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Excuse the length......but they've done loads, so naturally, there's loads to read

Billy wrote two articles for his high school paper at Glenbard North in Chicago, both dated 1984. He wrote them in his junior year.

One article was dated in 1984, with no month or day cited. Billy, a record reviewer for the publication and also Features Editor, composed an article on Van Halen's 1984. He explained that he was disappointed with their latest two releases, but applauded their newest album and described his "shock, relief, happiness" for the record.

The second review he gave was more diverse. Billy decided to digress from his normal record reviews and analyze and predict the success of the new bands of the time. The article is dated June 6, 1984, which reveals that he wrote this near the end of his junior year in high school. At the time, Billy had predicted that U2, REM, and Metallica were the premier bands of the future.

Billy's science teacher, Walter Schearer, later recalled him as "relatively quiet" but his friends would claim he was outspoken. Schearer also remembered Billy as the "average Glenbard North honors student." According to Marlo Macaisa, one of Billy's closest high school friends, "In AP Bio, he cut the cat's tail off, put it in his back pocket, and walked around school like that." On a field trip for John Slusser's US History class to the Art Institute, Billy and his friend Pete Sallis trashed the bathroom with toilet paper.

His classmates frequently described Billy as unusual. "Billy wore untucked shirts, slanky clothes, and a smirk on his face when he spoke," recalled Dan Shaw.

Billy later commented on his old high school years, "I used music as an excuse, but the biggest factor was that I hated high school. I absolutely hated it. I thought it was this weird biosphere of envy, meanness, and jealousy. I went to visit a couple of friends at the University of Illinois. I looked around and thought this is high school times 10. It was around the time when I started getting weird hair cuts and I thought I was Mr. Alternative. I thought, I can't handle this. There's no way." He also felt that "You walk into high school with a pretty open mind, and you quickly realize where you exist on the food chain. This guy's cuter and this guy plays on the football team so he gets fucked even though he's ugly. You get a scheme of the world pretty fast."

Billy began playing the guitar at the young age of 15; his freshman year at Glenbard High. He discovered the use of power chords and he would practice alone in his room for hours at end at the conclusion of the school day.

He sported goth haircuts and listened to music that was yet to be popular and it made him become an outcast. His musical choices were Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, UFO, Cheap Trick, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. All formed the roots of his musical influences.

Billy was a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant and played in the Glendale Heights park district basketball league. However, "all he ever concentrated on was his music. He didn't even think about school, even though he was so smart," said Marlo Macaisa, the good friend of Billy's. To protect his fingers for guitar playing, Billy quit the dishwashing job and the basketball league.

The Pumpkins began their first year as arguably a real band. They released their debut album, Gish, on an indie label that went on to sell thousands of copies beyond expectations. After the release of Gish, the Pumpkins did their first major tour. The band does many in-store acoustic appearances.

The band appeared in Barcelona at KGB, Japanese TV, and "BBC Late Show" in the UK.

The Pumpkins were also featured on the singles original motion picture soundtrack with their song "Drown"The soundtrack was extremely popular.

The band was also on a compilation that had the same tracks as the Peel Session CD single. The compilation was called "The Year of the Spectacle" with "Siva" "A girl names sandoz and "Smiley"released on Hut/Strange Fruit.

The Pumpkins began their touring by opening for Guns and Roses on the 9th in San Francisco.

Gish, the Pumpkins' debut album, was released on the 28th on Caroline Records. The long-awaited debut album was named in honor of American motion picture actress Lillian Gish; best known for her work in silent epics such as "The Wind." Billy once said, "The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. People ask if it's a political album. It's not a political album, it's a personal album."

Unfortunately, Gish was released at the same time as Nirvana's "Nevermind" both albums which were done by Butch Vig. However, Caroline had expected sales of 30,000 to be sufficient, but Gish far exceeded it.

I Am One and Tristessa, were re-recorded and included on the debut. "Daydream", the last track on the album, features vocals by bassist D'Arcy. A secret song followed it, later identified as "I'm Going Crazy" by Billy in a '96 interview (02.03.96 at KROQ in Los Angeles). All drum tracks were finished in just four days.

Billy had a positive take on the new album but had felt differently about the tour that followed. He said in Guitar School Magazine a few years later, "I think Gish is a pretty good album. It definitely defined our band's sound. I'm not proud of it in some ways -- I think I could have been a more original in places -- but in terms of some things, the guitars for example, I think it's pretty cool." Once the band had unleashed Gish, they embarked upon a grilling 18-month world tour that would nearly split them up. Billy later recalled "Back then I felt we'd really hit on something. When we toured, the band became ultra-aggressive. By early '92 we'd become this lean, mean, on the edge, completely rockin' machine. With a little bit of wizardry and a little bit of sheer will, we were either blowing people's minds or they hated us."

By this time, Virgin Records had picked up on the Pumpkins' scent and inked a new deal with the band. They signed them to their independent subsidiary, Caroline which would later be resold to another independent Virgin subsidiary, Hut.

They played an Electric in-store show at Reckless Records in Chicago on the 22nd. The afternoon concert's highlights included the earliest known recording of "Drown" and the never released "Jesus Loves His Babies."

A record release party, a month late, was held at the Cabaret Metro, the same night, the 22nd.

The band played an acoustic in-store appearance at Rose Records. The Syd Barret song "Terrapin" played at this show was used as one of the b-sides on the "I am one" released in 1992.

A radio show CD aired on the 16th on the CMJ RadioNetwork. The CD includes a variety of bands, but it includes a Smashing Pumpkins interview. The CDs are specifically made for radio stations and include cue sheets that allow DJs to know when commercials are inserted.

Billy did an interview in Chicago on the 93XRT's "Local Anesthetic" following the band's show on the 22nd at the Metro. Billy revealed that the band "didn't feel the vibe was right" with Sub Pop and with Caroline, "we really feel comfortable with them." He also mentioned that many of the songs on Gish underwent twenty to thirty rewrites.

The tour rolled on as the Pumpkins did nine shows. They played at CBGB's once again in New York on the 15th, but it was for the 1991 New Music Seminar. Industry representatives in search of new bands attended the concert.

Dave Boyd, managing director of Hut Records, released a limited pressing of another single, Siva. The single also includes the Gish track, "Windowpaine." This was not a promotional release. Gish was simultaneously re-released. As he had anticipated, this time lapse gave Gish more sales in the UK market.

Rolling stone did a piece on the Pumpkins in their August 8^th, 1991 issue where Billy is quoted as saying "What the band does is so specific that we couldn't dilute it in any way. We couldn't put ourselves in the position where we were powerless," regarding their signing with Caroline Records.

The Pumpkins played two in-store acoustic performances. The first show is at Tower records in Los Angeles, on the 12^th. The second show is two days later on the 17th at Rough Trade Records in San Francisco, CA.

Another radio show CD aired on the 25th on the CMJ Radio Network. The CD includes a variety of bands, but it includes a Smashing Pumpkins interview.

SeptemberThey did an excellent three-song set for Radio 1 DJ John Peel at the Peel Sessions in London on the 8^th which would later surface on Hut Records as "Peel Sessions."

Later in the month, Billy did an interview at the hotel room in London, where he plays "Drown", "La Dolly Vita", "Obscured"and "Snail". He plays part of "Tristessa"and "Rhinoceros". Billy reveals that "Snail"is probably his favorite song from Gish.

The Pumpkins opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with Pearl Jam). The first date is on the 16^th at the Oscar Mayer Theater in Madison, WI. Jimmy Chamberlain said later in an interview that him, Chad Smith, and Dave Grohl would warm up by using the toilets as drums with their drumsticks in the bathrooms before shows.

Another in-store acoustic appearance was done at Atomic Records in Milwaukee, WI on the 22^nd.

The Pumpkins played at the Whiskey a Go-Go in Los Angeles on the 17^th. At that show, Billy referred to himself as "a frustrated midwestern youth" as reported in a review in the Los Angeles Times.

Hut Records released "Lull" a 12" EP, It featured "Rhinoceros", "Blue", "Slunk" and "Bye Jane". The EP was originally planned as a single. The cover art has partial lyrics to the song "Obscured", which was eventually recorded and released on the "Today" single in 1993. "Bye Jane" is the track from the Moon tape, the self-released demo.

1993

March

The Pumpkins did a show at the Center Stage in Atlanta on the 15th. Several of the songs played, such as "Quiet" appeared on their live video release "Vieuphoria" in 1994.

Billy bought his first house after losing his second floor apartment, described as "a complete dump." However, he does not spend his first night in it until three months later in August. This is due to the recording sessions in Atlanta for the new record.

His house was in a traditional city neighborhood and only a short walk from Wrigley Field, ideal for the sports fan that Billy is (as a child, he was angry if the local station only broadcasted 154 of the 162 Chicago Cubs games). Magazines described it as "not a house, not a mansion, and not in the suburbs."

He lives in the neighborhood of Wrigelyville, which is only an hour south of his childhood home in Glendale Heights.

The house is a fine and unflashy renovation of an 1897 Chicago house. The living and dining rooms are outlined with warm, dark Victorian woods, furniture that Billy purchased along with the house. He also had bought a 1920's grand piano that luxuriates in front of a window.

The Pumpkins emerged from the recording studio after five months of hard work with eight-hour days. The album was meticulously recorded; some passages in certain songs used twenty-six tracks for the guitar alone. Billy also said that virtually all the distorted rhythm guitar parts were tracked at least four times and some as many as ten. The album was scheduled for three months of studio time and one month of mixing. However, it exceeded the schedule once more, by two months.

The Pumpkins recorded more than twenty-five songs, thirteen for the album, and twelve for b-sides. In addition, Billy wrote another fifteen. "So that's 40 songs that I wrote, and a lot of them are interesting for various reasons. But they're not brilliant, and I do wrestle with that, quality over quantity." The songs reflected Billy's life, private issues such as his childhood, and his relationship with his father and himself.

The band played in Rio De Janiero, Brazil and did an acoustic session for "MTV's Most Wanted". Only two songs were broadcast, but it is rumored that four might have been played.

The song "Spaceboy" was a dedication to Billy's disabled brother, Jesse Corgan, a free-lance playwright and student at the College of DuPage. Jesse was also a graduate of Glenbard North High School, like his brother Billy.

Later in the month on the 30th, the band did an acoustic session for VPRO's radio program, "Villa 65".

By now, Gish had sold a very unexpected three hundred thousand copies from the indie label, Caroline.

The first single, "Cherub Rock", off the new album was released on the 13th on Hut Records. The single features "French Movie Theme" and unlisted "Star Spangled Banner" performed by a drunk in a karaoke bar. Billy later told Creem magazine in '94 that "Cherub Rock" was written in just a half an hour. "I heard it one day while I was driving up the road and it was one of the last songs I wrote before we did the album." The song was described as by Billy, "my relationship to the indie-world and the media." The song attempted to address Billy's situation of coming from a very trouble childhood and then being the front of one of the central icons of an alleged counterculture movement, which he doesn't even feel a part of.

The band performed a free acoustic show at Tower Records in Chicago on the eve of the Siamese Dream release. The show was broadcast live on Chicago's 93 WXRT.

On the 27th, Siamese Dream, was released on Virgin Records in the United States. The initial pressing of the CD contained a twenty-page booklet, with each song having its own page containing undecipherable handwritten lyrics. Later the pressings reduced all these pages into just four pages. A video called "23 Minutes" of "Siva", "Rhinoceros", "Cherub Rock", "Today", and "Disarm" was packaged with some copies of the new album.

The album was recorded in Triclops Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The recording had exceeded the schedule by 96 days. The mixing and final sequencing was done at Rumbo Records in Los Angeles for a month. Butch Vig and Billy produced the album together.

Billy slept on D'Arcy's floor and practically lived at the practice space during recording sessions. Everyone related to the band had been told to disappear during sessions to ensure a very focused environment. For 45-second sections of music, two days would be spent and Billy pulled 16-hour days for weeks at a time. The album ran over budget at $250,000.

Billy had given several explanations regarding the title of the new album. "No one is having the dream, we are all living it." He also said, "I think I was on the phone. Stuff like that just comes to me, not that I have visions or anything. Gish was like that: just sorta popped into my head., the same thing with Siamese Dream. On the phone, I thought "Siamese Dream, that's it!" Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin thought the album was "like a revelation." Billy thought it was a "everything" record. In general, the album was a very personal record and most of the songs dealt with relationships.

Siamese Dream entered the Billboard Charts at number 10, the highest a Chicago band has ever debuted at in a very long time. This was due to strength of reputation only. Billy later admitted that when he heard the great news he started "leaping up and down in an airport somewhere."

On the 28th, the Pumpkins began the "Rock Invasion" tour with Red Red Meat (formerly known as The Crows) opening. The first show is at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago.

Billy and Chris reunited and eventually married in either June or July. An oblong black velvet "The Last Supper" is among the gifts given for the marriage. The wedding ceremony was apparently held in Billy's living room. The couple later divorced.

The tour rolled on and the Pumpkins give a "shattering performance" according to the Chicago Tribune in the Metro show on the 13th. The band began the three sold out shows with an audience of about 1,000. The Tribune describes "Silverfuck" as a soliloquy. Sharing the opening slot with Red Red Meat was Uptighty, a 12-piece funk band. Incidentally, the song "Glynis" was a tribute to the female member of Red Red Meat who passed away of AIDS.

Select Magazine gave Siamese Dream a perfect 5 out of 5

The ninth issue of Ray Gun magazine featured an intimate look at the Pumpkins. Billy reveals that the band unanimously felt that its grueling tour schedule helped Siamese Dream become a work that better reflected their tastes. However, Billy also admits that he is not "completely pleased" with Siamese Dream.

The Pumpkins grace another magazine, Pulse, and Billy does another interview. He explains that if the new album fails, he will break up the band. Also, Billy says that after the Pumpkins, he wants to pursue a solo career, an idea he talks about once more a few years later.

Sassy gives Siamese Dream a low rating. The article's author, Christina Kelly, claims that she is a serious rock critic who analyzes lyrics. She writes "In "Cherub Rock" Billy Corgan repeatedly wails "let me out" screaming over guitar feedback, I was like where does this song derive its name?"

Adam Sweeting from Sky Magazine gives the album another perfect rating of 5 out of 5.

The second single from Siamese Dream "Today" was released. Billy confirmed the song to be the one that overcame his desire of contemplation of suicide, "I was really suicidal. I just thought it was funny to write a song that said today is the greatest day of your life because it can't get any worse."

The cover art features D'Arcy's sisters. D'Arcy attributed much of her personal qualities and strength from her siblings. She has stated that without them, she wouldn't have been a member of the band.

The band did a show at the Westwood Studios in London. The Pumpkins play an electric version of "Disarm" for the UK TV show "The White Room" and it is later broadcast on 02.18.94.

Billy later retold an interesting anecdote of his times during the brief London tour that began in this month. He admitted that in one particular show, he thought it would be hilarious if he had dressed up to be a clown suit. Billy had to go through with the wild idea, since it was much too late (backstage) when he realized that the thought wasn't that great.

The touring for Siamese Dream continued as the "Rock Invasion" tour's 2nd leg starts with Swervedriver and Shudder To Think opening.

Siamese Dream approached the one million mark of going platinum and remains in the Top 30 on the Billboard Charts.

On the 18th, the Pumpkins began two sold-out shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. They receive a great review of the first show in the San Francisco Chronicle. The band gave fans a "freewheeling" 90-minute show with Billy displaying his "oddball sense of humor."

The Pumpkins did a six-song set at the MTV Studios in New York City. It was recorded in front of an audience for the No Alternative project. Some tracks were kept for the home video, while others were used as videos on MTV.

The band did their first appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in New York on the 30th. The Pumpkins play two songs, "Cherub Rock" and "Today".

The video for "Cherub Rock", the 1st single from Siamese Dream, debuted on MTV's "120 Minutes". In an interview on the show Billy said, "I wanted to make this video and got talked into making another kind of video and I said ok, and then we're on top of this mountain in San Francisco and it's raining and freezing and the whole video is all screwy-looking and you can't even tell I'm on top of a mountain and in the rain and it's completly not what I wanted."

November

Billy admitted in a Spin article of the Nov. issue that the tenth track from Siamese Dream, "Spaceboy" was written about his younger brother. Billy explains that his brother has a rare genetic chromosomal disorder. He felt that he and brother were both "freaks of nature, freaks of society."

He also said that Siamese Dream is a very personal album to him and that people can understand that he is "a real wimp" if people listen carefully with the lyrics.

Gish now had sold over 350,000 copies.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 17th that Siamese Dream had been certified as going platinum by selling 1,000,000 copies.

The New York Times gave another favorable review to the band after their sold out shows at the Roseland Ballroom on the 23rd and the 24th.

Billy gave another personal interview to Details Magazine in their December issue. He talks about many topics, including his new wife Chris. He says that she works in a museum and she's an artist who has talented skills. Billy refuses to discuss his previous relationship with Courtney Love. He also states that "Quiet", the second track from Siamese Dream, is a bitter song about his sense that the world has repressed him. Billy also interpreted it as "my relationship with my parents."

At a Cincinnati show at Bogart's on the 11th, James began feeling depressed. He was in search of that elusive "sad country feel" and bought a used CD of the Eagles' Greatest Hits and the Boston first album at a local record store.

On the 12th, the band did an acoustic show at the Universal Amphitheater in L.A. for KROQ's "Acoustic Christmas". They also brought along Eric Remschneider, who played cello on Siamese Dream. A cover of the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" was performed and appears on the "Kevin and Bean (No Toys for OJ)" release. It was a free tape given away at Warehouse record stores.

The success of their second album, Siamese Dream, continued to amaze critics and fans. However, there were those who did not support the Pumpkins and would publicly bash the band. A few English critics, the Chicago band Pavement, and a reviewer at the Chicago Sun Times were among this group. Pavement's Stephen Malkmus had said "I like some songs by Smashing Pumpkins. It's their ideology that I despise." Pavement had begun a rumor that the Pumpkins had removed them from Lollapalooza in '94, which was false.

The band had another great year with touring and releases. They headlined Lollapalooza that year, an episode that Billy described as "some of the best experiences and some of the worst." They also released two more singles. An out of print "Rocket" was issued and included the b-side "Never Let Me Down Again". A box set comprising of the four singles on 7" from Siamese Dream, called "Siamese Singles" was released in '94. The Pumpkins also issued a CD full of b-sides and rarities to appease all the Pumpkinheads until the next album was due out.

Billy told Guitar School that the band had recorded a Johnny Winter tribute song for the next album, called "Tribute to Johnny". The song did appear as a b-side two years later.

The band began a short Big Day Out Festival tour in Australia with the first known date on the 23rd. The tour continued with dates in the United States.

Billy did another interview for Creem magazine's January/February issue. He admitted that after the Pumpkins, he would like to make a solo record, with an electronic style because he was "sick of guitar." Billy also revealed plans for an official release of a live recording with "a really limited edition, with a plain sleeve and a lousy sound quality." An album of all b-sides was also possible, he had said, since the demands of tour would not make studio time possible. Both plans did occur and were released later in the year. The official bootleg, became a live video entitled "Vieuphoria". The video featured live tracks and interview snippets. The album of b-sides was called Pisces Iscariot and released in October.

Jimmy also did a very intimate interview for Modern Drummer. Jimmy stated that he had used a click on the track "Mayonaise" from Siamese Dream. Jimmy also said that the song was probably the most difficult, but the easiest for drums. He admitted that he had done at least fifteen tracks for the song.

Jimmy revealed much information regarding his talent and ability. Jimmy had began lessons at nine with Charlie Adams, then lessons from Charlie's protégé, and finally lessons from Hugh Wilson.

He also discussed his previous musical experiences, aside from jazz. Jimmy had first played in a garage band called The Warrior Band. The group consisted of twenty-something musicians. Jimmy also pointed out that at sixteen, he had a girlfriend who was twenty-three. After graduating from high school, Jimmy had attended Northern Illinois University for about a year. Next, Jimmy played in a wedding band, and then he played in a polka band while doing a radio show. Later on, he got involved in a band called Razor's Edge. Finally before joining the Pumpkins, he played with J.P. and The Cats.

Gish had sold nearly 650,000 copies now.

March

James told Sassy Magazine how he became the owner of his dog, Bugg. In '91, James' roommate had been given the dog as a present. He was soon disowned because of the responsibilities needed to care for the pet. In pity, James took ownership. He fed and walked the dog and soon respected "the beast" and enjoyed the relationship with him.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 14th that Gish had sold 500,000 copies, or had went gold.

The third single from Siamese Dream, "Disarm" was released on the 22nd on Hut Records. There are two versions of the release. One version has the word "smile" on it and contains "Soothe" and "Blew Away", a song written and sung by guitarist James Iha. The song is based on "fake country." The other version has the word "heart" and contains "Dancing in the Moonlight".

Billy felt that "Disarm" was the most amazing song on the new album. He felt that the song was so unique, honest, and open. He felt the song was "about my childhood and how I turned into an asshole." The song had "three different versions."

The Pumpkins played the first public performance of the song "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" on the 25th, at Palmer Auditorium in Davenport, IA.

Siamese Dream went double platinum.

Rolling Stone Magazine printed a very personal look at the band in the issue on the 21st. They announced that they are to be featured in this years' Lollapalooza concert. Other bands on the bill included Nirvana, The Beastie Boys (who preceded the Pumpkins on stage), Breeders, L7, A Tribe Called Quest, George Clinton, and the Boredoms.

The Pumpkins played an hour-long set at the famous Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA that marked the reopening of the venue which had been closed for twenty-seven years. Billy had said "We only have one rule: we don't take requests. We're not a bar band."

However, the band was not the first choice of the promoters. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, many more well-known acts such as Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen were asked to play the headlining show, but all refused. The Pumpkins were a last resort.

The Pumpkins were not granting any interviews to the media at this point.

Billy's side project, Starchildren, made their third appearance on the 18th. The concert was the opening night at the Double Door club. The group featured Billy, James and Jimmy from the Pumpkins as well as Mark Rew from Catherine and Mary Magdaline. Starchildren performed a set of covers, early versions and MCIS-era songs, as well as jamming.

Starchildren released Songs About Girls/Delusions of Candor with the song "Delusions of Candor" on TVT Records on 7". The release has Catherine on one side and Starchildren on the other.

July

The Pumpkins headlined Lollapalooza '94 since Nirvana pulled out of the lineup. The Pumpkins would have been the support band that preceded it on stage; however, Kurt Cobain's suicide in April eliminated this situation. The band was given a financial offer they could not pass up.

The first date of the tour began in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam Boyd Stadium on the 7th.

Billy revealed plans for a possible double recording for the Pumpkins' next outing in Musician magazine.

The Pumpkins gave a portion of their allotted stage time to Courtney Love on the 1st, in Philadelphia, who played a short solo set of "MissWorld" and "Doll Parts" beforehand. This was because Love had asked Billy if she could do two or three appearances to not give people the false impression that she was "out of her mind." Lollapalooza had initially resisted the idea, but then told Love that she could play if one of the bands on the bill would sacrifice their set time. The Pumpkins obliged. Love had traveled with the Pumpkins a few times and she and Billy became close friends in the aftermath of her husband Kurt's death.

The Boredoms, a band from Japan that used aggressive vocal punctuation, accompanied the Pumpkins during "Silvefuck" at North Kingstown, RI on the 3rd.

The band gave their stage time to Love once again on the 5th in Randall's Island in New York. However, the Pumpkins were not well received. The audience began shouting, "fuck you" to the band and they responded by playing a rare song, "Dancing in the Moonlight".

The show in Dallas on the 21st began the first of three surprise sets in which the Pumpkins played on the second stage at the Lollapalooza tour. The second stage is usually reserved for up-and-coming bands making the performance completely unexpected. The band's slated set did occur later in the evening following the second stage performance. This sort of behavior occurred two more instances; on the 25th in San Diego and on the 27th at Mt. View, CA.

The Pumpkins were once again not well received and the band responded by playing "a bunch of songs you don't know" at the Mt. View show on the 28th. The set included the rarely played "Plume" and "Daydream" as well as a ten-minute jam entitled "Concerto in C Minor". James screamed the lyrics of "Fantastic Voyage" from Coolio and the song also featured the snippet "Die" from the "Zero" b-side, "Pastachio Medley".

Billy revealed more plans for the forthcoming two-CD set in Guitar Player and Sin. He told them he was completing forty songs, twenty-four to appear on the double discs that he had hoped to begin recording early next year after Lollapalooza. Work on the double CD would begin only days after the tour ended.

In addition, Billy said that it would be acoustic, electric, instrumental, orchestral pieces, and many other styles. He reasons that each CD will be about fifty minutes with one CD hard electric music and the other CD with soft acoustic tunes.

The LA Times announced that the Pumpkins will release "Pisces Iscariot", a collection of rare or previously unreleased material in October.

The sold out show at Cal-State in Carson, CA on the 5th marked the final show of the Lollapalooza tour.

The Pumpkins performed "Disarm" for the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on the 8th. Billy also gave a presentation of a Video Vanguard award to Tom Petty (Petty's daughter is a fan of the Pumpkins). Apparently, Bruce Springsteen had approached Billy and mentioned that he was a fan of the band.

Spin Magazine named the Pumpkins "Artist of the Year".

Pisces Iscariot, an album of rare and previously unreleased material was released on the 4th on Virgin Records. The album featured a Fleetwood Mac cover of "Landslide" and an Animals cover of "Girl Named Sandoz". It was originally intended for release to appease fans for more new material. However, it seemed to represent an "evolution of the band" as one magazine stated accurately.

Also released on the 4th, was a rare promo called Earphoria, an audio companion to the home video Vieuphoria. The promo was heavily bootlegged.

Gish was re-released on the 4th. The album was slightly remastered and released under Virgin Records with an accompanying re-release on Hut Records. The re-release was not highly publicized and is hardly noticeable.

The Pumpkins now began a well-deserved break from their exhaustive touring schedule and relaxed and rested for a while. Billy later acknowledged that Lollapalooza was a very tiring experience and that the band felt very stressed and pressured. The Pumpkins took an astounding three weeks off from recording.

Billy began work on the songs for the next album immediately after the tour ended. They took three days off and then he began composing lyrics and music for the songs and rehearsing started. The first song written after the long tour was "Thirty-Three", a song that later ended up on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Billy would work six days a week, for four to five hours a day. Much of the songs were written while recording, and not before. The band would later head into the recording studio in February of '95.

November

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 23rd that Pisces Isacriot had sold 1,000,000 copies, or had went platinum.

Excuse the length......but they've done loads, so naturally, there's loads to read

Billy wrote two articles for his high school paper at Glenbard North in Chicago, both dated 1984. He wrote them in his junior year.

One article was dated in 1984, with no month or day cited. Billy, a record reviewer for the publication and also Features Editor, composed an article on Van Halen's 1984. He explained that he was disappointed with their latest two releases, but applauded their newest album and described his "shock, relief, happiness" for the record.

The second review he gave was more diverse. Billy decided to digress from his normal record reviews and analyze and predict the success of the new bands of the time. The article is dated June 6, 1984, which reveals that he wrote this near the end of his junior year in high school. At the time, Billy had predicted that U2, REM, and Metallica were the premier bands of the future.

Billy's science teacher, Walter Schearer, later recalled him as "relatively quiet" but his friends would claim he was outspoken. Schearer also remembered Billy as the "average Glenbard North honors student." According to Marlo Macaisa, one of Billy's closest high school friends, "In AP Bio, he cut the cat's tail off, put it in his back pocket, and walked around school like that." On a field trip for John Slusser's US History class to the Art Institute, Billy and his friend Pete Sallis trashed the bathroom with toilet paper.

His classmates frequently described Billy as unusual. "Billy wore untucked shirts, slanky clothes, and a smirk on his face when he spoke," recalled Dan Shaw.

Billy later commented on his old high school years, "I used music as an excuse, but the biggest factor was that I hated high school. I absolutely hated it. I thought it was this weird biosphere of envy, meanness, and jealousy. I went to visit a couple of friends at the University of Illinois. I looked around and thought this is high school times 10. It was around the time when I started getting weird hair cuts and I thought I was Mr. Alternative. I thought, I can't handle this. There's no way." He also felt that "You walk into high school with a pretty open mind, and you quickly realize where you exist on the food chain. This guy's cuter and this guy plays on the football team so he gets fucked even though he's ugly. You get a scheme of the world pretty fast."

Billy began playing the guitar at the young age of 15; his freshman year at Glenbard High. He discovered the use of power chords and he would practice alone in his room for hours at end at the conclusion of the school day.

He sported goth haircuts and listened to music that was yet to be popular and it made him become an outcast. His musical choices were Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, UFO, Cheap Trick, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. All formed the roots of his musical influences.

Billy was a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant and played in the Glendale Heights park district basketball league. However, "all he ever concentrated on was his music. He didn't even think about school, even though he was so smart," said Marlo Macaisa, the good friend of Billy's. To protect his fingers for guitar playing, Billy quit the dishwashing job and the basketball league.

The Pumpkins began their first year as arguably a real band. They released their debut album, Gish, on an indie label that went on to sell thousands of copies beyond expectations. After the release of Gish, the Pumpkins did their first major tour. The band does many in-store acoustic appearances.

The band appeared in Barcelona at KGB, Japanese TV, and "BBC Late Show" in the UK.

The Pumpkins were also featured on the singles original motion picture soundtrack with their song "Drown"The soundtrack was extremely popular.

The band was also on a compilation that had the same tracks as the Peel Session CD single. The compilation was called "The Year of the Spectacle" with "Siva" "A girl names sandoz and "Smiley"released on Hut/Strange Fruit.

The Pumpkins began their touring by opening for Guns and Roses on the 9th in San Francisco.

Gish, the Pumpkins' debut album, was released on the 28th on Caroline Records. The long-awaited debut album was named in honor of American motion picture actress Lillian Gish; best known for her work in silent epics such as "The Wind." Billy once said, "The album is about pain and spiritual ascension. People ask if it's a political album. It's not a political album, it's a personal album."

Unfortunately, Gish was released at the same time as Nirvana's "Nevermind" both albums which were done by Butch Vig. However, Caroline had expected sales of 30,000 to be sufficient, but Gish far exceeded it.

I Am One and Tristessa, were re-recorded and included on the debut. "Daydream", the last track on the album, features vocals by bassist D'Arcy. A secret song followed it, later identified as "I'm Going Crazy" by Billy in a '96 interview (02.03.96 at KROQ in Los Angeles). All drum tracks were finished in just four days.

Billy had a positive take on the new album but had felt differently about the tour that followed. He said in Guitar School Magazine a few years later, "I think Gish is a pretty good album. It definitely defined our band's sound. I'm not proud of it in some ways -- I think I could have been a more original in places -- but in terms of some things, the guitars for example, I think it's pretty cool." Once the band had unleashed Gish, they embarked upon a grilling 18-month world tour that would nearly split them up. Billy later recalled "Back then I felt we'd really hit on something. When we toured, the band became ultra-aggressive. By early '92 we'd become this lean, mean, on the edge, completely rockin' machine. With a little bit of wizardry and a little bit of sheer will, we were either blowing people's minds or they hated us."

By this time, Virgin Records had picked up on the Pumpkins' scent and inked a new deal with the band. They signed them to their independent subsidiary, Caroline which would later be resold to another independent Virgin subsidiary, Hut.

They played an Electric in-store show at Reckless Records in Chicago on the 22nd. The afternoon concert's highlights included the earliest known recording of "Drown" and the never released "Jesus Loves His Babies."

A record release party, a month late, was held at the Cabaret Metro, the same night, the 22nd.

The band played an acoustic in-store appearance at Rose Records. The Syd Barret song "Terrapin" played at this show was used as one of the b-sides on the "I am one" released in 1992.

A radio show CD aired on the 16th on the CMJ RadioNetwork. The CD includes a variety of bands, but it includes a Smashing Pumpkins interview. The CDs are specifically made for radio stations and include cue sheets that allow DJs to know when commercials are inserted.

Billy did an interview in Chicago on the 93XRT's "Local Anesthetic" following the band's show on the 22nd at the Metro. Billy revealed that the band "didn't feel the vibe was right" with Sub Pop and with Caroline, "we really feel comfortable with them." He also mentioned that many of the songs on Gish underwent twenty to thirty rewrites.

The tour rolled on as the Pumpkins did nine shows. They played at CBGB's once again in New York on the 15th, but it was for the 1991 New Music Seminar. Industry representatives in search of new bands attended the concert.

Dave Boyd, managing director of Hut Records, released a limited pressing of another single, Siva. The single also includes the Gish track, "Windowpaine." This was not a promotional release. Gish was simultaneously re-released. As he had anticipated, this time lapse gave Gish more sales in the UK market.

Rolling stone did a piece on the Pumpkins in their August 8^th, 1991 issue where Billy is quoted as saying "What the band does is so specific that we couldn't dilute it in any way. We couldn't put ourselves in the position where we were powerless," regarding their signing with Caroline Records.

The Pumpkins played two in-store acoustic performances. The first show is at Tower records in Los Angeles, on the 12^th. The second show is two days later on the 17th at Rough Trade Records in San Francisco, CA.

Another radio show CD aired on the 25th on the CMJ Radio Network. The CD includes a variety of bands, but it includes a Smashing Pumpkins interview.

SeptemberThey did an excellent three-song set for Radio 1 DJ John Peel at the Peel Sessions in London on the 8^th which would later surface on Hut Records as "Peel Sessions."

Later in the month, Billy did an interview at the hotel room in London, where he plays "Drown", "La Dolly Vita", "Obscured"and "Snail". He plays part of "Tristessa"and "Rhinoceros". Billy reveals that "Snail"is probably his favorite song from Gish.

The Pumpkins opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with Pearl Jam). The first date is on the 16^th at the Oscar Mayer Theater in Madison, WI. Jimmy Chamberlain said later in an interview that him, Chad Smith, and Dave Grohl would warm up by using the toilets as drums with their drumsticks in the bathrooms before shows.

Another in-store acoustic appearance was done at Atomic Records in Milwaukee, WI on the 22^nd.

The Pumpkins played at the Whiskey a Go-Go in Los Angeles on the 17^th. At that show, Billy referred to himself as "a frustrated midwestern youth" as reported in a review in the Los Angeles Times.

Hut Records released "Lull" a 12" EP, It featured "Rhinoceros", "Blue", "Slunk" and "Bye Jane". The EP was originally planned as a single. The cover art has partial lyrics to the song "Obscured", which was eventually recorded and released on the "Today" single in 1993. "Bye Jane" is the track from the Moon tape, the self-released demo.

1993

March

The Pumpkins did a show at the Center Stage in Atlanta on the 15th. Several of the songs played, such as "Quiet" appeared on their live video release "Vieuphoria" in 1994.

Billy bought his first house after losing his second floor apartment, described as "a complete dump." However, he does not spend his first night in it until three months later in August. This is due to the recording sessions in Atlanta for the new record.

His house was in a traditional city neighborhood and only a short walk from Wrigley Field, ideal for the sports fan that Billy is (as a child, he was angry if the local station only broadcasted 154 of the 162 Chicago Cubs games). Magazines described it as "not a house, not a mansion, and not in the suburbs."

He lives in the neighborhood of Wrigelyville, which is only an hour south of his childhood home in Glendale Heights.

The house is a fine and unflashy renovation of an 1897 Chicago house. The living and dining rooms are outlined with warm, dark Victorian woods, furniture that Billy purchased along with the house. He also had bought a 1920's grand piano that luxuriates in front of a window.

The Pumpkins emerged from the recording studio after five months of hard work with eight-hour days. The album was meticulously recorded; some passages in certain songs used twenty-six tracks for the guitar alone. Billy also said that virtually all the distorted rhythm guitar parts were tracked at least four times and some as many as ten. The album was scheduled for three months of studio time and one month of mixing. However, it exceeded the schedule once more, by two months.

The Pumpkins recorded more than twenty-five songs, thirteen for the album, and twelve for b-sides. In addition, Billy wrote another fifteen. "So that's 40 songs that I wrote, and a lot of them are interesting for various reasons. But they're not brilliant, and I do wrestle with that, quality over quantity." The songs reflected Billy's life, private issues such as his childhood, and his relationship with his father and himself.

The band played in Rio De Janiero, Brazil and did an acoustic session for "MTV's Most Wanted". Only two songs were broadcast, but it is rumored that four might have been played.

The song "Spaceboy" was a dedication to Billy's disabled brother, Jesse Corgan, a free-lance playwright and student at the College of DuPage. Jesse was also a graduate of Glenbard North High School, like his brother Billy.

Later in the month on the 30th, the band did an acoustic session for VPRO's radio program, "Villa 65".

By now, Gish had sold a very unexpected three hundred thousand copies from the indie label, Caroline.

The first single, "Cherub Rock", off the new album was released on the 13th on Hut Records. The single features "French Movie Theme" and unlisted "Star Spangled Banner" performed by a drunk in a karaoke bar. Billy later told Creem magazine in '94 that "Cherub Rock" was written in just a half an hour. "I heard it one day while I was driving up the road and it was one of the last songs I wrote before we did the album." The song was described as by Billy, "my relationship to the indie-world and the media." The song attempted to address Billy's situation of coming from a very trouble childhood and then being the front of one of the central icons of an alleged counterculture movement, which he doesn't even feel a part of.

The band performed a free acoustic show at Tower Records in Chicago on the eve of the Siamese Dream release. The show was broadcast live on Chicago's 93 WXRT.

On the 27th, Siamese Dream, was released on Virgin Records in the United States. The initial pressing of the CD contained a twenty-page booklet, with each song having its own page containing undecipherable handwritten lyrics. Later the pressings reduced all these pages into just four pages. A video called "23 Minutes" of "Siva", "Rhinoceros", "Cherub Rock", "Today", and "Disarm" was packaged with some copies of the new album.

The album was recorded in Triclops Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The recording had exceeded the schedule by 96 days. The mixing and final sequencing was done at Rumbo Records in Los Angeles for a month. Butch Vig and Billy produced the album together.

Billy slept on D'Arcy's floor and practically lived at the practice space during recording sessions. Everyone related to the band had been told to disappear during sessions to ensure a very focused environment. For 45-second sections of music, two days would be spent and Billy pulled 16-hour days for weeks at a time. The album ran over budget at $250,000.

Billy had given several explanations regarding the title of the new album. "No one is having the dream, we are all living it." He also said, "I think I was on the phone. Stuff like that just comes to me, not that I have visions or anything. Gish was like that: just sorta popped into my head., the same thing with Siamese Dream. On the phone, I thought "Siamese Dream, that's it!" Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin thought the album was "like a revelation." Billy thought it was a "everything" record. In general, the album was a very personal record and most of the songs dealt with relationships.

Siamese Dream entered the Billboard Charts at number 10, the highest a Chicago band has ever debuted at in a very long time. This was due to strength of reputation only. Billy later admitted that when he heard the great news he started "leaping up and down in an airport somewhere."

On the 28th, the Pumpkins began the "Rock Invasion" tour with Red Red Meat (formerly known as The Crows) opening. The first show is at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago.

Billy and Chris reunited and eventually married in either June or July. An oblong black velvet "The Last Supper" is among the gifts given for the marriage. The wedding ceremony was apparently held in Billy's living room. The couple later divorced.

The tour rolled on and the Pumpkins give a "shattering performance" according to the Chicago Tribune in the Metro show on the 13th. The band began the three sold out shows with an audience of about 1,000. The Tribune describes "Silverfuck" as a soliloquy. Sharing the opening slot with Red Red Meat was Uptighty, a 12-piece funk band. Incidentally, the song "Glynis" was a tribute to the female member of Red Red Meat who passed away of AIDS.

Select Magazine gave Siamese Dream a perfect 5 out of 5

The ninth issue of Ray Gun magazine featured an intimate look at the Pumpkins. Billy reveals that the band unanimously felt that its grueling tour schedule helped Siamese Dream become a work that better reflected their tastes. However, Billy also admits that he is not "completely pleased" with Siamese Dream.

The Pumpkins grace another magazine, Pulse, and Billy does another interview. He explains that if the new album fails, he will break up the band. Also, Billy says that after the Pumpkins, he wants to pursue a solo career, an idea he talks about once more a few years later.

Sassy gives Siamese Dream a low rating. The article's author, Christina Kelly, claims that she is a serious rock critic who analyzes lyrics. She writes "In "Cherub Rock" Billy Corgan repeatedly wails "let me out" screaming over guitar feedback, I was like where does this song derive its name?"

Adam Sweeting from Sky Magazine gives the album another perfect rating of 5 out of 5.

The second single from Siamese Dream "Today" was released. Billy confirmed the song to be the one that overcame his desire of contemplation of suicide, "I was really suicidal. I just thought it was funny to write a song that said today is the greatest day of your life because it can't get any worse."

The cover art features D'Arcy's sisters. D'Arcy attributed much of her personal qualities and strength from her siblings. She has stated that without them, she wouldn't have been a member of the band.

The band did a show at the Westwood Studios in London. The Pumpkins play an electric version of "Disarm" for the UK TV show "The White Room" and it is later broadcast on 02.18.94.

Billy later retold an interesting anecdote of his times during the brief London tour that began in this month. He admitted that in one particular show, he thought it would be hilarious if he had dressed up to be a clown suit. Billy had to go through with the wild idea, since it was much too late (backstage) when he realized that the thought wasn't that great.

The touring for Siamese Dream continued as the "Rock Invasion" tour's 2nd leg starts with Swervedriver and Shudder To Think opening.

Siamese Dream approached the one million mark of going platinum and remains in the Top 30 on the Billboard Charts.

On the 18th, the Pumpkins began two sold-out shows at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. They receive a great review of the first show in the San Francisco Chronicle. The band gave fans a "freewheeling" 90-minute show with Billy displaying his "oddball sense of humor."

The Pumpkins did a six-song set at the MTV Studios in New York City. It was recorded in front of an audience for the No Alternative project. Some tracks were kept for the home video, while others were used as videos on MTV.

The band did their first appearance on "Saturday Night Live" in New York on the 30th. The Pumpkins play two songs, "Cherub Rock" and "Today".

The video for "Cherub Rock", the 1st single from Siamese Dream, debuted on MTV's "120 Minutes". In an interview on the show Billy said, "I wanted to make this video and got talked into making another kind of video and I said ok, and then we're on top of this mountain in San Francisco and it's raining and freezing and the whole video is all screwy-looking and you can't even tell I'm on top of a mountain and in the rain and it's completly not what I wanted."

November

Billy admitted in a Spin article of the Nov. issue that the tenth track from Siamese Dream, "Spaceboy" was written about his younger brother. Billy explains that his brother has a rare genetic chromosomal disorder. He felt that he and brother were both "freaks of nature, freaks of society."

He also said that Siamese Dream is a very personal album to him and that people can understand that he is "a real wimp" if people listen carefully with the lyrics.

Gish now had sold over 350,000 copies.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 17th that Siamese Dream had been certified as going platinum by selling 1,000,000 copies.

The New York Times gave another favorable review to the band after their sold out shows at the Roseland Ballroom on the 23rd and the 24th.

Billy gave another personal interview to Details Magazine in their December issue. He talks about many topics, including his new wife Chris. He says that she works in a museum and she's an artist who has talented skills. Billy refuses to discuss his previous relationship with Courtney Love. He also states that "Quiet", the second track from Siamese Dream, is a bitter song about his sense that the world has repressed him. Billy also interpreted it as "my relationship with my parents."

At a Cincinnati show at Bogart's on the 11th, James began feeling depressed. He was in search of that elusive "sad country feel" and bought a used CD of the Eagles' Greatest Hits and the Boston first album at a local record store.

On the 12th, the band did an acoustic show at the Universal Amphitheater in L.A. for KROQ's "Acoustic Christmas". They also brought along Eric Remschneider, who played cello on Siamese Dream. A cover of the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" was performed and appears on the "Kevin and Bean (No Toys for OJ)" release. It was a free tape given away at Warehouse record stores.

The success of their second album, Siamese Dream, continued to amaze critics and fans. However, there were those who did not support the Pumpkins and would publicly bash the band. A few English critics, the Chicago band Pavement, and a reviewer at the Chicago Sun Times were among this group. Pavement's Stephen Malkmus had said "I like some songs by Smashing Pumpkins. It's their ideology that I despise." Pavement had begun a rumor that the Pumpkins had removed them from Lollapalooza in '94, which was false.

The band had another great year with touring and releases. They headlined Lollapalooza that year, an episode that Billy described as "some of the best experiences and some of the worst." They also released two more singles. An out of print "Rocket" was issued and included the b-side "Never Let Me Down Again". A box set comprising of the four singles on 7" from Siamese Dream, called "Siamese Singles" was released in '94. The Pumpkins also issued a CD full of b-sides and rarities to appease all the Pumpkinheads until the next album was due out.

Billy told Guitar School that the band had recorded a Johnny Winter tribute song for the next album, called "Tribute to Johnny". The song did appear as a b-side two years later.

The band began a short Big Day Out Festival tour in Australia with the first known date on the 23rd. The tour continued with dates in the United States.

Billy did another interview for Creem magazine's January/February issue. He admitted that after the Pumpkins, he would like to make a solo record, with an electronic style because he was "sick of guitar." Billy also revealed plans for an official release of a live recording with "a really limited edition, with a plain sleeve and a lousy sound quality." An album of all b-sides was also possible, he had said, since the demands of tour would not make studio time possible. Both plans did occur and were released later in the year. The official bootleg, became a live video entitled "Vieuphoria". The video featured live tracks and interview snippets. The album of b-sides was called Pisces Iscariot and released in October.

Jimmy also did a very intimate interview for Modern Drummer. Jimmy stated that he had used a click on the track "Mayonaise" from Siamese Dream. Jimmy also said that the song was probably the most difficult, but the easiest for drums. He admitted that he had done at least fifteen tracks for the song.

Jimmy revealed much information regarding his talent and ability. Jimmy had began lessons at nine with Charlie Adams, then lessons from Charlie's protégé, and finally lessons from Hugh Wilson.

He also discussed his previous musical experiences, aside from jazz. Jimmy had first played in a garage band called The Warrior Band. The group consisted of twenty-something musicians. Jimmy also pointed out that at sixteen, he had a girlfriend who was twenty-three. After graduating from high school, Jimmy had attended Northern Illinois University for about a year. Next, Jimmy played in a wedding band, and then he played in a polka band while doing a radio show. Later on, he got involved in a band called Razor's Edge. Finally before joining the Pumpkins, he played with J.P. and The Cats.

Gish had sold nearly 650,000 copies now.

March

James told Sassy Magazine how he became the owner of his dog, Bugg. In '91, James' roommate had been given the dog as a present. He was soon disowned because of the responsibilities needed to care for the pet. In pity, James took ownership. He fed and walked the dog and soon respected "the beast" and enjoyed the relationship with him.

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 14th that Gish had sold 500,000 copies, or had went gold.

The third single from Siamese Dream, "Disarm" was released on the 22nd on Hut Records. There are two versions of the release. One version has the word "smile" on it and contains "Soothe" and "Blew Away", a song written and sung by guitarist James Iha. The song is based on "fake country." The other version has the word "heart" and contains "Dancing in the Moonlight".

Billy felt that "Disarm" was the most amazing song on the new album. He felt that the song was so unique, honest, and open. He felt the song was "about my childhood and how I turned into an asshole." The song had "three different versions."

The Pumpkins played the first public performance of the song "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" on the 25th, at Palmer Auditorium in Davenport, IA.

Siamese Dream went double platinum.

Rolling Stone Magazine printed a very personal look at the band in the issue on the 21st. They announced that they are to be featured in this years' Lollapalooza concert. Other bands on the bill included Nirvana, The Beastie Boys (who preceded the Pumpkins on stage), Breeders, L7, A Tribe Called Quest, George Clinton, and the Boredoms.

The Pumpkins played an hour-long set at the famous Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA that marked the reopening of the venue which had been closed for twenty-seven years. Billy had said "We only have one rule: we don't take requests. We're not a bar band."

However, the band was not the first choice of the promoters. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, many more well-known acts such as Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen were asked to play the headlining show, but all refused. The Pumpkins were a last resort.

The Pumpkins were not granting any interviews to the media at this point.

Billy's side project, Starchildren, made their third appearance on the 18th. The concert was the opening night at the Double Door club. The group featured Billy, James and Jimmy from the Pumpkins as well as Mark Rew from Catherine and Mary Magdaline. Starchildren performed a set of covers, early versions and MCIS-era songs, as well as jamming.

Starchildren released Songs About Girls/Delusions of Candor with the song "Delusions of Candor" on TVT Records on 7". The release has Catherine on one side and Starchildren on the other.

July

The Pumpkins headlined Lollapalooza '94 since Nirvana pulled out of the lineup. The Pumpkins would have been the support band that preceded it on stage; however, Kurt Cobain's suicide in April eliminated this situation. The band was given a financial offer they could not pass up.

The first date of the tour began in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam Boyd Stadium on the 7th.

Billy revealed plans for a possible double recording for the Pumpkins' next outing in Musician magazine.

The Pumpkins gave a portion of their allotted stage time to Courtney Love on the 1st, in Philadelphia, who played a short solo set of "MissWorld" and "Doll Parts" beforehand. This was because Love had asked Billy if she could do two or three appearances to not give people the false impression that she was "out of her mind." Lollapalooza had initially resisted the idea, but then told Love that she could play if one of the bands on the bill would sacrifice their set time. The Pumpkins obliged. Love had traveled with the Pumpkins a few times and she and Billy became close friends in the aftermath of her husband Kurt's death.

The Boredoms, a band from Japan that used aggressive vocal punctuation, accompanied the Pumpkins during "Silvefuck" at North Kingstown, RI on the 3rd.

The band gave their stage time to Love once again on the 5th in Randall's Island in New York. However, the Pumpkins were not well received. The audience began shouting, "fuck you" to the band and they responded by playing a rare song, "Dancing in the Moonlight".

The show in Dallas on the 21st began the first of three surprise sets in which the Pumpkins played on the second stage at the Lollapalooza tour. The second stage is usually reserved for up-and-coming bands making the performance completely unexpected. The band's slated set did occur later in the evening following the second stage performance. This sort of behavior occurred two more instances; on the 25th in San Diego and on the 27th at Mt. View, CA.

The Pumpkins were once again not well received and the band responded by playing "a bunch of songs you don't know" at the Mt. View show on the 28th. The set included the rarely played "Plume" and "Daydream" as well as a ten-minute jam entitled "Concerto in C Minor". James screamed the lyrics of "Fantastic Voyage" from Coolio and the song also featured the snippet "Die" from the "Zero" b-side, "Pastachio Medley".

Billy revealed more plans for the forthcoming two-CD set in Guitar Player and Sin. He told them he was completing forty songs, twenty-four to appear on the double discs that he had hoped to begin recording early next year after Lollapalooza. Work on the double CD would begin only days after the tour ended.

In addition, Billy said that it would be acoustic, electric, instrumental, orchestral pieces, and many other styles. He reasons that each CD will be about fifty minutes with one CD hard electric music and the other CD with soft acoustic tunes.

The LA Times announced that the Pumpkins will release "Pisces Iscariot", a collection of rare or previously unreleased material in October.

The sold out show at Cal-State in Carson, CA on the 5th marked the final show of the Lollapalooza tour.

The Pumpkins performed "Disarm" for the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on the 8th. Billy also gave a presentation of a Video Vanguard award to Tom Petty (Petty's daughter is a fan of the Pumpkins). Apparently, Bruce Springsteen had approached Billy and mentioned that he was a fan of the band.

Spin Magazine named the Pumpkins "Artist of the Year".

Pisces Iscariot, an album of rare and previously unreleased material was released on the 4th on Virgin Records. The album featured a Fleetwood Mac cover of "Landslide" and an Animals cover of "Girl Named Sandoz". It was originally intended for release to appease fans for more new material. However, it seemed to represent an "evolution of the band" as one magazine stated accurately.

Also released on the 4th, was a rare promo called Earphoria, an audio companion to the home video Vieuphoria. The promo was heavily bootlegged.

Gish was re-released on the 4th. The album was slightly remastered and released under Virgin Records with an accompanying re-release on Hut Records. The re-release was not highly publicized and is hardly noticeable.

The Pumpkins now began a well-deserved break from their exhaustive touring schedule and relaxed and rested for a while. Billy later acknowledged that Lollapalooza was a very tiring experience and that the band felt very stressed and pressured. The Pumpkins took an astounding three weeks off from recording.

Billy began work on the songs for the next album immediately after the tour ended. They took three days off and then he began composing lyrics and music for the songs and rehearsing started. The first song written after the long tour was "Thirty-Three", a song that later ended up on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Billy would work six days a week, for four to five hours a day. Much of the songs were written while recording, and not before. The band would later head into the recording studio in February of '95.

November

The Recording Industry Association of America announced on the 23rd that Pisces Isacriot had sold 1,000,000 copies, or had went platinum.