Pop Culture | Music | 90s
Billy Corgan's Teasing A Smashing Pumpkins Reunion, And Our Inner 90s Kids Are Screaming
If you were an angst-filled, "f*** the world and everybody in it" kind of teenager during the mid 90s, then chances are pretty damn good that Smashing Pumpkins were the soundtrack to your high school days.
Formed by frontman Billy Corgan and guitarist James Iha in 1998, the band's classic lineup would end up featuring bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and it was this lineup that took them to absolute superstardom in the 90s.
While their first album, Gish, was an underground success, their follow-up, Siamese Dream, caused the band's popularity to absolutely explode, earning them regular airplay on MTV alongside their peers like Sonic Youth, Nine Inch Nails, and Stone Temple Pilots. Its follow-up, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, eventually achieved Diamond sales status, thanks to massive singles like "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "1979."
However, clashes within the band and their tumultuous personal lives led them to break up in the early 2000s. Although Corgan briefly reformed the band without any of the original members in 2005, it just didn't feel the same, and they've largely faded into the background in the decade since.
Which of course, is why it's pretty significant that Corgan appears to be teasing that the band's original lineup is going to be returning to the studio very, very soon!
Corgan took to his Instagram page on January 16th to show off a new photo from the studio, one which had some pretty surprising appearances. Namely, original Pumpkins members James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin.
"Not sure what cross-eyed spy took this photo," Corgan commented, "but we had a visitor to the studio the other day. So many memories when you put the three of us together."
So what exactly does this mean? Is there a new Pumpkins album in the works with Iha and Chamberlin? That definitely seems to be the tease here, and it's pretty exciting. However, we do also have to ask where D'arcy Wretzky is, as she was a pretty massive part of the band during its heyday. Time will tell, I suppose! For now, let's just be excited for more potential music from some rock legends.