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EXPLAINED: Pumpkins - The Real Truth

"Look at the bands that are out there now, crap like Radiohead. You can't tell us that we don't deserve to be more than that." On the eve of the release of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, Smashing Pumpkins wanted to take on the world

"Everyone keeps telling us how pretentious this album is without even hearing it"

Louder

Girls in bands: two 90s rock icons on romance, ruthlessness and boring men

In the 1990s, Melissa Auf der Maur played bass in two of the decade’s most notable rock bands: Hole and Smashing Pumpkins.

The Conversation

"A masterpiece, and yet not the band's finest hour." Every Smashing Pumpkins album ranked from worst to best

The collected studio works of Billy Corgan and company rated and ranked, from the so-so to the smashing

Louder

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Courtney Love was 'angry' over Melissa Auf der Maur quitting Hole to join Smashing Pumpkins

Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has recalled Courtney Love's reaction to her joining The Smashing Pumpkins.

BANG Premier

"They told me I was insane – things like 'career suicide' and all that stuff was thrown around." The drama behind the recording of Smashing Pumpkins' era-defining, bombastic masterpiece

Thirty years after its release, Billy Corgan looks back at the making of The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

Louder

“Living in the shadow of my grunge parents, Courtney and Billy… it was a complex and exhausting shadow to come out from under”: Melissa Auf der Maur on joining Hole amidst tragedy and her “Master’s in Music” with the Smashing Pumpkins

In her love letter to the ’90s – the last analog decade – the Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist shares how she fell in love with the low-end and became an integral part of the noise-making generation

Guitar World

“I threw my guitar off mid strum, dove into the crowd and began strangling him to the ground”: Billy Corgan on the first time he met future Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur

The pair reflect on how a heckler at an early Pumpkins gig led to a decades-long friendship

Guitar World

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“I was a good bass player, and I am proud of my Celebrity Skin work, but oh my God, it changed my level of musicianship forever”: Melissa Auf der Maur on what she learned from playing with Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins

Auf der Maur joined the Pumpkins in October 1999 following a five-year stint with Hole

Guitar World

“Ed was under the same pressure we all were. You can play your old gear, but it sounds old”: Billy Corgan on what drives guitar heroes to change their tone – and how it led him to package his sound in a pedal

The Smashing Pumpkins guitar icon reflects on a tonal journey four decades in the making, what pushes him to make signature gear like the new Laney Supergrace affordable, and why he’s the most excited he’s been to make a guitar album in 25 years

Guitar World

"There’s clarity where you want it, and a glorious wall of noise when you need it": Laney Black Country Customs Billy Corgan Supergrace Loudpedal review

Laney distills Billy Corgan's legendary rig into a pedalboard-friendly amp that goes way beyond Smashing Pumpkins tones

Guitar World

“It was an extremely agile move. It was so smooth, it was like we had choreographed it”: Michael Angelo Batio on the time Billy Corgan spared his blushes during a Smashing Pumpkins guest spot

The double-neck guitar shred icon once shared the stage with Smashing Pumpkins during their Riot Fest headline slot

Guitar World

“There’s nothing that impressive about being able to play the guitar at a decently high level anymore”: Why Billy Corgan changed the way he plays guitar solos

Social media burnout has impacted the role of guitar solos in the Smashing Pumpkins’ live show

Guitar World

“I walked into a Guitar Center one day and took it off the wall. It launched 1,000 ships of people chasing that sound”: The guitar that changed Billy Corgan’s life

It soundtracked two of the biggest alt-rock albums of all time, but as the Smashing Pumpkins leader remembers, the guitar itself was far from expensive

Guitar World

“Give the average guitar player the chance to own my live rig. My tone. The tone worth $100,000s”: Billy Corgan and Laney Amplification unveil the ultimate Smashing Pumpkins amp-in-a-box pedal

NAMM 2026: The Supergrace is a two-hander between Laney and Brian Carstens, and Corgan gave it a trial by fire when playing with My Chemical Romance in front of 60,000 fans

MusicRadar

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Louder

"I gave away all my records, I started giving away my guitars, I was fantasising about my own death." The horrifying origin story behind one of the most uplifting rock songs of the '90s

Out of the darkness, light, and one of the most memorable anthems of the '90s

MusicRadar

“Dom has one of the greatest voices in the history of music, and as grand as that may sound there is no hype in what I’m saying”: Billy Corgan heaps praise on Yungblud, who the Smashing Pumpkins have just collaborated with

“I truly believe when all is said and done, he will stand up there with the greats,” says Corgan

Guitar World

“It’s one thing to be a visionary, but it’s another thing to have the gift to pull off the vision”: Why Billy Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins collaborated with Yungblud

The alt-rock legend has become the latest big name to link up with Yungblud

Evening Standard

'Happy' new year! Yungblud and Smashing Pumpkins release Zombie

Goth rock fans are rejoicing for a new collaboration between the Pumpkins and Yungblud

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Louder

“I spent four days arguing about what could be done with an orchestra.” The story of a Smashing Pumpkins classic, aided by The Who, the cast of Titanic and SpongeBob SquarePants

Billy Corgan & co. entered into a different realm with this all-time cut from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

BANG Premier

Yungblud announces new version of Zombie with The Smashing Pumpkins

Yungblud has reworked Zombie with the help of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Guitar World

Alien-shred, Brit-rock royalty, one blues icon and a hardcore superstar: here are Guitar World's Guitarists of the Year 2025

All the players who rocked our world, in the year of Oasis reunions, Black Sabbath farewells, and guitarists keeping their shoulder to the evolutionary wheel of guitar playing

MusicRadar

“His deep commitment to innovation and artistic evolution places him among the most distinctive and influential musical architects of the last three decades”: Which '90s rock guitarist is set to be honoured at the NAMM show in January?

He will be this year’s recipient of the TEC Innovation award

Guitar World

“The moment I discovered what it feels like to teach yourself a riff that you love, I was hooked. It feels like you're riding the universe”: Hole and Smashing Pumpkins' Melissa Auf der Maur reveals the bassists who compelled her to pick up the instrument

The ’90s bass icon pays homage to the other women in the scene at the time – and recalls how seeing them onstage was a total game-changer for her

Louder

"When we would align, it was powerful." Billy Corgan praises estranged bassist D’arcy Wretzky's contributions to the Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins mainman appears to extend olive branch to bassist with whom he's waged longstanding war of words

Guitar World

“Turned each band member’s concept into reality”: The Smashing Pumpkins designed some wild Yamaha guitars to celebrate their first gigs in Japan in 12 years – and they were played live

The guitars designed by Billy Corgan, Kiki Wong, James Iha and Jack Bates are now on display

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