10/23/2025
ON THIS DATE (30 YEARS AGO)
October 23, 1995 – The Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4.5/5
# Allmusic 4.5/5 stars
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by The Smashing Pumpkins, released in the UK on October 23, 1995. It reached #1 on the Billboard 200 Top Album chart and remained on the chart for 93 weeks. It reached #4 on the UK Albums chart. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 1997, with "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" winning for Best Hard Rock Performance.
For all the criticisms levied on head Pumpkin Billy Corgan, one thing he can't be accused of is being narrow in his artistic vision. On the breakthrough Siamese Dream, he and co-producer Butch Vig built a landscape of layered, corrosive guitars that shimmered brighter with each additional glance. On Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Corgan turns his eye to the dreariness of modern existence and comes up with a broad alterna-rock opus that plays out like an offspring of Roger Waters and Kurt Cobain--verbose and angst-ridden, bleak in its view, cathartic in nature.
The songs explore alienation in the physical and spiritual worlds, generally concluding that it can seldom be overcome. Only the early "Tonight, Tonight" offers a glimmer of hope ("believe that life can change, that you're not stuck in vain"), on the wings of a soaring, string-laden production. Far more constant are spiritually depleting images of "the world [as a] vampire, sent to drain" ("Bullet With Butterfly Wings"), of love as "su***de" ("Bodies'") and of heaven's unresponsiveness ("Zero").
The constant din of guitars that illuminated Gish and Siamese has been replaced with a varied sonic palette that reflects Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness's operatic nature. Piano interludes connect the opening title track and the closing "Farewell And Goodnight"; harps, harpsichords and other heavenly sounds trim "Cupid De Locke"; synthetic, Cars-like drums and a general faux-New Wave feel spur on "1979"; and "X.Y. U." explodes with distorted guitar wallops and yelped vocals that scream post-modern confusion.
The songs of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness are intended to hang together conceptually, with the two halves of the album representing day and night. Despite this, Corgan has rejected the term concept album to describe it, and it was at the time described as more "loose" and "vague" than the band's previous records. However, Billy Corgan has also said that the album is based on "the human condition of mortal sorrow". Corgan aimed the album's message at people aged 14 to 24 years, hoping "to sum up all the things I felt as a youth but was never able to voice articulately." He summed up by stating, "I'm waving goodbye to me in the rear view mirror, tying a knot around my youth and putting it under the bed."
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REVIEW
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic
The Smashing Pumpkins didn't shy away from making the follow-up to the grand, intricate Siamese Dream. With Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band turns in one of the most ambitious and indulgent albums in rock history. Lasting over two hours and featuring 28 songs, the album is certainly a challenging listen. To Billy Corgan's credit, it's a rewarding and compelling one as well. Although the artistic scope of the album is immense, The Smashing Pumpkins flourish in such an overblown setting. Corgan's songwriting has never been limited by conventional notions of what a rock band can do, even if it is clear that he draws inspiration from scores of '70s heavy metal and art rock bands. Instead of copying the sounds of his favorite records, he expands on their ideas, making the gentle piano of the title track and the sighing "1979" sit comfortably against the volcanic rush of "Jellybelly" and "Zero." In between those two extremes lies an array of musical styles, drawing from rock, pop, folk, and classical. Some of the songs don't work as well as others, but Mellon Collie never seems to drag. Occasionally they fall flat on their face, but over the entire album, The Smashing Pumpkins prove that they are one of the more creative and consistent bands of the '90s.
TRACKS:
All songs written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.
Side one – Dawn
1. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" - 2:52
2. "Tonight, Tonight" - 4:14
3. "Thirty-Three" - 4:10
4. "In the Arms of Sleep" - 4:12
5. "Take Me Down" (Iha) - 2:52
Side two – Tea Time
1. "Jellybelly" - 3:01
2. "Bodies" - 4:12
3. "To Forgive" - 4:17
4. "Here Is No Why" - 3:45
5. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans" - 9:21
Side three – Dusk
1. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" - 4:18
2. "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" - 7:38
3. "Muzzle" - 3:44
4. "Galapogos" - 4:47
5. "Tales of a Scorched Earth" - 3:46
Side four – Twilight
1. "1979" - 4:25
2. "Beautiful" - 4:18
3. "Cupid de Locke" - 2:50
4. "By Starlight" - 4:48
5. "We Only Come Out at Night" - 4:05
Side five – Midnight
1. "Where Boys Fear to Tread" - 4:22
2. "Zero" - 2:41
3. "F*** You (An Ode to No One)" - 4:51
4. "Love" - 4:21
5. "X.Y.U." - 7:07
Side six – Starlight
1. "Stumbleine" - 2:54
2. "Lily (My One and Only)" - 3:31
3. "Tonite Reprise" - 2:40
4. "Farewell and Goodnight" (Iha) - 4:22
5. "Infinite Sadness" - 3:47
