Essential
Siamese Dream (1993)
Billy Corgan cited Walt Disney as his greatest influence – telling a story about the impossibility of innocence. “I used to be a little boy, so old in my shoes, and what I chose is my choice, what’s a boy supposed to do?” he sings in “Disarm,” the song about a family tragedy. It is also his sad attempt to put his own childhood in a conciliatory light: a summer of tree houses, the construction of a garden rocket – but the guitars hum like evil hornets. And in the video for “Today” Corgan portrays himself as an ice cream man whose tinkling promises happiness, even though the song is about suicide. The album made the Pumpkins the third biggest rock band of the early 90s after Nirvana and Pearl Jam. The wonderfully pathetic guitar solo of “Soma” sounds as if Corgan was drawing a sword. His credo: When in doubt, metal instead of Seattle.
Pisces Iscariot (1994)
Only the third record – but not with new recordings, but with B-sides and outtakes. Empty the treasury already? You have to be able to afford it. A document of the gigantic output and proof of how good the songs in their second series are. It is her “White Album,” one of stylistic diversity. Including her most beautiful cover version (“Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac), her longest song with the psychedelia inferno “Starla” and her most butterfly-like song with “Obscured”. The 2012 reissue actually includes additional tracks that would identify them as a shoegaze band (“My Dahlia”).
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995)
Perhaps the greatest double album of the 90s. The number of songs, 28, actually makes the format compelling. 30 (!) more appeared later (“The Airplane Flies High”). The title of the six individual sides of the LP version reflects the concept of a daily cycle that conjures up different moods: hard rock (“XYU”), new wave (“Love”) and pop-classical (“Cupid De Locke”). Corgan was bald and wore a T-shirt that read “Zero,” which couldn’t have been a greater contrast to the opus. The reissue DVD contains excerpts from the “Rockpalast” concert in Düsseldorf, where the singer of the band Chumbawamba stormed their stage naked to demonstrate against their “sell-out”. OK.
MACHINA The Machines of God 2000 + MACHINA II The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000)
The label feared that another double album would not sell after the disappointing performance of “Adore”. Part 1 was therefore published regularly, part 2 was released online for free and limited to 25 (!) LPs. Corgan’s emergency plan. Both records show the Pumpkins at their peak; they function as a complete work like “Mellon Collie” before it. “Machina” also has a concept: after a divine inspiration, a rock star named Zero renames himself Glass and his fans the Ghost Children. However, fans and critics were not interested in this concept. Corgan also felt that his art rock ideas were not being spread and simply presented the songs live instead of a costume parade.
Fortunately, the “Machina” songs also stand on their own. “Look ma the sun is shining on me,” sings Corgan in “With Every Light,” finding peace with his mother’s death. “Stand Inside Your Love” is her best single. “Let Me Give The World To You” would be her second best if Corgan had decided to cut it. “Glass And The Ghost Children” is a Doors homage with room for the words “Cherry Cola.” In “Age Of Innocence” Corgan sings about the end of the band, which he actually (well, provisionally) implemented this time: “Too young to die, too rich to care / Too fucked to swear that I was there.”
Rewarding
Gish (1991)
The debut was released in May, which would be adopted as grunge starting in the fall with “Nevermind” and “Ten.” “Gish” was overseen by Nirvana producer Butch Vig, but the single “I Am One” is a testament to the Pumpkins’ eclecticism. Drummer Chamberlin plays a funk rhythm, Wretzky a baggy bass line that might have come straight from the rave culture of the Madchester bands.
Adore (1998)
The pairing of gothic pop with folk. “Adore” means “A Door”: the egomaniacal brooder Corgan wanted to communicate with the world. He wore makeup as Nosferatu, was an emo with eyeliner.
Shiny And Oh So Bright (2018)
“Solara” is strong like “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” “Silvery Sometimes (Ghost)” is nostalgic like “1979.” Corgan was accused of sounding like it was 1995. The return of guitarist James Iha after 18 years was also not acknowledged.
Supplementary
Zwan: Mary Star Of The Sea (2003)
Because only Jimmy Chamberlin remained of the original line-up, Corgan renamed the Pumpkins. There were three guitarists instead of two, and Corgan composed gems like “Honestly” and “Lyric.” Zwan bassist Paz Lenchantin sings in the background; today she is with the Pixies.
Zeitgeist (2007)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FspnTZTa-5I
The “Zeitgeist” describes a rise of fascism in America, four years after the Iraq War, but also a year before Obama. Given today’s political climate, Corgan wasn’t far off the mark. The epochal “United States” calls for “Revolution!”, “For God And Country” mourns fallen soldiers. “Step on the gas, don’t be too artsy,” Corgan urged.
Weaker
Billy Corgan: The Future Embrace (2005)
First solo album. Bon Harris from Nitzer Ebb programmed the synthesizers, and Corgan went on tour with two keyboard players and a stand-up drummer who hit pads. Nobody remembers any of the songs today, except for the Bee Gees cover “ToLoveSomebody” sung with Robert Smith, in a variation as a crape duet.
Book
Billy Corgan: “Blinking With Fists” (2004)
2004 poems that recycle Corgan’s song themes: modes of existence after death; a god who could be in the galaxy’s quasar; eternal love. Something like that. Excerpt: “A last caress, perhaps of chance/ My hand on your belly, I softly begin to sing/ Li-lo, li-lo, li-lo.” Some reviewers believed that the lyrics had been written by a twelve-year-old.
Precious items: rarities and solo works
“Drown”
Highlight of the “Singles” soundtrack, which also features Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Soundgarden.
“Never Let Me Down Again”
Martin Gore reportedly said he liked this acoustic guitar cover better than the Depeche Mode original.
“A Night Like This”
Guitarist James Iha loves The Cure. This is his tension-free adaptation of the emotional rollercoaster song.
“Germans In Leather Pants”
Corgan loves German hard rock bands, especially the Scorpions. Not a homage to the Hanoverians, but to people who dress like that.
“The Ether’s Tragic”
Superior instrumental version of the “Batman & Robin” song “The End Is The Beginning Is The End”.
“Eyes”
David Lynch didn’t get the Pixies song “Ana” for “Lost Highway” and instead chose this electropop piece, which was a foretaste of “Adore”.
“Turn My Way”
Corgan’s dream came true, he was allowed to accompany New Order at concerts in 2002 as a guitarist. On their album “Get Ready” he sang this ballad about aging rock’n’rollers with Bernard Sumner.
“GLOW”
Single from 2008 in which Corgan invokes the unifying power of rock: “Come on, come on, come on, can you feel it?” Drummer Chamberlin then left the band for ten years.
“A Song For A Son”
The highlight of the “Teargarden By Kaleidyscope” EPs (2009), for which Corgan was inspired by “Classic Rock à la 1975” and conjured up a Jimmy Page guitar solo that hasn’t been done since “Soma”.
“My Blue Heaven”
Cover songs in particular document Corgan’s longings that he saved from his childhood. The Whiting/Donaldson evergreen from 1924 describes the desire for a peaceful family life.