HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is the third studio album by American
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercia ...
band
The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Cham ...
, released on October 24, 1995, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States on
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwi ...
. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with
Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
and Alan Moulder, the 28-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP. The album features a wide array of styles. Propelled by the album's
lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release str ...
, "
Bullet with Butterfly Wings "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is a song by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was released as the lead single from their 1995 double album ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'', and is the sixth track on the first ...
", it debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with first week sales of 246,500 units. To date it remains the band's only album to top the ''Billboard'' 200. It spawned five more singles—"
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
", "
Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usuall ...
", " Tonight, Tonight", the promotional " Muzzle", and " Thirty-Three"—over the course of 1996, and was certified
diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...
by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
, equivalent to more than 10 million units sold. Lauded by critics for its ambition and scope, ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' earned the band seven
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year ("1979"), as well as nine
MTV Music Video Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
nominations, eight of which were for "Tonight, Tonight", including "Video of the Year". Not only did they all become hits on both
mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
and
modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...
stations, but "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "1979", "Tonight, Tonight", and "Thirty-Three" also became the band's first Top 40 hits, crossing over to
pop radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
stations. Recording sessions saw a wealth of productivity: dozens of fully completed songs were cut from the album, and would turn up on later releases. A box set released in November 1996, titled ''
The Aeroplane Flies High ''The Aeroplane Flies High'' is a five-disc box set released by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins in 1996. It contains expanded versions of the five singles from their album ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' and also inc ...
'', compiled the promotional singles from the album, and featured approximately 30 fully completed songs from the ''Mellon Collie'' sessions which had not made the final cut for the album (including one track, "Pastichio Medley", which contained more than 70 short snippets of songs in various states of completion).'' AllMusic'' article:
The Aeroplane Flies High
".
Both ''Mellon Collie'' and ''The Aeroplane Flies High'' later saw reissues which included even more tracks from the sessions.


Recording and production

After the 13-month tour in support of the Smashing Pumpkins' second album ''
Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at num ...
'' (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, partly inspired by
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' self-titled album.Alexander, Phil. ''Interview with Billy Corgan''.
Mojo Magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...
. February 2012.
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."di Perna, Alan. "Zero Worship". ''Guitar World''. December 1995. 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'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-i ...
'' for
Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s as ...
", a comparison with
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and ...
'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 Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the drummer and co-producer of the alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of the diamond-selling Nirvana album ''Neve ...
, 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". 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'', " 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 in one room while recording was done in the other. During these sessions, Flood and Corgan would work in one room as Moulder, guitarist
James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent year ...
, and bassist
D'arcy Wretzky D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky-Brown (born May 1, 1968) is an American musician. She is the original bass player of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins and is credited on their first six studio albums. She left the band in 1999. Biograph ...
worked in a second.Thomas, Richard
"Signal to Noise: The Sonic Diary of the Smashing Pumpkins"
. ''EQ Magazine''. October 2008.
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.Kelly, Christina. "Smashing Pumpkins-The Multi-Platinum Band is over the infighting but can the harmony last?" ''US''. December 1995.
Following the rehearsal space sessions, the band recorded overdubs at the Chicago Recording Company.
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-producti ...
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 originally going to have 31 songs, but this was cut back to 28 songs.Corgan, Billy. "King B's". ''Guitar World''. January 1997.


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 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." Musically, the album has been described as featuring
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercia ...
,
grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby to ...
,
alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...
,
art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...
and heavy metal. Its sprawling nature resulted in diverse music styles from song to song, 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 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
"), a live orchestra (" Tonight, Tonight"), and even salt shakers and scissors ("Cupid de Locke"). All guitars on the album were tuned down a
half-step 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. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent n ...
in order to "make the music a little lower", according to Corgan. On some songs, like "Jellybelly", the first string was tuned down an additional
whole step In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more deta ...
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, " 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. Corgan has said that "For the solo in 'Fuck You (An Ode to No One),' I played until my fingers saw blood, You can't play a weak guitar solo in such a propulsive song. It's got to be attack-style." He explains this method by saying "... I put on the headphones and stand one foot away from the amp. I turn the amp up so loud that I literally have to play harder than the feedback, because if I stop playing even for an instant, the whole thing explodes." All but two songs on the album were written 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", features lead vocals by all four band members and, according to the BMI database, was written solely by Iha, despite being credited on the album liner notes as being written by both Iha and Corgan. 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'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' interview, " ere 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."


Packaging and artwork

The artwork and visual design was borne by John Craig (b. 1944), an illustrator native to
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylv ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...
, who was living in the state of
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michi ...
at the time he began communicating with Corgan about what visual elements could bring the enormous ambition of ''Mellon Collie'' to life. A collage artist, Craig had spent most of his career doing editorial commissions for magazines; here, he worked from Corgan's scribbled notes and crude sketches, most of which arrived via fax. Craig made other illustrations that appear throughout the album's packaging — animals smoking pipes, celestial bodies with faces, wayward children walking eerie dreamscapes — all with a vaguely antique quality. The woman on the front cover, who is plopped on top of a star, is actually a collage made from two paintings: the face was taken from a painting entitled ''The Souvenir (Fidelity)'', by
Jean-Baptiste Greuze Jean-Baptiste Greuze (, 21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter of portraits, genre scenes, and history painting. Biography Early life Greuze was born at Tournus, a market town in Burgundy. He is generally said to have formed ...
, while the rest of the body was taken from Raphael's portrait of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.


Release, reception, and legacy

''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 The Riviera Theatre is a concert venue located on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. About Built in 1917, it was designed by Rapp and Rapp for the Balaban & Katz theatre chain run by A. J. Balaban, his brother Barney Bal ...
in Chicago and took part in a live FM broadcast across the United States. The following week, ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, an unusual feat for a double-disc album that cost over US$20. The album was certified diamond by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
. Originally 5,000 vinyl triple LP (3xLP) copies were pressed. The vinyl edition has two additional tracks ("Tonite Reprise" & "Infinite Sadness") which are not included in CD and cassette releases. Later re-pressing led up to 23,000 pressed but unnumbered copies. In 2012, a remastered 4xLP vinyl edition was repressed, with the tracklist order was same like the original CD and cassette releases, without the two additional tracks from the original vinyl release.


Critical reception

The album received critical acclaim. Christopher John Farley of ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' 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'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cultu ...
'' 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." ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...
'' gave the album a score of 9.5 out of 10 and said, "As the band's magnum opus it single-handedly changed the face of Alternative Rock. That said, it's not just music, but a work of art." ''The Music Box'' gave it all five stars and said, "Indeed, for all its melodramatic self-indulgence, ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is one of the best double albums of new material to be released by anyone in a long time." ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' gave the album three out of five stars. Reviewer
Jim DeRogatis James Peter DeRogatis (born September 2, 1964) is an American music critic and co-host of ''Sound Opinions''. DeRogatis has written articles for magazines such as ''Rolling Stone'', '' Spin'', ''Guitar World'' and ''Modern Drummer'', and for 15 ...
praised the album as "one of the rare epic rock releases whose bulk is justified in the grooves". DeRogatis noted that "the 28 songs on ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' aren't linked by a libretto. They're only connected conceptually through the broad theme of being part of a day in the life of a typical, alienated teen." 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." DeRogatis contended that while ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' "may even match ''
The Wall ''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/ CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-i ...
'' in its sonic accomplishments", Corgan's lyrics lacked in comparison. ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...
'' reviewer Ben Edmunds also praised the music while criticizing Corgan's lyrics. Edmunds wrote, " organ'slyrics 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." In his
Consumer Guide A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...
, ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
'' critic
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
picked "1979" as a "choice cut", indicating "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".


Singles

The album spawned five singles. While Corgan considered issuing "Jellybelly" as the album's first single, he told ''
Chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
'' it was passed over in favor of "
Bullet with Butterfly Wings "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" is a song by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was released as the lead single from their 1995 double album ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'', and is the sixth track on the first ...
" because "'Bullet's one of those songs where, you know, it's easy to sing along to and e affects a drawlya gotta sell them records."Meredith, Amber. ''Chart''. November 1995. "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 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
", the album's second single, charted at number 12, becoming the band's highest-charting American hit. The "
Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usuall ...
" single was released as an EP with six
B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
s. All three of these singles were certified gold by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
. " 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 Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart and number ten on the
Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in M ...
chart.


Accolades

''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' earned the Smashing Pumpkins nominations in seven categories at the
39th Annual Grammy Awards The 39th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997, at Madison Square Garden, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Babyface was the night's biggest winner, with 3 awards. Celine Dion, Toni B ...
, the second-highest number of nominations that year. The group was nominated for
Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...
,
Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...
("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 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 ("Tonight, Tonight"). The band won a single award, for Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"; it was the group's first. In 2000 it was voted number 76 in
Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...
's ''
All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...
''. ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' also ranked at number 14 on the 1995 ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
''
Pazz & Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper '' The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abs ...
critics' poll, and 487 on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
. On April 1, 2019 ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...
'' magazine ranked it 26th greatest Grunge album of all time. In 2015, ''Spin'' included it in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014". The album was also included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
''.


Track listing

''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' was intended as a two-record set. The CD and cassette versions of the album are divided into two discs, entitled ''Dawn to Dusk'' and ''Twilight to Starlight''. The
vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...
version, however, is divided into three records with six sides, entitled ''Dawn/Tea Time'', ''Dusk/Twilight'', and ''Midnight/Starlight''. The vinyl release also features two bonus songs ("Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness"), and a completely rearranged track order. In 2012 the album was remastered and re-released as a 6 disc edition, with 3 bonus discs of music and a DVD and also on 4 Vinyl LPs which contained the regular CD track order instead of the original LP order. All songs written by Billy Corgan, except where noted.


Compact disc/cassette version/2012 vinyl reissue

* Track 8 is listed as simply "An Ode to No One" on original pressings and later reissues.


Original vinyl version

This version adds the tracks "Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness".


2012 CD/DVD reissue

As part of EMI Music's extensive reissue campaign, a special edition of the album was released on December 4, 2012. The 5-CD disc set consists of 64 bonus tracks of previously unreleased material, demos and alternate versions of ''Mellon Collie'' era songs—including full versions of tracks notably featured as parts of the "Pastichio Medley" from the ''
Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by multiplying digits to the left of 0 by the radix, usuall ...
'' EP—as well as six new mixes of original album songs. The package also includes a DVD consisting of footage from two live shows: Tracks 1–11 taken from the group's concert of May 15, 1996 at the
Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...
in London, England, originally filmed by
MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...
, and tracks 12–15 from their show of April 7, 1996 at the
Philipshalle The Mitsubishi Electric Halle (formerly Philips Halle) is an indoor arena located in Düsseldorf, Germany. It opened in 1971 and has a capacity of 7,500 people. It was originally named after Dutch electronics conglomerate Philips. It was renam ...
in Düsseldorf, Germany that was filmed by the German TV show ''
Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...
''. The bonus content and special features were curated from the band's archives by Corgan and were remastered from the original master tapes by Bob Ludwig. Electronic Dance Music pioneer BT contributed his own interpretation for five songs from the archives for the release.


Personnel

The Smashing Pumpkins *
Jimmy Chamberlin James Joseph Chamberlin (born June 10, 1964) is an American drummer and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Following the 2000 breakup of the band, Chamberlin joined Pumpkins fro ...
drums,
vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
on "Farewell and Goodnight" * Billy Corgan
lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...
,
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, l ...
and
rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar) ...
,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, keyboards,
autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...
,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...
, mixing,
string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
on " Tonight, Tonight",
art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
and design *
James Iha (born March 26, 1968) is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent year ...
– rhythm and lead guitar; vocals, mixing, and additional production on "Take Me Down" and "Farewell and Goodnight" *
D'arcy Wretzky D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky-Brown (born May 1, 1968) is an American musician. She is the original bass player of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins and is credited on their first six studio albums. She left the band in 1999. Biograph ...
bass guitar, vocals on "Beautiful" and "Farewell and Goodnight" Additional musicians *
Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenur ...
orchestra in "Tonight, Tonight" *
Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage band cultu ...
pedal A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control ...
and
lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional a ...
on "Take Me Down" Technical * Roger Carpenter – technical assistance * John Craig – illustration *
Flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
– 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 Moulder – production, mixer * Frank Olinsky – art direction and design * Claudine Pontier – recording assistance *
Audrey Riley Audrey Riley is an English cellist and string arranger, based in the UK. Career Riley trained at the Guildhall School of Music with Leonard Stehn. She was a cellist for Virginia Astley from 1983 to 1986 and a one-time auxiliary member of The Fam ...
– string arrangement on "Tonight, Tonight" *
Chris Shepard Chris Shepard is an American recording engineer and general manager at 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 pr ...
– recording * Russ Spice – technical assistance *
Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...
mastering *
Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Que ...
– mastering (2012 remaster)


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Decade-end charts


Certifications


See also

*
List of best-selling albums in the United States This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album must ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 1995 albums Albums produced by Alan Moulder Albums produced by Billy Corgan Albums produced by Flood (producer) Concept albums The Smashing Pumpkins albums Virgin Records albums Grunge albums Alternative metal albums by American artists Heavy metal albums by American artists Art rock albums by American artists