The Mystery
Christopher Chicago, US
I grew up outside Chicago and my older brother had a wall-sized MCIS poster that he’d picked up in NYC. Of all the totems in the home this image stuck me as grandiose, otherworldly, and unlike anything I’d been exposed to. The music matched this feeling perfectly and my world grew much larger around this music.
Teenager happiness! Thanks God!
Leandro Vitta de Lima Santos SP , BR
Smashing pumpkins with Mellon Collie… album was inside my head day after day in that moment (1995). During my teen ages in these picture I always have been waiting for the next meeting between us. Friends, dreams, laughs and everything else for a real teen group. We didnt know the real responsabilites. The main music for me 1979 the year that I was born and another coincidence I live at 33 flat nowadays (after my divorce) and that teen time too. Thanks God for this magical moments in my life. I got the picture added ! Thanks Smashing pumpkins for your work. Music fill our memory and complete our soul !!!!
Musically Inspiring
Phil Muskegon, MI, US
Jimmy’s drums on Bullet, and the rest of the album, inspired me to become a drummer. 20 years later I still play.
Tonight, Tonight
Sarah Carter Alanson, MI, US
I had heard the SP name around school, but was a pop music diehard. Then my world of music shifted the day I saw the Tonight, Tonight video on MTV. What was this soul moving sound? A little rock and a little alternative, and those strings?! The next day I went to the record store and grabbed MCIS. That one song led me to the one album that changed my music world forever.
Power of SP
Ben carkhuff Colona, il, US
I grew up listening and remember seeing videos like landslide and today. Then MCIS I have owned every version loved all the b sides. Then I started a family. My boy is remy corgan and my youngest is porcelina echo. The influence that album had on me help drown out so much
The Soundtrack of my Life
Stephanie Bristol, VA, US
My best friend first turned me on to the Pumpkins when we were in college. The soundtrack of our friendship is made up primarily of SP songs. I don’t have a single memory of ours that one isn’t playing…from taking “Pumpkin Breaks” while studying, literally smashing our Halloween pumpkins for a photo opp, or just driving around back roads listening to them non-stop, singing at the top of our lungs! We used to jokingly say she was going to marry Billy and I would marry James…lol. I even named my daughter D’Arcy and she just so happens to be an aspiring singer. My best friend passed away unexpectedly 6 years ago (R.I.P. C-rock!) but every now and then a Pumpkins song will randomly come on the radio and I know it’s her popping in to say hi. Thank you for being my life’s soundtrack, SP! xoxo -s
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.
Love
Andrew F. SCARSDALE, US
The year Mellon Collie came out was also the first time in my life that I fell in, and experienced, love. The songs fit so well, amplifying my happiness & making an already special time even moreso, giving me memories I will keep forever. I will always be grateful.
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.
Midnight Release
Dave Port Townsend, WA, US
I was a senior in high school when Mellon Collie
released. Tower Records was hosting a midnight release party 45 minutes away on
a school night, but we hopped in the car, headlights pointed at the dawn, and
bought our copies. I made it all the way to ‘Muzzle’ before passing out. Totally
worth 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.
33
Luci San Antonio, TX, US
MCIS kept me sane, helped me through some of the most trying times of my teenage life. I love this album completely and thank SP for being.
Taking flight
Eric Rich Smithfield, UT, US
MCIS helped me through since pretty dark times. My best memory is when I did my first solo flight for my pilot’s license. As soon as I took off, Bullet with Butterfly Wings started playing in my mind and I felt so at peace! Thank you so much for your gift of music!
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.