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The Smashing Pumpkins are: Billy Corgan; vocals and guitar, James Iha; rhythm guitar, Darcy Wretsky; vocals and bass, Jimmy Chamberlin; drums. The band formed in 1989 when Billy and James started playing music together. At one of their early gigs, Billy got into an argument with Darcy outside a venue. She soon joined the band. The trio played their first official gig at The Metro, one of Chicago’s premier clubs. The owner likes their music, but thinks they would sound better with a live drummer rather than a drum machine. They soon added Jimmy Chamberlin a mostly jazz drummer.
The band inked a deal with an upstart record label, Sub Pop Records. They later signed with Caroline Records owned by the larger Virgin Records. The first album Gish was hailed as one of the best albums of the year. Critics sometimes compare Rhinoceros to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Gish had moderate commercial success, but it was enough for the band to start recording their break through album Siamese Dream.
The recording process was not a "dream". James and Darcy’s brief relationship put more stress on the situation. Corgan's need for perfection drove him to insist on playing every instrument on the album aside from the drums. It took the band over a year to record the album. Corgan also experienced a severe case of writers block. If it had not been for the song "Drown" contributed to the Singles soundtrack, they may have lost their popularity. When the album came out, the Pumpkins popularity soared. They embarked on a world tour, and headlined the [i]Lollapalooza[/i] tour in 1994. Footage and performances were included on the music video Veiwphoria, and heavenly bootlegged on Earphoria. The rousing success of the album threw the band head on into the typical rock & roll lifestyle. Especially with Jimmy Chamberlin. His excessive drug use would later become a major problem for the band. As touring winded down, the band released Pisces Iscariot, a collection of B-sides and rarities. . |
