In the Navy

Becky Santa Barbara, California , US

When it came out, my older brother was in Japan serving in the US Navy. He heard I was a Pumpkins fan and sent me the album. I already had purchased it, but it worked out because I kept one in my CD player, and one in my discman. It was also the first album I ever purchased for myself.

Discovering the Pumpkins

MIGUEL VIGO, ES

A friend  of mine played Jelly Belly and was the first song I´ve heard from the Pumpkins. Totally blew my mind. After that became the soundtrack of my life.

I’m getting old

Jovic PH

I messed up my last submission, It was 1996!

Dream & Discovery

Gina Hobart, Tasmania , AU

Young, life, feeling stuck and wanting to see the world. MCIS defined a time of new love, living life large, dreaming and discovery.

Totally in Sync with the Culture

Jack Lowe Addison, IL, US

I bought the album the week it was released. My favorite track is “Tonight, Tonight.” It felt so vindicating—a major creative statement by my favorite band. My most skeptical friends knew, now, that the Pumpkins were no flash in the pan. That they were Chicago people made it even better—Seattle had no monopoly on great music. Most of all, it was a Generation X touchstone. For the first and only time in my life, I felt in tune with the culture and with people my age. We’d been so maligned and ignored. Here was proof that the boomers didn’t own rock. Thanks, Corgan and Company, for that experience.

Embers Never Fade

Shane Church Hill, TN, US

This album is very special to me. So much so I’ve bought it at least 6 times for various reasons. This was the soundtrack to my coming of age, easily dominating my CD player since its introduction ( second only to the greatest album of all time. Siamese Dream). Mellon Collie is one of those rare gems you simply don’t skip tracks. You listen to the whole thing straight through and let every lyric, every note resonate within your soul. I’ve laughed, cried, and endlessly pondered to this album. Can’t imagine a life without Smashing Pumpkins. Thank you all for all you do. Billy, you are my favorite poet and guitarist of all time! Much love to you all from TN!

Sweet & Bitter

Emmanuel Garcia Haverhill , US

Thirty-Three is a very personal song to me. I found out of Smashing Pumpkins out of pure luck. I stumbled upon the album “ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness “ in a very dark place. I had been going through such difficult times with depression in the summer of 2018.   I was contemplating suicide. All I remembered was this beautiful song from Smashing Pumpkins called “ Thirty-Three “. I had played the song in the background and burst into tears because the song gave me courage. It gave me hope. It gave me another view of life. I had soon listened to more music from them and grew very attached to them. I could not have done it without their music. It’s been two years and every time I listen to “ Thirty-three “ it always brings me to tears. I love Smashing Pumpkins!

breakups

Jenna Murfreesboro, TN, US

Every single breakup I’ve gone through, this album has infinitely helped me. I grew up listening to it, so every time I hear it, it’s like a warm hug.

Basement

Jason Stafford, VA, US

I was in quarantine when I got a gargantuan Smashing Pumpkins kick. I couldn’t stop listening to Siamese Dream and Gish, so I decided to listen to MCIS. I went through it in 1 day and it became one if my favorite albums. I absolutely love the band and this album.

BC signing my Mellon Collie… CD

Cynthia Anaheim, CA, US

My sister and I met Billy at NAMM a few years back. I was able to talk to him about his trip to Disneyland. My friend was his tour guide in that famous picture. She told me that he was totally sweet and made her part of their group. He told me to say hi to her. 🙂 And he signed one of my favorite CDs of all time.

The Resurgency of Now

Vince Paradise, Newfoundland, CA

In high school (1996), I was making out with a friend of mine, and 1979 was playing on her radio. It was awesome.

Despite all the memories

Josh Odd Bloomington, MN, US

This piece was inspired by Bullet with Butterfly Wings. Billy said that great music crosses genres to people the same thing applies to visual art. The Mellon Collie album was a great soundtrack that continues to be a great album for Generation X to the rise of millennials like myself. Despite the song being a joke, it makes me think of just how time affects society, art, and death.

Love is Suicide

Christian San Diego, California , US

I remember screaming Bodies at the top of my lungs after a terrible breakup…it was my favorite song at the time, as was XYU.  I was in my car and had MCIS in my CD player and I couldn’t stop listening to it. As a matter of fact, I just relistened to it as I haven’t heard it in a long time.  That song allowed me to get out all of the anger I felt at the time. My Lady and I are currently having troubles, it’s definitely not fun…Bodies is the first thing that popped into my head…been there, done that…although it’s not from MCIS, it reminds me of Behold! The Nightmare from Adore. As a visual artist, I had created a beautiful drawing of that song and how I felt at the time…Where the Willows weep and the Whirlpools sleep You’ll find Me…I was sitting under a willow, rose in hand…I cant go on digging roses from your grave.  And the Nightmare Rides On…As always, Thank You for the music, you’ve been the soundtrack to my life.

Connection

Sylvaindt CA

One of the first albums I ever bought. Cassette. 20 years later I got the deluxe edition. CD. Lonely night in I was listening to it and made an online post. That shot of the box set grabbed the attention of one who would eventually be my wife five years later.

Long-Distance Relationship

Rich S. US

My girlfriend gave me MCIS for our first Valentine’s Day. We were dating from different colleges 6.5 hours apart. I would rock out to MCIS every road trip to visit her in my 1986 Dodge Omni with the portable CD player plugged into the tape deck. We have now been married 20 years and have 3 kids, and the songs from MCIS are still in my main playlist.

“You made it Last Forever! You!”

Jack Comeau Parkersburg, WV, US

And you truly have! Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is among one of the best albums of all time! I remember as a youngling listening to the mainstream tracks off this album and Being totally in awe of them. I then would eventually decide to purchase the album in its entirety on CD, and man has it been a blast! Each song, each lyric, each note spoke to me and touched my heart. The sheer brilliance that this album contains is unmeasurable to any other! The way that each song bears it own meaning and feeling brings this album the most enjoyment and prosperity than any in any musical act! The gritty and angst driven songs like “Zero” and “X.Y.U” helped me through anger and pain of my life As well as the other melloncollich tracks like “To Forgive” and “in the arms of sleep”. But mostly the sad but feel good tracks like “tonight, tonight” “1979” and “thirty three” are the ones that stand out the most! I’ve gone through hell and back with record! And it’s done one hell of a good job keeping me alive! Billy’s amazing input on this record was outstanding! This album in general and Billy’s guitar work really rooted my love for music and inspired me to learn how to play the guitar! Billy, the pumpkins, and most importantly, this album, will always have a special place in my heart! Thank you!

Poetry

Camila Espel Cuba Buenos aires, AR

MCIS reminds me that sadness will brings poetry. My memory of this album is that you have to accept your feelings to know you and then you can reborn, but first you have to feel and also love your sadness, appreciate it. I really love this album, it show me that we can create beatiful things no matter what we feel. William I love your work, always, and I really feel you in every lyric. MCIS is a poem of love and sadness, love it forever.

An Ode to Not One 💿, but two !

Chris New York , NY, US

Where to start. From hearing 1979 for the first time in MTV, to saving up enough money to buy the cd while on our 8th grade field trip to Washington DC , to coming home from school listening to each disc while poring over the liner notes 🤘 🎃

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!

Billy Corgan #1 fan

Adriano Tefel Guatemala City, GT

When I first listened to the album I  was in shock and said “This is fucking good” This album got me into alternative rock and is my favorite album

Fantastical

Brandon Pittsburgh, PA, US

One of the 1st albums I bought. Would mostly lay in my bed at night and let the discs take me on a fantastical journey. Beautiful songs knowing no emotional boundaries.

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)”

From Dawn ‘Till Starlight

Pete Chicago, US

Using lyrics from the album, I arranged lines to create what 13 year old me believed was a coherent piece, telling the story of a single day, broken into 4 parts of a day.  I fancied it up with some of my friend’s artwork and mailed it off to the official fan mail address!