Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Encyclopedia
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock
band The Smashing Pumpkins
, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records
. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan
with Flood and Alan Moulder
, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc
CD
and triple LP
. The album features a wide array of styles, as well as greater musical input from bassist D'arcy Wretzky
and second guitarist James Iha
.
Led by the single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings
", the record debuted at number one on the Billboard
charts, the first and only such occurrence for the group. The album spawned five more singles—"1979
", "Zero
", "Tonight, Tonight", the promotional "Muzzle
", and "Thirty-Three
"—over the course of 1996, and has been certified nine times platinum by the RIAA. Praised by critics for its ambition and scope, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award
nominations in 1997. It is also widely considered one of the best albums of the 1990s.
(1993), Billy Corgan immediately began writing songs for the band's next record. From the outset, the band intended the new record to be a double album. Corgan said, "We almost had enough material to make Siamese Dream a double album. With this new album, I really liked the notion that we would create a wider scope in which to put other kinds of material we were writing." Corgan felt that the band's musical approach was running its course, and wanted the band to approach the album as if it were its last. Corgan described the album at the time to the music press as "The Wall
for Generation X
", a comparison with Pink Floyd
's 1979 album, one of the highest selling and best known concept albums of all time.
The band decided to forgo working with Butch Vig
, who had produced the group's previous albums, and selected Flood and Alan Moulder as co-producers. Corgan explained, "To be completely honest, I think it was a situation where we'd become so close to Butch that it started to work to our disadvantage... I just felt we had to force the situation, sonically, and take ourselves out of normal Pumpkin recording mode. I didn't want to repeat past Pumpkin work."
Flood immediately pushed the band to change its recording practices. Corgan later said, "Flood felt like the band he would see live wasn't really captured on record" and attempted to capture that sound on record. In April 1995, the band began recording in a rehearsal space, instead of entering the studio straight away. At these sessions, the band recorded rough rhythm tracks with Flood. Originally designed to create a rough draft for the record, the rehearsal space sessions ended up yielding much of the new album's rhythm section parts. Flood also insisted the band set aside time each day devoted to jamming or songwriting, practices the band had never engaged in before during recording sessions. Corgan said, "Working like that kept the whole process very interesting—kept it from becoming a grind."
Corgan sought to eliminate the tension that permeated the Siamese Dream recording sessions. Corgan said regarding the problems with recording Siamese Dream, "[T]o me, the biggest offender was the insidious amounts of time that everyone spends waiting for guitar parts to be overdubbed. There were literally weeks where no one had anything to do but sit and wait." The band decided to counter idleness by using two recording rooms at the same time. This tactic allowed Corgan to work on vocals and song arrangements while recording was done in the other. During these sessions, Flood and Corgan would work in one room as Moulder, guitarist James Iha
, and bassist D'arcy Wretzky
worked in a second. Iha and Wretzky had a much greater role in the recording of the album, unlike the prior albums where Corgan was rumored to have recorded all the bass and guitar parts himself. James Iha commented about the recording sessions,
Following the rehearsal space sessions, the band recorded overdubs at the Chicago Recording Company
. Pro Tools
was used for recording guitar overdubs as well as for post-production electronic looping and sampling. Wretzky also recorded numerous backup vocal parts, but all were cut except the one recorded for "Beautiful". When the recording sessions concluded, the band had 57 completed songs which were up for contention to be included on Mellon Collie. The album was going to have 32 songs, but this was cut back to 28 songs.
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."
The sprawling nature of the album means that it utilizes several different diverse styles amongst the songs, contrasting what some critics felt was the "one dimensional flavor" of the previous two albums. A much wider variety of instrumentation is used, such as piano ("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), synthesizers and drum loops ("1979
"), a live orchestra
("Tonight, Tonight"), and even salt shakers and scissors ("Cupid de Locke").
All guitars on the album were tuned down a semitone
in order to "make the music a little lower", according to Corgan. On some songs, like "Jellybelly", the sixth string was tuned down an additional tone to C# (referred to by Corgan as "the 'grunge
tuning'"). There was a greater variety to the number of guitar overdubs utilized than on previous albums. Iha said, "[I]n the past, everything had to be overdubbed and layered—guitar overkill. That wasn't really the train of thought this time, although we did that too." "To Forgive" consists of only one live guitar take, while "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" contains approximately 70 guitar tracks. The various sections of "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” were recorded at various times, with different instruments and recording setups, and were digitally composited in Pro Tools. Corgan and Iha shared soloing duties; Iha estimated that the guitar solo duties were divided "half and half" on the record.
All but two songs on the album were written solely by Corgan. The closing track from the first disc, "Take Me Down", was written and sung by Iha, while the album's final track, "Farewell and Goodnight", was cowritten by Corgan and Iha, and features lead vocals by all four band members. Iha wrote additional songs during the making of the album, but they did not make the final cut. Corgan said in a 1995 Rolling Stone
interview, "[T]here are some B sides that James did that are really good. They just don't fit in the context of the album. And part of me feels bad. But over the seven years we've been together, the least uptight part of the band has been the music."
across the U.S. The following week, Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200
, an unusual feat for a double-disc album that cost over US$
20. The RIAA has certified the album as having sold 9.8 million copies in the United States.
The album has received critical acclaim. Christopher John Farley of Time
called the album "the group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet". Farley wrote, "One gets the feeling that the band [. . .] charged ahead on gut instincts; the sheer scope of the album (28 songs) didn't allow for second-guessing or contrivance." Time selected Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as the best album of the year in its year-end "Best of 1995" list. Entertainment Weekly
gave the album an A rating; reviewer David Browne
praised the group's ambition and wrote, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is more than just the work of a tortured, finicky pop obsessive. Corgan presents himself as one of the last true believers: someone for whom spewing out this much music results in some sort of high art for the ages. He doesn't seem concerned with persistent alterna-rock questions of 'selling out', and good for him: He's aiming for something bigger and all-conquering." Rolling Stone
gave the album three out of five stars. Reviewer Jim DeRogatis
praised the album as "one of the rare epic rock releases whose bulk is justified in the grooves". The writer stated that the album's main flaw was Corgan's lyrics, describing the songwriter as "wallowing in his own misery and grousing about everyone and everything not meeting his expectations." While DeRogatis contended that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness "may even match The Wall in its sonic accomplishments", he argued that Corgan's lyrics lacked in comparison. Mojo
reviewer Ben Edmunds also praised the music while criticizing Corgan's lyrics. Edmunds wrote, "[Corgan's] lyrics appear to be the repository for the worst aspects of his most treasured influences. He writes with a heavy metal aptitude for wordplay and an inflated prog-rock conviction of its worth, a deadening combination. But there's a sliver of distance in his rage-mongering now that comments as well as expresses."
The album spawned five singles. While Corgan considered issuing "Jellybelly" as the album's first single, he told Chart
it was passed over in favor of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings
" because "'Bullet's one of those songs where, you know, it's easy to sing along to and [he affects a drawl] ya gotta sell them records." "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was The Smashing Pumpkins' first single to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100
, peaking at number 22. "1979
", the album's second single, charted at number 12, becoming the band's highest-charting American hit. The "Zero
" single was released as an EP
with six b-sides. All three of these singles were certified gold by the RIAA. "Tonight, Tonight" and "Thirty-Three
", the album's final singles, reached number 36 and number 39 on the Billboard charts, respectively. While it was not commercially released as a single, the song "Muzzle
" reached number eight on the Modern Rock Tracks
chart and number ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned The Smashing Pumpkins nominations in seven categories at the 1997 Grammy Awards
, the second-highest number of nominations that year. The group was nominated for Album of the Year
, Record of the Year
("1979"), Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
("1979"), Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal
("Bullet with Butterfly Wings"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance
("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), and Best Music Video, Short Form
("Tonight, Tonight") at the 1997 Grammy Awards
. The band won a single award, for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"; it was the group's first. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness also ranked at number 14 on the 1995 Village Voice Pazz & Jop
critics' poll, and 487 on the Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
.
and cassette versions of the album are divided into two discs, entitled Dawn to Dusk and Twilight to Starlight. The vinyl
version, however, is divided into three records with six sides. The vinyl release also features two bonus songs ("Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness"), and a completely different track order.
All songs written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.
Additional musicians
Technical staff
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
, released October 24, 1995 on Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...
with Flood and Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
, the twenty-eight-track album was released as a two-disc
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and triple LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
. The album features a wide array of styles, as well as greater musical input from bassist D'arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky is an American musician. She is best known for her work as the original bass player of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins...
and second guitarist James Iha
James Iha
James Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...
.
Led by the single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the lead single from the band's 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The song won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. This song was the band's first Top 40...
", the record debuted at number one on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts, the first and only such occurrence for the group. The album spawned five more singles—"1979
1979 (song)
"1979" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released in 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "1979" was written by frontman Billy Corgan, and features loops and samples that were uncharacteristic of previous...
", "Zero
Zero (song)
"Zero" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was a return to the familiar angsty rock of the first single, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". This style of their music was called...
", "Tonight, Tonight", the promotional "Muzzle
Muzzle (song)
"Muzzle" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was one of the last songs written by Billy Corgan for Mellon Collie, with the song's lyrics referring to what Corgan thought the public's perception was of...
", and "Thirty-Three
Thirty-Three (song)
"Thirty-Three" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the fifth and final single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was also the first single released after the firing of Jimmy Chamberlin and death of Jonathan Melvoin...
"—over the course of 1996, and has been certified nine times platinum by the RIAA. Praised by critics for its ambition and scope, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nominations in 1997. It is also widely considered one of the best albums of the 1990s.
Recording and production
After the thirteen-month tour in support of The Smashing Pumpkins' second album Siamese DreamSiamese Dream
Siamese Dream is the second album by the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993 on Virgin Records. The album fused diverse influences such as shoegazing, dream pop, grunge, classic rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock.Despite recording sessions fraught...
(1993), Billy Corgan immediately began writing songs for the band's next record. From the outset, the band intended the new record to be a double album. Corgan said, "We almost had enough material to make Siamese Dream a double album. With this new album, I really liked the notion that we would create a wider scope in which to put other kinds of material we were writing." Corgan felt that the band's musical approach was running its course, and wanted the band to approach the album as if it were its last. Corgan described the album at the time to the music press as "The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
for Generation X
Generation X
Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the Western post–World War II baby boom ended. While there is no universally agreed upon time frame, the term generally includes people born from the early 1960's through the early 1980's, usually no later than 1981 or...
", a comparison with Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's 1979 album, one of the highest selling and best known concept albums of all time.
The band decided to forgo working with Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....
, who had produced the group's previous albums, and selected Flood and Alan Moulder as co-producers. Corgan explained, "To be completely honest, I think it was a situation where we'd become so close to Butch that it started to work to our disadvantage... I just felt we had to force the situation, sonically, and take ourselves out of normal Pumpkin recording mode. I didn't want to repeat past Pumpkin work."
Flood immediately pushed the band to change its recording practices. Corgan later said, "Flood felt like the band he would see live wasn't really captured on record" and attempted to capture that sound on record. In April 1995, the band began recording in a rehearsal space, instead of entering the studio straight away. At these sessions, the band recorded rough rhythm tracks with Flood. Originally designed to create a rough draft for the record, the rehearsal space sessions ended up yielding much of the new album's rhythm section parts. Flood also insisted the band set aside time each day devoted to jamming or songwriting, practices the band had never engaged in before during recording sessions. Corgan said, "Working like that kept the whole process very interesting—kept it from becoming a grind."
Corgan sought to eliminate the tension that permeated the Siamese Dream recording sessions. Corgan said regarding the problems with recording Siamese Dream, "[T]o me, the biggest offender was the insidious amounts of time that everyone spends waiting for guitar parts to be overdubbed. There were literally weeks where no one had anything to do but sit and wait." The band decided to counter idleness by using two recording rooms at the same time. This tactic allowed Corgan to work on vocals and song arrangements while recording was done in the other. During these sessions, Flood and Corgan would work in one room as Moulder, guitarist James Iha
James Iha
James Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...
, and bassist D'arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky is an American musician. She is best known for her work as the original bass player of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins...
worked in a second. Iha and Wretzky had a much greater role in the recording of the album, unlike the prior albums where Corgan was rumored to have recorded all the bass and guitar parts himself. James Iha commented about the recording sessions,
The big change is that Billy is not being the big 'I do this-I do that'. It's much better. The band arranged a lot of songs for this record, and the song writing process was organic. The circumstances of the last record and the way that we worked was really bad.
Following the rehearsal space sessions, the band recorded overdubs at the Chicago Recording Company
Chicago Recording Company
Chicago Recording Company, or CRC, is a recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1975.Boasting twelve studios and a DVD authoring suite, CRC is the largest recording company in the midwest...
. Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
was used for recording guitar overdubs as well as for post-production electronic looping and sampling. Wretzky also recorded numerous backup vocal parts, but all were cut except the one recorded for "Beautiful". When the recording sessions concluded, the band had 57 completed songs which were up for contention to be included on Mellon Collie. The album was going to have 32 songs, but this was cut back to 28 songs.
Music
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 albumConcept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
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."
The sprawling nature of the album means that it utilizes several different diverse styles amongst the songs, contrasting what some critics felt was the "one dimensional flavor" of the previous two albums. A much wider variety of instrumentation is used, such as piano ("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), synthesizers and drum loops ("1979
1979 (song)
"1979" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released in 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "1979" was written by frontman Billy Corgan, and features loops and samples that were uncharacteristic of previous...
"), a live orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
("Tonight, Tonight"), and even salt shakers and scissors ("Cupid de Locke").
All guitars on the album were tuned down a semitone
Semitone
A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....
in order to "make the music a little lower", according to Corgan. On some songs, like "Jellybelly", the sixth string was tuned down an additional tone to C# (referred to by Corgan as "the 'grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
tuning'"). There was a greater variety to the number of guitar overdubs utilized than on previous albums. Iha said, "[I]n the past, everything had to be overdubbed and layered—guitar overkill. That wasn't really the train of thought this time, although we did that too." "To Forgive" consists of only one live guitar take, while "Thru the Eyes of Ruby" contains approximately 70 guitar tracks. The various sections of "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” were recorded at various times, with different instruments and recording setups, and were digitally composited in Pro Tools. Corgan and Iha shared soloing duties; Iha estimated that the guitar solo duties were divided "half and half" on the record.
All but two songs on the album were written solely by Corgan. The closing track from the first disc, "Take Me Down", was written and sung by Iha, while the album's final track, "Farewell and Goodnight", was cowritten by Corgan and Iha, and features lead vocals by all four band members. Iha wrote additional songs during the making of the album, but they did not make the final cut. Corgan said in a 1995 Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
interview, "[T]here are some B sides that James did that are really good. They just don't fit in the context of the album. And part of me feels bad. But over the seven years we've been together, the least uptight part of the band has been the music."
Release and reception
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was released on October 24, 1995. The night before, the band played a release party show at the Riviera Theater in Chicago and took part in a live FM broadcastLive in Chicago 23.10.95
Live in Chicago 23.10.95 is a five-track promotional live release by The Smashing Pumpkins. The CD was packaged as a companion piece with some French pressings of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness....
across the U.S. The following week, Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, an unusual feat for a double-disc album that cost over US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
20. The RIAA has certified the album as having sold 9.8 million copies in the United States.
The album has received critical acclaim. Christopher John Farley of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
called the album "the group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet". Farley wrote, "One gets the feeling that the band [. . .] charged ahead on gut instincts; the sheer scope of the album (28 songs) didn't allow for second-guessing or contrivance." Time selected Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as the best album of the year in its year-end "Best of 1995" list. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the album an A rating; reviewer David Browne
David Browne
David Browne is an American journalist and author. He was the resident music critic at Entertainment Weekly between 1990 and 2006. He was an editor at Music & Sound Output magazine and a music critic at the New York Daily News before EW...
praised the group's ambition and wrote, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is more than just the work of a tortured, finicky pop obsessive. Corgan presents himself as one of the last true believers: someone for whom spewing out this much music results in some sort of high art for the ages. He doesn't seem concerned with persistent alterna-rock questions of 'selling out', and good for him: He's aiming for something bigger and all-conquering." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave the album three out of five stars. Reviewer Jim DeRogatis
Jim DeRogatis
James "Jim" DeRogatis is an American music critic and co-host of Sound Opinions. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as Spin, Guitar World and Modern Drummer, and for fifteen years was the pop music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.He joined Columbia College Chicago as a full-time...
praised the album as "one of the rare epic rock releases whose bulk is justified in the grooves". The writer stated that the album's main flaw was Corgan's lyrics, describing the songwriter as "wallowing in his own misery and grousing about everyone and everything not meeting his expectations." While DeRogatis contended that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness "may even match The Wall in its sonic accomplishments", he argued that Corgan's lyrics lacked in comparison. Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
reviewer Ben Edmunds also praised the music while criticizing Corgan's lyrics. Edmunds wrote, "[Corgan's] lyrics appear to be the repository for the worst aspects of his most treasured influences. He writes with a heavy metal aptitude for wordplay and an inflated prog-rock conviction of its worth, a deadening combination. But there's a sliver of distance in his rage-mongering now that comments as well as expresses."
The album spawned five singles. While Corgan considered issuing "Jellybelly" as the album's first single, he told Chart
Chart (magazine)
ChartAttack is a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called Chart, which was published from 1991 to 2009, the web version continues operation....
it was passed over in favor of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the lead single from the band's 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The song won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. This song was the band's first Top 40...
" because "'Bullet's one of those songs where, you know, it's easy to sing along to and [he affects a drawl] ya gotta sell them records." "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was The Smashing Pumpkins' first single to reach the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, peaking at number 22. "1979
1979 (song)
"1979" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released in 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, "1979" was written by frontman Billy Corgan, and features loops and samples that were uncharacteristic of previous...
", the album's second single, charted at number 12, becoming the band's highest-charting American hit. The "Zero
Zero (song)
"Zero" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the third single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was a return to the familiar angsty rock of the first single, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". This style of their music was called...
" single was released as an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
with six b-sides. All three of these singles were certified gold by the RIAA. "Tonight, Tonight" and "Thirty-Three
Thirty-Three (song)
"Thirty-Three" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. It was the fifth and final single from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was also the first single released after the firing of Jimmy Chamberlin and death of Jonathan Melvoin...
", the album's final singles, reached number 36 and number 39 on the Billboard charts, respectively. While it was not commercially released as a single, the song "Muzzle
Muzzle (song)
"Muzzle" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins from their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was one of the last songs written by Billy Corgan for Mellon Collie, with the song's lyrics referring to what Corgan thought the public's perception was of...
" reached number eight on the Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart and number ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
chart.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned The Smashing Pumpkins nominations in seven categories at the 1997 Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards of 1997
The 39th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Babyface & Eric Clapton for "Change the World"*Album of the Year...
, the second-highest number of nominations that year. The group was nominated for Album of the Year
Grammy Award for Album of the Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...
, Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
("1979"), Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories...
("1979"), Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...
("Bullet with Butterfly Wings"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...
("Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"), and Best Music Video, Short Form
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
The Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos...
("Tonight, Tonight") at the 1997 Grammy Awards
Grammy Awards of 1997
The 39th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Babyface & Eric Clapton for "Change the World"*Album of the Year...
. The band won a single award, for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"; it was the group's first. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness also ranked at number 14 on the 1995 Village Voice Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
critics' poll, and 487 on the Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
.
Track listing
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was intended as a two-record set. The CDCompact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and cassette versions of the album are divided into two discs, entitled Dawn to Dusk and Twilight to Starlight. The vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
version, however, is divided into three records with six sides. The vinyl release also features two bonus songs ("Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness"), and a completely different track order.
All songs written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.
Compact disc/cassette version
Vinyl version
Chart positions and sales certifications
| Charts (1995) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| Australian ARIA Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
1 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 36 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 2 |
| Canadian RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
2 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 14 |
| French Albums Chart | 34 |
| German Albums Chart | 21 |
| Netherlands Albums Chart | 6 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 1 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 7 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 27 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
4 |
| Country | Sales | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA) | 9× Platinum | |
| Canada (CRIA Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... ) |
+ | Diamond |
| Germany (IFPI) | + | Gold |
| Netherlands (NVPI NVPI The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry... ) |
+ | Gold |
| United Kingdom (BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... ) |
+ | Platinum |
End of decade charts
| Chart (1990–1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 80 |
Personnel
The Smashing Pumpkins- Jimmy ChamberlinJimmy ChamberlinJimmy Chamberlin is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the former drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. After a drug-related incident with touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996, Chamberlin was fired from the band and joined The Last...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
on "Farewell and Goodnight" - Billy CorganBilly CorganWilliam Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...
– lead vocalsLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, stringString instrumentA string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangementArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
on "Tonight, Tonight", art direction and design - James IhaJames IhaJames Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...
– rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
; backing vocals, mixing, and additional production on "Take Me Down" and "Farewell and Goodnight" - D'arcy WretzkyD'arcy WretzkyD'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky is an American musician. She is best known for her work as the original bass player of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals on "Beautiful" and "Farewell and Goodnight"
Additional musicians
- Chicago Symphony OrchestraChicago Symphony OrchestraThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
– orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
in "Tonight, Tonight" - Greg LeiszGreg LeiszGreg Leisz is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass.- Biography :Leisz was influenced early on by the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, especially pedal steel player "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow...
– pedal and lap steel guitarLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard....
on "Take Me Down" - Carrie Shiner - keyboards, backing vocals
Technical staff
- Roger Carpenter – technical assistance
- John Craig – illustration
- Flood – production, mixer
- Andrea Giacobbe – photograph
- Barry Goldberg – additional vocal recording, mixing assistance
- Adam Green – technical assistance
- Dave Kresl – string recording assistance
- Tim "Gooch" Lougee – technical assistance
- Guitar Dave Mannet – technical assistance
- Jeff Moleski – technical assistance
- Alan MoulderAlan MoulderAlan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
– production, mixer - Frank Olinsky – art direction and design
- Claudine Pontier – recording assistance
- Audrey RileyAudrey RileyAudrey Riley is a cellist and string arranger based in the UK. Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn and was a cellist for Virginia Astley from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Family Cat. She has been a member of the post-minimalist band Icebreaker...
– string arrangement on "Tonight, Tonight" - Chris ShepardChris ShepardChris Shepard is an American recording engineer and general manager at the Chicago Recording Company. He is best known for his work with KMFDM, having engineered some of their most popular albums. He also worked on some of Sascha Konietzko's side projects...
– recording - Russ Spice – technical assistance
- Howie WeinbergHowie WeinbergHowie Weinberg is a music mastering engineer who has worked with numerous bands.- Career :He has worked at Masterdisk, New York City, since 1977...
– masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...