Poll: What’s the Best Smashing Pumpkins Album? – Vote Now
The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the biggest musical gems to come out of the '90s, and are still going strong with 11 albums under their belt. We want to know which of their records you think is the best in this week's Loudwire Nights Album of the Week poll.
You'll have until Friday at 12N ET to cast your votes. We’ll then play the three tracks from the album with the most votes during Loudwire Nights' Album of the Week block to start the following Monday's show!
Though the Smashing Pumpkins formed in the late '80s, they rose to fame during the following decade as alternative rock became massively popular. They're sometimes lumped in with the Seattle grunge artists, likely due to the timing of their success and the cathartic subject matter of the music, but they drew much less on punk-rock and more on gothic and psychedelic rock than their contemporaries did.
The rockers' debut album Gish came out in May of 1991, just a few months prior to the alt-rock explosion that took place. By the time they released its follow-up, 1993's Siamese Dream, the band had signed with a major label, as many other rising rock bands did at the time as well. The sophomore effort was a much bigger commercial success than Gish, however it was their 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness that earned them their first No. 1, producing five hit singles.
The Pumpkins were on a high following the release of Mellon Collie until the following year, when they were struck with a double tragedy — touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of an overdose, and their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession, which led to him being fired from the band.
After readjusting their lineup, their 1998 record Adore was highly-anticipated, but ended up being rather polarizing for their fanbase. Those who were expecting another powerful alt-rock release were surprised to hear electronics and synth-pop on the album, and frontman Billy Corgan grew frustrated with people for "not getting" their desire for experimentation.
The band released two more albums in 2000 and then publicly announced that they were breaking up, which lasted until 2005. Chamberlin was invited to join the reunion, and they released Zeitgeist in 2007.
Since the reunion, the Pumpkins have released another four albums, the most recent being 2020's 20-track record Cyr. Head below to vote for your favorite album by them, then tune into Loudwire Nights next Monday at 7PM ET to find out which record prevailed. During tonight's show, you'll get to find out which Aerosmith album was voted the best, and hear three songs from the winner.
Loudwire Nights with Toni Gonzalez airs nightly starting at 7PM ET. You can tune in anytime, from anywhere right here or by downloading the Loudwire app.