| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pumpkins.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:The current lineup.[[note]]From L to R: Jimmy Chamberlin, Billy Corgan, James Iha, Jeff Schroeder[[/note]]]] |
| 3 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pumpkinsog95.jpg]] |
| 4 | [[caption-width-right:350:The "classic" lineup.[[note]]From L to R: Corgan, D'arcy Wretzky, Iha, Chamberlin[[/note]]]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | [floatboxright: Influences: |
| 7 | +Music/{{Queen}}, Music/{{Boston}}, Music/MyBloodyValentine, Music/{{The Cure|Band}}, Music/ElectricLightOrchestra, Music/JoyDivision, Music/DepecheMode, Music/{{Cream}}, Music/TheStooges, Music/{{Ride}}, Music/{{Slowdive}}, Music/{{Bauhaus}}, Music/BlueCheer, Music/TearsForFears, Music/ThinLizzy |
| 8 | ] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->'''Homer Simpson:''' My kids love you, and thanks to your gloomy music, they've finally stopped dreaming of a future I can't possibly provide.\ |
| 11 | '''Billy Corgan:''' Well, we try to make a difference. |
| 12 | -->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E24Homerpalooza Homerpalooza]]" |
| 13 | |
| 14 | [[LongRunner Formed in]] [[The80s 1988]], The Smashing Pumpkins are an {{alternative rock}} band from [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} the Windy City]] consisting of [[Creator/MarkPrindle singer/songwriter/]][[IAmTheBand dictator]] Billy Corgan. Okay, that's not true; there are usually three or four other band members, but Corgan's the songwriter, lead vocalist and [[RevolvingDoorBand the only member who's been present throughout the band's entire lifespan]], so we'll start from there. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | The band is known for [[SignatureStyle a number of things]]: [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty lyrics]], heavy guitars, dense production, an epic scope in terms of sonic ambition and[=/=]or accompanying visuals, and Corgan's nasal singing voice. While their "sound" began life as hard/alternative rock with experimental influences, they've also worked with elements from {{grunge}}, {{folk|Music}}, [[ElectronicMusic electronica]], [[{{Shoegazing}} shoegaze]], and gothic rock. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | The band's original lineup (Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin[[note]] who joined the band after Cabaret Metro owner Joe Shanahan told Corgan that he would only book the band if they got a drummer instead of using a drum machine[[/note]]) released three albums, two of which were the results of [[TroubledProduction strain due to Corgan's obsessive perfectionism and Chamberlin's drug addiction, among other issues]]. After the death of session keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, and the firing and re-hiring of Chamberlin (now drug-free) alongside the quitting of Wretzky, the band produced one more album (well, [[ExecutiveMeddling technically two]]) before announcing they would break up at the end of 2000. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | In 2005, Corgan released his first solo album, ''The Future Embrace'', subsequently upstaging himself by, on the very same day, announcing that he was reforming the Smashing Pumpkins alongside Chamberlin with new members. They released one album (''Zeitgeist'') before Chamberlin amicably departed, at which point the band focused on a planned 44-song ConceptAlbum named ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'', to be released song by song for free on [[http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/ their website]]. While 12 of the 44 songs (including vinyl bonus tracks) saw release, and their next two albums were reportedly parts of the project, thus bringing a total of 34 tracks, ''TBK'' as a whole has since been scrapped. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | In early 2018, Iha and Chamberlin officially rejoined the band[[note]]Wretzky was reportedly given the chance to rejoin by Corgan; Corgan rescinded the offer later according to Wretzky, but Wretzky turned down the offer according to Corgan, and [[https://consequence.net/2018/02/darcy-wretzky-shares-text-messages-as-proof-that-billy-corgan-is-lying-about-smashing-pumpkins-reunion-offer/ there's more proof for the former]][[/note]], with guitarist Jeff Schroeder (who initially joined the band after their mid-2000s reunion) completing the quartet. They released a new album in November of that year, ''Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.'', which began a new ConceptAlbum series titled ''Shiny and Oh So Bright'' and would be followed up two years with ''Cyr''. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | In October 22, 2020, two days before the 25th anniversary of ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'', Corgan [[https://www.kerrang.com/amp/the-smashing-pumpkins-announce-mellon-collie-and-the-infinite-sadness-machina-sequel confirmed]] that the band are planning to release two new albums after the release of ''Cyr'', with the first album being a 33-track double album that would serve as the third and final installment of a trilogy that began with ''Mellon Collie'' and continued in the two-part ''Machina''. This album, ''Atum'', was released in three 11-song installments between late 2022 and mid-2023; a 10-track third ''Shiny and Oh So Bright'' album titled ''Zodeon at Crystal Hall'' came out after it. |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold''', current members in ''italic''): |
| 27 | * Melissa Auf der Maur – bass guitar (1999–2000) |
| 28 | * Mike Byrne – drums, keyboards, backing vocals (2009–2014) |
| 29 | * '''''Jimmy Chamberlin''''' – drums (1988–1996, 1998–2000, 2006–2009, 2018–present; touring 2015–2017) |
| 30 | * '''''Billy Corgan''''' – vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass (1988–2000, 2006–present) |
| 31 | * Nicole Fiorentino – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (2010–2014) |
| 32 | * '''''James Iha''''' – guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals (1988–2000, 2018–present) |
| 33 | * Jeff Schroeder - guitar (2006-2023) |
| 34 | * '''D'arcy Wretzky''' – bass, backing vocals (1988–1999) |
| 35 | !! Other members |
| 36 | * ''Jack Bates'' [[note]]Touring only[[/note]] – bass guitar (2015–present) |
| 37 | * ''Katie Cole'' [[note]]Touring only[[/note]] – keyboards, guitar, vocals (2015–present) |
| 38 | * Lisa Harriton [[note]]Touring only[[/note]] – keyboards, backing vocals (2007–2009) |
| 39 | * Ginger Pooley [[note]]Touring only[[/note]] – bass, backing vocals (2007–2010) |
| 40 | |
| 41 | !! Studio album discography: |
| 42 | * ''Gish'' (1991) - the debut album, occasionally overlooked. |
| 43 | * ''Music/SiameseDream'' (1993) - the mainstream breakthrough, mainly because of "Today" and "Disarm". |
| 44 | ** The two were remastered and reissued in 2011. Each had a bonus CD and a bonus DVD. |
| 45 | * ''Music/MellonCollieAndTheInfiniteSadness'' (1995) - the epic double album. |
| 46 | ** Remastered and reissued in 2012, with three bonus [=CDs=] and a bonus DVD. |
| 47 | * ''Music/{{Adore}}'' (1998) - the folk / electronica album. |
| 48 | ** Remastered and reissued in 2014, with five bonus [=CDs=] and a bonus DVD. |
| 49 | * ''Machina / The Machines of God'' (2000) - the attempted comeback and the sequel to ''Mellon Collie''. |
| 50 | ** A remastered reissue was originally scheduled for 2015 but has been subject to developmental delays and/or schedule lapses, evidently due to issues with litigious record companies. It is intended to include all of the material from ''Machina II'' (sequenced to fit Corgan's original concept of a double album, before executive interference set in) as well as additional bonus material, presumably around the size of the ''Adore'' reissue. |
| 51 | * ''Machina II / The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music'' (2000) - not a commercial release and, for that matter, was not intended to be; Corgan wanted Creator/VirginRecords to make the album free to anyone who had bought ''Machina I''. When they declined, he just gave it to ''everyone''. |
| 52 | * ''Zeitgeist'' (2007) - the first post-reunion album. |
| 53 | * ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'' - A scrapped 44-song ConceptAlbum. |
| 54 | ** ''Oceania'' (2012) - the first standalone ''TBK''-associated album. |
| 55 | ** ''Monuments to an Elegy'' (2014) - the second and final standalone ''TBK''-associated album. |
| 56 | * ''Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun.'' (2018) - the first album following Iha and Chamberlin's rejoining and the first instalment of the ''Shiny and Oh So Bright'' series. |
| 57 | * ''Cyr'' (2020) - the second installment of the ''Shiny and Oh So Bright'' series. |
| 58 | * ''Atum'' (2022-23) - an album in three acts and the third and final instalment of the trilogy that began with ''Mellon Collie'', released in November 2022, January 2023, and May 2023. |
| 59 | * ''Zodeon at Crystal Hall'' (2023) - the third and final instalment of the ''Shiny and Oh So Bright'' series, which was released as an additional disc for the ''Atum'' physical box set. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | There's also a bunch of [=EPs=] and compilations like: |
| 62 | * ''Lull'' (1991) - first EP. In Billy's words: ''the EP was really supposed to be a single but they tricked me.'' |
| 63 | * ''Pisces Iscariot'' (1994) - compilation of {{BSide}}s, demos and outtakes from the 'Gish' and 'Siamese Dream' era. |
| 64 | ** Remastered and reissued in 2012, with a bonus CD, a bonus DVD, a bonus cassette, and (in some versions) a bonus 7" single. |
| 65 | * ''Vieuphoria'' (1994) - a video compilation of various live performances, mostly from the ''Siamese Dream'' tour, plus comedy bits (usually centered on friends The Frogs), interviews, and other features. It was reissued on DVD in 2002 with several extras, including a complete interview and some additional performance footage from 1994 that Corgan had found before the release date. Similarly, its soundtrack was initially released as a promo CD in 1994, titled ''Earphoria'', and then officially released in 2002. ''Earphoria'' retains a segment where the band jokingly played part of [[Film/TheWizardOfOz "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"]] during a medley of "Silverfuck" and "Jackboot", whereas the ''Vieuphoria'' footage had to [[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship edit that part out due to licensing costs]]. |
| 66 | * ''The Aeroplane Flies High'' (1996) - box set including all the singles and B-sides from the ''Mellon Collie'' era. |
| 67 | ** Remastered and reissued in 2013, with a substantial amount of bonus material on each CD as well as one additional bonus CD and a bonus DVD. |
| 68 | * ''Rotten Apples'' (2001) - GreatestHitsAlbum, with almost all singles from "Siva" to "Try Try Try" (a particlar omission being "The End Is the Beginning Is the End", which due to originating in a [[Film/BatmanAndRobin soundtrack]] belonged to another label) |
| 69 | ** ''Judas ∅'' (2001) - a limited-edition bonus disc with the B-sides and rarities that followed ''Pisces Iscariot'' |
| 70 | * ''Rarities and B-Sides'' (2005) - ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Gathering just about every B-side and rarity for a total of 114 tracks. (It's not entirely complete; a few tracks had to be left off because of licensing issues. Many of these were included on the recent deluxe reissues of the albums, however). |
| 71 | |
| 72 | !! Music videos with TV Tropes pages: |
| 73 | * "Music/TonightTonight" |
| 74 | * "Music/NineteenSeventyNine" |
| 75 | ---- |
| 76 | |
| 77 | !! "Despite all my tropes I am still just a rat in a cage": |
| 78 | |
| 79 | * AdultsAreUseless: In the "Rocket" video, a group of kids build a rocket to travel to another planet to see the Pumpkins perform without as much as a word of questioning from their inattentive parents. They don't really seem to notice until they see the rocket take off. |
| 80 | * AlbumClosure: Most of their studio albums end with some kind of [[SurprisinglyGentleSong gentle, acoustic track]] that eases the listener out: |
| 81 | ** ''Gish'' ends with "Day Dream", the shortest track on the album that's almost like two songs conjoined, and is an ethereal track predominantly featuring vocals from bassist D'Arcy Wretsky in addition to Billy Corgan's harsher vocals. |
| 82 | ** ''Music/MellonCollieAndTheInfiniteSadness'' ends with "Farewell and Goodnight", a peaceful song featuring vocals from the whole band that wishes the listener goodbye. The album is a ConceptAlbum cycling through the day, so ending with a lullaby is fitting. It also BookEnds to the TitleTrack, a gentle and mellow AlbumIntroTrack. |
| 83 | ** ''Music/{{Adore}}'' ends with "17", a [[MinisculeRocking 17-second]] acoustic instrumental that according to the liner notes is supposed to provide space for breathing and reflection. |
| 84 | * ArcWords: "My one and only" on ''Mellon Collie.'' It shows up in "X.Y.U.," "Zero," "Lily (My One and Only)", and "By Starlight." |
| 85 | * {{Anadiplosis}}: In "Zero": |
| 86 | -->''Emptiness is loneliness\ |
| 87 | and loneliness is cleanliness\ |
| 88 | and cleanliness is godliness\ |
| 89 | and God is empty...just like me.'' |
| 90 | * AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: They have a few songs with faux-foreign titles. "La Dolly Vita" is one example. "La Vita" means "The Life" in Italian, but "Dolly" doesn't mean anything in Italian at all - it's an English word. (This particular title is probably a PunBasedTitle on ''Film/LaDolceVita''.) Then again, since most of their song titles are {{Word Salad Title}}s anyway, this is par for the course. |
| 91 | * BookEnds: |
| 92 | ** The first track on Disc 1 of ''Mellon Collie'', "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," has a running time of 2:52, as does the last track on Disc 1, "Take Me Down." The first track on Disc 2, "Where Boys Fear to Tread," is 4:22, as is the last track on disc 2, "Farewell and Goodnight." Furthermore, the piano theme at the end of "Farewell and Goodnight" is a reprise of the eponymous instrumental (the theme also appears in a different key at the end of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby"). |
| 93 | ** The same lines from the start of "Appels + Oranjes" from ''Adore'' are repeated near the end. |
| 94 | * BrokenBird: D'arcy's persona for the Mellon Collie and Adore eras. |
| 95 | * CallBack: The opening lines of the heaviest song on ''Mellon Collie,'' "Tales of a Scorched Earth" ("farewell, goodnight, last one out turn out the lights"), are echoed in "Farewell and Goodnight," which is the sweetest and quietest song on the album, and is basically a lullaby. |
| 96 | ** ''Mellon Collie'' ends with a bedtime song ("Farewell and Goodnight"), on a disc titled "Twilight to Starlight". ''Adore'' opens in the same key and the first line is, "Twilight fades, through blistered Avalon." |
| 97 | * CarefulWithThatAxe: |
| 98 | ** "Bullet with Butterfly Wings": "Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a... '''CAAAAAAAGE!'''" |
| 99 | ** "XYU": "AND IN THE EYES OF THE JACKAL I SAY KAAAAA...BOOM!!!" |
| 100 | * CelebrityResemblance: Since Billy shaved his head, he looks like the twin of [[{{Music/Soilwork}} Björn Strid.]] |
| 101 | * ChristmasSongs: They have one, simply titled "Christmastime." |
| 102 | * ClusterFBomb: The lyrics to the extremely serene "Spaced" actually have several examples of this, though because they're mixed quietly and heavily distorted, it's difficult to hear at first. That's actually among the ''least'' [[LyricalDissonance lyrically dissonant]] aspects of the lyrics; the song also appears to deal with issues like ParentalAbuse, though in a rather oblique fashion. |
| 103 | * ConceptAlbum: ''Mellon Collie'' (which Corgan called "''Music/TheWall'' for Generation X", though is a rather loose concept about coming of age); both ''Machina'' albums (about a boy hearing the voice of God in the radio and fashioning himself into a CaptainErsatz version of Billy Corgan, fronting a rock band; chart by Billy [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Machina_chart.jpg here]]); and ''Teargarden'' (similar chart [[http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4wp8pyTxh1qbh37po1_1280.jpg here]]). |
| 104 | * CoverVersion: "A Girl Named Sandoz" by Music/TheAnimals, "Terrapin" by Music/SydBarrett, "Landslide" by Music/FleetwoodMac, "Dancing in the Moonlight" by Music/ThinLizzy, "You're All I've Got Tonight" by Music/TheCars, "Clones (We're All)" by Music/AliceCooper, "A Night Like This" by Music/{{The Cure|Band}}, "Destination Unknown" by Music/MissingPersons, "Dreaming" by Music/{{Blondie|Band}}, the classic pop tune "My Blue Heaven", "Rock On" by David Essex, "Soul Power" by Music/JamesBrown, "Sad Peter Pan" by Vic Chestnutt, and those are just the ones that made it onto albums and compilations. |
| 105 | ** The band has taken to performing "Space Oddity" by Music/DavidBowie during shows on the Oceania tour. |
| 106 | * ConveyorBeltVideo / TheOner: "Ava Adore". If it doesn't click in that it's a oner, the halfway point where the camera spins around and reveals the camera's track and all of the sets will do it. |
| 107 | * DarkReprise: "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning" is this to "The End is the Beginning is the End". Both were on the soundtrack to 1997's ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. The two songs have the same exact chorus, but different verses. |
| 108 | * DescriptionCut: Used in the ''Vieuphoria'' segment "Bugg Superstar" -- After a clip of a fan speculating about the "cool, artsy life" James Iha must live, we then see James sleeping in a very messy bed with his clothes and sneakers still on. |
| 109 | * DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Subverted. As mentioned above, ''Machina II'' was intended to be leaked onto the internet for free. ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'' was intended to be released song-by-song for free on the band's website; they released ten songs before abandoning this method. |
| 110 | * DoomsdayClock: Has a song of the same name on ''Zeitgeist''. |
| 111 | * DroneOfDread: The ending of "Obscured" is a sort of PlayedWith example: it ends with droning guitar feedback, but it'll probably manage to escape being a LastNoteNightmare for most listeners because it's still pretty tuneful and somehow fits with the rest of the song. |
| 112 | * DudeLooksLikeALady: James Iha playing a WholesomeCrossdresser in the video for "Today." |
| 113 | ** Corgan's stage attire has often included dresses / skirts. |
| 114 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rr7th61VOk&t=114s This performance filmed in 1988]] shows the band playing Music/{{The Cure|Band}}-esque post-punk/goth-rock, a far cry from their eclectic blend of grunge, shoegaze, dream pop and metal in their heyday. |
| 115 | * EpicRocking: Quite a lot -- "Rhinoceros" (6:30), "Drown" (8:17), "Hummer" (6:56), "Soma" (6:38), "Silverfuck" (8:43), "Starla" (11:01), "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (9:22), "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (7:38), "X.Y.U." (7:07), "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (8:36), "Tear" (5:54), "Shame" (6:41), "For Martha" (8:17), "Glass and the Ghost Children" (9:56), "Heavy Metal Machine (Alternate Take)" (6:28), "In My Body" (6:44), "Oceania" (9:05), ...Oh, we could go on. |
| 116 | ** Live versions of "Silverfuck" were known to take the 9-minute song as far as 40 minutes. The 2013 reissue of ''The Aeroplane Flies High'' featured an officially released 34:48 version. "Transmission" could go on for a long time, too; the DVD on the reissue of ''Adore'' has a version that goes on for 22:52. |
| 117 | ** Billy's other band, Zwan, had "Jesus, I / Mary Star of the Sea", which went on for 14:04. Even if this example is counted as two songs, which it sort of is, "Jesus, I" clocks in at about 7:54 and "Mary Star of the Sea" at about 6:10, depending upon where one places the track division (one could also argue that about three minutes of this track are an interlude that doesn't properly belong to either song, but this particular division places them at the end of "Jesus, I"). |
| 118 | ** And now, to dive fully down the rabbit hole of re-release bonus tracks. |
| 119 | *** ''Gish'': "Starla (2011 mix)" (11:01); "Drown (alternate guitar solo)" (8:17); the DVD's live versions of "Window Paine" (6:25) and "Sookie Sookie" (6:35). |
| 120 | *** ''Siamese Dream'': "Siamese Dream (Broadway rehearsals demo)" (6:18); "Hello Kitty Kat (Soundworks demo)" (6:14); "Ache (Silverfuck rehearsal demo)" (6:57); "Soma (instrumental mix)" (6:39); the DVD's live versions of "Soma" (7:21), "Starla" (9:21), "Hummer" (8:42), "Siva" (8:35), "Mayonaise" (10:29), "Drown" (8:25), and "Silverfuck" (13:30). |
| 121 | *** ''Pisces Iscariot'': "Crawl (Gish sessions outtake)" (6:55); "Why Am I So Tired (live in studio demo)" (15:14); the bonus DVD's versions of "My Eternity" (7:00) and "Death of a Mind" (6:42). (There are actually several takes of a few tracks on the DVD, but for the sake of this list, each of them is counted as its own track.) |
| 122 | *** ''Mellon Collie'': "X.Y.U. (take 11)" (7:11); "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans (live studio rough)" (9:06); "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (8:33); the live DVD's versions of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (8:06), "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (9:41), "Cherub Rock" (6:30), and "X.Y.U." (8:51). |
| 123 | *** ''The Aeroplane Flies High'': in addition to the aforementioned version of "Silverfuck" (34:48), disc six's live versions of "X.Y.U." (7:38), "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans/Beautiful/Rocket medley" (12:33), and "Silverfuck" (13:54), and the DVD's live versions of "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (7:56), "X.Y.U." (10:11), "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" (12:14), and "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)" (10:31). |
| 124 | *** ''Adore'': "For Martha (take 1/CRC demo)" (7:20); disc 6's live versions of "Tear" (7:01), "Blank Page" (7:52), "To Sheila" (7:17), "X.Y.U. Medley" (11:20), and "Transmission" (12:52); the DVD's live versions of "To Sheila" (7:11), "Tear" (9:59), "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" (10:15), "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete" (10:20), "Shame" (9:17), "For Martha" (8:25), "Blank Page" (9:48), and the aforementioned "Transmission" (25:52). |
| 125 | *** ''Machina'': We'll find out what examples there are if the record company ever lets Billy re-release it. |
| 126 | * FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Perfect" into "Daphne Descends." |
| 127 | ** "Where Boys Fear to Tread" abruptly cuts off into the radio static at the beginning of "Bodies." |
| 128 | * FakeGuestStar: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Garson Mike Garson]], from Music/DavidBowie's touring band, played piano/synthesizer for the band during the Adore and Machina Tours. |
| 129 | * FemaleRockersPlayBass: Through various lineup changes (until their 2017 reunion), the band has always had a female bassist. D'Arcy Wretzky, their original bassist, gets hit with the NobodyLovesTheBassist aspect of the the most -- fans sometimes speculate that Billy Corgan only chose her for her looks, and he ended up re-recording a lot of her parts on later albums. Her replacement Music/MelissaAufDerMer, being well regarded as a musician in her own right, didn't get this accusation as much. The current line-up -- Corgan, Iha, Chamberlin and Jeff Schroeder -- does not have a female rocker... and, unsurprisingly, does not have an official bassist. |
| 130 | * ForDoomTheBellTolls: "Disarm". |
| 131 | * GameOfNerds: Billy Corgan, who played the sport in his youth and also had a large baseball card collection, supporting the Chicago Cubs. |
| 132 | * GaiasLament: Discussed vaguely in "Appels + Oranjes" from ''Adore'', and more directly in "Doomsday Clock" from ''Zeitgeist''. |
| 133 | * GenreMashup: They're a goth-dream pop-progressive-psychedelic-electronica-metal-shoegaze-alternative rock band. |
| 134 | * GrandFinale: The last show at the Metro in 2000 arguably. |
| 135 | * GriefSong: |
| 136 | ** "Glynis" is a tribute to Glynis Johnson, the bassist of the band Red Red Meat, who toured with the Pumpkins and died of complications from AIDS one year before the song was released on the HIV benefit album ''No Alternative''. |
| 137 | ** ''Adore'', being recorded in the wake of Corgan's mother's death from cancer, has a number. Obvious examples include "For Martha", "Once Upon a Time", and "Tear". |
| 138 | * {{Grunge}}: They benefited heavily from the AlternativeRock wave out of UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} to the degree of having their song "Drown" featured on the soundtrack to the Seattle film ''Film/{{Singles}}'' alongside Music/AliceInChains, Music/PearlJam, and Music/{{Soundgarden}}, but they don't really fit into the scene because they had a more experimental sound, probably closer to pure AlternativeRock or even AlternativeMetal. They went out of their way to distance themselves from the failing movement for their second album. |
| 139 | * {{Guyliner}}: As demonstrated by the classic line-up picture at the top of the page, the guys sometimes put on eyeliner for promotional materials. |
| 140 | * HeavyMeta |
| 141 | * HeavyMetal: On the whole, they aren't ''exactly'' a metal band, but several of their songs ("Tales of a Scorched Earth", "X.Y.U.", "Zero", "Silverfuck", "The Aeroplane Flies High", etc.) are heavy enough to qualify as metal songs. Corgan is a huge metal fan; as mentioned above, he cited the late Music/{{Pantera}} guitarist Dimebag Darrell as his favourite contemporary guitarist and has been known to gush at length about the works of bands like Music/JudasPriest, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/LedZeppelin, Music/{{Rainbow}}, Music/{{Metallica}}, and others. Some reviewers have even credited the Pumpkins with helping to restore metal's respectability (or to make it respectable in the first place if you felt it'd never been considered respectable before the '90s). |
| 142 | * IAmTheBand: Billy Corgan, to the point where Corgan threw out Iha and Wretzky's parts on ''Siamese Dream'' and re-recorded them himself. This attitude while recording mellowed out for the next album but Corgan always kept this demeanor. He was also the only original member in the band from 2009-2015. |
| 143 | * TheKillerInMe: Mentioned by name in "Disarm." |
| 144 | * LargeAndInCharge: Band leader Billy Corgan stands at a rather imposing 6'4. |
| 145 | * LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Lead singer/songwriter Billy Corgan is the lead guitarist, playing most of the solos. Leaving fellow guitarist James Iha to mostly play rhythm guitar or more ornamental lead lines. |
| 146 | * LineOfSightName: Corgan said he got the title of "Mayonaise" from looking in his fridge. |
| 147 | * LoudnessWar: This has been a particularly bad problem starting with ''Machina'' (although not with ''Machina II'', which was vinyl-only, so not as likely to be a victim of this; the only track on that that had a clipped master was "White Spyder", which was clearly done for [[StylisticSuck artistic purposes]]). ''Zeitgeist'' and the reissues have also had problems with this, although strangely, the reissues have only been really bad on the bonus tracks (for example, the ''Adore'' remaster was [=DR8=] on the stereo version of the album and had minimal clipping, while the mono version was [=DR5=] with lots of clipping and the other bonus [=CDs=] had similar ratings and amounts of clipping). The earlier Pumpkins albums were mostly mastered with a fairly large amount of headroom, although the problem had started to creep up with ''The Aeroplane Flies High'', which is clipped in some parts. It's also worth pointing that there's an "pre-mastered" version of ''Machina'' floating around the internets that has a substantially larger amount of dynamic range than the CD (and no clipping). Their usage of this trope also appears to have dropped off with time, as ''Oceania'' is a tolerable [=DR8=] and has very little clipping. |
| 148 | ** This seems to be taken up to eleven on ''Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1'', not helped by the fact that Rick Rubin, a producer infamous for having albums with similar loudness problems in his catalog, had a production role on this. |
| 149 | * LyricalColdOpen: "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". You know the line. "The world is a vampire." |
| 150 | * LyricalDissonance: |
| 151 | ** "Today" — musically (mostly) upbeat, lyrically [[SarcasmMode sarcastic]] and based on Corgan's depression and suicidal thoughts. |
| 152 | ** "Spaced" is an even more extreme example, as mentioned above under ClusterFBomb |
| 153 | * LyricsVideoMismatch: "Tonight Tonight". The video is essentially a shot for shot remake of the 1902 sci-fi short ''A Trip to the Moon'', whereas the lyrics have strong a GrowingUpSucks theme. |
| 154 | * MetalScream: Corgan has a pretty sweet one at times, though somehow, even when he uses it, he usually still doesn't entirely escape PerishingAltRockVoice. "Tales of a Scorched Earth" may be the most extreme example one. |
| 155 | * MinisculeRocking: "Pastichio Medley" combines this with EpicRocking in a bizarre example of both tropes. It consists of literally dozens of song snippets stitched together to make a twenty-three minute piece. Most of the snippets last for only about ten seconds, but the last of them, "Die", consists of the same highly dissonant riff repeated for about seven minutes before reprising the riff of "X.Y.U." Several, though nowhere near all, of the songs in the medley were eventually released in their entirety on the re-releases of ''Siamese Dream'', ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'', and ''The Aeroplane Flies High''. |
| 156 | ** "17", the closing track to ''Adore'', is seventeen seconds of lo-fi piano (excerpted from a piano-only take of their song "Blissed and Gone"), which abruptly ends mid-note. The booklet to the CD includes a short poem about how significant "17 seconds" can be. |
| 157 | * MoodWhiplash: ''Mellon Collie'' utilizes this quite effectively (and often): |
| 158 | ** The beautiful "1979" is followed by the Pumpkins' heaviest song, "Tales of a Scorched Earth". On vinyl, despite the re-arranged tracklisting, "Galapogos" precedes "Tales", keeping similar whiplash intact. |
| 159 | ** "Take Me Down" (the last track on Disc 1) is followed by "Where Boys Fear to Tread" (the first track on Disc 2). |
| 160 | ** "Thirty-Three" follows "Bodies." |
| 161 | ** "Stumbleine" is right before "X.Y.U." |
| 162 | * MusicVideoOvershadowing: For "Today", a [[LyricalDissonance Lyrically Dissonant]] song about suicide. |
| 163 | * NonAppearingTitle: Frequently. |
| 164 | ** Billy, regarding song titles: "Say you write a song about a chandelier, and the chandelier gives off light. And the light is the color red and red reminds you of the color you're not supposed to wear around a bull. So you name the song Cow." |
| 165 | ** "Rhinoceros" is slightly more sneaky about this. The chorus is "she knows, she knows, she knows." It ''sounds,'' however, like [[{{Pun}} "she ''nose,'' ]][[StealthPun she ''nose,'' she..."]] |
| 166 | ** Sometimes complicated by the song's NonAppearingTitle appearing in ''other'' songs (For example, "Where Boys Fear to Tread" is mentioned in "Cherry", albeit not quite in that exact order). |
| 167 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Billy's looked pretty much the same since 1996. His voice also hasn't changed at all, adding to his young appearance. |
| 168 | * ObligatoryBondageSong: "Pug" and "Annie-Dog," which take very different views on the subject. While "Pug" is from the perspective of someone [[SafeSaneAndConsensual who enjoys the relationship]], "Annie-Dog" is a narration of the [[BondageIsBad horrible]] lifestyle of someone that may or may not be a prostitute. |
| 169 | * PerishingAltRockVoice: Corgan, even when doing the MetalScream CarefulWithThatAxe thing. |
| 170 | * PopCultureUrbanLegends: Invoked by Nicole, when she joked that she was one of the girls on the Simaese Dream cover. Some people still occasionally repeat this, though both of the girls have been identified by a fansite before and neither of them are known to be musicians. |
| 171 | * PostRock: An influence on their later material as well as on Zwan (not surprising since David Pajo of Music/{{Slint}} was a member of the latter). ''Oceania'' has a few shout-outs to seminal post-metal band Music/{{Isis}}, mentioned below. |
| 172 | * PowerBallad: "Tonight, Tonight" might qualify. |
| 173 | * PrecisionFStrike: ''Machina'''s final track "Age of Innocence" contains the only instance of profanity on the entire record. |
| 174 | * ProgressiveRock: While this has never been their dominant style, they've had some tendencies of it throughout their career, and on the whole, it's probably only grown with time; Website/{{Wikipedia}} actually classifies ''Oceania'' as a prog rock album (alongside psychedelic rock and the expected alternative rock. They still don't have a page on Prog Archives, though). A few songs on most of their other albums could also be categorised as prog, and Corgan has named several prog and prog-adjacent acts as influences (Music/PinkFloyd, Music/{{Rush|Band}}, Music/{{Queen}}, Music/ElectricLightOrchestra, Music/DavidBowie, etc.). Some of their songs ("Silverfuck", "X.Y.U.", "The Aeroplane Flies High", etc.) may also qualify as ProgressiveMetal. |
| 175 | * PsychedelicRock: One of Corgan's favourite music genres, and some of their work itself falls into this genre. Corgan has named seminal psychedelic acts like Music/JimiHendrix, Music/TheDoors, and Music/TheBeatles as major influences on his work. |
| 176 | * PunBasedTitle: "Mayonaise"[[note]]"my own eyes"[[/note]] and "Innosense" (put spaces before and after the "no" and you'll see).. |
| 177 | * PunctuatedForEmphasis: |
| 178 | ** [[WordSaladLyrics "I. AM. MADE. OF. SHAMROCKS.]] I. AM. MADE. OF. STERN STUFF." ("X.Y.U.") |
| 179 | ** "GOD! RIGHT ON! KRISHNA! RIGHT ON!" from "Quasar". |
| 180 | * RadioSong: "I of the Mourning" is told from the perspective of a man who seeks comfort in his radio and hears voices within that inspire him to start a band. |
| 181 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Melvoin's death is supposedly the inspiration for Music/SarahMcLachlan's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LuGzwNy2ws Angel]]". |
| 182 | * RearrangeTheSong: ''Adore''[='=]s sombre acoustic work and ''Machina''[='=]s poppier songs got the "Pumpkins treatment" in concerts, showing just how anchored they were in Corgan's songwriting process. |
| 183 | ** Similarly, "Disarm", which appeared on ''Siamese Dream'' as an orchestral ballad, was given a much louder, more aggressive arrangement for some TV appearances promoting the album. |
| 184 | * ReCut: |
| 185 | ** The vinyl version of ''Mellon Collie'' reorders the entire tracklist to better fit the Dawn / Tea Time / Dusk / Twilight / Midnight / Starlight naming of each of the six sides of vinyl. It also includes "Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness" on its final side. |
| 186 | ** ''Adore''[='=]s 2014 reissue featured subtle differences in the mix, highlighting some of the electronic elements cut from the original pressing. This is most notable in "Ava Adore". |
| 187 | ** ''Machina'', if the intended ReCut is ever released, will be reissued in its original double album format with the songs from ''Machina II'' included. Part of this will include a fake concert, much like Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'' did. |
| 188 | * {{Retraux}}: The "Tonight, Tonight" music video. |
| 189 | * RevolvingDoorBand: D'arcy Wretzky departed in 1999 during the production of ''Machina'', both James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky left when the band originally broke up in 2000, and while Chamberlin returned on the reunion, he left after 3 years). The member roster has cycled through a variety of different instrumentalists. Iha returned in 2018, and Chamberlain returned in 2015. |
| 190 | * ShapedLikeItself: This line from "Disarm": "What I choose is my choice." |
| 191 | * ShoutOut: |
| 192 | ** Corgan mentioned that ''Gish'' was named as a reference to Creator/LillianGish, specifically because his grandmother would tell him that she lived in a town in "the middle of nowhere" and one of the most important things that happened was Gish riding through said town in a train. He also joked at one point that it was originally named "Fish" but changed the name to avoid confusions with Music/{{Phish}}. |
| 193 | ** "Siva" was originally named "Shiva" as a reference to the Tantric concepts of Shiva and Shakti, but Corgan changed the name slightly because he didn't want people to assume it referred to the Hindu god Shiva. |
| 194 | ** ''Oceania'', a notably metallic and post-rock inspired album, contains the songs "The Celestials" and "Panopticon". Post-metal band Music/{{Isis}}' first albums, all from over a decade prior, were Celestial, Oceanic and Panopticon. |
| 195 | ** The video for "Tonight, Tonight" is one to ''Film/ATripToTheMoon''. Doubles as WholePlotReference. |
| 196 | ** The "Johnny" of "Tribute to Johnny" is American blues guitarist Johnny Winter. |
| 197 | * SiameseTwinSongs: Several, [[{{Irony}} though none of them are on]] ''[[{{Irony}} Siamese Dream]]'': |
| 198 | ** "Medellia of the Gray Skies" and "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" were intended as this, but only "Porcelina" made the final album cut. |
| 199 | ** "Ugly" and "Beautiful" are thematic counterparts, but, as with the "Medellia" / "Porcelina" pairing, only the latter made the cut. Luckily, both of them made it to ''Rarities and B-Sides''. |
| 200 | ** "Tonight Tonight" and "Tonite Reprise." |
| 201 | ** "Quasar" and "Panopticon." |
| 202 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: They veer both ways on this scale but typically settle more on the idealistic side. Though some songs take a clearly cynical stance on love, grief, etc., they still maintain an underlying message of hope and faith in humanity. |
| 203 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: Curiously, every well-known formation of the band had a woman playing bass, until Nicole left in 2014 and Billy picked up the slack. |
| 204 | * SpellMyNameWithAThe. 'Smashing' is an adjective in this case. |
| 205 | ** Their name on their first album was in an arc, so they removed the "the" to make it more symmetrical. Confusion ensued. |
| 206 | ** The reason why it was also lacking a "the" on ''Siamese Dream'' is a mystery though, especially since the "the" shows up in the CD edition's booklet. |
| 207 | * StepUpToTheMicrophone: D'arcy sings "Daydream" and most of "Dreaming" and adds additional vocals to "Beautiful", "Where Boys Fear to Tread," "We Only Come Out at Night", "Farewell and Goodnight" (which has lead vocals by all four band members) and "Dancing in the Moonlight". James did this occasionally on his own tunes and otherwise, but most of them got shunted to B-sides -- "Take Me Down" was the only one that made it to ''Mellon Collie'', "Blew Away" got relegated to ''Pisces Iscariot'', "...Said Sadly" (with [[TheCameo additional vocals]] by Nina Gordon) and the cover of "[[Music/SydBarrett Terrapin]]" were released on the ''Rarities & B-sides'' compilation, and so on. |
| 208 | ** D'arcy had actually recorded numerous backing vocals for ''Mellon Collie'', but in a {{Jerkass}}y move, Billy erased most of them. |
| 209 | * StopAndGo: "Quasar." |
| 210 | * StraightGay: Nicole has been married to Meghan Toohey since 2012. |
| 211 | * SurroundedByIdiots: It's hard to blame Billy for thinking so early on when the rest of his band was either on drugs or in destructive relationships for 10 years. |
| 212 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: After D'arcy Wretzky and James Iha declined to participate in the second incarnation of the band, Billy replaced them with... Another female bassist and an Asian-American guitarist. |
| 213 | ** Paz Lenchantin and David Pajo played these roles in Zwan. |
| 214 | ** Every official bassist has been a woman. D'arcy's replacement was [[{{Music/Hole}} Melissa Auf der Maur]], then the reunited lineup has had Ginger Pooley and Nicole Fiorentino, while the 2 men who have been bassists on tours aren't considered official members. |
| 215 | * TitleByNumber: "1979", "Zero", "Thirty-Three", and "17" (more if you count songs that were never officially released). |
| 216 | * TitleDrop: Too many straight examples and [[NonAppearingTitle aversions]] to list here. Examples of ''near''-title drops, however, include "Where Boys Fear to Tread" (which contains the line "to ''tread'' lightning / and ink the lavender skies" but the full title is never said) and "Jellybelly" (which contains the line "down in the ''belly'' of the beast"). |
| 217 | * UncommonTime: Perhaps most notably in "Untitled", which switches meter signatures literally every couple of measures for most of the song (being mostly comprised of patterns like 3+3+4/4 and 3+3+4+4/4) and has several bars of 5/4, but present in other songs as well. "Quiet" throws in some bars of 7/4 in between bars of 3/4 and 4/4; "Set the Ray to Jerry" has verses in 10/4; "Innosense" ends with several measures of 5/4; and that's undoubtedly not all. It's also worth pointing out that, in a borderline example of this trope, "Let Me Give the World to You" uses seven-measure patterns in its verses. |
| 218 | * UntitledTitle: A song previously unreleased song that appeared on their GreatestHitsAlbum is officially listed as "Untitled". |
| 219 | * UnusualEuphemism: "I took a Virgin Mary axe to his sweet baby jane... Coiled my tongue 'round her bumblebee mouth." |
| 220 | * VerbingNouny |
| 221 | * VideoFullOfFilmClips: "The End is the Beginning is the End", off ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. |
| 222 | * WithFriendsLikeThese: Possibly the meaning of "Eye": the protagonist seems to be constantly being let down by his friends (or lover, it's ambiguous) as one of the lines is "Is it any wonder I can't sleep? All I have is all you gave to me." It [[AmbiguousSituation could actually be about trying to quit drugs and having withdrawl,]] however, as another line says "Is it any wonder I found peace through you?" |
| 223 | * WordSaladLyrics: "X.Y.U." combines this vocals that alternate between [[PerishingAltRockVoice perishing]] and screaming to bizarre and terrifying effect. |
| 224 | ** Some of the lyrics of 1979 don't make an awful lot of sense, and sound like they were picked largely to fit the meter, like "Morphiene city skipping dues down to see" |
| 225 | * {{Word Salad Title}}s: Billy has frequently given songs, seemingly nonsensical titles, like: "Geek U.S.A.," "Silverfuck," "Whir," "Galapogos," "Muzzle," "Stumbleine," "X.Y.U.," "Slunk," "Bye June," "Plume," "Pissant," "Purr Snickety," "Honeyspider," "Set the Ray to Jerry," "Meladori Magpie," and "Pulseczar," to name a few. Typically, these titles do mean something, or relate to the song somehow, but in a roundabout way. |
| 226 | * XtremeKoolLetterz: Some of Corgan's song titles are based on misspellings, like: "Mayonaise," "Siva," and "Appels + Oranjes." |
| 227 | ---- |
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