The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the greatest musical gems of the 90’s and are still going strong with 11 albums. We want to know which of your records you think are the best this week Loudwire nights Poll for album of the week.
You have until Friday at 12pm CET to cast your vote. We then play the three tracks from the album with the most votes along the way Loudwire nights‘ Album of the week block to start the show the following Monday!
Although the Smashing Pumpkins formed in the late ’80s, they rose to prominence in the following decade as alternative rock became hugely popular. They’re sometimes lumped in with the Seattle grunge artists, probably due to the timing of their success and the music’s cathartic subject matter, but they drew much less on punk rock and more on gothic and psychedelic rock than their contemporaries.
The rockers debut album spray came out in May 1991, just months before the alt-rock explosion that took place. At the time they released his follow-up, 1993 siamese dream, The band had signed to a major label, like many other up-and-coming rock bands at the time. The second attempt was a much bigger commercial success than gish, however, it was their 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness which earned them their first #1 and produced five hit singles.
The Pumpkins were at a peak after the release of Mellon Collie until a double tragedy struck them the following year – touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of an overdose and their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession, leading to his being fired from the band.
After rebalancing their cast, their 1998 record Worship was highly anticipated but ended up being quite polarizing for its fanbase. Those expecting another powerful alt-rock release were surprised to hear electronics and synth-pop on the album, and frontman Billy Corgan became frustrated because people “didn’t get” their desire to experiment.
The band released two more albums in 2000 and then publicly announced that they were splitting up, which lasted until 2005. Chamberlin was invited to attend the reunion and they published Zeitgeist in 2007.
Since reuniting, the Pumpkins have released four more albums, the most recent being 2020’s 20-track album Cyr. Go below to vote for your favorite album of theirs, then tune in Loudwire nights next Monday at 7:00 p.m. ET to find out which record has prevailed. During tonight’s show, you’ll learn which Aerosmith album won best and hear three songs from the winner.
Loudwire Nights with Toni Gonzalez airs nightly at 7 p.m. ET. You can tune in anytime, anywhere, right here or by downloading the Loudwire app.
Top 90 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1990s
