SMASHING PUMPKINS Biography - Music bands & groups

 
 

Biography » music bands groups » smashing pumpkins

SMASHING PUMPKINS

Name: The Smashing Pumpkins                                                                 
Origin: Chicago, Illinois, USA                                                             
                                                                                             
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in                 
Chicago, Illinois in 1988. While the group has gone through several lineup                 
changes, The Smashing Pumpkins consisted of Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James             
Iha (guitar/vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion) 
for most of the band's recording career.                                                   
                                                                                             
Disavowing the punk rock roots shared by many of their alt-rock contemporaries,             
the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered, and guitar-heavy sound, containing           
elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, arena rock,             
shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica. Frontman Billy           
Corgan is the group's primary songwriter—his grand musical ambitions and                 
cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's albums and songs, which have been                   
described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land".               
                                                                                             
The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the musical mainstream with their second album,           
1993's Siamese Dream. The group built their audience with extensive touring and             
their follow-up, 1995's double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,               
debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. With approximately 18.25 million             
albums sold in the United States alone, The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the               
most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s.                   
However, internal fighting, drug use, and diminishing sales hampered the band               
and led to a 2000 break-up. In April 2006, the band officially announced that it           
was reuniting and recording a new album. Returning members Billy Corgan and                 
Jimmy Chamberlin were joined by musicians Jeff Schroeder (guitar/vocals), Ginger           
Reyes (bass/vocals), and Lisa Harriton (keyboard/vocals) in 2007 to tour in                 
support of their new release, Zeitgeist.