DO PUSHUPS!

Mark Cooper St Louis, MO, US

After completing basic training at Fort Knox, KY, I was stationed at Fort Monmouth, NJ, for my AIT. It was early November, I had seen the video for “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and was dying to get the new album. Unfortunately we were only 2 weeks into AIT and wouldn’t get an off post pass until 4 weeks. One day after lunch, myself and two of my platoon mates were hanging out in the common area with another platoon. Their Drill Sergeant entered the room. He was a menacing mass of muscles. “LISTEN UP!” he bellowed. “We’re going to do some PT, it’s not mandatory and you can stop whenever you like!” A devious smirk washed across his weathered face. “DO PUSHUPS!” Everyone dropped to the floor, full bellies groaning. “RELAX!” he called out and then almost immediately “DO PUSHUPS!” Bodies dropped to the floor again. “Remember, you can stop anytime”, he reminded us. The cycle repeated. Each time more people fell out. Until his entire platoon had stopped and only myself and my two platoon mates remained. He walked over to us, his massive feet leaving craters in the floor. “I’M IMPRESSED! YOU THREE HAVE EARNED THE REST OF THE DAY OFF AND PASSES OFF POST!” Oh my joy, my rapture! As we left the room to head for the bus station, i turned to see the Drill Sergeant, veins bulging in his neck as he addressed his soldiers. “YOU LET ANOTHER PLATOON SHOW YOU UP? DROP! THIS TIME IT IS MANDATORY!” We went to the mall, i got MCIS and listened to it on my walkman for the rest of the evening in my room. I can’t be for certain, but when I switched sides on the tape, i think i could still hear that Drill Sergeant yelling “DO PUSHUPS!” off in the distance late into the night.

1979

Umberto Padova, IT

The first years of high school we used to exchange gifts between school mates on the occasion of our birthdays. On Marco’s birthday, the money raised was used to buy Mellon. At that time I didn’t know the Pumpkins but, once I unwrapped the gift, scrolling through the titles, I noticed a track called 1979:  my year of birth. So, a few days later, I curiously borrowed the CDs from my friend and, boom, I was literally thunderstruck.

An introduction in the dark

Diana Ottawa, Ontario , CA

My cousin introduced me to MCIS when I was 12 years old, shortly after its release. She was staying at my house and my mom wouldn’t let us stay up and listen to it so we turned the lights off in my bedroom and listened to it in the dark. It was the perfect way to fully experience the album for the first time. 

Second hand smoke

Diana Ottawa, Ontario , CA

• When we were 12, three of us bought tickets for the MCIS tour. We each told our parents that the other’s parents would accompany us to the concert. We were in the nose bleed section and there were people smoking weed in front of us. At one point they noticed us and one of them said “Put that out, man! There’s kids here!” 😉

They only come out…..a week early!

Ruben Albuquerque, US

We absolutely loved the Pumpkins! Anticipating the release  of MCIS, we would cruse alternative rock radio panting for a refreshing taste of ANYTHING Pumpkins….

A week before the album was scheduled to come out, I was listening to the radio at 7am when I suddenly heard “CALLER NUMBER 7 wins the new record from the Smashing Pumpkins !!!!”

I called and they answered:

“ YOU’RE CALLER NUMBER 7!!!!”

I picked up the CD set, and we had a listing party, we rocked, we laughed, we cried……!

Such a masterpiece! Love y’all!

Album Artwork Captivating My Imagination

Grant Portland, Oregon, US

I was 7 years old when this album was released, and I can remember being at my cousin’s house in her room listening to music and seeing the cover of this CD or cassette (I don’t remember which) and it instantly capturing my attention and imagination with it’s fantastical whimsy, and once I discovered the music it stuck with me. This album artwork always brings me back to the 90’s, and the feeling of being a kid and discovering new music/movies/books from cover art that spoke to me. Finally got to see SP in Portland in 2018, one of the best shows of my life! Thanks for all the memories.

Mall Trip

Robert Jonesboro, IL , US

On Tuesday October 24th, 1995, I was a 15-year-old excitedly making my way to Columbia Mall in Columbia, MO to pick up my FAVORITE band (as of the previous summer of ’94) on double cassette 🤣 When I listened to those two tapes, my mild interest in SP exploded into a love affair that has lasted for 26 years! MCIS was truly the soundtrack to my life! I was born in 1979 and it became my favorite song! SP remains the music that shapes my world! Happy 25th, MCIS!  #SPForever

An Album Forever Linked to My Cousin

Adam Medford, OR, US

My cousin was an incredibly gifted bass player, but proceeded to hunt for guitar tabs on the internet and learn every song on the album. He often joked “Billy taught me to play guitar.” We tragically lost him years ago, and I can’t hear this album without joyfully thinking about my cousin.

Hurts so good

Erica Rodriguez Buffalo, NY, US

This album means October to me. I was fresh into my freshman year of highschool. Nothing has ever sounded like this before. I was in awe. For 25 years, without even thinking about it.. come October when the weather changes, this album comes out. It brings back a special time in my life, it brings back memories and even scents. To Forgive is one of my favorites. It hurts so good. 🖤🖤🖤

Summer of SP

Sam Washington, DC, US

I spent July 1996 with my grandparents, and unlike my parents, they had cable. Which meant I could watch MTV. I would let it play for hours just to catch the incredible “Tonight, Tonight” video. Then I would make a small notch on a notepad as I tallied how many times I had seen the video. I forget the final number, but obviously the memory lives on. As I spent August at the beach, I wore the tape out, listening and relistening to each song, and for some reason, painstakingly copying the lyrics. I’ve never looked back in my SP love.

The Academy

Dean Middletown, NJ, US

Opening night

Mark Horn Fishers, IN, US

SP opened the tour in my hometown of Saginaw, MI and i was a stagehand. I got quite a few show used guitar pics and a tee. It was awesome!

How SP Came Into My Life

Pat Meyer Pennsylvania, US

Now this goes as far back as when I was very young. Much of my older cousins were one of those kids who grew up in the 90’s as teenagers. A couple of them are fans of The Smashing Pumpkins. The name pretty much fascinated me for a very long time. I didn’t get into their music until I was 15. I bought the double album “Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness”. Ever since that time, Jeff Soles (one of my older cousins and devoted SP fan who met Billy Corgan at their 2000 show) Would clue me in on how to catch on to their other material. I’ve followed up on all of their music since becoming a full-fledged SP fan. I’ve always considered “Mellon Collie” to be not only the best album I have ever heard, but also the holy grail of 90’s alternative rock albums; and I still think that to be true to this day.

Snack Money

Vanessa - Nessa Pumpkins São Paulo, BR

My most strong memory with MCIS was when I saved all the snack money for the week so I could buy the CD.

I was 12 years old  when i got it. I  walked back home home holding so tight like it was the most precious treasure. And it really is!

Forever Melancholic

Lucas Rivard Windsor, CA

When my uncle played me some songs from Siamese dream I was blown away, that was my first indicator. So one day I was rummaging through his big plastic CD bin, I pulled out a CD case which caused my brain to experience some sort of amnesia as memories of an album cover with the woman draped over a star and planets rushed through my brain from all through my younger life. Later that night I popped the CD in and when I heard that soft piano, I knew .. This was something special! Through the weeks of listening to tonight, tonight, here is no why, Jelly belly , Galapagos, Porcelina, Zero and so on. I found myself surrounded by Comfort, understanding and Pride listening to and thinking about the songs. it was my new favorite music!… And at that point, I had yet to shove in disk 2……

Kept me from the loneliness of myself

Matt Tremont, MS, US

Vivid memories from this day in 1995.  I’d just turned 15, transitory unnecessary sadness, new school, no friends, self isolation.  Like others of a similar ilk in that time, I often escaped into music spending hours alone in my room.  My father (single dad), who couldn’t take me to get the album arranged for me to stay home from school, and for a friend of his to drive me to the mall on that chilly, cloudy, Illinois morning to get the album.  I spent days listening to it and over and over.  And over.  Thanks for everything SP; keep going!

Mellon Collie reminds me of meeting my first love 🖤

Laura M California , US

SP was my favorite band when I was in 7th grade, around when Mellon Collie was out, I had just discovered Siamese Dream and the rest of the catalog as well and was obsessed. On the first day of English class that year, a boy with green hair and a Mellon Collie t-shirt walked in and sat across the room. He was like no one else I’d ever met and he liked my favorite band! Never stopped thinking about that boy and watched him grow into an amazing man from a distance as our lives went different directions. 20ish years later when we began dating as adults, we finally got to go see SP play live together. Full circle moment. Happiest I’ve ever been 🖤🖤🖤

Horizon

Zachary Osseo, MN, US

I found out about The Smashing Pumpkins when I was 15 years old, and they’ve since been my favorite band, (I’m 19, now).  It was a fun time of my life; an age of discovery, thoroughly wrought with long nights spent alone in my room, listening to shoegaze, drawing and painting the nights away.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was the first CD I ever bought, (at the aforementioned age, at a Down in the Valley).  I brought it home and and studied every square inch of the jewel case / booklet whilst religiously listening to those 122 minutes on repeat, and found myself endlessly tantalized
by the artwork displayed on the back of the CD case… The sheer beauty conveyed in the piece was heartwarming to my young soul.  I decided I’d use it as inspiration for a drawing, (as, above all else, I’m first an artist).  So, I began the three-week-straight process of creating a wonderful pen and ink piece, appropriately named, “Horizon”.

At 15, and to this day, I considered this piece the “turning point” of my artistic endeavors.  It was when my art became an identity for me, really.  It marked the “growing up” of both me and my art; for no longer was I churning out mindless sketches of heads exploding and people eating eyeballs.  No, from that point on, my art became something greater.

I think this theme of “growing up” is prominent throughout the entirety of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and, thankfully it crept in and played its part in my life.  15 was also a very lonely time of life for me, and these themes are as well evident throughout the album.  I experienced my first love, and first breakup.  It was the age when most, if not all, of my childhood friends decided it best to abandon me for one reason or another.

However, through better or worse and through thick and thin, all of these things have played a huge part in creating who I am today, and that’s, at the very least, someone who’s alive and smiles often.

I think that’s the lesson that could be taken away from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.  It’s a wildly manic record that soars from the highest highs of, “Tonight, Tonight” to the gaping, trenching lows of “X.Y.U.” — from track to track, it’s always on the horizon of something new.

And, what is life if not that, exactly?

I don’t know, man.

P.S. —
one funny memory I have from first becoming a fan: I’d frequently play Smashing Pumpkins on my family’s Amazon Echo, and, because of this, turned on most of my 8 younger siblings to the band.  Due to this, I distinctly remember my younger brothers yelling, “Alexa, play “Rat in a Cage!“

Christmas

Jim Pleasant Ridge, MI, US

I gave this CD to my brother for Christmas when we were in high school. I slept on the floor of his room and we listened to the whole thing and then fell asleep on the repeat listen.  I cherish that memory and will always cherish this album. 

The Greatest Concert

Kayes Saskatoon, Saskatchewan , CA

I was 18 and in my first year of university when I saw the Smashing Pumpkins in 1996. It was a life changing experience! I have seen many many legendary bands and to this day The MCIS tour was  the best concert I’ve ever seen. 

My sleeve

KayTee Topeka, KS, US

Since the first time I saw the video for Tonight, Tonight, I was obsessed.  I finally took the plunge and got a sleeve done based on the video.  Mellon Collie has held the #1 album spot on my list since it’s release and I don’t think it will be moving any time soon.

Love on Repeat

Michelle CA, US

When I was a kid I washed cars to save up money and this was the first CD/Double Disc I ever bought. I listened to both Discs over and over with my crappy little CD player. I only took my headphones off for class and to shower, it was my escape. Still my top favorite, classics never get old

Tonight Tonight

Fernando Ordaz Mexico City , MX

This álbum remindme a Stage of youth and innocence. It’s like going back in time where the only cares was knowing about new music and watch music videos. 

Young Love

John Midland, MI, US

My memory involves an X-girlfriend I never quite got over. I still think of Becky when I listen to Mellon Collie… we fell in love to it. We were 20-21 years old, and I remember buying it the day it came out, and bringing it to her house to listen. I don’t think we knew it at the time, but we were living the best years of our lives. 1995 will always be a special year to remember, with a great soundtrack. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. 

My Teenage Bible

Sam Woy Woy, AU

I was in Jr High School when a teacher heard I wanted to get into listen to Mellon Collie but I wasn’t able to get the album at the time. He made me a copy and one day gave it to me as a gift in school. First time I listened to it I was blown away, it all mad sense to the feelings I had at the time towards school, my friends, my teenage mind and the world. I would listen to it at any time I could, fell asleep listening to it, listened to it during school it became as I describe it my “Teenage Bible”. Today it still remains an album close to me as it helped me during my struggling teen years. 

Everything changed.

Nicolás Buenos Aires, AR

My mom made me listen to Tonight, tonight (on the radio) one morning before school. I was 12, and a “this is it” feeling took over me. That weekend we went to the record store and I got my copy of Mellon Collie… and everything changed. That band, and that album, that was MY thing. And I’ve loved them both ever since.