Although SMASHING PUMPKINS career was accelerated by the Grunge explosion of the 90's the band never truly fitted into the genre. The vehicle for front man BILLY CORGAN's creative outpourings SMASHING PUMPKINS almost psychedelic music undoubtedly had a greater depth and virtuosity than most of their contemporaries. The band was formed in Chicago, Illinois by Corgan after his spell in Gothic act THE MARKED. Originally a trio with a drum machine, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was recruited in time for the debut independent single 'I Am One'. A brace of songs on a local compilation sparked the interest of the ground breaking Sub Pop label who duly issued the 'Tristess' single. With the band's profile rising Virgin Records subsidiary Hut signed the band for the 'Gish' album.

SMASHING PUMPKINS enjoyed a run of British hit singles in 1993 with 'Cherub Rock' and 'Today' helping boost the 'Siamese Dream' album into the top 5. In America the album went platinum many times over. The B side to the 'Disarm' single included the band's interpretations of FLEETWOOD MAC's 'Landslide' and THIN LIZZY's 'Dancing In The Moonlight'. The band would also cover BLUE OYSTER CULT's 'Godzilla' although this would only surface on bootleg.

Virgin issued a collection of B sides titled 'Pisces Iscariot' in America during 1994 to satisfy fan demand for new material. The album charted high and included a bonus gold vinyl single featuring 'Not Worth Asking' and 'Honey Spider III'. Another rarity came when the band went out under the pseudonym of STAR CHILDREN for the track 'Delusions Of Candor' sharing a split single with CATHERINE, led by Wretzky's husband Neil Jendon. Corgan went on to produce the debut CATHERINE album 'Sorry'.

The late 90's ushered in a period of extreme turbulence for the band. Touring ex-DICKIES keyboard player Jonathon Melvoin overdosed on heroin in 1996. Shortly after the band sacked Chamberlain. The drummer had found Melvoin's body and the band issued a statement saying they could not tolerate Chamberlain's destructive drug habit any longer. The band got back onto the road utilising the services of FILTER's Matt Walker on drums and ex FROGS man Dennis Flemoin on keyboards.

Chamberlain meantime forged an alliance with former SKID ROW frontman SEBASTIAN BACH, guitarist Jimmy Flemion of the FROGS and BREEDERS bassist Kelley Deal titled THE LAST HARDMEN.

PUMPKINS contributed the music to the movie 'Batman And Robin'. Warner Bros. issued a single culled from the soundtrack to give the band another British hit single.

Early 1998 found Corgan assisting HOLE in songwriting and executive production for their album as well as recording the forthcoming SMASHING PUMPKINS opus 'Adore'. The band also found time to contribute their take on 'Never Let Me Down Again' for a DEPECHE MODE tribute album. JAMES IHA also issued his solo album 'Be Strong Now'.

Corgan's response to all this mayhem was to push the band sound into a different direction for the more electronic based 'Adore' record. Drums were laid down in the studio by ex SOUNDGARDEN man Matt Cameron and BECK's Joey Waronker.

experiment backfired and 'Adore' failed to match previous sales.

In late 1999 founder member bassist D'Arcy Wretzky quit after being arrested in possession of crack cocaine. Reeling under an ever increasing onslaught of bad luck the band drafted ex HOLE bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur as replacement. Further ructions came when manager Sharon Osbourne let the band go after a matter of weeks handling the band issuing a press statement famously stating that "Billy Corgan was making me sick!".

By June 2000 Corgan had confirmed THE SMASHING PUMPKINS were to split. A European sell out tour ensued before the band performed their final gig suitably choosing Chicago for the showdown. The band were joined onstage by CHEAP TRICK's Rick Nielsen and even Corgan's father!

The band bowed out publicly with the 'Machina I- The Machines Of God' album but would deliver their actual swansong on September 5th 2000 with the 'Machina II- The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music' collection. In typically industry defying fashion Corgan's SMASHING PUMPKINS epitaph would break all convention being released as a set of four vinyl, three 10" and one 12" format, and restricted to a mere 25 copies. Although physical items would be desperately hard to attain Corgan actively encouraged internet trading of the music itself.

Corgan broke a lengthy silence with his new band ZWAN with a set of four shows South California gigs during November 2001. Aside from Corgan, the quartet comprised of erstwhile SMASHING PUMPKINS colleague drummer Jimmy Chamberlain alongside guitarist/vocalist Matt Sweeny and bassist Skullfisher. Meantime JAMES IHA and Melissa Auf De Mauer ushered in their new endeavour THE VIRGINS, a union with Evan Dando of THE LEMONHEADS.

Virgin would release the '(Rotten Apples) Greatest Hits' album in November, limited supplies of which came with a bonus album 'Judas O' comprising of rarities, outtakes and demos.

As 2002 broke Auf Der Maur revealed another new outfit, THE CHELSEA, an all girl act seeing the bass player switching to guitar and completed by former MÖTLEY CRÜE and HOLE drummer Samantha Maloney and A PERFECT CIRCLE's Paz Lenchantin on bass. Auf Der Maur would also announce plans for a solo album, produced by MASTERS OF REALITY man Chris Goss and numbering FOO FIGHTERS Dave Grohl, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's Josh Homme, erstwhile SMASHING PUMPKINS colleague JAMES IHA and former HOLE member Samantha Maloney as high profile guests. The bassist would also be found treading the boards with a BLACK SABBATH covers band HAND OF DOOM.

Billy Corgan would co-write a track 'Sacred And Profane' (not the SMASHING PUMPKINS song) for the comeback album 'Voyeur' of famed 80s Pop Rockers BERLIN.

By October it was revealed that Corgan and Chamberlain's ZWAN project had wrapped up recording of a debut album. Alongside the erstwhile SMASHING PUMPKINS pairing for the ZWAN recordings would be former CHAVEZ guitarist Matt Sweeney, ex-SLINT guitarist David Pajo and bassist Paz Lechantin of A PERFECT CIRCLE.

Ex-member MELISSA AUF DER MAUR cut a debut Chris Goss produced solo record in late 2003. BILLY CORGAN cut a solo album, entitled 'TheFutureEmbrace' for June 2005 release on Warner Bros. Records. Former SMASHING PUMPKINS drummer Jimmy Chamberlin played on the track 'DIA'. Whilst touring globally to promote 'TheFutureEmbrace' Corgan revealed hints he planned to reform SMASHING PUMPKINS. That same month the Recording Industry Association of America revealed the band had sold over 18 million albums in the USA.

Rumours of a SMASHING PUMPKINS reunion gathered pace throughout early 2006, being officially confirmed in mid April and the band entered a studio with producer Roy Thomas Baker in August. In February 2007 the relaunched SMASHING PUMPKINS, having still not revealed a full band line-up, set 'Zeitgeist' as the title of its sixth album for July release.

The reunited SMASHING PUMPKINS played their first show on May 22nd at the Grand Rex in Paris, France. A set of subsequent live dates to be announced included European festival performances for June including 'Rock Am Ring' in Nürburgring and 'Rock Im Park' in Nürnberg, Germany, 'Nova Rock' in Nickelsdorf, Austria and 'Greenfield' in Interlaken, Switzerland. SMASHING PUMPKINS was one of the sixteen headliners whose names were announced as being part of the the US leg of the seven continent, 24-hour 'Live Earth' concerts on 7/7/07 held at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

'If All Goes Wrong', a double DVD commemorative package celebrating the SMASHING PUMPKINS reunion arrived in stores on 11th November 2008 via Coming Home Media. This set was directed and produced by Jack Gulick and Daniel E Catullo III and contained the 105-minute documentary, also titled 'If All Goes Wrong', plus 'The Fillmore Residency', a full concert filmed in late July and early August of 2007 over five of the 11 sold-out nights at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, California.