Playing together and working on songs by both guitarists, Corgan and
                        Iha finally developed enough material to make their live debut in
                     Chicago at a Polish bar where Corgan played bass and a drum machine
                     kept time. Although Corgan's previous musical output was as a member
                        of a Florida metal band called Marked, he describes the nascent
                      Pumpkins sound as "gloomy art rock." Soon after he and Iha's Polish
                       bar gig, Corgan got into an argument outside a club -- about a band
                    called the Dan Reed Network -- with a woman named D'Arcy. As the two
                       argued, D'Arcy let it slip that she played guitar. Corgan immediately
                       ceased being confrontational and asked her if she'd like to play bass
                     in his and Iha's band. Corgan handed her his phone number, and despite
                            an awful audition, she soon became the third Pumpkin.

                          Catching the ear and eye of a local club owner, the rapidly
                      progressing, and growing, Pumpkins were booked to open a show for
                      Jane's Addiction, provided they tossed the drum machine in favor of a
                    human timekeeper. Thus, Jimmy Chamberlin, a drummer more adept at the
                       time at playing jazz rhythms than alternative music, was brought into
                     the fold. With Chamberlin's addition, the Pumpkins became a complete
                             entity. The band has retained this lineup ever since.

                      After more opening gigs, the next step for the band was to record. A
                      single of the Iha and Corgan song "I Am One" -- which later appeared
                       on the Pumpkins first LP "Gish" -- on Chicago local label, Limited
                        Potential, established that the band actually had much potential.
                      Label interest was stoked even more with the release of an additional
                     7-inch in December 1990 on the supergrunge label Sub Pop, this time of
                      the song "Tristessa" -- which also appeared later on "Gish." Eschewing
                     a proper major-label deal, the Pumpkins signed to Caroline Records, an
                               independent label owned by Virgin Records.

                     Recorded by Butch Vig at his Smart Studios in Madison, Wisc., "Gish,"
                      was released in May of 1991 and went on to become one of the most
                      heralded albums of that year -- no mean feat considering the fact that
                       Nirvana's "Nevermind," also recorded by Vig, came out that year as
                      well. The album was a swirling musical epic that was noticeably hard
                        to pin down. While retaining aspects of the Iha and Corgan duo's
                     gloomy art-rock days, "Gish" also displayed Corgan's growing knack for
                         writing grand but accessible songs influenced by such disparate
                     sources as Black Sabbath, Bauhaus, the Cure, Jimi Hendrix and Cheap
                        Trick. Whatever the formula, it worked. To date, "Gish" -- since
                       reissued on Virgin Records -- has sold more than 700,000 copies.

                       After completing "Gish," the band went on tour for a year and a half.
                          It was at this time that the Pumpkins' life began turning into a
                     painstakingly well-documented soap opera. First, Iha and D'Arcy, who
                     had been dating, broke up as a couple while the band was on the road.
                       The strain this created never hurt the Pumpkins musically, but it took
                       an emotional toll on all of the members. Then, just as the chorus of
                       praise for "Gish" was becoming louder and louder, Corgan began to
                       develop such acute insecurities about himself and his talents that by
                       the time the band returned to Chicago after touring, he was virtually
                       suicidal. Next, Chamberlin announced to his bandmates that he was
                        despairingly addicted to drink and drugs and that he would enter
                       rehab. Finally, although critics and a healthy number of college kids
                        were smitten with the Pumpkins at this point in their career, in the
                         incredibly provincial and hipper-than-thou music scene of their
                      hometown, the always-on-the-outside Pumpkins were subjected to a
                       vicious and distracting outpouring of animosity. So it was that after
                     the "Gish" tour, just when Smashing Pumpkins should have been exulting
                            in triumph, they were in serious danger of destructing.

                       In Chicago, Corgan found himself debilitated by writer's block while
                       pressure for the Pumpkins to get started on their next album, which
                      would also be their major-label debut for Virgin, mounted. Eventually,
                       Corgan squeaked his way out of depression through the therapeutic
                         process of finally being able to write a song, as well as through
                     therapy proper. Meanwhile, Smashing Pumpkins' popularity was given a
                          significant boost as a result of their contribution of the song
                           "Drown" to the soundtrack of the popular film "Singles."

                      Entering the studio with Vig again at the control boards, the Pumpkins
                       began work in Atlanta on their second LP, "Siamese Dream." With
                      communication between the band members at an all time low, Corgan
                         ended up playing almost all of the guitar and bass parts himself,
                       leaving Iha and D'Arcy out of the picture. Nevertheless, maniacally
                        driven to capture his now blossoming musical ideas at their most
                      perfect, Corgan worked incessantly with Vig, eventually turning in the
                      finished album about a month behind schedule. "Siamese Dream" was
                       released in July of 1993 and entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums
                        chart at No. 10. To date, it has sold more than 3 million copies.

                        Touring in support of "Siamese Dream," the band still had serious
                         difficulties interpersonally. Musically however, they had clearly
                     improved as a unit, and no matter how much Corgan was the mastermind
                         of the band's grand schemes, in a live setting it clearly took the
                         effort of the whole band to bring his ideas to life. In 1994, the
                        Pumpkins were paid just about the highest honor in the alternative
                       rock world by being asked to headline that year's Lollapalooza tour.

                      Immediately following Lollapalooza, the band once again returned to
                      Chicago, at which time Corgan immediately began writing material for
                       the Pumpkins' next release. Before any new songs were recorded,
                      though, a collection of Pumpkins' rarities and B-Sides was released in
                              October 1994; it was entitled "Pisces Iscariot."

                     Getting down to the business of the next album, Corgan penned several
                      dozen songs. It was decided that instead of going through the trouble
                       of whittling down his voluminous output to the usual 13 or 14 songs,
                     the new album would stretch 28 songs over two albums. Work began on
                        "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" with band relations much
                      improved. Corgan relaxed his despotic grip on the recording process,
                       and Iha and D'Arcy are featured on the new album's tracks playing
                      their respective instruments. As in the past, though, Corgan searched
                        for perfection in the studio with an ardor verging yet again on the
                     psychotic side. Working without Vig this time, co-producers Flood and
                     Alan Moulder provided a sounding board for Corgan's ideas to new and
                                          interesting effect.

                        With a healthier outlook and a newly found strength and maturity,
                       Smashing Pumpkins look to have triumphed over the collective and
                       personal demons that consistently dogged them during the last few
                        years. Corgan has said recently that when the band does tour in
                       support of "Mellon Collie," they wish to shun large arenas in favor of
                       smaller venues that will allow the new material a considered hearing.
 
 
 

ORIGIN OF NAME: Gene Simmons came to us in a dream and said: "Joe Strummer is a pumpkin, drunken and smashed."

FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE: Billy and James in a Polish bar called Track, 1988.

FIRST BROADCAST: WNUR Radio,Chicago, 1988.
 
 

BIOS:  Billy Corgan    D'arcy Wretsky Brown    James Iha   Jimmy Chamberlin