Let's Rank All The Smashing Pumpkins Albums!
***Originally published 5/31/22 - UPDATED 2/28/24 to include ATUM…and UPDATED 11/16/24 to include Aghori Mhori Mei!!!
There are very few bands in my life that had the instant and dominant impact on me that the Smashing Pumpkins had when I was living in Dayton, OH in 1993. There was a CD Connection on Colonel Glenn Hwy right down the street from my office building and that’s where I picked up Gish in ‘93 after hearing Bury Me on the radio a couple times. Gish was released in '91 but I don’t have much recollection of hearing much about the Pumpkins before ‘93. I’ve referenced CD Connection before here in my tribute to Shawn Smith which has some parallels to my love for the Pumpkins.
I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say I listened to some Pumpkins literally almost every single day in ‘93 and ‘94. Like maybe I skipped a few days here and there but not many, and there was a lot to listen to - between Gish, Siamese Dream, Lull, Drown, Glynis, & The Peel Sessions that kept me occupied.
I saw them live for the first time on December 5th, 1993 with The Frogs and Swervedriver in Columbus, Ohio and that’s also where I met Billy Corgan. It was the weirdest scenario… I was living in a temporary furnished apartment in Dublin in between working in Dayton and Cleveland while my stuff was in storage. They were playing at a venue on High Street and I went down there to scalp a single ticket a few hours early to just check out the scene and give myself plenty of time. There were a few people hanging around and I asked a girl if she knew of anyone selling tix. She replied “No but Billy is in the CD store down the street - why don’t you go ask him?” I figured okay whatever… and yes I went to the CD store just to kill some time. I didn’t actually think I’d see Billy Corgan but there he was - just by himself looking through CD bins. I was pretty surprised to say the least! I went up to him and told him his music meant a ton to me and that I loved his band. He pretty much just said thanks and that was it. Very surreal….
Anyway I did get into the show and it was fantastic. A dream really with Swervedriver opening who has gone on to become one of my very favorite bands as well. I’ve seen the Pumpkins I believe 5 more times since, and I’m hoping to see them again this year.
Let’s Rank All The Smashing Pumpkins Albums!
As for the albums it’s tricky in terms of what to include on the list. I’m keeping it to studio releases of actual albums of new material. So that rules out Pisces Iscariot and Aeroplane Flies High - both are loaded with great songs but they are all really one-offs and B-sides. I guess the intent behind the recording and release is important to make it apples to apples for me. But even then it’s not black and white because for example Machina II is a Smashing Pumpkins album even if it wasn’t given a full and proper release and doesn’t always feel like one. I also thought about including the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope EPs since it consists of 10 songs that were not b-sides and were recorded specifically for the 3 “volumes” of EP releases for that project at the time which makes those tracks of a piece. But they were done with time and space between over the course of a year and Billy had stated at the time that he specifically would not be making full albums (which of course didn’t last). You could say the Zwan album is somewhat of a Pumpkins album for all intents and purposes, but it’s…….not. Shiny & Oh So Bright was just a collection of 8 new songs at the time so it’s not exactly an LP, but I think it belongs in the ranking. So that’s my criteria - I’m aware it could be debated. And more than most bands this album ranking doesn’t tell the whole story of the band’s output. There are a solid 75 finished studio tracks that aren’t on albums - a full 7 albums worth of material that includes many of their very best songs like the aforementioned Drown and Glynis, as well as Blue, Slunk, Set The Ray To Jerry, and lots of other great ones. Anyway let’s get to it.
13. Zeitgeist (2007) More like Zeit-YIKES. The only album I flat out do not like. This was the first time Billy had revived the Pumpkins name since he ended the band in 2000 and I was excited for this album - with Jimmy Chamberlain on board that was good enough for me. What a monster drummer he is. So I gave this album every possible chance - and after a few listens it started to dawn on me that it just wasn’t good. It sounded kind of angry to me, with none of the mythological feel, none of the delicate emotion, none of the melody, none of the subtlety, none of anything really that I loved about The Smashing Pumpkins. The songs just aren’t good. I’ve pulled it out a couple times over the years wondering if it’s just me and if it will ever get better…not really believing it could be that bad. Yes, it’s that bad. The show I saw in 2015 they actually closed the show with the 10 minute song United States. I actually think he did that on purpose as a screw you to the audience (?) - like HE will decide what he wants to play. The song goes nowhere like the rest of this album - the mojo isn’t there.
12. MACHINA II: The Friends And Enemies Of Modern Music (2000) A second volume to an album that didn’t quite have me wishing for one. They had 25 vinyl copies made and told people to go ahead and distribute them - make copies, pass it around. Not exactly a proper release and with a couple duplicate and alternate versions it doesn’t really feel like a real album, but that’s not to say there aren’t a few winners here. Highlights include the rocking Cash Car Star and Glass Theme (both versions) along with a few others that aren’t bad including Vanity and If There Is A God, but overall there are slim pickings. We didn’t need an alt version of Try Try Try and the cover of James Brown’s Soul Power is…..not good. UPDATE: I want to add that it was pointed out to me after I wrote this that the alt version of Try Try Try, Soul Power and the “Spacey” version of Glass were not on the album, but rather on the added EPs that went with the release. Indeed, the album suffers from the confusion in getting a hold of a “copy” since it was never properly released. My miss for not looking that up first, and in fairness to the album two of those tracks that I focused on as not being so great were never presented as part of the album. If the Pumpkins subreddit is any indication (not a fan of it by the way) both Machinas have a rabid cult following. I reorganized the track list in my Apple Music and have given it the proper consideration and I do appreciate it a little more. I’ll still leave it here in the ranking but I do like it and love some of it.
11. Monuments To An Elegy (2014) Not bad. Tommy Lee of all people is actually the drummer on this album. Odd right? The guy can indeed drum and this album is close. No classics here but nothing awful either. The one that comes closest and probably the best song on the album for me is Run2me - it’s pretty and it’s very good live. Being Beige is nice and Drum + Fife is pretty good… Actually that’s how the whole album is really - just pretty good. Not up to their standards. This marked the end of the Teargarden project… which was fine really - a new direction was in order.
10. Machina/The Machines Of God (2000) The last album of the original era. It does have at least one classic on it in The Everlasting Gaze which puts it clearly ahead of the previous three almost on the strength of that opening blast and Billy declaring “You know I’m not dead!!!” and ending with a heavy as hell flourish. The album as a whole doesn’t quite reach greatness but it did mark a return of Jimmy Chamberlain and more guitars, and there are a few legit great songs here like Stand Inside Your Love, This Time and Wound. It’s a good album. None of it is bad, just some of it isn’t the most memorable.
9. SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1/LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. (2018) From here on out things start to get more interesting. Released as a full-length even though it was approached as just recording some tunes in the studio and at one point with the intention of releasing the 8 songs as two 4-song EPs, it is the first album that includes Jimmy Chamberlain and guitarist James Iha since Machina 18 years earlier. An almost-reunion and a fantastic set of songs. The only dud to me is the closer Seek and You Shall Destroy, but even that isn’t horrible. All 7 other songs are great.
8. Aghori Mhori Mei (2024) Billy Corgan always has a weird sense of needing to control the narrative that can certainly be off-putting. Like when he said the “old-school fans will be happy, for once” with this album. Just a cynical shot at his loyal followers that as an old-school fan who has stood by just about everything he’s done, I don’t feel I deserve at all. Maybe I’m in the minority, who knows… He stated that they went back to making this music in the way that he did back in the beginning of the band, but songs like Pentecost and Murnau have little in common with that era to my ears. Yes, much of the rest of the album rocks - it’s guitar driven music. But there’s no wall of guitar sound that pierces your ears like on the early stuff, nor is there anywhere close to the level of energy on much of this. So here I am naturally comparing this to the old stuff because of his comments - I wish he wouldn’t have done that. But - I still love this album. It’s really good and even amazing in parts. And okay, the very first track Edin does invoke the ‘90’s feels a little and it’s one of the highlights for sure. The next three tracks (Pentagrams, Sighommi & Pentecost) are all very good, but it’s the middle of the album where things become elite so to speak… War Dreams Of Itself is fantastic and kicks ass (as does 999 especially at the 4:00 minute mark) Who Goes There is beautiful and Goeth The Fall sounds like an instant classic in the Today-1979-Stand Inside Your Love-Being Beige-Silvery Sometimes vein… Sicarus is also really cool - has a big impact. Definitely a winner overall and this is where I rank it for now. It’s still a little early in the game for me with this one but I felt I was ready to slot it.
7. Adore (1998) Billy goes goth. A total change in direction with really only one - one - guitar solo that lasts for 12 seconds on the menacing Ava Adore and that’s it for the whole album (I guess you could call the guitar that comes in in the middle of For Martha a solo). Dark themed black and white artwork and band photos along with a really cool font gives the proceedings a new vibe. Jimmy Chamberlain is not on this album which alone changes things - he went through a well documented rough patch to say the least that included heroin and the death of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin on a night they both did the drug together. Definitely a new direction for the band but there is a lot of beauty here. There’s beauty in the darkness and darkness in the beauty. You make a conscious decision to go to this place when you put this album on and the gorgeous opener To Sheila makes that clear before the menace and the doomed love of Ava Adore - what a great song. That song and the following Perfect are the main two singles and they are both worthy. Other highlights for me are Daphne Descends, Crestfallen, Appels + Oranjes, Pug and Shame, but the album is great taken as a whole.
6. Cyr (2020) I wasn’t totally sure about Cyr for a while although I knew the title track was an instant classic. Otherwise this double album took me a bit to understand the vibe and for the songs to take root. But once I started to digest it I was all in. There will be many who don’t agree with this one being so high but honestly that means they weren’t patient enough. And while there are plenty of synths the band also experimented a bit here where there are sounds that sound like they were made with synths but they’re actually guitars. It has a bit of goth vibe to me as well with some shades of Joy Division / New Order on a song like Anno Satana (not surprising since Billy has covered Joy Division on multiple occasions and was actually IN New Order for a little while) but in the end the vibe is simply unique to this album - you can’t quite pigeonhole it. To me it’s almost an update of what Adore could have been but with more energy, the band in a better place and more consistency throughout the 20 tracks. As of this writing I haven’t peaked on this album yet - there’s so much here to digest. I know Dulcet In E and Save Your Tears are gorgeous and that Wyttch and Purple Blood are dark and heavy. Yeah this is indeed a goth album. Once you realize this it will help you to get it. Bring on the haters man - I stand by this album being ranked NO LOWER than right here. So many great songs like The Colour Of Love, Wrath, Ramona, Black Forest Black Hills …all great.
5. Oceania (2012) By far my favorite latter day Pumpkins album and the one that easily sits alongside the classics. Billy is the only original member on this album but Jeff Schroeder is was pretty legit as a longtime member at this point - the guy has been was in the band for 15 years and is still with them in the new (mostly) reunited lineup. The lineup for this album was only together for the Teargarden project through Oceania with Nicole Fiorentino on bass and Mike Byrne on drums and it has the old Pumpkins vibe. The first two songs ROCK and Jimmy Chamberlain apparently was Byrne’s drumming hero - he does a great job bringing the power and the fury on Quasar and Panopticon. But after those two songs the album settles down and becomes a little more dreamy with The Celestials, Violet Rays, My Love Is Winter, and One Diamond, One Heart. All great songs that to a degree still get overshadowed by the amazing Pinwheels. What a beautiful piece - especially the first few minutes of the song - just otherworldly in the way the last two minutes of Hummer are - incredible. The only way to follow that epic is with another epic of multiple movements in the 9 minute title track. Two more tracks to follow that are worth mentioning in the chiming and emotional Pale Horse and the old school sounding The Chimera. If the album ended there it would be fine. Oddly enough it goes off the rails a bit with the last three songs that I find to be a bit subpar - not bad but just a bit of a dropoff. The album still ranks high on the strength of the first 10 tracks.
4. ATUM (2023) I made ATUM my album of the year for 2023 in my recap and it was a remarkable achievement for Billy Corgan and the reunited Pumpkins (minus D’Arcy and plus Jeff Schroeder). 33 tracks, almost 2 1/2 hours long with an ambitious rock opera concept that is positively Corgan-esque, but if there’s a dude capable of grasping this type of reach it’s Billy with all of his quirks for better or worse. I’m pretty sure no one has ever attempted anything like this with a weekly podcast revealing each new track telling the story and releasing the 3 CD set 1/3rd at a time over several months. I have to admit I tapped out. I didn’t have the time or the patience to follow it in real time - it was too much - like drinking from a firehose. But if you take the time to digest it all you will find that his behemoth is a masterpiece. It rocks, it floats, it dreams, it sparkles, it’s mythical, it’s visceral, and everything in between. And yes, the songs are there - in abundance. I have a loose understanding of the story and I am interested in going back and putting it together. It’s actually the third in a trilogy that loosely includes Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Machina/The Machines Of God following the character first known as Zero, then Glass and now Shiny. I know he has a spaceship and he sets out on a suicide mission to the sun and…. well I’m not prepared to summarize the story yet - there’s just so much going on…. There’s plenty of shiny synth but there’s plenty of growling guitars throughout as well. The opening single Beguiled and Empires - both ROCK and are worthy heirs to the early Pumpkins sound. The Pumpkins have always done gorgeous as well as anyone too and Embracer and Every Morning carry on that tradition - just sublime. Intergalactic is a great multi-stage epic and Jimmy Chamberlain showcase who is one of the all time great drummers in the game. Other highlights include That Which Animates The Spirit, Where Rain Must Fall, Moss, Avalanche, The Good In Goodbye, The Gold Mask and the epic Sojournor. This one is worth taking the time - go ahead and attack it one third at a time - that’s how it was released so you clearly have permission.
3. Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (1995) A double album epic that many feel is the crowning achievement of the band. To me if you were there at the time and you were a big fan already then you’ll likely have it at #3 as well - and that’s not to say it isn’t a masterpiece - it is. I used to liken it to the condensed awesomeness of the first two albums just spread out over the course of a double length release where Billy obviously reached further, and his grasp was able to deliver most of the time. This is simply in comparison to two of my favorite albums of my life, and as a whole MCIS is still incredible. There just aren’t quite any Hummers, Starlas, Drowns or Rhinoceroses here for me which is what keeps it from being on top. Now that I’ve “criticized” it let’s talk about what still makes it incredible… For starters the piano-led instrumental title track intro is one of the most beautiful pieces of music you’ll hear. Pretty sure my drummer in my first band told me he had that song played at his wedding during the ceremony which alone tells you something, and then Tonight, Tonight kicks off the album in earnest and you know you’re going on a trip with a swirling, lifting and rocking start with lush strings included. Jellybelly then kicks in to signal that the Pumpkins sounds we’re used to in that Tristessa-Bury Me-Blue-Geek USA style we had grown accustomed to in the previous few years. But then Billy unleashes Zero with one of the greatest riffs ever laid down, and by now yes, you know that this is going to be different - not better, not worse, just different and that we’re going to go exploring a bit - and that is indeed part of the charm of Mellon Collie. There isn’t really even any “filler” here among the 28 songs, heck Billy released dozens more songs as b-sides that were eventually given their own box treatment with The Aeroplane Flies High so it wasn’t a stretch to put out 28 here even if there are just a couple I don’t totally love. I also think it’s the fact that the journey is so complex that helps make songs like Cupid De Locke, Lily (My One And Only) and the James Iha feature Take Me Down fit even if they aren’t “great” songs. Bullet With Butterfly Wings was actually the first single with the iconic first line “The world is a vampire…” but despite all Billy’s rage he’s still just a rat in a cage. So great. It would take a while to break down all the tracks here but suffice it to say To Forgive, Galapogos, Thirty-Three, Stumbeline, By Starlight - these slower songs are just flat out gorgeous… 1979 is an amazing slice of nostalgia - not exactly sure why but it just evokes that feeling. I also gained a whole new appreciation for Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans the last time I saw them live just because of the intro - it felt like he extended it to double the length - what an amazing piece of music. Through The Eyes Of Ruby is the dark horse here - a bit of an underrated gem that is a 7 minute epic. An essential album overall.
2. Siamese Dream (1993) One for the ages. I had never heard an album quite like either of the first two Pumpkins albums at the time. Never had I heard anything that beautiful and that heavy at the same time, and while there were shoegazers that had layered plenty of feedback and guitars into their music, there was no one who did it quite like Billy Corgan along with being such an incredible songwriter and player all in one. Just an incredible musician who can play a wailing shredding solo that kicks your ass or a delicate gorgeous one that gets you in the feels. Is Billy’s voice an acquired taste? Maybe, but in the early days he brought an androgynous quality to it without being too far up front in the mix singing over music with such weight that it gave the music its own mythology that was truly intoxicating. Gish to Siamese Dream to Mellon Collie followed a progression and development as a songwriter for Billy that I acknowledge even though I’ve ranked them in “reverse” order. As I mentioned earlier the first two albums dominated my listening in ‘93 and ‘94 and let’s just get Hummer out of the way now. Hummer to me represents everything that’s amazing about the Smashing Pumpkins in 6 minutes and 57 seconds. An army of guitar sound that pierces your ears in the most pleasing way - like a heightened state of consciousness, but in maybe my favorite use of dynamics in the entire grunge era the army retreats quite suddenly at the 4:30 mark and gives way to the most beautiful 2 minutes and 23 seconds of music in the entire catalogue - right up there with the Allmans’ Little Martha or, well anything you can come up with really. But let’s also back up to the beginning with the little double drum roll that kicks off the album with the towering Cherub Rock that builds to a dramatic crescendo and busts through the door to announce the opening riff in a song that immediately and absolutely serves notice that we’re in for a big ride. The LP doesn’t let up with the pounding sledgehammer riff of Quiet before giving way to the classic Today. I remember reading that Billy wrote Today at his lowest point mentally and that’s why he decided to sarcastically say it was the greatest day - because it could only get better from there, and maybe he didn’t believe it but gave singing it into existence a shot? The whole album is incredible. Disarm was also a massive hit - an emotionally deep song with themes of childhood and alienation. Every song here is amazing. The aptly named Rocket, the Jimmy Chamberlain tour de force of Geek U.S.A., the beauty of Soma, the gorgeous-yet-heavy Mayonaise, and the emotional tribute to his mentally and physically challenged younger brother in Spaceboy. The album then ends with a flourish with the epic and mystical Silverfuck before the total comedown of the beautiful Sweet Sweet and Luna which is just stunningly pretty. What a masterpiece of a sophomore effort. A leap forward in many ways but….
1. Gish (1991) Still my fave. I can accept someone making the case for any of the top 3 being in the top slot. But for me this is still the one. It’s like musical crack, and if Siamese Dream at 62 minutes and Mellon Collie at 121 minutes suffer from being overly long - okay they don’t actually - but if they did, this would be the one that makes the statement, checks all the stylistic boxes and says it all with a little more musical fury but still the same beauty in a tight 45 minute package. This is also THE Jimmy Chamberlain album for me - tons of creative fills, perfectly-placed snares - I once heard Keith Moon’s style referred to as “lead drums” and that’s what Jimmy does here. And I know all of the drums by heart on this album - I feel like every Pumpkins fan does. But before you accuse me of making this ranking solely about the drums that couldn’t be further from the truth. To me this is the true Pumpkins aesthetic. I Am One, Siva, Bury Me, Tristessa - that’s the Smashing Pumpkins blueprint for the jams, and Rhinoceros & Snail are the blueprint for the softer songs. Officially released on May 28th, 1991, it took me over a year and a half to discover it, and interestingly enough Rolling Stone in its top 50 grunge albums has Siamese Dream 12th, Mellon Collie 26th and Gish 32nd. I repeat - I won’t argue any order of those three as long as they are the top 3. It’s worth noting that Rolling Stone lists are usually garbage anyway but sometimes they’re interesting, and this list was specifically for where these albums fall as the top grunge albums. Okay back to Gish… Jimmy kicks it off with the actually pretty funky rhythms before the bass kicks in (while D’arcy was the bass player I’m not sure that she played a whole lot of bass on the studio albums - she did contribute because she sings lead vocals on Daydream) and then the pounding riff. The dual lead guitar freakouts going on throughout this song signal that this ain’t no ordinary grunge band. Sooo much going on and then they actually up the ante with Siva with the riff borrowed from Ted Nugent’s Free For All as the lead in (yes he told us that at Pine Knob in ‘94) and one of the best drum fills in history - it comes right at the 4:04 mark. Then comes the centerpiece - the epic Rhinoceros. What can I say about this song…I mean it owned me back then. She knows. That’s all. Perhaps their single greatest song. There’s an interlude of feedback to let you recover so you can reset before the incredible Bury Me which takes no prisoners, but I love how Billy still makes the use of space as he does when he rips the first chord and lets it hang… and then the sick machine gun hooks that carry throughout. Just a full on assault of a track. Crush gives us (and Jimmy) a respite with a cool trippy acoustic flare before things start to pick back up a bit with Suffer and Snail - both amazing. Tristessa is another variation on the I Am One-Siva-Bury Me vibe and is just as powerful, and the album closes out with the slow building mini epic of Window Paine before leaving us with the slight and pleasant D’arcy-sung ditty Daydream before Billy chimes in once more just to tell us he’s going crazy…. Ahhh…. Yep - this is still my #1 and I’m sticking to it.
So what do you think? Love the ranking? Hate the ranking? Let me know in the comments! Always (well sometimes…) open for debate! Hehe… this IS a music snobbery after all….
M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here.
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