The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins emerged from Chicago in 1988 and became one of alternative rock's major commercial and critical successes of the 1990s. Formed by singer and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the group built a sound around dense layers of guitars and arrangements that drew from grunge, heavy metal, gothic rock, psychedelic rock, shoegaze, dream pop, progressive rock and electronica. Corgan has remained the band's primary songwriter and its sole constant member.

The band's debut album, Gish, arrived in 1991, earning strong reviews and underground success. Its 1993 follow-up, Siamese Dream, brought the group to a far wider audience. Recorded through a difficult process, the album was widely acclaimed and has been lauded as one of alternative rock's defining releases. In 1995, the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, received Diamond certification from the RIAA, and extended the band's commercial reach while sustaining its critical standing.

After releasing Adore in 1998, the Smashing Pumpkins issued the two-part Machina project in 2000, comprising Machina and Machina II. The group disbanded later that year amid internal conflicts, drug use and declining sales. By then, the band had sold 30 million albums worldwide and stood among the decade's most commercially successful rock acts.

Corgan and Chamberlin reunited in 2006 to make the band's seventh album, Zeitgeist. They toured in 2007 and 2008 with guitarist Jeff Schroeder, before Chamberlin left in early 2009. Corgan subsequently began the rotating-lineup recording series Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which included standalone singles, EPs and the albums Oceania in 2012 and Monuments to an Elegy in 2014. Chamberlin returned as a touring member in 2015, then officially rejoined alongside Iha in 2018.

With Corgan, Iha and Chamberlin reunited, the band released Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. in 2018, followed by Cyr in 2020 and Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, issued across three installments between 2022 and 2023. Schroeder left in October 2023. The remaining members released Aghori Mhori Mei in 2024.