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.
A well-loved friend..
Rach Melbourne, Victoria, AU
I was about 13 when I became properly aware of the Smashing Pumpkins. MCIS was the first album I bought with my own money, and It would go with me everywhere. It felt like my first real development in my musical choices that was my own, and I will always cherish it. A well-loved friend. Thanks SP xx
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!
Mellon Collie = Marriage
Ursula Puglia Hillsborough, NJ, US
20 year old me fell in love with 18 year old Pete and I bought him the Mellon Collie cassette tape at Sam Goody. Pete didn’t return the intensity of my affection and after a couple of years of on & off dates and friendship, we parted ways. Fast forward, 2006. He finds me on Myspace. He’d seen 50+ Pumpkins concerts and gotten 4 SP tattoos during our time apart. We fell madly in love and got married. I then gifted him an original Mellon Collie vinyl as a symbol of our destiny. His greatest loves are me, our children and Smashing Pumpkins, and it all began at a Sam Goody record store in 1995. Without Mellon Collie there would be no “us”.
MCIS In the Womb
Brittany Tuckett (Rogowski) Lindon, UT, US
MCIS has had a profound impact on my life. In fact, I quite literally have never known a life without it. My dad was a massive Pumpkins fan, and MCIS was his favorite. When my mom was pregnant with me, he’d put headphones on her belly, and play MCIS for me. I’d always move around, and start reacting to the music.
Once I was born, my dad would rock me to sleep, and sing “Farewell and Goodnight to me.” As I got older, I continued to listen to the softer songs from MCIS, to fall asleep to. I often still can’t fall asleep without them.
Unfortunately, I lost my dad to suicide when I was 17. He left behind for me his entire Smashing Pumpkins collection, along with a mixed CD he created, as his final goodbye to me. The first song on the CD, is “Farewell
and Goodnight.”
MCIS has been there for me through the great, the bad, and the really ugly. It’s been the one constant I’ve always been able to hold onto, no matter what I’ve had to face in this life.
Cheers, MCIS! Happy 25th Anniversary to the album that started it all for me.
Tonight, Tonight Moon Tattoo and Box Set
Austin Philadelphia, PA, US
I discovered Mellon Collie in 2012 during prom. The beautiful songs spoke to me like no album I’d heard before. It just so happened that my drive to and from college was exactly the length of the album, so I listened to it through sunsets into nighttime dozens of times, ending each drive in sublime melancholy.
My First Pumpkins Concert
Paul Corbett Cannock, Staffordshire, GB
After only hearing ‘Today‘ on a compilation album, I knew I needed To hear more of The Smashing Pumpkins. As I hung around HMV trying to decide which album I should buy, I overheard a girl tell her friend that “the new Pumpkins album is meant to be amazing“. So I picked up MCIS and paid for it, but at some point put the bag down and lost it! So my Dad being the kind guy he is bought me another copy. It was beyond anything I ever expected. It was the most I had been excited about a band since I first heard The Beatles. So much diversity in sound! Lyrics that blew my mind! And so began a life long devotion to The Smashing Pumpkins. I even started a band and named it Zero. I will always be grateful.
Time is never time at all
Travis Love Fort Lauderdale, FL, US
I purchased MCIS for my neighbor who was giving me a ride to school at the time of its release as a thank you. I was 14 at the time and after hearing a few songs on the way to school I had to purchase my own copy. Front to back this album really defined this time in my life! In high school they would play the music videos on the TV in the classrooms on “Channel One”. I was lucky enough to see SP live in 96 in Jacksonville in support of this album.
I drew the hourglass with wings on my skateboard at the time and would have it tattooed on my leg some 18 years later. 10 years after its release I almost wore out my original CD’s while making the 4+ hour drive back and forth to college.
25 years later MCIS is still in my daily playlist while at work. Each song brings me back to a time and place and has a specific memory attached to it. This album is a masterpiece that I grow more found of as the years go by! I still at times find myself hearing things I never heard before and finding connections to the lyrics as I grow older.