Memories | The Smashing Pumpkins

My memories

Katherine linville Oklahoma City, Ok, US

I have grown up listening to all the music I possibly can from William P Corgan. My dad was an alcoholic and growing up and tried using music as a way to keep sobriety on and off though the years. We used to sit for hours in front of a stereo with thousands of CD’s and cassettes and my favorite one he would play would be melancholy of infinite sadness. These memories are vivid and one of the best times in my life. It was when my dad was trying, it was when good music felt like sunshine. I still rely on SP to push me through rough days. Billy Corgan is a huge inspiration and without his music and this album I think my childhood would of been dulled. Thanks.

Walks With Dad

David Hernandez Brooklyn, NY, US

My dad and I used to walk together 2 miles every other day doing errands for years when I was a teenager. We used to always catch up during these times while listening to MCIS out of a tiny speaker. All the life lessons I learned and conversations we have continue to live alongside all the tracks of this album. The first mile for the first side, the second mile the second side. I plan to do this again with my kids one day.

The Beginning

Tara Drewry Memphis, TN, US

I’ll never forget sitting on the phone when Tonight, Tonight came on. I turned to look at the amazing sound coming from MTV. I saw Billy in his top hat and never looked back. Shortly after I discovered SP, Jonathan died. I was devastated when Jimmy was let go because I had tickets to the show in Memphis at the pyramid. Billy was not in a good place then and said we sucked. Ha! We do. I had the best time of my life and really felt like I found a happy place. I was severely bullied all my life. I escaped in SP and truly found happiness. Thank you. ❤️

“Forever Beautiful”

Raphael Goulart São Paulo, SP, BR

I recorded Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness on a k7 tape, the album was by a friend from school. During my best years of life, adolescence, that was my soundtrack. Even today when I hear Muzzle I can feel the same feeling of freedom, innocence, fear and happiness from those sweet years. If I were a musician I would have composed, the perfect one, “Thru The Eyes of Ruby”. Thank you for your masterpiece SP – Forever Beautiful.

Life Changing Moment

MaryEllen Brooklyn, US

In the winter of 1995 I was a living in Connecticut and studying classical music at a State University. My dream at that tome was to be a composer and conductor, but my university did not offer that as a major. I was pretty seriously concentrated on classical music; one weekend I was stuck at my friends house during a blizzard and she played for me MCATIS. We subsequently played that album in repeat for almost a week. It changed everything for me in terms of what I wanted to do for a career. I decided that this was the type of music I wanted to create or be a part of creating. All of these years later I am doing exactly that and have my dream job. I 100% attribute that to this album and the inspiration it evoked. It changed my life forever.

The Everything Album

James Melbourne, AU

Mellon Collie set the stage for my tastes in music, art, fashion. It’s part of the a bedrock of my coming of age – providing a soundtrack to all pain, joy and wonderment a young adult goes through. Most significantly, it was the whole reason I started playing music. I described the music on MCIS as soundscapes, and I wanted to do the same. 25 years later, I’ve played hundreds of shows and toured internationally. Not professionally, and I’ve rarely been paid, but it’s pretty much been the focus and joy of my life that everything else has revolved around. Started by hearing Mellon Collie.

World Trade Centre

Kevin South Queensferry, GB

As a young angsty teenager my family took me to New York City.

My dad had been made redundant and soon my ooded brother and I would leave home so they decided to go all out and take a trip to the big apple.

Of course we went up the tallest building around, WTC2.

Later that day I wandered into a record store and bought the coolest looking album I saw.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

It was July 2001.

A little over a month later, well, you know history. Infinite sadness. But I fell in love with the album, and my special American edition.

I fell in love with music because of MCIS

Christina Storch Toronto, Ontario, CA

I remember the first time I saw the Bullet With Butterfly Wings video on TV – I was blown away and immediately called up my friend who I knew had Siamese Dream and demanded to know if that song was on the record. She told me that no, this was the new single. A short while later, the same friend took me with her to see the Winnipeg stop of the Infinite Sadness tour. My life was forever changed. I became ravenous for music. I started playing the bass guitar. I met new friends who also loved music as much as I did and we started a band. At my first gig ever, I wore my ZERO shirt.

A new beginning

Kaylee Christchurch , NZ

I moved to New Zealand when I was 12 and it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. My first friend was a boy at school who introduced me to a band I’d never heard before and from the first time I heard 1979, I was hooked. MCIS is the soundtrack to my navigating a new country and growing up and I will always have a special place in my heart for the band that made me feel less alone.

Fond memories

Anita Columbus, GA, US

MCIS is what started it all for me when I was 10 years old. “I fear that I am ordinary just like everyone” was my mantra for many years. It was also the first album my dad ever let me play in the car, which was a huge deal back then. I distinctly remember him saying, “Well this is a lot heavier than I expected.” I still listen to MCIS regularly and have never grown tired of it.

Wasted youth

Jamie Raymond Kirkwood, US

My friends and I were basically “wasted youth” , Gen X high schoolers when this hit. I could recall dozens of memories, considering it was like the soundtrack to our teenage years but what stands out above all is the time my friends and I were at a friend’s house when she was complaining to her mom that she felt like a “rat in a cage”. We knew, we all knew and we all felt the same way. We just needed The Smashing Pumpkins to put it into words which obviously helped her (and all of us) describe our mutual angst.

“Drags from a death Rock boy”

Bryan Derry, IE

From the moment I first heard Siamese Dream, I knew SP were that special band I had been looking for. I located Gish and Pisces Iscariot soon followed, and I was obsessed. When I heard a double album was being recorded I was thrilled. Never before or since have I waited with such enthusiasm and excitement for an album. MCIS did not disappoint. What an album it is, too many great songs to pick a favourite! it brings back great memories from my late teenage years, and beyond. Even now as a 42 year old I still love it. I saw SP twice on that tour, travelling to Dublin both times. The band were amazing but one gig ended in tragedy unfortunately. I’ve listened to all SP music old and new, but MCIS will always be special to me.

Mutual Memories

Eden McKenna-Bateman Chicago, IL, US

I grew up listening to SP, my mom had introduced me to their music at a really young age. Along with hearing the story of how SP stayed at the house that her and her roommates rented in Wisconsin while recording their first album, Gish. The love of their music really only grew from there.

MCIS is an album full of emotions. I feel giddy when listening to Cupid De Locke, and cry like a baby when it comes to Stumbleine. This album is the background music to a countless amount of memories that I treasure. I have one in particular that stands out to me; my mom and I had a habit of going to the grocery store only after it had gotten dark, and whenever we did this, she would begin singing the intro to “We Only Come Out at Night.” Even though this was such a small blip in life, it means a lot to me and I will cherish it forever.

Thank you SP, for everything.

Discman

Theodore Atwood Phoenix, AZ, US

I wore out those blue and pink cd’s in my Discman, riding my bike around the neighborhood at night as a 14 year old. I will never forget the sublime peace I felt listening to that album, alone in the quiet comfort of my neighborhood shopping center, in the dark, my imagination learning to grow through the sound and messages of those songs. Perhaps I will never again feel so free or limitless, or perhaps this memory will remind me of how I can feel that way again.

Despite all my Rage

Monica Santa Ana, US

MCIS has provided me with comfort, courage, and strength in my adolescence and well into adulthood. I remember laying in my pitch black bedroom, staring at the ceiling, headphones on and Walkman by my side, riding the wave of emotions that is this album. 25 years later and I still get goosebumps. Thank you SP and Corgan for being there and helping to guide me through all life’s journey’s.

Lullabys for a pre-teen

Diana Magoveny Middletown, CT, US

I somehow got someone that I barely knew to loan me their MCIS CDs. I remember taking my sister’s boombox and playing the last 5 tracks of Twilight to Starlight on repeat over and over again, each night. It sort of lulled me to sleep, even at a young age I was full of anxiety and insomnia. I was mostly a loner and wanted nothing more than to connect with people. I felt this was my way of connecting by just listening to this music, I was not alone. While I loved the rest of the album, these last 5 songs were quirky, friendly, inviting, and accepting. I needed to hear this. I usually listen to songs and take their words literally. So I was able to imagine creatures coming to life, someone pining over someone in their window, someone promising to be my “one and only.” It took me out of this lonely deep depression I had started to fall into. Things were bad. I was a chaotic preteen who was scared. This broke me out of that habit. I slowly started hearing other people talk about the album and I was able to find something in common to talk about with others. I won’t go into detail, but they have become life long friends. I finally got a copy of MCIS of my own for Christmas. I still have that copy.

Aesthetic of my Heart

April Coxsackie, NY, US

Having long been SP fans, my younger brother and I waited with baited breath for MCIS to come out. The second we were able to purchase it, we listened to it together all the way through and were just blown away – still one of my favorite memories. Having been a Méliès and Edwardian fan myself, the look of the art was the most satisfying thing to behold, aside from the music. We never had much growing up, but when we could have it, we made sure it was SP. My brother also taught himself the guitar by studying Billy’s videos, a skill he has worked on ever since. I first got drunk when I was stuck in college and my mother took my siblings to the concert during this tour without me – pure devastation. SP and MCIS are life.

“Farewell and goodnight*

Maria pia coletti Benevento, IT

This album was relased the same year I was born.

My dad often say that when I was baby the only way to make me fall asleep was let me listen “farewell and Goodnight”. I loved this album before i was aware of myself!

This album reminds me of carefree moments made of laughter and fairy tales.

And even today, when i feel down, I listen this album. It makes me smile.

Every times I listen it, I come back that little girl with big naive eyes.

P. S. Ecuse me for the bad english.

Inspiration from the greatest band ever

Hudson New Braunfels , US

I had been listening to SP since my freshman year of high school, but I went to their reunion concert in the summer of 2018 and bought the Mellon Collie vinyl box. Every day after that i would loop it CONSTANTLY on our record player while looking at the pictures and artwork from the box, which completely transported me to another world it seemed. Jimmy’s drumming mixed with the harmonies and melodies and overall vibe of the whole album gave m a newe appreciation for music and for SP themselves. I constantly write songs and always use inspiration from SP, and mellon collie specifically, to use as the root of all of them. Thank you guys!

Smashing Pumpkins - Memories!

BY STARLIGHT

Tim Hazlet, New Jersey, US