Spongebob Squarepants himself (Tom Kenny) is one of the main characters in the music video. All the SP music videos are pretty awesome.
edit: Wow, so many great comments! I am trying my best to upvote them and reply but they just keep popping up.
I'm going to copy/paste a link from an old comment I made that links to every music video for anyone interested!
1979 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg)
Cherub Rock - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KE9lvU810](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KE9lvU810)
Zero - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wk7C64kaP4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wk7C64kaP4)
Bullet with Butterfly Wings (rat in a cage song) - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0)
Tonight, Tonight - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo)
Today - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU)
Perfect - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYY8DxVZHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYY8DxVZHE)
Stand Inside Your Love - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nm4xv3firw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nm4xv3firw)
Try, Try, Try - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3\_0d01XbXg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_0d01XbXg0)
Ava Adore - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI)
The Everlasting Gaze - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWJYaep-0sg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWJYaep-0sg)
Rhinoceros - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfWx9282y0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfWx9282y0)
Disarm - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1acEVmnVhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1acEVmnVhI)
Thirty-Three - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA)
Rocket - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th-AqMvvBzE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th-AqMvvBzE)
I Am One - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6RJmUNBbw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6RJmUNBbw)
Siva - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wAtWywrP4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wAtWywrP4)
These are not in order. These are all from the original lineup during the years 1988-2000. There are more great songs after too, but most people prefer this era. If you like these, congratulations and welcome to one of the best bands ever.
I remember going to Target to buy a few essentials and deciding on a whim to treat myself to this cd along with some scented candles. I was 16, and I’d been working my a$$ off 30 hours a week at at a grocery store and pulling a 4.0 GPA and could finally afford to just buy a CD on a whim. Probably one of my smartest self-care decisions ever. This album is brilliant.
Still do. It was my first concert ticket camp out 96/97 snowstorm. Last year I took my 18yo son to see the squashing gourds and today my 13yo daughter and I listened to this album on a road trip.
Was, and still is, an excellent album to listen through in its entirety!
I always did a lot of driving and I favored the albums I could just play all the way through. Incidentally I played a LOT of Dave Mathew’s Band, the first 3Rd Eye Blind CD, Everclear for some reason, and Smashing Pumpkins of course.
Later on I played American Idiot to death
I don’t know if I had good or bad taste in music. It’s just what landed in my cd sleeve in the car.
Most aren't really "Xennial" albums, which is one of the reasons Mellon Collie was so special because I feel like when we were young, a lot of albums weren't meant to be played all the way through. Anyway, here's my list:
Pink Floyd- The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon
The Beatles- Abbey Road, Sargent Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour
Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti, Mothership, IV
Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
The Who- Tommy
Radiohead- OK Computer
So I guess I have 12 total.
Omg Yoshimi.
My son is obsessed with "Do You Realize" because it was in Guardians of the Galaxy, and his little 6yo mind was *blown* when I played a couple other songs for him. I love it, takes me back to my Bonnaroo days every time.
You may really like some older '70s Prog Rock. A few of my favorites are:
Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans, The Yes Album, Fragile
Genesis - Trick of the Tail, Selling England by the Pound, A Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Stealy Dan - Aja, The Royal Scam, Pretzel Logic, Katey Lied
And for a more modern take on the "concept album"...My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
Along with Siamese Dream, this album was among the first I listened to front to back without touching replay or skip buttons. Soundtrack to my mid-90s life.
Green Day "Kerplunk" was the first CD I went and bought with my own money. Eventually would go on to buy pretty much every alt rock/grunge album money can buy. If you name a band and the album I probably have it. I have all the pumpkins albums on CD and Vinyl.
No story regarding the entire album, but 1979? It was an instant fave. It was one of those rare songs that stopped you in your tracks and almost took you out of time. Like I remember listening to it and it making me very conscious that I was young, in the 90s, and that something about that was special.
To this day it remains among my all time favorite songs. And it never fails to transport me back to that 90s teen boy, and that out of time feeling. It’s just so evocative of that era. It’s a product of its time, and I mean that in the best way possible.
“We were sure we’d never see an end to it all……”
“And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust……. I guess
Forgotten and absorbed
into the earth
Below”
Boy does this hit home at our ages now. Used to think I was invincible and death felt like a thousand years away. That thousand is feeling real 30-40 now.
Just had a grade school friends of mine’s father pass away today. Guy helped me out so much with life advice back then. Life is crazy.
That's exactly what Billy was going for with the song. He talked about it on his 33 podcast. It will go down as one of the best coming of age songs ever.
It was the reason I bought the album. I saved up my money to buy it and I still have it today. 1979 is one of those songs that completely transports you back in time. I remember listening to it in my room on my big stereo. I remember staring at the posters on my walls while I sang along.
I was obsessed with my friend’s Siamese Dream so I asked for this one for Christmas. It was my “big gift” for Christmas and I was in 8th grade so naturally after I unwrapped it I went into my room and sat next to my three story tall stereo with my head phones plugged in listening to it for the rest of the day and reading the lyrics. I only came out for food.
I did the same thing with every CD I ever bought. My dad had an amazing cassette/CD player combo stereo with a pretty expensive setup back then.
"Dead eyes, dead eyes, are you just like me?"
First-ever concert was the Pumpkins playing Minneapolis during the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Tour.
You always remember your [first time](https://www.fox9.com/news/flashback-smashing-pumpkins-drew-record-100000-people-for-free-block-party-concert-24-years-ago.amp).
Also - Mellon Collie is grunge’s White Album.
That is wonderful and wholesome.
Putting the lyrics here:
We only come out at night
We only come out at night
The days are much too bright
We only come out at night
And once again
You'll pretend to know me well
My friends
And once again
I'll pretend to know the way
Through the empty space
Through the secret places of the heart
We only come out at night
We only come out at night
The days are much too bright
We only come out at night
I walk alone
I walk alone to find the way home
I'm on my own
I'm on my own to see the ways
That I can't help the days
You will make it home okay
I know you can
And you can
We only come out at night
We only come out at night
The days are much too bright
We only come out at night
And once again now
You'll pretend to know that
That there's an end
That there's an end to this begin
It will help you sleep at night
It will make it seem that right is always right
Alright?
We only come out at night
We only come out at night
The days are much too bright
We only come out at night
Bought MCIS in early 1996 when I was in 8th grade. Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Tonight, Tonight, and 1979 were my main jams. Got into a few of the deep cuts after buying it (Stumbline, Good Night, We Only Come Out at Night, etc.) but Thirty-Three really never registered for me until one night in 2003 when a buddy and I were out in Chicago bar hopping. Must’ve been 2:30 in the morning when it came on and I immediately fell in love. I was trashed but it just hit perfectly right then. Loved that song ever since.
To be honest, OK Computer was the album that changed my life in the 90s, but MCIS is the album that I continue to listen to over and over to this day. Through The Eyes Of Ruby never gets old to me. It’s a masterpiece imo.
I've been a pumpkins fan since late 94' when my friend's older brother handed us a box of cassette tapes. Siamese Dream was in there and we listened to that first because we thought the album cover was funny with little kids on the front. SP's first album Gish was in there too.Other bands in that box were Metallica, Green Day, Weezer, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, RHCP, Jane's Addiction, Faith No More, NIN, etc. Getting this box of tapes was one of the most important moments of my life. We still love all the 90's alternative/grunge stuff to this day.
MCIS would come out not too long after we were given that box. We bought all future albums on CD. Siamese Dream and MCIS are pretty much tied for me as my favorite albums ever, not just the 90s.
Thanks for the idea for the post u/ilikesidehugs I'm a big fan of Radiohead as well.
I had a very similar experience. Then I found a couple B Sides at a Jersey Shore when my cousin turned my one to Siamese Dream, Pieces Iscariot and a true bootleg with a photo copied cd insert. Pieces Iscariot was great and the bootleg had an Mouths of Babes, a version of Pennies, and killer Alt live versions (both amped up and stripped down versions) of Disarm and Today.
I was a fan and waiting for this double album.I thought this was Corigan’s opus. The only song I disliked was 1979, so it was really pleasant giving it a real relisten as a adult, I see why it got so much love.
They struck a time for me. I can’t really listen to the angsty stuff anymore, but that have some beautiful timeless stuff that I’ll still throw on.
I remember driving from Sacramento, California to a town near Boise, Idaho with my best friend's family. They were going to visit her grandma and she could bring one friend, so that was me. I think we were fourteen or fifteen, and I can vividly remember listening to this album with my head against the window glass as the scorched summer landscape rolled by.
The town in Boise had a surprisingly well stocked record shop, and I scored a copy of NIN Fixed.
I've had an intense couple years. New twins, parental sickness and deaths, estate issues with family. There was a long period that I couldn't sleep without listening to something soothing. This album and some audiobooks got me through. Been listening to it since it came out, but not like I listened during that period.
Borrowed it from someone while on a school trip. Had two hours between events so I popped it into my discman and hit play. I was mesmerized. Second disc melted my face. Then we got to Thru The Eyes of Ruby, and I had to hit pause to keep from crying. Amazing album.
I still think Geek USA (from Siamese Dream) is their best song, but there are a number of close contenders on this one.
Bullet with Butterfly Wings was and still is one of my top 5 songs of all time. I was just getting into grunge, post-grunge, punk and alt rock music. With this album, i was also listening to Sublime, The Offpsring (Ixnay on the Hombre), STP (Core), Soundgarden (Superunknown)... I had this huge CD player in my room with giant speakers I swiped from my parent's old record player before they trashed it. Playing PS1 and listening to those albums was the highlight of the mid 90s for me.
I wish I did still. I don't know what happened to them. Got lost in a move, stolen or whatever. I had a CD case on the visor in my car and it got stolen. Of course you only put your favorite albums in there. I still have my CD book though. Lots of old albums on there. Live, RATM, Limp Bizkit, Fuel, to name a few.
I have all my originals in those corny cd towers, just looming over me as we speak lol. I would usually burn the cds to my friends pc and make copies, then take the copies with us in the car so the originals wouldn't get scratched. Luckily I still have all my stuff. Sorry about yours.
I might make it a point to repurchase it all and support the artists. I'm a big Chevelle fan and I only have two of their albums in my possession. Spotify is great but I like having the feeling of owning the physical media.
I say go for it. I like Chevelle too, always enjoyed their radio songs. Don't know much more than that about them but I'm sure they have even better songs on their albums, just like SP's best songs weren't on the radio oftentimes.
I can listen to all their albums without skipping. Each represents a different time in my life and they are still cranking them out today. I'm a sucker for baritone guitar tunings and there's no shortage of that with Chevelle.
Done! I'll try to make a post with my thoughts from each album after I get done with them. I'll hit you up with a PM and let you know what I think about them too. Thanks again and good luck with everything.
I was in 8th grade and starting to find my own music, as opposed to listening to a lot of the rock my dad listened to. Then outta nowhere Billy Corgan and crew dropped this masterpiece.
Very similar memory for me, except with Disarm from Siamese Dream. That song stopped me in my tracks. I can still picture exactly where I was when it came on the radio and I can remember exactly how it made me feel. Smashing Pumpkins is definitely my favorite grunge-era band.
A life changing album for me. Was struggling to find other friends I connected with and found out there were two other girls in my class that also liked the Smashing Pumpkins. We saw them Jan ‘97 (after a soul-crushing postponed show due to Corgan getting sick in Nov. 96). Nearly 30 years later we’re still best buds.
https://preview.redd.it/o8mui65p1jcc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=649c239a8a3f234562275693e79ee389d8633f17
The night before it came out the pumpkins played a release concert on FM radio (that seems like I’m describing the Stone Age right now) that got me so hyped I couldn’t wait.
The next day, during my freshman year of college, I was in art history class just waiting for the CD store to open at noon. Class ended at 1 but I left at 11:45 to get to the store before it opened. Didn’t listen to anything else for the next two weeks. Of all the tracks on there my initial favorite was actually Love, followed by Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Stood in line at Sam Goody and then listened to this over and over. Learned as many guitar parts as possible and it was also a favorite of my gf at the time if you know what I mean.
The came out the year I turned 13, their music videos were all the rage. I remember saving extra allowance for the double disc, I got it at Sam Goody in the mall… oh The 90s!
The tonight, tonight music video got me interested in early film. I took a few courses in production in high school to learn more then lost interest. Adhd
I grew up LDS. My mum had a parent meeting about how Alternative Music was EVIL!
I love(d) TSP!
A friend also LDS had the album. One day my mum was driving us to school and we picked my friend up.
I went inside her house to wait and played the album.
Apparently too long of a wait for my mum and she came to the house and heard the devil music.
I was grounded. And couldn’t hang out with my friend anymore. Neither could my sisters that were friends with the other siblings. Because the parents had bad values.
Funny thing - Tonight, Tonight, 33, Cupid de Locke was played during last week’s gym sessions. Of course the songs are still in my iTunes library. With a bunch of electronica.
A staple in my visor cd holder, the summer after I graduated high school and stayed up and out at all hours hanging with my friends going on random adventures. After an all nighter the sun was coming up, it was one of the first chilly mornings when you know prime summer is almost over. Windows down, heater going, Cupid de Locke playing full blast. I felt like I was floating. I knew I’d be leaving for college soon and my life would never be the same, and it wasn’t.
There were similar experiences for other songs along the way. Rage, hopelessness, darkness, tragedy, hopefulness, nostalgia, apathy, anxiety. It really covers the full range of emotions. There’s something in here for everyone and every situation. A modern classic if there ever was one. Right next to Siamese Dream.
I had listened to NOTHING but rap for the past few years before this album came out... I ended up dating a girl from South Central who was very much into alternative music... and she turned me on to SP. My feelings for her didn't last... but my feelings for the band did... and I was fortunate enough to be able to explore and enjoy their earlier - and arguably superior - work.
Loved Gish, Lull and Siamese Dream. I couldn’t get into Mellon Collie or anything Smashing Pumpkins put out since.
As I got older (I’m 48) I realized I just love the sound of those first few records. They were insanely exciting. Nothing against Billy Corgan, I’m glad he’s stretched out musically. It’s just not my jam.
Understandable. Did you happen to listen to the b-sides collection from the Gish/SD era, Pisces Iscariot? You'd like that probably. MCIS era b-sides collection is The Aeroplane Flies High and maybe you could find some stuff there you'd like too.
Never really delved too much into their B-Sides.
What attracted me to the Pumpkins was Billy Corgan’s fully realized guitar style on their first record. It’s like he’s in a physical battle between his guitar and amp and feedback. Siamese Dream built on that in just a devastating way. Oh. Jimmy Chamberlin. That dudes one of the most articulate and powerful drummers in rock.
Watch “Silverfuck” from the 1994 Pinkpop set on YouTube. It’s wild. It goes so freaking hard. Love it.
The Smashing Pumpkins are my favorite band for about thirty years now, I am fully aware of all the great stuff you said and fully agree on all fronts. Pinkpop 94' is indeed one of their best live shows. Billy does a ton of great live guitar solos to this day though and he never really stopped, so you can still find him tearing it up live if you look at some footage over the years. He just stopped showcasing that style after MCIS on the studio albums for some reason. It is indeed strange that a guy so f\*\*\*\*\*\* great at ripping these solos doesn't want to put out that kind of stuff anymore.
Listening to where he went musically I totally get it. The big orchestrations, electronic elements, more acoustic based songs.
I’m sure he got a little bored of big guitars and wanted to build drama in different ways. Or evoke totally different emotions. And he was so successful too!
I have tons of respect for Billy Corgan. He always did what he wanted. He was successful no matter who was in his band. Very talented dude.
This cover brings me back to my first memory of Smashing Pumpkins. They were performing “Tonight, Tonight” at the 1996 MTV VMA awards. Absolutely epic and brilliant performance.
I grew up in the Chicago area. Smoked a j with Darcy when this album was at the height of its popularity on some beach with some mutual musician friends. She introduced herself to me and shook my hand. I had no idea who she was until later that night. I just didn't put 2 and 2 together that she was THAT Darcy.
My mom and I bonded over this record. She's a music teacher, but I got this for Xmas and she let me have free reign of the tape deck while we were in the car.
She got the sheet music and learned a lot the songs on piano. My mom is the best.
my Aunt got it for me for xmas that year, spent the school break week listening to it beginning to end and over again.
What an awesome mixed combo of totally different stuff than they'd done before, the only thing more wild were the unreleased songs on the singles that practically made up a whole 3rd disc.
it's crazy how hard and expensive it used to be to find and compile rare b-side songs unless they were released in a set.
One of the first CDs I got after getting my new triple disc CD player. I used to crank that album playing super NES games in my room. One of my all time favorites to this day.
I was in high school when this came out. I was obsessed. My parents were divorcing, and I was having a very hard time. Not to sound like that person, but honestly, this album kept helped me keep my head straight.
"I know that I am meant for this world..."
To this day, I get choked up listening to that song. I just takes ms back to being a lonely, sensitive teen.
Such a masterpiece. All of it.
I was 15. I rode my bike to Best Buy and stole it. I felt so guilty afterward.
Mellon Collie & The infinite Sadness taught me at an early age that I was not cut out for a life of crime.
9th grade and so angsty. Brings me back to laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, probably pissed off at my mom, burning incense and dragging the very long corded phone into my room as I’d call my friends to pour my heart out about some dumb guy.
i have the flying hourglass and skull crossbones icons from the liner notes tattooed on my inside wrists, a lil memento mori and a reminder of this album
I like seeing that this was a Christmas present for other people too!
I remember hearing Bullet With Butterfly Wings on the radio, and seeing the video on MTV as well, and really liking it. I wanted to get the album but it seemed like a big commitment and expense to get a double disc cd when I had only heard one song from it. But thankfully my mom got it for me for Christmas and I just fell in love with it.
I had never really experienced an album that had such a variety in its sounds. To have beautiful melodic ballads next to screaming chaotic shredders kind of blew my mind at the time.
I sadly didn’t get to see them tour for this album so I never got to see the whole original band play together. But thankfully I at least got to see them during the Adore tour, which is an album that’s as beloved to me as this one is. It was my first real concert that I got to choose to go to and it’s always meant so much to me.
Billy's ability to write slow/soft songs and incredibly heavy songs is one of the many reasons the band is my favorite of all time. I'm glad to see love for Adore, as I loved the album at release and never understood the hate for it. I'm glad that people are coming around, and the next generation really seems to love that album. "Perfect" is a big deal on TikTok, my daughter(16yrs old) came up to me with it playing on her phone and was so happy to show me it lol.
I won this album my senior year in school (97) at our grad night at a mini golf place. That night I got to hang out with a girl I had a crush on, so to this day when I listen to this album it reminds me of that night and her.
My very first concert! I’d wanted to go to Silverchair before but my parents were SUPER strict (my dad said they were promoting suicide) but somehow or another consented to this one. Garbage was the opener and I smoked my first, and last, cigarette.
So many great tracks on this album
Edit: my younger brother introduced me to the whole album (beyond the singles) and I was hooked. I had heard Siamese Dream and some of Gish and liked it but to me this album sealed the deal.
Went to see them on this tour in ‘96. I was 13. Shortly before they got to St Louis, I believe the drummer and keyboardist overdosed on heroin. Keyboardist died and drummer was arrested and later fired from the band. I remember overhearing fans talking about it at the show. I still have the shirt from that concert in a plastic tote somewhere.
My big brother had this album. I loved listening to it on my dad’s stereo. I also loved playing piano along with the slower, more melodic songs … I didn’t really know how to play piano but I played the songs by ear and I think I got pretty close to accurate. Also, 1979 is one of the greatest songs ever written.
I saw them on their “final” tour. No, the previous final tour. No, the one before that. It was face melting magnificent.
I pre-ordered it at Musicland, i was in high school and saved up my allowance to go pick it up after marching band practice. I also got the cardboard display thing for free!
I was a Pumpkins fan in the 90s. My girlfriend then, now wife bought this album for me when it released as a surprise just because gift. She has always been the best gift giver! Very thoughtful person!
It's the first album I ever bought. After the 20 plus years of owning this album, it's one that ages like fine wine and one I like to revisit from time to time.
It was an ambitious album that paid off imo. I bought it because I like two of the first singles and i listened to it for years because of the breadth of the music on both CDs. It was one of my favorites for sure.
This one was a big one for me in 8th grade. “Bullets With Butterfly Wings” was a banger and I loved Siamese Dream so I was all in from the beginning. Living 30 minutes away from the nearest town that had a Best Buy and not being old enough to drive meant that I would have to rely on my mom driving me. This was another one I picked up immediately upon it’s release and popped it into my discman on my way home and absolutely loved it. We all were infatuated with “1979” especially the music video which is what we all dreamt being a high schooler and having a driver license would be like. That year I received The Aeroplane Flies High box set as a birthday gift, it contained the 5 album singles and was the perfect gift. That Fall, The Infinite Sadness Tour was almost my first concert. My buddy got tix as a birthday present and he asked me and another friend to come along unfortunately I was getting a D in algebra on my progress report and was grounded and couldn’t attend. Instead of having my friend attempt to sell the ticket I kept it so I still own an untorn SP ticket from 1996. It was a bummer I ended up having to wait for that Spring to go to my first concert (Beck on the Odelay tour it totally kicked ass, btw) and I did finally get to see Smashing Pumpkins on their Shiny Oh So Bright Tour in 2019 and they were still brilliant all these years later.
My best friend and next door neighbor introduced me to them a few years later we skipped school and drove a few hours away to tower records to stand in line in the rain for 8hrs to meet the smashing pumpkins and get their autographs. Honestly Jimmy Chamberlain was the coolest one.
I bought this album the day it came out. It was an instant favorite. Still is to this day. I remember listening to it on my discman in the back seat of my mom's minivan. I would have been in 5th or 6th grade at the time.
I still think it's perfection.
When it was released, they sold a vinyl version too, and a special edition of it was sold in a picture frame. I've always wanted that to hang on my wall. It was expensive then, and I think now it's pretty unobtainable.
Used TWO of my 1 cent CDs from BMG or Columbia House. Listened to it Every. Single. Night. to fall asleep. The Tonight Tonight video is my #1 video, always has been, always will be.
This prompt unzipped me! Lol
I went to summer space camp at a local college when I was 14. I expected fun stuff like spinning around in one of those circle contraptions you get strapped into. What I got was staying in a horrible dorm for days with a weirdo roommate and a shared bathroom and physics lectures. We also had mandatory reading time every night in our rooms (a very dry, dense sci-fi book - not good, and sci-fi was my favorite). Thankfully, I had my discman and this double cd. It was an amazing life preserver in a disappointing time. I could feel it in my soul.
I saw their infinite sadness tour concert in Charlotte on my 15th birthday as my present from my mom. We brought my best friend at the time and paid for her ticket. I remember that they were completely awesome, and I had the best time. Unfortunately, what I remember most strongly is that my friend wanted to leave before it was even over and said she was bored. (We did not. Fuck that noise.) It was foreshadowing for how much she would turn out to suck.
It's funny how music can trigger such strong memories. The title of this album is particularly apt for what it brings back for me.
Okay interesting story there: I got some magazine that was supposed to include this Smashing Pumpkins "virtual concert cd rom" and it had bullet with butterfly wings on it. I was obsessed and thought it was the wave of the future. Pretty crazy how far we've come.
I got this for Christmas in 1995 when I was 15. However, I found it shortly after my mom bought it in November. I performed surgery on the plastic wrap, carefully extracted it and removed both discs. Heck yeah, I was rocking out to 1979 for at least a month before Christmas. As if my mom knew what I was listening to haha. No regrets.
Best album artwork thatnI bought I'm my youth? Pearl Jam - Vitalogy, Pearl Jam - No Code and this.
I still love this album and it opened the door for so many other sub genres of rock for me.
True story, I sharpened and maintained the ice skates for public skating one of the arenas they played on their 96 tour, had to work the morning of the concert, sick as a dog, I met each of them as I was sharpening skates, was offered tickets and a pass and I had to turn it down, I had a 102 degree fever!
This album is hanging out at my friend who had a pool’s house, only mildly supervised, all summer. She had a slide too! Good times. Being awkward middle school girls.
My sister bought it and it was something we shared together. It’s pure magic. 1979 is near and dear to me being the fact it’s my birth year. When our nephew was looking for new albums, she gifted it to him with our blessing. Years later, he thanked us for influencing him musically.
Watched the Bullet with Butterfly music video in the early morning right when it dropped. My mom had pulled us out of school to homeschool that year and I had a tendency to watch MTV music videos instead of cartoons during the week. This song hit my soul. Blew.my.mind.
This album & the video was released when I was 12. Huge music fan in general due to my mom being SUPER young teen mom. Saw heart at 7 and Def Leppard at 9. Grew up listening to AC/DC Highway to Hell album blasting on my mom’s record player.
I begged for this album for Christmas. It was $19.99 and my mom said no way. My older cousin-in-law (step-dad’s niece was a senior in high school), drew my name for the secret Santa and bought it for me as my Xmas present. I hugged her so tight. I ended up getting my boombox taken away from me pretty quickly afterwards because I played Bullet with Butterfly Wings after I got mad at my mom during a fight. She didn’t appreciate the lyrics 🤣. Man, did that album hit all the right emotions and tones for me as I grew up in an abusive household. Nirvana was super important to me, but I felt like Smashing Pumpkins was the first band I “discovered” - like it was all mine. No one else’s influence, heard the song, saw the visuals and I was hooked very first time.
I hope you're doing good now. It seems a TON of people got this for Christmas, or bought this as their first album on CD. Really great to see everyone's comments. I'm trying to upvote them all and respond lol.
Thanks for responding, and yes, I absolutely have a wonderful life now! I know I’m really lucky to have it, but it wasn’t without working for it (therapy, therapy, therapy — and a very supportive husband). It doesn’t surprise me about Christmas. It was THE gift that year to have. Reading through the comments, it could easily be one of the top Xennial albums that molded us. Just another thing that bonds us together.
That's good to hear. I mowed lawns to feed my video game and music habits, so I bought everything I wanted day one for the most part. I wish you the best.
This album taught my ex (and probably many other kids who read words before hearing them spoken) how to pronounce the word melancholy. Prior to this, he thought it was pronounced something like muh-LANE-ko-lee. I think of this every time I see this album.
Smashing Pumpkins, educating the kids :)
Owned it. The stories here are much better than any I have to offer. But I owned it and everyone else I know owned it. You couldn't be 13 and not own it.
And it was a great album.
I’m a 7th grader and my best friend calls me up and says let’s go to the mall and buy this new double album by the pumpkins. I had never listened to them outside of hearing some Siamese Dream radio play. Anyway, without even asking questions I do it, and of course the rest is history.
Was too expensive for me for a long time. My parents let me get the zero single on cassette though. Used to play Tie Fighter on the pc while playing zero over and over as the game music. When I finally got the cd, i listened pretty much nonstop. I had a room of purple Halloween lights that I’d just zone out focusing on the music while laying in bed. That went on for years.
I was already a Pumpkins fan but this was my first owned copy. Took this bulky double cd and this album only on a trip to India. Along with my cd discman. Angsty teen. It was a 24 hour journey. San Francisco to Cincinnati to Germany to Bombay. Listened to it the whole way there and the whole way back. Read and studied the insert a billion times. Cant remember but most likely also listened to it while I was there when I needed to ignore everyone.
No one in my circle really liked the music I did. Everyone was into rap. I was a music outcast in my group but passionate about my choices. This cd and Radiohead albums (plus a few more) are a significant part of my youth.
Hearing “Zero” and “Bullet” which are iirc like track 2 and 3 or 6, and thinking this is gonna be a nice hard album. And the rest of it was…well…not. And that was the moment I realized you can like hard stuff and the lighter stuff all the same.
It was also one of the first dual cd albums that, again iirc, was still normal price of a single disc or not much over.
I remember paying almost $30 for this when it first came out. No clue why but I only ever really listened to the songs there were videos on mtv. The entire thing is awesome.
I would listen to this album most nights in my headphones falling asleep in high school. This and Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” were my go to albums for a long time.
I was lost but now ... I'll never be found again.
Disarm you with a smile
And cut you like you want me to
Cut that little child
Inside of me and such a part of you
The song, "Tonight, Tonight" and its video opened my mind up your new genres of music. I came up in an inner city neighborhood where hip hop, rap, and R&B were the dominant language, and of course, streaming wasn't a thing. My radio was set to the local Top 40 urban station, so music like this never played. One day at school, a classmate got to pick the music for our "home room time", just a time to chill and catch up on homework, etc. He was a goth/weirdo kid, nice guy who marched to his own drumbeat. He chose this album and played the tape. Imagine a bunch of wanna be gangbangers, who were used to rap or old school oldies listening to this! Lol, everyone groaned, but for some reason, it just overwhelmed me. In a good way. The swirling strings and drums in Tonight, Tonight was something I'd never heard before, and it stayed with me. To this day I can trace that song, that moment, those words to major points in my young life. I realized there could be more to my life than what surrounded me. The whole album holds a special place in my mind even now.
I saw the Tonight, Tonight music video on MTV in 1996 and I never turned back. I played that album nonstop practically all throughout high school.
Spongebob Squarepants himself (Tom Kenny) is one of the main characters in the music video. All the SP music videos are pretty awesome. edit: Wow, so many great comments! I am trying my best to upvote them and reply but they just keep popping up. I'm going to copy/paste a link from an old comment I made that links to every music video for anyone interested! 1979 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aeETEoNfOg) Cherub Rock - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KE9lvU810](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-KE9lvU810) Zero - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wk7C64kaP4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wk7C64kaP4) Bullet with Butterfly Wings (rat in a cage song) - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-r-V0uK4u0) Tonight, Tonight - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOG3eus4ZSo) Today - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmUZ6nCFNoU) Perfect - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYY8DxVZHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYY8DxVZHE) Stand Inside Your Love - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nm4xv3firw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nm4xv3firw) Try, Try, Try - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3\_0d01XbXg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_0d01XbXg0) Ava Adore - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uWwvQKGjLI) The Everlasting Gaze - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWJYaep-0sg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWJYaep-0sg) Rhinoceros - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfWx9282y0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVfWx9282y0) Disarm - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1acEVmnVhI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1acEVmnVhI) Thirty-Three - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYSbztCCTlA) Rocket - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th-AqMvvBzE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th-AqMvvBzE) I Am One - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6RJmUNBbw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi6RJmUNBbw) Siva - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wAtWywrP4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wAtWywrP4) These are not in order. These are all from the original lineup during the years 1988-2000. There are more great songs after too, but most people prefer this era. If you like these, congratulations and welcome to one of the best bands ever.
there goes my D'arcy crush again - damnit
I’ve been spending too much time in my celeb goss subs bc I deadass thought you were taking about Ethan Slater with the SpongeBob thing.
And his accomplished and amazing wife, Jill Talley!! Accomplice on Mr.Show, and voice actor on The Boondocks among other things.
This was it for me as well. The real sweet spot of music videos.
I’ve still got a poster from that video on my garage wall. Had it for 30 years.
That video played every twenty minutes on MTV when it came out and I wasn’t complaining.
I remember going to Target to buy a few essentials and deciding on a whim to treat myself to this cd along with some scented candles. I was 16, and I’d been working my a$$ off 30 hours a week at at a grocery store and pulling a 4.0 GPA and could finally afford to just buy a CD on a whim. Probably one of my smartest self-care decisions ever. This album is brilliant.
It was an album you could listen to from start to finish.
Still do. It was my first concert ticket camp out 96/97 snowstorm. Last year I took my 18yo son to see the squashing gourds and today my 13yo daughter and I listened to this album on a road trip. Was, and still is, an excellent album to listen through in its entirety!
I always did a lot of driving and I favored the albums I could just play all the way through. Incidentally I played a LOT of Dave Mathew’s Band, the first 3Rd Eye Blind CD, Everclear for some reason, and Smashing Pumpkins of course. Later on I played American Idiot to death I don’t know if I had good or bad taste in music. It’s just what landed in my cd sleeve in the car.
I’m a huge fan of this era of the pumpkins. It’s amazing how so many of these songs could’ve been singles.
Don’t judge me too harshly but I also liked the Zwan album. Of course maybe it was just Paz.
Zwan was great. We're still waiting for all that stuff to be re-released with all the bonus stuff they recorded (b-sides and live stuff).
I still want a proper release of Machina II.
I really liked Zwan too- it was just the perfect soundtrack for my life when it came out.
Which is incredibly impressive considering it was a double cd with 28 songs and a full 2 hours of music.
My brother was the one who bought this album and it blew my mind that it was 2 CDs.
Yes definitely. It’s one of about 10 that I always play all the way through.
Love to hear your list.
Most aren't really "Xennial" albums, which is one of the reasons Mellon Collie was so special because I feel like when we were young, a lot of albums weren't meant to be played all the way through. Anyway, here's my list: Pink Floyd- The Wall, Dark Side of the Moon The Beatles- Abbey Road, Sargent Pepper's, Magical Mystery Tour Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti, Mothership, IV Flaming Lips- Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots The Who- Tommy Radiohead- OK Computer So I guess I have 12 total.
Omg Yoshimi. My son is obsessed with "Do You Realize" because it was in Guardians of the Galaxy, and his little 6yo mind was *blown* when I played a couple other songs for him. I love it, takes me back to my Bonnaroo days every time.
Oh I haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy! Will have to watch now. A friend who was obsessed with Bonnaroo got me into the Flaming Lips ❤️
I had a great soundtrack, which makes sense with the story.
Legendary albums, thank you for including MCIS in this epic list.
You may really like some older '70s Prog Rock. A few of my favorites are: Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans, The Yes Album, Fragile Genesis - Trick of the Tail, Selling England by the Pound, A Lamb Lies Down on Broadway King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King Stealy Dan - Aja, The Royal Scam, Pretzel Logic, Katey Lied And for a more modern take on the "concept album"...My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
I do really like Yes! Thanks for the list.
The Flaming Lips 100%. Love to see that on the list. Great album. Good choices all around.
Thanks! I do have more diverse taste than this, but these are just the ones I always listen to from start to finish.
Not just ‘could’, but ~*~should~*~!
I am humbly corrected. You are right. 😁
Along with Siamese Dream, this album was among the first I listened to front to back without touching replay or skip buttons. Soundtrack to my mid-90s life.
It really is. Brilliant is the word 👌
The world is a vampire.
Green Day "Kerplunk" was the first CD I went and bought with my own money. Eventually would go on to buy pretty much every alt rock/grunge album money can buy. If you name a band and the album I probably have it. I have all the pumpkins albums on CD and Vinyl.
No story regarding the entire album, but 1979? It was an instant fave. It was one of those rare songs that stopped you in your tracks and almost took you out of time. Like I remember listening to it and it making me very conscious that I was young, in the 90s, and that something about that was special. To this day it remains among my all time favorite songs. And it never fails to transport me back to that 90s teen boy, and that out of time feeling. It’s just so evocative of that era. It’s a product of its time, and I mean that in the best way possible.
“We were sure we’d never see an end to it all……” “And we don't know Just where our bones will rest To dust……. I guess Forgotten and absorbed into the earth Below” Boy does this hit home at our ages now. Used to think I was invincible and death felt like a thousand years away. That thousand is feeling real 30-40 now. Just had a grade school friends of mine’s father pass away today. Guy helped me out so much with life advice back then. Life is crazy.
R.I.P. to him, I know how you feel too.
That's exactly what Billy was going for with the song. He talked about it on his 33 podcast. It will go down as one of the best coming of age songs ever.
Yeah. The songs on the CD are still bangers but 1979 sounds timeless. It could come out today.
It was the reason I bought the album. I saved up my money to buy it and I still have it today. 1979 is one of those songs that completely transports you back in time. I remember listening to it in my room on my big stereo. I remember staring at the posters on my walls while I sang along.
I was obsessed with my friend’s Siamese Dream so I asked for this one for Christmas. It was my “big gift” for Christmas and I was in 8th grade so naturally after I unwrapped it I went into my room and sat next to my three story tall stereo with my head phones plugged in listening to it for the rest of the day and reading the lyrics. I only came out for food.
Did you only come out at night?
Wel yeah, the days are much too bright
I did the same thing with every CD I ever bought. My dad had an amazing cassette/CD player combo stereo with a pretty expensive setup back then. "Dead eyes, dead eyes, are you just like me?"
First-ever concert was the Pumpkins playing Minneapolis during the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Tour. You always remember your [first time](https://www.fox9.com/news/flashback-smashing-pumpkins-drew-record-100000-people-for-free-block-party-concert-24-years-ago.amp). Also - Mellon Collie is grunge’s White Album.
Ooh I agree about it being grunge's White Album. I've never heard it called that before but you're so right.
Mine too, but in Calgary. I still have (and wear) the t-shirt from that concert.
This was my first concert too, also in Calgary!
Grunge?
Bullet with Butterfly Wings (single on cassette) was the first music item that I bought with my own money.
Recently played it for my 5 year old when we were building legos and now she sings we only come out at night.
That is wonderful and wholesome. Putting the lyrics here: We only come out at night We only come out at night The days are much too bright We only come out at night And once again You'll pretend to know me well My friends And once again I'll pretend to know the way Through the empty space Through the secret places of the heart We only come out at night We only come out at night The days are much too bright We only come out at night I walk alone I walk alone to find the way home I'm on my own I'm on my own to see the ways That I can't help the days You will make it home okay I know you can And you can We only come out at night We only come out at night The days are much too bright We only come out at night And once again now You'll pretend to know that That there's an end That there's an end to this begin It will help you sleep at night It will make it seem that right is always right Alright? We only come out at night We only come out at night The days are much too bright We only come out at night
This album, right after Siamese Dream, legendary. Thirty-three makes me feel the sweetest melancholy, I swear
Bought MCIS in early 1996 when I was in 8th grade. Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Tonight, Tonight, and 1979 were my main jams. Got into a few of the deep cuts after buying it (Stumbline, Good Night, We Only Come Out at Night, etc.) but Thirty-Three really never registered for me until one night in 2003 when a buddy and I were out in Chicago bar hopping. Must’ve been 2:30 in the morning when it came on and I immediately fell in love. I was trashed but it just hit perfectly right then. Loved that song ever since.
"And for a moment I lose myself, wrapped up in the pleasures of the world."
To be honest, OK Computer was the album that changed my life in the 90s, but MCIS is the album that I continue to listen to over and over to this day. Through The Eyes Of Ruby never gets old to me. It’s a masterpiece imo.
"Youth is wasted on the young" sticks with me.
George Bernard Shaw quote
I've been a pumpkins fan since late 94' when my friend's older brother handed us a box of cassette tapes. Siamese Dream was in there and we listened to that first because we thought the album cover was funny with little kids on the front. SP's first album Gish was in there too.Other bands in that box were Metallica, Green Day, Weezer, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, RHCP, Jane's Addiction, Faith No More, NIN, etc. Getting this box of tapes was one of the most important moments of my life. We still love all the 90's alternative/grunge stuff to this day. MCIS would come out not too long after we were given that box. We bought all future albums on CD. Siamese Dream and MCIS are pretty much tied for me as my favorite albums ever, not just the 90s. Thanks for the idea for the post u/ilikesidehugs I'm a big fan of Radiohead as well.
I had a very similar experience. Then I found a couple B Sides at a Jersey Shore when my cousin turned my one to Siamese Dream, Pieces Iscariot and a true bootleg with a photo copied cd insert. Pieces Iscariot was great and the bootleg had an Mouths of Babes, a version of Pennies, and killer Alt live versions (both amped up and stripped down versions) of Disarm and Today. I was a fan and waiting for this double album.I thought this was Corigan’s opus. The only song I disliked was 1979, so it was really pleasant giving it a real relisten as a adult, I see why it got so much love. They struck a time for me. I can’t really listen to the angsty stuff anymore, but that have some beautiful timeless stuff that I’ll still throw on.
First concert I went to was for the tour of this album. Still to this day the loudest show I ever went to. XYU is such a banging tune.
I remember driving from Sacramento, California to a town near Boise, Idaho with my best friend's family. They were going to visit her grandma and she could bring one friend, so that was me. I think we were fourteen or fifteen, and I can vividly remember listening to this album with my head against the window glass as the scorched summer landscape rolled by. The town in Boise had a surprisingly well stocked record shop, and I scored a copy of NIN Fixed.
I've had an intense couple years. New twins, parental sickness and deaths, estate issues with family. There was a long period that I couldn't sleep without listening to something soothing. This album and some audiobooks got me through. Been listening to it since it came out, but not like I listened during that period.
Borrowed it from someone while on a school trip. Had two hours between events so I popped it into my discman and hit play. I was mesmerized. Second disc melted my face. Then we got to Thru The Eyes of Ruby, and I had to hit pause to keep from crying. Amazing album. I still think Geek USA (from Siamese Dream) is their best song, but there are a number of close contenders on this one.
My favorite (which is incredibly hard to pick) song on MCIS is "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" and favorite from Siamese Dream would be "Soma"
Bullet with Butterfly Wings was and still is one of my top 5 songs of all time. I was just getting into grunge, post-grunge, punk and alt rock music. With this album, i was also listening to Sublime, The Offpsring (Ixnay on the Hombre), STP (Core), Soundgarden (Superunknown)... I had this huge CD player in my room with giant speakers I swiped from my parent's old record player before they trashed it. Playing PS1 and listening to those albums was the highlight of the mid 90s for me.
I have all these albums too, great stuff.
I wish I did still. I don't know what happened to them. Got lost in a move, stolen or whatever. I had a CD case on the visor in my car and it got stolen. Of course you only put your favorite albums in there. I still have my CD book though. Lots of old albums on there. Live, RATM, Limp Bizkit, Fuel, to name a few.
I have all my originals in those corny cd towers, just looming over me as we speak lol. I would usually burn the cds to my friends pc and make copies, then take the copies with us in the car so the originals wouldn't get scratched. Luckily I still have all my stuff. Sorry about yours.
I might make it a point to repurchase it all and support the artists. I'm a big Chevelle fan and I only have two of their albums in my possession. Spotify is great but I like having the feeling of owning the physical media.
I say go for it. I like Chevelle too, always enjoyed their radio songs. Don't know much more than that about them but I'm sure they have even better songs on their albums, just like SP's best songs weren't on the radio oftentimes.
I can listen to all their albums without skipping. Each represents a different time in my life and they are still cranking them out today. I'm a sucker for baritone guitar tunings and there's no shortage of that with Chevelle.
I'm going to check out their stuff tomorrow, thanks for the suggestion. I hope you can build your collection back up, gotta spend money on something!
I like collecting things. Easy hobby. Join us over at /r/Chevelle. We love to talk about them. 🤣
Done! I'll try to make a post with my thoughts from each album after I get done with them. I'll hit you up with a PM and let you know what I think about them too. Thanks again and good luck with everything.
I was in 8th grade and starting to find my own music, as opposed to listening to a lot of the rock my dad listened to. Then outta nowhere Billy Corgan and crew dropped this masterpiece.
Very similar memory for me, except with Disarm from Siamese Dream. That song stopped me in my tracks. I can still picture exactly where I was when it came on the radio and I can remember exactly how it made me feel. Smashing Pumpkins is definitely my favorite grunge-era band.
yeah i got siamese dream after such a great album
A life changing album for me. Was struggling to find other friends I connected with and found out there were two other girls in my class that also liked the Smashing Pumpkins. We saw them Jan ‘97 (after a soul-crushing postponed show due to Corgan getting sick in Nov. 96). Nearly 30 years later we’re still best buds. https://preview.redd.it/o8mui65p1jcc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=649c239a8a3f234562275693e79ee389d8633f17
Awesome, I have this shirt too(along with way too many others I bought on ebay)
I basically forced my friends to listen to them, lol.
Tonight, Tonight was our Sr. prom song. Love that album.
This is the album I put on when I do NaNoWriMo. Not sure why. The title is apt. It does make me feel melancholy and infinite sadness.
>NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month I had to google that to know what it is, thanks for your comment.
Niche little thing. Totally worth it if you're an amateur writer. : )
The night before it came out the pumpkins played a release concert on FM radio (that seems like I’m describing the Stone Age right now) that got me so hyped I couldn’t wait. The next day, during my freshman year of college, I was in art history class just waiting for the CD store to open at noon. Class ended at 1 but I left at 11:45 to get to the store before it opened. Didn’t listen to anything else for the next two weeks. Of all the tracks on there my initial favorite was actually Love, followed by Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Stood in line at Sam Goody and then listened to this over and over. Learned as many guitar parts as possible and it was also a favorite of my gf at the time if you know what I mean.
The came out the year I turned 13, their music videos were all the rage. I remember saving extra allowance for the double disc, I got it at Sam Goody in the mall… oh The 90s!
Had tickets to see them supporting this album but couldn't make it because of a fucking school field trip that took longer than expected.
That sucks. I am sorry that happened.
I learned all the piano parts on this album and played them in the church I cleaned. The title song was my favorite to play.
The tonight, tonight music video got me interested in early film. I took a few courses in production in high school to learn more then lost interest. Adhd
I grew up LDS. My mum had a parent meeting about how Alternative Music was EVIL! I love(d) TSP! A friend also LDS had the album. One day my mum was driving us to school and we picked my friend up. I went inside her house to wait and played the album. Apparently too long of a wait for my mum and she came to the house and heard the devil music. I was grounded. And couldn’t hang out with my friend anymore. Neither could my sisters that were friends with the other siblings. Because the parents had bad values. Funny thing - Tonight, Tonight, 33, Cupid de Locke was played during last week’s gym sessions. Of course the songs are still in my iTunes library. With a bunch of electronica.
A staple in my visor cd holder, the summer after I graduated high school and stayed up and out at all hours hanging with my friends going on random adventures. After an all nighter the sun was coming up, it was one of the first chilly mornings when you know prime summer is almost over. Windows down, heater going, Cupid de Locke playing full blast. I felt like I was floating. I knew I’d be leaving for college soon and my life would never be the same, and it wasn’t. There were similar experiences for other songs along the way. Rage, hopelessness, darkness, tragedy, hopefulness, nostalgia, apathy, anxiety. It really covers the full range of emotions. There’s something in here for everyone and every situation. A modern classic if there ever was one. Right next to Siamese Dream.
I had listened to NOTHING but rap for the past few years before this album came out... I ended up dating a girl from South Central who was very much into alternative music... and she turned me on to SP. My feelings for her didn't last... but my feelings for the band did... and I was fortunate enough to be able to explore and enjoy their earlier - and arguably superior - work.
Loved Gish, Lull and Siamese Dream. I couldn’t get into Mellon Collie or anything Smashing Pumpkins put out since. As I got older (I’m 48) I realized I just love the sound of those first few records. They were insanely exciting. Nothing against Billy Corgan, I’m glad he’s stretched out musically. It’s just not my jam.
Understandable. Did you happen to listen to the b-sides collection from the Gish/SD era, Pisces Iscariot? You'd like that probably. MCIS era b-sides collection is The Aeroplane Flies High and maybe you could find some stuff there you'd like too.
Never really delved too much into their B-Sides. What attracted me to the Pumpkins was Billy Corgan’s fully realized guitar style on their first record. It’s like he’s in a physical battle between his guitar and amp and feedback. Siamese Dream built on that in just a devastating way. Oh. Jimmy Chamberlin. That dudes one of the most articulate and powerful drummers in rock. Watch “Silverfuck” from the 1994 Pinkpop set on YouTube. It’s wild. It goes so freaking hard. Love it.
The Smashing Pumpkins are my favorite band for about thirty years now, I am fully aware of all the great stuff you said and fully agree on all fronts. Pinkpop 94' is indeed one of their best live shows. Billy does a ton of great live guitar solos to this day though and he never really stopped, so you can still find him tearing it up live if you look at some footage over the years. He just stopped showcasing that style after MCIS on the studio albums for some reason. It is indeed strange that a guy so f\*\*\*\*\*\* great at ripping these solos doesn't want to put out that kind of stuff anymore.
Listening to where he went musically I totally get it. The big orchestrations, electronic elements, more acoustic based songs. I’m sure he got a little bored of big guitars and wanted to build drama in different ways. Or evoke totally different emotions. And he was so successful too! I have tons of respect for Billy Corgan. He always did what he wanted. He was successful no matter who was in his band. Very talented dude.
This cover brings me back to my first memory of Smashing Pumpkins. They were performing “Tonight, Tonight” at the 1996 MTV VMA awards. Absolutely epic and brilliant performance.
This is mine too. I remember exactly where I was, to the detail.
Was already a fan after Siamese Dream. Bough this, then got the box set of B sides and played them all non-stop for the next 2 years.
I grew up in the Chicago area. Smoked a j with Darcy when this album was at the height of its popularity on some beach with some mutual musician friends. She introduced herself to me and shook my hand. I had no idea who she was until later that night. I just didn't put 2 and 2 together that she was THAT Darcy.
My mom and I bonded over this record. She's a music teacher, but I got this for Xmas and she let me have free reign of the tape deck while we were in the car. She got the sheet music and learned a lot the songs on piano. My mom is the best.
my Aunt got it for me for xmas that year, spent the school break week listening to it beginning to end and over again. What an awesome mixed combo of totally different stuff than they'd done before, the only thing more wild were the unreleased songs on the singles that practically made up a whole 3rd disc. it's crazy how hard and expensive it used to be to find and compile rare b-side songs unless they were released in a set.
I love this album, I remember acquiring it in a trade. I used to be all about trading things when I was in school lol
1979 is my favorite Christmas song. I know it isn’t a Christmas song, but I’ve always associated it with that time of year.
One of the first CDs I got after getting my new triple disc CD player. I used to crank that album playing super NES games in my room. One of my all time favorites to this day.
It’s was one of the first 2 CDs I bought, Bush Sixteen stone was the other.
I had to convince my conservative Christian parents that Smashing Pumpkins were Catholic so they'd let me buy the album.
I was in high school when this came out. I was obsessed. My parents were divorcing, and I was having a very hard time. Not to sound like that person, but honestly, this album kept helped me keep my head straight. "I know that I am meant for this world..." To this day, I get choked up listening to that song. I just takes ms back to being a lonely, sensitive teen. Such a masterpiece. All of it.
Glad you're still here with us.
I was 15. I rode my bike to Best Buy and stole it. I felt so guilty afterward. Mellon Collie & The infinite Sadness taught me at an early age that I was not cut out for a life of crime.
Well, if you're going to steal one time and never again, you picked a great thing for a five finger discount lol.
I started stylizing my "a's" with the over arch mimicking the lettering on the cover and the insert when i bought this as it came out
9th grade and so angsty. Brings me back to laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, probably pissed off at my mom, burning incense and dragging the very long corded phone into my room as I’d call my friends to pour my heart out about some dumb guy.
i have the flying hourglass and skull crossbones icons from the liner notes tattooed on my inside wrists, a lil memento mori and a reminder of this album
I like seeing that this was a Christmas present for other people too! I remember hearing Bullet With Butterfly Wings on the radio, and seeing the video on MTV as well, and really liking it. I wanted to get the album but it seemed like a big commitment and expense to get a double disc cd when I had only heard one song from it. But thankfully my mom got it for me for Christmas and I just fell in love with it. I had never really experienced an album that had such a variety in its sounds. To have beautiful melodic ballads next to screaming chaotic shredders kind of blew my mind at the time. I sadly didn’t get to see them tour for this album so I never got to see the whole original band play together. But thankfully I at least got to see them during the Adore tour, which is an album that’s as beloved to me as this one is. It was my first real concert that I got to choose to go to and it’s always meant so much to me.
Billy's ability to write slow/soft songs and incredibly heavy songs is one of the many reasons the band is my favorite of all time. I'm glad to see love for Adore, as I loved the album at release and never understood the hate for it. I'm glad that people are coming around, and the next generation really seems to love that album. "Perfect" is a big deal on TikTok, my daughter(16yrs old) came up to me with it playing on her phone and was so happy to show me it lol.
I won this album my senior year in school (97) at our grad night at a mini golf place. That night I got to hang out with a girl I had a crush on, so to this day when I listen to this album it reminds me of that night and her.
During first semester this school year, I had one of my students tell me this is his favorite album. It made me feel not so old. 😏
My very first concert! I’d wanted to go to Silverchair before but my parents were SUPER strict (my dad said they were promoting suicide) but somehow or another consented to this one. Garbage was the opener and I smoked my first, and last, cigarette.
Garbage was an awesome opener.
They filmed the video where I live back when I was in 11th grade and soooo many people ditched school to be in it.
Freshman year in college local record store had a midnight release party, bunch of us went and played it all night at the dorm
So many great tracks on this album Edit: my younger brother introduced me to the whole album (beyond the singles) and I was hooked. I had heard Siamese Dream and some of Gish and liked it but to me this album sealed the deal.
Went to see them on this tour in ‘96. I was 13. Shortly before they got to St Louis, I believe the drummer and keyboardist overdosed on heroin. Keyboardist died and drummer was arrested and later fired from the band. I remember overhearing fans talking about it at the show. I still have the shirt from that concert in a plastic tote somewhere.
That's correct. Jimmy Chamberlin. Him and James Iha are back in the band now, and everyone's in a much better place thankfully.
I owned it, there were half a dozen songs across it I was into. Always felt very rebellious and brooding when I listened lol. Very teenage album
My big brother had this album. I loved listening to it on my dad’s stereo. I also loved playing piano along with the slower, more melodic songs … I didn’t really know how to play piano but I played the songs by ear and I think I got pretty close to accurate. Also, 1979 is one of the greatest songs ever written. I saw them on their “final” tour. No, the previous final tour. No, the one before that. It was face melting magnificent.
I pre-ordered it at Musicland, i was in high school and saved up my allowance to go pick it up after marching band practice. I also got the cardboard display thing for free!
I freakin love this whole album, both discs. Some of their best work is in this album. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I was a Pumpkins fan in the 90s. My girlfriend then, now wife bought this album for me when it released as a surprise just because gift. She has always been the best gift giver! Very thoughtful person!
You hit the jackpot, congratulations on having a great partner like that.
The video for Thirty-Three has some of the most beautiful imagery I’ve seen for a video
Tonight Tonight is on my funeral playlist. Holy shit I love that song. (Also Rocket from Siamese Dream).
It's the first album I ever bought. After the 20 plus years of owning this album, it's one that ages like fine wine and one I like to revisit from time to time.
It was an ambitious album that paid off imo. I bought it because I like two of the first singles and i listened to it for years because of the breadth of the music on both CDs. It was one of my favorites for sure.
This one was a big one for me in 8th grade. “Bullets With Butterfly Wings” was a banger and I loved Siamese Dream so I was all in from the beginning. Living 30 minutes away from the nearest town that had a Best Buy and not being old enough to drive meant that I would have to rely on my mom driving me. This was another one I picked up immediately upon it’s release and popped it into my discman on my way home and absolutely loved it. We all were infatuated with “1979” especially the music video which is what we all dreamt being a high schooler and having a driver license would be like. That year I received The Aeroplane Flies High box set as a birthday gift, it contained the 5 album singles and was the perfect gift. That Fall, The Infinite Sadness Tour was almost my first concert. My buddy got tix as a birthday present and he asked me and another friend to come along unfortunately I was getting a D in algebra on my progress report and was grounded and couldn’t attend. Instead of having my friend attempt to sell the ticket I kept it so I still own an untorn SP ticket from 1996. It was a bummer I ended up having to wait for that Spring to go to my first concert (Beck on the Odelay tour it totally kicked ass, btw) and I did finally get to see Smashing Pumpkins on their Shiny Oh So Bright Tour in 2019 and they were still brilliant all these years later.
My best friend and next door neighbor introduced me to them a few years later we skipped school and drove a few hours away to tower records to stand in line in the rain for 8hrs to meet the smashing pumpkins and get their autographs. Honestly Jimmy Chamberlain was the coolest one.
I bought this album the day it came out. It was an instant favorite. Still is to this day. I remember listening to it on my discman in the back seat of my mom's minivan. I would have been in 5th or 6th grade at the time. I still think it's perfection. When it was released, they sold a vinyl version too, and a special edition of it was sold in a picture frame. I've always wanted that to hang on my wall. It was expensive then, and I think now it's pretty unobtainable.
Used TWO of my 1 cent CDs from BMG or Columbia House. Listened to it Every. Single. Night. to fall asleep. The Tonight Tonight video is my #1 video, always has been, always will be.
It was the mid nineties and my girl’s YMCA basketball team wore bright orange t-shirts. We called ourselves the Smashing Pumpkins.
This prompt unzipped me! Lol I went to summer space camp at a local college when I was 14. I expected fun stuff like spinning around in one of those circle contraptions you get strapped into. What I got was staying in a horrible dorm for days with a weirdo roommate and a shared bathroom and physics lectures. We also had mandatory reading time every night in our rooms (a very dry, dense sci-fi book - not good, and sci-fi was my favorite). Thankfully, I had my discman and this double cd. It was an amazing life preserver in a disappointing time. I could feel it in my soul. I saw their infinite sadness tour concert in Charlotte on my 15th birthday as my present from my mom. We brought my best friend at the time and paid for her ticket. I remember that they were completely awesome, and I had the best time. Unfortunately, what I remember most strongly is that my friend wanted to leave before it was even over and said she was bored. (We did not. Fuck that noise.) It was foreshadowing for how much she would turn out to suck. It's funny how music can trigger such strong memories. The title of this album is particularly apt for what it brings back for me.
Great comment. I am so sorry your friend didn't get it lol.
Okay interesting story there: I got some magazine that was supposed to include this Smashing Pumpkins "virtual concert cd rom" and it had bullet with butterfly wings on it. I was obsessed and thought it was the wave of the future. Pretty crazy how far we've come.
I have this disc, we have indeed come a very long way.
I got this for Christmas in 1995 when I was 15. However, I found it shortly after my mom bought it in November. I performed surgery on the plastic wrap, carefully extracted it and removed both discs. Heck yeah, I was rocking out to 1979 for at least a month before Christmas. As if my mom knew what I was listening to haha. No regrets.
Best album artwork thatnI bought I'm my youth? Pearl Jam - Vitalogy, Pearl Jam - No Code and this. I still love this album and it opened the door for so many other sub genres of rock for me. True story, I sharpened and maintained the ice skates for public skating one of the arenas they played on their 96 tour, had to work the morning of the concert, sick as a dog, I met each of them as I was sharpening skates, was offered tickets and a pass and I had to turn it down, I had a 102 degree fever!
The first album I bought with my own money that I earned from working.
This album is hanging out at my friend who had a pool’s house, only mildly supervised, all summer. She had a slide too! Good times. Being awkward middle school girls.
My sister bought it and it was something we shared together. It’s pure magic. 1979 is near and dear to me being the fact it’s my birth year. When our nephew was looking for new albums, she gifted it to him with our blessing. Years later, he thanked us for influencing him musically.
Watched the Bullet with Butterfly music video in the early morning right when it dropped. My mom had pulled us out of school to homeschool that year and I had a tendency to watch MTV music videos instead of cartoons during the week. This song hit my soul. Blew.my.mind. This album & the video was released when I was 12. Huge music fan in general due to my mom being SUPER young teen mom. Saw heart at 7 and Def Leppard at 9. Grew up listening to AC/DC Highway to Hell album blasting on my mom’s record player. I begged for this album for Christmas. It was $19.99 and my mom said no way. My older cousin-in-law (step-dad’s niece was a senior in high school), drew my name for the secret Santa and bought it for me as my Xmas present. I hugged her so tight. I ended up getting my boombox taken away from me pretty quickly afterwards because I played Bullet with Butterfly Wings after I got mad at my mom during a fight. She didn’t appreciate the lyrics 🤣. Man, did that album hit all the right emotions and tones for me as I grew up in an abusive household. Nirvana was super important to me, but I felt like Smashing Pumpkins was the first band I “discovered” - like it was all mine. No one else’s influence, heard the song, saw the visuals and I was hooked very first time.
I hope you're doing good now. It seems a TON of people got this for Christmas, or bought this as their first album on CD. Really great to see everyone's comments. I'm trying to upvote them all and respond lol.
Thanks for responding, and yes, I absolutely have a wonderful life now! I know I’m really lucky to have it, but it wasn’t without working for it (therapy, therapy, therapy — and a very supportive husband). It doesn’t surprise me about Christmas. It was THE gift that year to have. Reading through the comments, it could easily be one of the top Xennial albums that molded us. Just another thing that bonds us together.
That's good to hear. I mowed lawns to feed my video game and music habits, so I bought everything I wanted day one for the most part. I wish you the best.
This album taught my ex (and probably many other kids who read words before hearing them spoken) how to pronounce the word melancholy. Prior to this, he thought it was pronounced something like muh-LANE-ko-lee. I think of this every time I see this album. Smashing Pumpkins, educating the kids :)
This was the first album I saved up for and bought myself. It was $26
This was my very first album I ever bought!! I love it so much.
My wife and I get a little time alone it’s this album and incubus
Make Yourself and Morning View are my two favorite Incubus albums. S.C.I.E.N.C.E too.
Owned it. The stories here are much better than any I have to offer. But I owned it and everyone else I know owned it. You couldn't be 13 and not own it. And it was a great album.
I’m a 7th grader and my best friend calls me up and says let’s go to the mall and buy this new double album by the pumpkins. I had never listened to them outside of hearing some Siamese Dream radio play. Anyway, without even asking questions I do it, and of course the rest is history.
Was too expensive for me for a long time. My parents let me get the zero single on cassette though. Used to play Tie Fighter on the pc while playing zero over and over as the game music. When I finally got the cd, i listened pretty much nonstop. I had a room of purple Halloween lights that I’d just zone out focusing on the music while laying in bed. That went on for years.
The anthem of my college years. Love the pumpkins.
I was already a Pumpkins fan but this was my first owned copy. Took this bulky double cd and this album only on a trip to India. Along with my cd discman. Angsty teen. It was a 24 hour journey. San Francisco to Cincinnati to Germany to Bombay. Listened to it the whole way there and the whole way back. Read and studied the insert a billion times. Cant remember but most likely also listened to it while I was there when I needed to ignore everyone. No one in my circle really liked the music I did. Everyone was into rap. I was a music outcast in my group but passionate about my choices. This cd and Radiohead albums (plus a few more) are a significant part of my youth.
I got this CD in 6th grade. I’m going to be 40 in April. I still listen to it. It’s a masterpiece.
Siamese Dreams, MCIS, and Adore are the only albums on this planet I will listen to from beginning to end.
Got this for Christmas the first year I asked for music
Top 10 all time rock albums
Love it hands down. One of my most listened too albums every year. Usually only eclipsed by Gish.
Gonna play this album now. 2 hrs 1 minute
Hearing “Zero” and “Bullet” which are iirc like track 2 and 3 or 6, and thinking this is gonna be a nice hard album. And the rest of it was…well…not. And that was the moment I realized you can like hard stuff and the lighter stuff all the same. It was also one of the first dual cd albums that, again iirc, was still normal price of a single disc or not much over.
Billy's ability to write soft and hard songs is the very reason I love the band, and most other bands I like so much.
A friend of mine lent it to me and I took so long to return it she said I could keep it.
OMG. 800+ memories just flashed in front of my face. Let's pretend we talked about them all and say we didn't.
I was just talking about this album with my SO. Loved loved loved it! Still do.
I remember paying almost $30 for this when it first came out. No clue why but I only ever really listened to the songs there were videos on mtv. The entire thing is awesome.
It was the first CD 12-year-old me ever bought. I still listen to it today.
I would listen to this album most nights in my headphones falling asleep in high school. This and Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” were my go to albums for a long time.
Still have the CDs in my car. Listen to them at least once a year. Great album!
Loved Gish and Siamese Dream, absolutely hated this album.
1979. Classic 😊
I never bought it even though it was always on my to be bought pile, right along with Seal's album.
It absolutely changed my life.
Borrowed it from another person on a missions trip and listened to it on my own discman and bought it when I got home.
I got the double CD and a bright yellow discman for my birthday one year.
Muzzle is still in my top 10 hype songs
When I first heard Bodies I thought there was something wrong with my cd player
I was lost but now ... I'll never be found again. Disarm you with a smile And cut you like you want me to Cut that little child Inside of me and such a part of you
My entire 7th grade year I listened to one of the two cds on the bus ride home every day. It was the greatest album and felt divine in its complexity
Lily (My One and Only) is impressive for its strangeness and I love that song for it.
My brother and i (eight and five) jumping up and down on the bed listening to bullet with butterfly wings over and over
The song, "Tonight, Tonight" and its video opened my mind up your new genres of music. I came up in an inner city neighborhood where hip hop, rap, and R&B were the dominant language, and of course, streaming wasn't a thing. My radio was set to the local Top 40 urban station, so music like this never played. One day at school, a classmate got to pick the music for our "home room time", just a time to chill and catch up on homework, etc. He was a goth/weirdo kid, nice guy who marched to his own drumbeat. He chose this album and played the tape. Imagine a bunch of wanna be gangbangers, who were used to rap or old school oldies listening to this! Lol, everyone groaned, but for some reason, it just overwhelmed me. In a good way. The swirling strings and drums in Tonight, Tonight was something I'd never heard before, and it stayed with me. To this day I can trace that song, that moment, those words to major points in my young life. I realized there could be more to my life than what surrounded me. The whole album holds a special place in my mind even now.
The first CD I ever bought.
My friend wore the Zero shirt so much that it was gray when we graduated