Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins
The Chicago based rock band The Smashing Pumpkins emerged in 1988. Over the years, the band has gone through various lineup changes. The Smashing Pumpkins initially comprised of James Iha (guitar/vocals), Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals) and Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar) for majority of the years during its recording career. The American music band The Smashing Pumpkins have been appreciated by the critics for being responsible for some of the '90s' most striking and memorable video clips. It is also known for having approached videos from a completely artistic standpoint rather than mere commercials to sell albums.

The Smashing Pumpkins produce unique sounds, which are denser, heavily guitar base and much deeper. They are quite diverse as they use a number of genres to make music, from the gothic rock, dream pop, heavy metal to progressive rock, psychedelic rock and electronic. Billy Corgan, the band's front man is the most prominent songwriter. In fact, the credits for all the lyrics go to Corgan.

Corgan, the prominent member of the band, left his native city at the age of nineteen, in search of a career. He was a part of a band 'The Marked which was not successful and finally it broke up after a very short span of time. While working at a local record store, he met a refined guitarist named as James Iha. Both of them found their interests similar and started writing jointly. Most of the songwriting was influenced by 'New Order' and 'The Cure'. Meeting D'arcy Wretzky, the bassist proved fruitful and they discussed the merits for their new band. It was in 1988, that the band performed for the first time in front of the audience, at a relatively smaller gathering at 'Polish Bar Chicago 21'.

The Smashing Pumpkins came into the prominence in the music world with their 2nd album released in 1993- Siamese Dream. In the year 1995, the double album 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' debuted at the top on the Billboard charts and earned them even more fans. This album gave the band much popularity. Unfortunately The Smashing Pumpkins faced a break-up in 2000, as a result of diminishing sales, drug use and internal fighting. The breakup didn't last forever and the band was once again seen together in the year 2006. The re-bonding of the band proved successful and they enjoyed touring and coming up with new music for the fans that had been waiting so long. With sales of approximately 19 million only in the United States by the year 2006, the alternative rock band was considered to be among the nineties' critically acclaimed music group. Majority of the lyrics mainly reflected the personal experiences, love, emotions and expression of the inner self of the writer. Some of the lyrics received critical feedback, and they were reviewed.

The alternative rock genre had become widely popular in this era because of the bands including 'Pearl Jam' and 'Nirvana' at that time. The Smashing Pumpkins also enjoyed major success during that era and became a part of the Grunge Movement. 'Drown' emerged as a platinum selling track, which was a result of the pumpkins' creative input and it was featured in the movie 'Singles' in 1992.

Corgan played a major role for writing the songs during the early nineties and he wrote dozens of new songs for only one album. The band ultimately came up with the double album, consisting of 28 songs, titled as 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'. This album was said to be 'The group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet' and it hit the Billboard 200 chart at #1, in 1995. In US it earned nine times platinum certification and became the decade's best selling double album at that time. The success of the album can be noticed by the number of awards nominations, it earned 7 Grammy nominations in 1997. It included 4 top 40 hits as well. As a result of the never-ending demand, the Virgin Records had to produce more copies of the album, than planned. It was followed by various other releases and a hiatus for six years. But, the most successful era of the band was when this album was released.

Billy Corgan is the dominating band member, working as the songwriter, as well as the lead vocalist and chief guitarist. Other band members are also very supportive and their collaborative work has made it a successful band even today. The Smashing Pumpkins has been creating unique and ingenious music since last 2 decades. MTV credits the band for making music videos which reflect the art of the nineties era. They have been touring across various cities and their live performances grabbed the attention of many fans. The band has released various albums by now and many of them have become extensively popular. Even today, the band exists as energetic as it was two decades back. You must get Smashing Pumpkins Tickets if you're looking to hear some great music live.

Smashing Pumpkins are fashioned to follow the less travelled paths. This has been one of the reasons which made them click in the 90s on the alternative music-sphere. Smashing Pumpkins have been the perfect success story of Alternative rock. Their disposition of not following the traditional rock music scene and trying a new sound seemed to do the trick. They have been successful in creating sophisticated layered music backed by powerful guitar strumming. Their music fuses the element of psychedelia, goth rock, heavy metal and progressive rock with a splash of Dream Pop. Billy Corgan, the front-man and founder of Smashing Pumpkins, has been known for writing angst ridden, melancholic lyrics yet his rock star persona remains unharmed.

The other members of the band Mike Byrne, Nicole Fiorentino and Jeff Schroeder have also been quite comfortable with the limelight despite their sardonic take on life. They kicked off with their debut album Gish in 1991. The album was a platinum success followed by their chart topping album Siamese Dreams. Smashing Pumpkins were reckoned as the Next Nirvana at this time. They fell short as their personal troubles were a huge blow on the direction of the band. However, their albums were still churning out high sales figures giving several platinum hits namely Adore and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness . They have released Teargarden by Kaleidyscope in 2009 and are travelling across the country for the promotion. Smashing Pumpkins tickets are anticipated to be a total sell-out. You can order your Smashing Pumpkins tickets to enjoy true rock.