influence on me and a standard of what a great album should be like; deep and diverse.
THE album
Libertad Larrieu Hollywood, FL, US
When I was 20years old (2015) I was at the Swap Shop in sunrise, south Florida. I knew of the Smashing Pumpkins by hit songs my friends had mentioned but as I passed a random stand, there was the 2 cd, Mellon collie and the infinite sadness album. I bought it for $2. When I later opened it, there was a 1997 concert ticket from their Mellon collie and the infinite sadness tour date in American Airlines Arena Miami. I later fell in love with the music, I still have and play the cds, and to this day I say if I could only listen to one album for the rest of my life it would be Mellon collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Thank you Smashing Pumpkins, you’ve made my heart beat different.

Teenage machine
Aurora Cano Dublin, IE
This album was my first contact with the band.
I was 14 and on a trip from my small town to Madrid, where my cousin showed me the double LP (Vynil) When I saw the artwork, I was immediately impressed and I felt a connection to it. He recorded it for me in two tapes and listened to them over and over again in my walkman on the bus on the way back to my town.
Once there I ran to buy the CD, photocopied the booklet and created the folder in the picture with my favourite lyrics and some other pictures to bring to school.
Since then, I’ve been a huge fan of the band! I was able to see them live for the first time in Bilbao’s guggenheim museum in ’98 and have seen them 7 more times since then! Last one in London only a couple of years ago.
SP forever! <3
The end of Endless.
Kégyne Saunders Cape Town, ZA
I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. Mostly consumed by the freedoms of childhood and being in close proximity of the beach, I grew to be fascinated by the ocean and nature.
As I aged, the experiences of life came to fruition, the real experiences – good and bad. Amazing … Somr awful.
During a hard time, my uncle exposed me to Siamese Dream. I started playing guitar. I would go to parties, friends, and play Cherub Rock, Mayonaise .. On whatever I could get my hands on.
Some time passed, time changed, and I grew. I knew one day I would return but I had what I wanted from the music.
Again, times of trouble came my way … I found Ava Adore, and MCIS. Again … These songs helped me heal, I felt that I related to the messages and stories told. Not in a Manson way but at least emotionally, and with the real feelings embedded into every song.
Thank you. Sorry for the long message. SP has inspired me, and contributed to my healing. Towards continuing the adventures with a smile.

First SP concert
Jaclyn Boston, MA, US
I went to my first SP concert on 9/8/96. I was 14 yrs old. My life has changed over the years, but the one thing that remains the same is my love for them. I met them (minus Jimmy) on July 1998 where I had them sign this poster. It is the greatest item I own.

Thank you Billy
Mike Buffalo, NY, US
Back in 1996 when I was just 15 years old, I fell in love with the Pumpkins after hearing 1979 on the radio. My cousin Billy was a huge fan that I didn’t get to see much, and he made me a cassette copy of CD 2 on a random visit that I listened to non-stop in my walkman for the entire summer. I knew every single word to every song on that tape. Eventually I was able to save up and buy the entire album, and was finally able to listen to CD 1! I really think hearing an album that way made it extra special, and while Billy is no longer with us today – I think about him whenever I hear a song from MCIS. RIP Billy.

Forever a ZERO
Gary Bingaman II Mishawaka, US
25 years ago, today, an album was released that … in no exaggeration…. shaped my mindset and became the soundtrack to my adolescence and beyond. MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS by THE SMASHING PUMPKINS is an album that comes around once in a lifetime and leaves an impact like an atom bomb. It defined an era… it resonated with it’s generation and inspired future ones. It’s melodic songs are beautiful and it’s rock is raw and powerful. It’s empowering… tragic…. inspiring…. heartbreaking and honest. It’s life in it’s true and honest form. Nothing sounded like it before…. nothing has since.
Thank You, Billy and company for this gift… and everything that you’ve given us before and since. You are Artists in the truest sense. 🖤 I look forward to everything that you have in store for us in the future. THANK YOU

Babies
Erika Covina , US
This album came my senior year, and it was everything, shortly after high school I had my first child and I played it while in labor. My doctor said he was pleasantly shocked he expected something hard core by the name of the band. My son now an adult thinks it’s so awesome that he was born to great music and has said this was his introduction to music.