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.

Gish en casa de mi amigo

Marcelo León Sánchez San Fernando, CL

Recuerdo en casa de mi amigo Cesar a mis 14 años, escuchar en su casa Gish, después de comprar el cassette doble Mellon collie y fue mágico ver a Billy con su cabellera y escuchar shiva… hoy 2020 me regale al fin Gish y tener su discografía completa, gracias SP por darme la música de mi juventud y hoy a mis 40 años la música de mi vida….

Hot Vibes and College Converts

Tim W Washington, DC, US

I vividly remember hearing Cherub Rock on the radio in the summer of 93. My job that summer was running around Southern Illinois refilling and fixing various snow cone shacks that were set up in random parking lots all over the region. As I drove down the back roads the opening guitar riff and Billy’s voice sent electric chills through my body. The full Siamese Dreams CD was released soon after and I bought it the night it came out. Thank goodness the crappy minivan I drove through the blazing hot corn fields that summer had a CD player. I blasted that album over an over again getting a full left arm tan. When I got back to college in August, SD remained in my CD player for the first week until my ‘friends’ heard it and immediately stole it so they could play it on repeat. They weren’t even alternative rock fans. The album was that hard to ignore. When I finally got it back it was all scratched and I had to go get another copy. The only upside was we all trekked up to Kalamazoo that next spring to see them live. Epic! Thank you Billy, James , D’Arcy, and Jimmy!

Spark in a Routine

Alvin NYC, US

The routine of my morning commute through Queens NYC to midtown Manhattan quickly became a mundane tradition. The bustle of the city during the first phase of rush hour may seem exciting but it faded into the background of my mind as my headphones swallowed the subway noise and translated them into symphonies to my ears. But even then, Playlists get old. One particularly boring morning I heard the notes of cherub rock in my head and I immediately searched for the band. This would be my first thorough encounter with The Smashing Pumpkins. The nostalgic sound of the lyrics brought me back to my childhood, where I played guitar hero with my siblings. I clicked on Tristessa and never heard anything like it before. Much like many of my morning routines, at least one song from this album is played over coffee and is navigated through the tunnels of nyc. But I’ve yet to get bored of the sounds that sound so unique to me. As the album reaches a milestone of a birthday, tomorrow so will I.