The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band consisting of Billy Corgan (lead guitar, lead vocals, song writer), James Iha (rythym guitar), D'Arcy Wretsky-Brown (commonly known as D'Arcy- bass, backup vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums.)

Billy Corgan, who's full name is William Patrick Corgan, was born on March 17, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. His father was William Corgan Sr., who is also a guitarist. Not only does Billy play lead guitar (and occasionally bass), sing, and write most of the music for the Pumpkins, he also produces and writes music for other musicians, and had made appearances on other artist's albums, including Hole's "Celebrity Skin".

James Iha, was born on March 26, 1968 in Chicago. James isn't just the rythym guitarist for the Pumpkins, he has also written, and co-written (with Billy) several Pumpkins songs, and he also wrote and performed his own solo album "Let it Come Down". James co-owns Scratchie Records with D'Arcy.You can visit James' website at www.jamesiha.com

D'Arcy Wretsky-Brown, who is usually known simply as D'Arcy, was born on May 1, 1968 in Michigan. In addition to playing the bass for the Pumpkins, she sings backup in many Pumpkins songs, did the lead vocals for "Daydream", and sung a verse in "Farewell and Goodnight." She is married to Kerry Brown, the drummer for the band Catherine. She co-owns Scratchie Records with James Iha.

Jimmy Chamberlin, was born on June 10, 1964. On July 12, 1996, the Pumpkins traveling keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin was found dead from a heiroin overdose, and Jimmy was kicked out of the band in connection with this event. In his time of from the Pumpkins, Jimmy was the drummer for "The Last Hard Men". Recently Jimmy has returned to the Pumpkins, as everyone who has gone to one of the Spring 1999 "Arising" shows has witnessed.

The Smashing Pumpkins formed in Chicago in 1988, and played their first show on July 9, 1988, at "Chicago 21." This performance was before the hiring of Jimmy Chamberlin, who joined the band a short time later. In 1990 they released their first single "I Am One" on the Limited Potential record label.

Gish, their first album, was released in 1991, on the Caroline record label. A few years later, the CD was remastered and re-released on the Virgin label. Gish had singles for Siva, and Rhinocerous. The version of "I Am One" included on Gish is a different than the original rare Limited Potential single version.

While Gish was a popular album, Siamese Dream was the Pumpkins first smash hit, selling millions of copies. Released in 1993, the album's sales were boosted by the hit singles Today, and Disarm, which became so-called "alternative rock anthems." Two other Siamese singles were Rocket and Cherub rock. A major toured followed the release of Siamese Dream.

In 1994, the Pumpkins co-headlined Lollapalooza with the Beastie Boys. Also in 1994, the Pumpkins released Pices Iscariot a collection of B-sides, and previously unreleased material.

1995 was probably the height of the Pumpkins popularity. In 1995, they released Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness a double album that is the Pumpkins most famous work. Mellon Collie, had 5 hit singles, including what are probably the Pumpkins most successful singles, 1979, and Bullet With Butterfly Wings, with its familiar line, "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in cage." The other Mellon Collie singles were Tonight, Tonight, Thirty-Three, and Zero. Tonight, Tonight featured an award winning music video that was a homage to classic movies like the 1902 film "A Trip to the Moon."

The following year, 1996, was a tough year for the Pumpkins. In July, their touring keyboardist died of a drug overdose, and consequently, their drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was kicked out for his continued drug use. The Pumpkins finished the tour with Matt Walker (of "Filter") on drums. Also in 1996, the Pumpkins released The Aeroplane Flies High a box set of the Mellon Collie singles. The singles in the box set weren't just the basic American releases; they were special copies that had all the b-sides that had usually only been available on international releases of the singles. In addition, the Bullet With Butterfly wings single, which had only been available for one week when it came out in 1995, and had previously only been two tracks, was lengthened to 7 tracks. The extra 5 songs were all covers of songs that are unavailable on any other Pumpkins release.

In 1997, the Pumpkins had a rather quiet year, recording The End is the Beginning is the End for the "Batman and Robin Soundtrack." The End... also had a four track single released for it.

Adore, the Pumpkins next album which came out in 1998, was completely different than any other Pumpkins release. It was free from heavy guitar based songs like Bullet With Butterfly Wings, with Adore's heaviest track being Ava Adore, which was also the album's first single. Adore relied heavily on drum machines, with additional drumming done by Joey Waronker (from Beck), and Matt Walker (from the Pumpkins '96 tour, and Filter). A short tour followed the release of Adore, which was a snoozer as far as sales go when compared to the multi-platinum Mellon Collie. The singles for Adore were Ava Adore, and Perfect. Radio promos for Crestfallen and To Sheila were sent to radio stations, but they rarely got played, if ever.

Early 1999 was filled with rumors of Jimmy's return to the band, and the spring Arising tour proved the rumors to be true. The short Arising club tour, which wasn't in promotion of an album was used to debut new material, which proved to be guitar based rock that was much different than Adore era material.

On September 9, 1999 Virgin records announced that D'Arcy had left the band.

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History of the Pumpkins written by Andrew Trouwborst using information gathered from a large variety of Smashing Pumpkins internet resources.