By: Kidman J. Williams
It has been confirmed that The original lineup of the Smashing Pumpkins will be getting back together. The Smashing Pumpkins were an important piece of the 90’s Alternative scene when they released Gish in 1991. By the time Siamese Dream hit they were bonafide rock stars.
The original lineup hasn’t played together for 14 years making this something that many fans are eager to hear after a slew of Billy Corgan “Rotting Pumpkins” albums. Most of the material that came out of the switch hitting band has been at best, forgettable fodder for nostalgic grunge kids that took too many drugs. Most people didn’t even know the albums existed.
July of ’96 was a rough point in time for The Smashing Pumpkins that probably began the real problems for the bandmates when their traveling keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died from a drug overdose at the Regency Hotel in New York.
This led to massive questioning and their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin being arrested.
Time went on and Corgan moved on to Zwan, a nearly failed band that he did two records with.
He kept the Smashing Pumpkins going throughout the years but was never able to bottle that lightning again. Even as big a record as Zeitgeist was (selling 1 million copies worldwide) it didn’t even near the sales nor the punch and impact that Gish obtained. And Oceania…forget it, the ship sunk without the help of an iceberg.
What we are looking at now could be the follow up to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that everybody deserved. We will see what this newfound and mended relationship brings to the music world.