Memories | The Smashing Pumpkins

Dreams of a Senior

James Honor, MI, US

It’s funny I was just jamming In the Eyes of Ruby in my car.

Anyways, it was my routine in high school to wake up and get ready for the day. I would get on the bus and I would start playing Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in my portable CD player. It was always a great start to my day and I do believe in the power of music to open your mind and help you learn. I graduated with honors. If the album didn’t help me learn at least it was a friend of mine on the bus! Keep making great music SP! I look forward to CYR!

Shared oblivion

Federica sammarco Cividale del friuli, IT

Unfortunately I don’t have tangible memories. But if it was a picture, it would be of 16yo me in 2011, unrecognizable after months of chemo, staring at a wall at 3am, listening to MCIS for the first time, mesmerized as I realized that the state of oblivion and emptiness I was living in, was expressed perfectly with every word and sound from that album. Lifechanging.

A source of hope and happiness

Danielle Jorge São Paulo, BR

I was 13, things in Brazil were slow, albums would take long to arrive but I was always pending of the radio to get to record “Tonight tonight”. I rewinded that tape until I got to sing by ear, for me, this song was a source of hope and happiness, it played a key role for me to endure my problematic environment. I was constantly being criticized for my tastes, opinions and style. One year later I had my first job and saved to buy the album. The lyrics were a key for my English learning, I’d sing the whole album once a week at least and translate the lyrics with a paper dictionary. I enjoyed “Farewell and Goodnight” as if were you in person talking to me. Smashing Pumpkins where the only band I was really devoted, I bought all albums I could land my hands on and I got to watch you years ago in Barcelona. Thanks forever, today I am happily living in London and wished to watch you playing again!!!

I got the album before release day.

Philip J Jenks, OK, US

I went to a record store the day before the album was to release. They had it on display behind the sales counter and I asked if I could see it. The sales person handed it to me and asked if I wanted to buy it and I excitedly said yes. He rang me up in a way so it didn’t read as a sale of the album so he didn’t get in trouble. I went to my car popped in the first cd and the rest is history. My all time favorite SP album.

96 and the height of 90’s music…

Ian Middle of, Michigan, US

Lifelong fan. I saw the first show of the North American leg of this tour in Saginaw Michigan. I cried. I was 16 years old and as the captain of my high school’s marching band drum line, I wrote several drum series’ and cadences that were direct ripoffs of jimmy chamberlin’s drum parts. The drumline still played those sequences for years after I graduated, and to this day I don’t believe that anyone involved realized this that they were marching around a football field playing a tune called “fuck you (an ode to no one)”

To Fall in Love with Mellon Collie

Britta Visser Stumpp Ogden, US

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness are significant for a handful of reasons for me.

It was the first CD that I ever owned after my Dad upgraded my tape deck to a CD player in my car when I was 16. I got Mellon Collie for Christmas and I remember feeling really pissed because I was like, “What the hell guys? You know I only have a tape deck!” Then I went out to my car and my Dad had installed a new CD player for me over night 😊

Second, it was the CD I listened to repeatedly while I was dating the first guy I ever fell in love with. To this day, ANY time I listen to Thirty-three or In the Arms of Sleep, it reminds me of him. Long walks in a snow laden forest at night, making out near a fire, holding hands in the car. I had my first orgasm listening to this album.

Third, it was the particular favorite of one of my best friends who later died. So when I reminisce about him, I think of Mellon Collie and vice versa.

Fourth, it is irrevocably tied to my youth. When I’m feeling super heavy on the nostalgia, I listen to Tonight, Tonight or Zero. Hands down, the most complex album of my generation. Forever and ever adore.

What started the bond between my mom and me

Casey Podoll Altus, ok, US

Here is my mellon collie and the infinite sadness story… My mom took me to my very first concert, you guys, back in 1997. You guys opened with mellon collie and the infinite sadness. My mom fell in love with you. You became a link between the two of us. We bonded over you. She tragically and suddenly died. At her funeral, I picked that song to be the first one played. And when I gave her eulogy, that memory of her and I going to your concert was talked about and everybody giggled. You guys will always hold a special spot in my heart for that.

School party

José Moura Oporto, PT

We used to do music parties in our school, to raise money for our class summer trip. First time listening to Smashing Pumpkins was in that 30 second sickness entry of Bullet with butterfly winds. It escalated from there. Just start dancing my heads out in that big room, full with crewmates, felling that strob light hitting my eyes, and that big disco ball with colourful reflection all over the sweety room. I’m almost 40, and I was in high school. Thanks for getting me old and healthy.

The Realm of Soft Dillusions

Talon Jones Clarksville, US

It was the summer of 2014 it was a strange and sad time. I was 16, learning to drive, and felt a disconnect to my friends at the time. I was a big Kiss fan but their music wasnt what I needed at that time then I remember hearing songs like bullet with butterfly wings on the radio and that summed it up. So I looked up up on youtube and heard on repeat but I needed more and saw people say kind words about the mellon collie album. I found the full version on youtube and every day for the rest of that summer I’d listen through that album over and over, I’d even fall asleep to it. I discovered it at a time when I really needed it, this guy Billy Corgan sang about how I felt with the anger, the saddness, and the hope for something beautiful. I fell in love with James’ psychedelic guitar, Jimmy’s intense drumming and, and d’arcy’s catchy bass playing which inspired me to play bass. The album saved me and have sence collected it and every other smashing pumpkins album. I love them all but Mellon Collie and the Infinite Saddness will always hold the biggest place in my heart as my favorite album in the history of music. Billy an co. Could make the next led zeppelin 4 and I’d still mellon collie as my favorite because it lead my down the rabit whole of my favorite band of all time and came to me at a time when I really needed it. Thank you Smashing pumpkins for saving my life with such a beautiful album.

Last Gift from My Little Brother Matthew

Anthony Fenech Dallas, TX, US

My little brother Matt away passed in Feb of 96. I was in Airborne school at the time and did not make it for Christmas of 95. He introduced me to your band’s music. I still have the CD today. It was last Christmas gift he got me. It is still one my favorite albums of all time. Any time I hear your music it reminds of him. Thank you for that.

Frat Parties and Ringtones

Makenzie Missoula, MT, US

One time, in the fall of 2016 my friend Bailey and I had our first interaction. We had both just moved to Missoula, Montana to start our freshman year of college. As most know, freshman year of college is full of interactions and self exploration. Not fully understanding life without your parents, not knowing who you are- but full of ideas of who you want to be. For both Bailey and I, music was one of the ways we knew how to express ourselves. The night we met, there was a themed party at one of the fraternities. We were both young women with no idea what we were doing in the world. Obviously, we were attending frat parties. We were sitting on a couch in the basement, getting to know each other. We were on a first name basis and my phone rang. The ringtone at the time was “1979” off of MCIS Bailey looked up at me, and just yelled “Smashing Pumpkins? I love that song!” From there, we started one of the most beautiful friendships I could dream of. When you’re young- especially your late teens/early 20’s life can seem so cruel and confusing. Having friends to be there for you, friends that will pick you up when you’re down, friends to tell you to give up on something when it is no longer serving you, are so important. That is what Bailey and I are to each other. Wherever we go in life, we will always have a strong connection. We will always remember our bond through the matching “1979” tattoos we gave each other.

I thank the brains of the Smashing Pumpkins band members for composing this song, and for forever being a band to hold near to our hearts.

Memories Of My Mom

Jennifer Sperling Lake Worth, US

My mom and I used to listen to the album together all the time. I remember my mom singing along and dancing to it. We got to see them live and it was an amazing show. Every time I listen to the songs, I think of her and the good times we shared. She sadly passed in 2016 at age 60 from complications of Alzheimer’s. But every time I hear their music especially from that album, I smile and think of her.

Serenading a Soldier farewell

Beth Shaw Fairfax, VA, US

This is not my memory but one of which I am the custodian. As SGT Michael C. Hardegree welcomed his first niece, Lilly, he soon found a new comfort in the MCIS track of the same name. As he fell asleep in Baghdad, MCIS would serenade him. When he closed his eyes for the last time on September 10, 2007, in his final weeks in theater, MCIS was found in his uniform with MCIS on shuffle. To this day, Lily is such an important piece of my grief journey as it, too, serenades me through a personal and fragile connection to my brother.

May the king of gloom be forever doomed

Allex Curitiba, PR, BR, BR

MCis is one of my favourite albums and I listen to it quite often.

Some time ago I met this girl but things didn’t work out as I would like and we split up. The lyrics of 1979 (cool kids never have the time/on a live wire right up off the street/you and I should meet) and Bodies (the lonely nights divide you in two) never made so much sense as now.

Bullet With Matterhorn Wings

Dan Kosub Toronto, CA

I have countless memories associated with this record, however here is one:

Shortly after the album was released, my family of ten got the flight day wrong for our trip to Disneyland and in my angst on the home from the airport I listened to Bullet on repeat as nauseum to excersise my lack-of-Disney demons. I shared the song with my family and they all appreciated it. We got rescheduled and all was well.

My One and Only

Madison Vallejos Goodyear, AZ, US

First was exposed to SP by playing Cherub Rock on rock band as a kid. Soon discovered Mellon Collie and instantly fell in love. When I think of MCIS, it reminds me of when I listened to it everyday to and from my long commute to work. Having recently gotten married, it was on my wedding playlist and was listened to throughout my honeymoon. Now hearing it fills me with even more love. SP has become my favorite band and I love making fan art of them. Happy anniversary to one of the best albums of all time!

We only come out at night

Brandon willoughby Kansas City , mo, US

Sophomore year I have grandma pick me up at school I’m sick or so I say . We go to Kmart Behold Mellon Collie is out grandma is persuaded to buy a double disc I think for like 24$ The album sums up my childhood -my adolescent misfit teens. I was a 16 year old drug addict who loved the mayhem of tales of scorched earth the tenderness of the title track and cried To myself listening to in the arms of sleep or to forgive. The album is so full of riff awesomeness I still listen to it and inspire myself to write and be creative. It brings the feelings I had then to the forefront it’s better than a yearbook signed from all your friends. One of the older kids I knew borrows the second disc he didn’t return it fast so I was stuck with just side one for a month. I got disc 2 back and it is still my favorite side of the album. I remember thinking with all the night imagery and the way Corgan started looking in the Zero video and certain articles around that time thinking maybe they were Vampires. I was of course an impressionable kid with a drug problem. It didn’t straighten my path but it was along for the ride. I had a band and we got tickets for the tour and our favorite drummer gets kicked out and we have to wait for them to return with Filters drummer who was good but just not Jimmy. We still debate what Billy said at the concert during Silverfuck about his album came out called Bleach . I think he was on a anti -Courtney speech and they brought the dude from the Frogs .Come Christmas we get the Aeroplane flies high boxset both me and my best friend. I still have both the album and box set. The boxset will be buried with me. That’s how much it means to me. More than a hug more than any drug that album has held me in its soundscape for so many years. The pace And quantity in which Billy was writing just shows he was an antenna for something to channel through him and I’m eternally thankful!!

Smashing Pumpkins - Memories!

An Ode to Not One 💿, but two !

Chris New York , NY, US

Dreams of a Senior

James Honor, MI, US

Billy Corgan #1 fan

Adriano Tefel Guatemala City, GT

Fantastical

Brandon Pittsburgh, PA, US