When an album stays with you

Kira Dothan, AL, US

Even though I already knew how to spell “melancholy”, the SP album “Melon Collie & The Infinite Sadness” made such an impression on me that ever since my default way to spell it is “melon collie” unless I concentrate.

Queen of Lake Michigan

Brian Kalamazoo , US

One of the lucky fans who got to see the MCIS tour (6/25/96 Saginaw, MI) prior to J.C. being fired. Venue was a small place to open such a big tour, but the floor was GA and wi was ready to hustle. Garbage opened the show and I was front row looking up at Shirley rocking out. When SP went on they were on point, I remember Billy telling the crowd that D’Arcy was aka “The Queen of Lake Michigan” and she seemed really embarrassed. During Fuck You I managed to make my way up to the front and was able to hold on to the barrier thru all 3 encores. Riding in the back seat on the way home the DJ on Z93 said that his boss called from the show and told him to keep playing SP the rest of the night.

Melbourne Mellon Collie

Curtis Manchester NH, US

I had a penpal from Australia and I got to visit her when I was 16. We were both huge Pumpkins fans and she gave me this shirt. I still have it over 24 years later!

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness tattoo in micro realism 🖤

Amalia Ricalde Bogotá , CO

My first and favorite tattoo in honor of MCIS 🖤

Where boys fear to tread

Autumn Valparaiso, US

Christmas with the fam 

In nana’s garden

Emma London, Ontario , CA

Anytime I visited my nana in England we would rent cassette from the Library. I would fall asleep to this album as a kid!

Memories with my dad

Brianne Dickman Springfield, MO, US

I was 9/10-years-old when the album came out. I remember my dad bought the cassette tape(s) and he put the first one into the tape player in his old single-cab Toyota and it was the first time I had heard Smashing Pumpkins and I was in love. Anytime I hear 1979, thirty-three, zero, etc. I always think back to driving around on dusty, Missouri roads with my dad. 

Things moved slower back then

Jerrod Grandville, US

September 1996 and I just started high school.  Bought Mellon Collie the previous spring and Siamese Dream that the summer, which inspired me to play guitar.  As I was learning my first chords, my SP obsession was forming and I bought Gish on a hot Sunday afternoon at our local “record store”.  We had to walk, it was about 20 minutes crossing busy streets and parking lots.  Had not heard a song on the album prior to buying,  music was so much more difficult to access back then.  If it wasn’t on the Radio or MTV, and if a friend didn’t own it, you couldn’t hear it.  I knew buying this album blind would not disappoint, and it was time.  I Am One and Snail caught my attention first.  My favorite track on the album, Bury Me, didn’t hook me until 9 years later, when it told the story of a girlfriend who had recently broke my heart.  SP and Billy Corgan remain my all time favorite, the essential piece in my music journey.

Impressionable youth

Elizabeth Cornwall , GB

Looking for a kiss kiss 

Holding a smashing kettle

Rich Giles Sheffield, GB

Before an SP gig, my pals just fancied a British cup of tea so I snapped them holding this kettle 😀

Handpainted MCIS Jacket

Natalia Indio, CA, US

Bullet with Butterfly Wings was my favorite song as a kid, so this jacket I commissioned has a lot of sentimental value. I hope to rock it at a Pumpkins show 🙂

My Zero T-shirt

Marília Maggioni Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, BR

I joined the Smashing Pumpkins Message Board back in the late 90-00’s and made great friends overseas. One of the kindest person there was Sherry, aka Hollasher, and knowing the huge fan I was plus how hard was to find some band stuff here in Brazil those days, she sent me this Zero T-shirt. It is precious to me, like everything related to MCIS, the first SP album I’ve ever listened to and where it all started. 

A reason to live

Melissa McCann California , US

I was about 19 years old when I painted this in 1999. I suffered from severe depression and anxiety. I spent much of my Highschool years confined to mental hospitals. Mellon Collie gave me a connection and release to what I was going through. Painting was also very therapeutic, so it just seemed natural to paint something “Smashing Pumpkins”. I suffered a lot of abuse and felt like taking my life. Feeling so alone but having a connection to lyrics and a sound that moved me literally saved my life. Bullet with Butterfly Wings was my anthem. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your music, and everything. 

Very First Concert

Nicole Semiraro Aberdeen, New Jersey, US

Infinite Sadness tour  February 1, 1997 at the old Charlotte coliseum…. I was 8 years old and my parents took me to my very first concert. Fountains of Wayne opened for SP. Fast forward 24 years later, my parents and I got to see SP again last month at Sea Hear Now. I’m still on cloud 9! 

Rocker boys dig it!

Jenifer Calgary, Alberta, CA

The shirt says “Zero” and had the star, but that’s what it was. It was a journey to find it in long sleeve(like Billy’s). Rocker boys dig it! Whenever someone who knew about SP, saw me wearing it, they would immediately approach me and start a conversation. This pic was taken in the year 2000.

SP saved me

Wim Van Kelst Antwerp, BE

When Mellon came out, I was in my 2nd year of studying for nurse. Emotionally I was going through a tough period and listening to SP helped me to hold on. The concert in Flanders Expo Gent was the highlight of that period. Looking forward to it and the energy of that night saved me from getting depressed. I still remember the amazing light show, Jimmy on drums and the band performing on an extremely high level. Thank you and love to you all @

The world is a vampire

Tim Tarragindi, AU

Playing in my band with my fave shirt of my fave band.  The ‘world is a vampire’ shirt.  Mellon collie had been out afew years by then but it was still a proud time for me to rep the band that inspired me to play in the first place.  

Mellon Collie Tattoo

Matthew SOUTHAMPTON, GB

A tattoo I got back in 2018 or around then. Truly love the Pumpkins and Mellon Collie/Adore are both albums that I felt I could relate to in a very special way. Shoutout to Oceania, doesn’t get enough love. 

Anyways, thanks for the great music, and thanks WPC for our brief but interesting chats we had over direct messaging back in the day! 

Gish and The Rapture

Jay Columbus, OH, US

In the year 2011, I learned to play bass. The album Gish was my “go-to” play along record.  2011 was also the year of “The Rapture”, which was predicted on May 21.

Unsure what to believe, if I would be snatched into the heavens, I sat alone in my apartment complex. It was the 13th floor in an old high rise. I plugged my bass in, turned on “Snail” and played along – 10/10 volume. If I was going out, this is the way I would go.

The moment came and went. That memory will last forever. 

Thanks SP/WPC. Thanks GISH.

Daydream

Ciara Richmond, Va, US

I remember going back and listening to the deluxe version of gish and hearing demos, mixes. And studio versions. I felt so complete after it, like I had come full circle after Siamese Dream, Pisces Iscariot, MCIS, Aeroplanes, and Adore all came out.

Pumpkins Peppers and Pearl Jam ay the Aud in Rochester

Guy Rochester NY, US

Very Influential

Chris Charlotte, US

I made a mixtape for a girl that I had a crush on in High School with songs from Gish on it. The girl still didn’t go out with me, but she did start dressing like Billy Corgan : /

Merch pic

Matty Edmonton, CA

Just wanted to say that the 2012 Oceania tour was absolutely magical, it’s a beautiful album and it was an absolute delight to see performed entirely.

Smashing Pumpkins Reunion Tour

Penny Queens, NY, US

On my way home after seeing the Pumpkins at Jones Beach in August 2019. 

Teenage angst

Ferran Gimeno València, ES

Winter of 2000. 15 year old me. My dad took a picture of me trying to cheer me up, as I just broke my leg playing football, and I just returned from hospital. Music was my way to escape reality. SP were non-stop on my record player. Dawn to Dusk. Twilight to starlight. A lifechanger. 

Playing it out

Gilberto Morales San Juan, Puerto Rico, PR

Smashing Pumpkins have been my favorite band since the first album came out. This is the guitar I learned the first album on.