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''Oceania'' is the eighth 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 Popular culture, mainstre ...
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 Chamb ...
, released on June 19, 2012 through Martha's Music. The album was produced by
Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...
and
Bjorn Thorsrud Bjorn Thorsrud (October 7, 1963 – October 19, 2021) was an American music producer, programmer, and audio engineer who produced film scores and albums for rock and pop artists. He also engineered, mixed, or contributed production or programmi ...
, and forms part of the band's 34-track music project ''
Teargarden by Kaleidyscope ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'' is a music project by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins that was started in late 2009 by frontman Billy Corgan following the second departure of original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The project initially w ...
''. It was their first studio album to feature guitarist
Jeff Schroeder Jeffrey Kim Schroeder (born February 4, 1974, Los Angeles, California) is an American musician who plays guitar in the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins—initially replacing co-founder James Iha in 2007 and remaining in the band aft ...
, and their only album to contain contributions from bassist
Nicole Fiorentino Nicole Margaret Fiorentino (born April 7, 1979) is an American bass guitarist. Originally a touring member of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins (replacing Ginger Pooley and her temporary replacement Mark Tulin),
and drummer Mike Byrne, who replaced original drummer
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 ...
.Smashing Pumpkins Unveil Album Cover for Oceania
Press release. 2012-04-30.
The album was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200. As of September 2012, ''Oceania'' sold over 102,000 copies in the US. A live performance of the album, '' Oceania: Live in NYC'', was released on September 24, 2013.


Background and recording

On April 26, 2011, in a video on the band's
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
fan page, frontman
Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...
announced plans to release ''Oceania'' as "an
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
within an album," relating to ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'' which involved releasing songs one by one, for free on the Internet from late 2009, and then releasing them in EPs – after claiming that albums are a dead medium. While ''Oceania'' may appear to contradict that, Corgan explains: Corgan later admitted that they switched back to the album format because he "...reached a point where I saw that the one-song-at-a-time idea had maxed itself out...I just saw we weren't getting the penetration in to everybody that I would have hoped." The band finished mixing the album on September 18, 2011. ''Oceania'' was the first full-length album recorded with guitarist
Jeff Schroeder Jeffrey Kim Schroeder (born February 4, 1974, Los Angeles, California) is an American musician who plays guitar in the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins—initially replacing co-founder James Iha in 2007 and remaining in the band aft ...
, and the only album recorded with drummer Mike Byrne and bassist
Nicole Fiorentino Nicole Margaret Fiorentino (born April 7, 1979) is an American bass guitarist. Originally a touring member of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins (replacing Ginger Pooley and her temporary replacement Mark Tulin),
. The band was supplemented in-studio by an unnamed session
keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
.Billy Corgan Smashes Back
".
MSN Music ''MSN Music'' was a part of MSN's web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. The website also served as a digital music store from 2004 to 2008. History I ...
. 2012-06-19.
Fiorentino had this to say about her role in recording ''Oceania'': Guitarist
Jeff Schroeder Jeffrey Kim Schroeder (born February 4, 1974, Los Angeles, California) is an American musician who plays guitar in the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins—initially replacing co-founder James Iha in 2007 and remaining in the band aft ...
also hinted that the album may be less heavy than past albums, stating "In this day and age, with what's going on politically and socially, it just feels right to play something that's a little more spacey and dreamy. We want music to move people on an emotional level." In November 2011, the album's release date was pushed back to spring 2012 and announced via Twitter. Corgan has said that ''Oceania'' is the Pumpkins' "best effort since '' Mellon Collie''". Comparing it to his previous works, he said, "it is the first time where you actually hear me escape the old band. I'm not reacting against it or for it or in the shadow of it."


Writing and composition

In describing ''Oceania''s theme, Billy Corgan said the album is partly about "people struggling to find a social identity in today's fast-paced, technology-rich culture", adding "I think alienation seems to be the key theme – alienation in love and alienation in culture," he says. Regarding the album's lyrical content, Corgan noted "If you listen to the lyrics, it was written around some serious relationship strife. When somebody breaks your heart, you can choose to accept, embrace, and forgive them, as opposed to condemn them. I got a few albums out of iccondemn! Now I'm working on compassion as a device."


Release and promotion

The album was tentatively scheduled to be released on September 1, 2011, but the release date was pushed to June 19, 2012. On March 27, 2012,
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
/
Caroline Distribution Virgin Music Label & Artist Services is a music distributor of independent artists and record labels, owned by Universal Music Group. The subsidiary focuses on the distribution of new or emerging partners. Started by Virgin Records as Carolin ...
announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Martha's Music to release the album on June 19, 2012. In late May 2012, the band announced that they were holding an event called "Imagine Oceania", requesting fans to take and submit their own photos for the album. On June 12, the album was made available to stream in full via iTunes. The album also became available for full streaming on
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
,
SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
,
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, and
Ustream IBM Watson Media (formerly Ustream and IBM Cloud Video) is an American virtual events platform company which is a division of IBM. Prior to IBM acquisition, it had more than 180 employees across San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Budapest offices. ...
. Corgan appeared on ''
The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...
'' on June 19, performing an acoustic version of " Tonight, Tonight".
Howard Stern Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
interviewed Corgan for more than an hour and premiered "Violet Rays" from the album. On June 21, 2012, " The Celestials" was released as the album's first single. They performed the song on ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...
'' on August 23, 2012. " Panopticon" was released as the second single on September 15, 2012. In 2014, the song "My Love is Winter" was featured on the soundtrack for the video game ''
Watch Dogs ''Watch Dogs'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS'') is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Ubisoft, and developed primarily by its Montreal and Toronto studios using the Disrupt game engine. The series' eponymous first title was rel ...
''. The album cover features the
North Shore Sanitary District Tower The North Shore Sanitary District Tower is located in Rosewood Park, Highland Park, Illinois. It was built in 1931 to provide ventilation for the local sewer system. The brick tower is tall and topped by a spire. The tower features Art Deco ele ...
.


Reception

According to ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', the album in its first week of release sold 54,000 copies in the US, debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and at number one on the
Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...
chart—making it the band's seventh top 10 album to date. The album has received generally positive reviews. On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received thus far an
average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 72, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
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gave the album three stars out of four, saying "''Oceania'', the first full-length Pumpkins album since 2007's ''
Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
'', is the best thing Corgan and Co. have produced in quite some time. Longtime fans will hear hints of the grungy, vicious band of the ''
Gish ''Gish'' is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released in May 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan has variously described ''Gish'' as a "very spiritual album" and "an album about spir ...
'' era and also the mellow, almost pop '' Adore'' era. It's a mix that works." Antiquiet gave album four out of five stars and called it "best Corgan work in a decade".
Gigwise ''Gigwise'' is a British online music news site that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets and video content. Founded in June 2001, the site is based in London, England. History Gigwise was launched in 2001 ...
gave the album four stars out of five and praised its production and themes. ''
Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...
'' gave the album four stars out of five, saying "With Billy Corgan, bigger is better. And his latest project—the ongoing 44-song ''
Teargarden by Kaleidyscope ''Teargarden by Kaleidyscope'' is a music project by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins that was started in late 2009 by frontman Billy Corgan following the second departure of original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The project initially w ...
''—is his most ambitious since 2000's '' Machina''. In keeping, this 'album-within-an-album' bears all the classic Pumpkins hallmarks: Searing guitars and busy drums, epic songs and complex arrangements, wistful romanticism and bombastic grandeur. His best work in years."
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
gave the album seven out of 10 stars, describing the album as "...a spinoff that doesn't hold the brilliance of an original, but is charismatic in its own right. A more grown-up manifestation of the adolescent self-obsessed gloomy beginnings."
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
gave the album a positive review, saying "On Oceania Smashing Pumpkins sound energised and alive."
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gave the album four stars out of five, saying "Corgan has claimed that friends who had heard Oceania had claimed it was his best since ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness''. Time will tell, but for now it's clear that Oceania is the first Smashing Pumpkins record since then to fully stimulate the senses and stir the heart."
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album four out of five stars, saying "On ''Oceania'' there are some of the most memorable and rousing songs Corgan has delivered since 1993's Siamese Dream".
ARTISTdirect ARTISTdirect is an American online digital media entertainment company. Overview Founded in 1994, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering mul ...
gave the album a five out of five stars, saying "''Oceania'' is the year's best rock record and a milestone for the genre. Hopefully, it incites and inspires a new generation. The Pumpkins are no strangers to that concept..." Ology gave the album a B+, stating it is "...simply a really good new album, one that deserves to be referenced and included in the company of the classic Smashing Pumpkins albums it delightfully demonstrates little interest in resembling." The
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
gave the album four out of four stars, saying "this album within an album revives Corgan's gutter-epic vision with a clarity and ferocity not seen since 1995's ''
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ''Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' is the third studio album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on October 24, 1995, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States on Virgin Records. Produced by ...
''."
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gave the album four out of five stars, saying "Oceania is Corgan on especially potent form".
Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...
gave the album four out of five stars, saying "SP have forged ahead to create a record that could well be the catalyst of a stellar second era for one of rock's more interesting groups".
Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-of ...
gave the album four stars. and ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' gave the album six out of 10 stars and criticised the album because it doesn't feature the original band members. In a brief review, ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' gave the album three out of five stars and called it "bong prog" and said that ''Oceania'' "sounds like Yes hanging in a German disco circa 1977",
Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
gave album a positive review, calling it a return to form. ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' gave the album 3.5 out of four stars, praising the production and song writing.
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
gave the album a B and called it "a solid start to a new Smashing Pumpkins era".
Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
rated the album 6.3 out of 10, purporting that on ''Oceania'', Corgan plays with a "hired-via-contest crew of strangers" and that it is "difficult not to notice he's repeating himself," comparing several new songs to earlier Smashing Pumpkins hits. The ''
Daily Nebraskan ''The Daily Nebraskan'', established in 1871 as the ''Monthly Hesperian Student'', is the student newspaper of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Although many journalism students are on staff, the ''Daily Nebraskan'' is independent of the uni ...
'' gave the album A− and called it "one of this years best rock records".
Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
gave the album four out of five stars and called it "best Corgan work in a long time".
CraveOnline Mandatory (formerly CraveOnline Media) is a lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company Evolve Media, LLC. Mandatory focuses its contents into the male- ...
gave Oceania an 8 out of 10 review, stating that "If ''Oceania'' is a testament of what's to come, I may need to pull my old Smashing Pumpkin t-shirt out of the closet." ''Spin'' gave a rating of 7 out of 10, declaring that it is "easily Corgan's best work since his rat-in-a-cage heyday." The ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was foun ...
'' scored the album with 4.5 out of five stars, stating it "is full of winners." The album was listed at #48 on ''Rolling Stone''s list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying "The most recent dispatch from whatever far-off planet Billy Corgan currently resides on is the finest slab of cosmic prog he's thrown down since the Pumpkins' early-Nineties heyday."


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from ''Oceania'' album liner notes and
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
. The Smashing Pumpkins *
Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band the ...
 – vocals, guitar, keyboards,
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 stati ...
*
Jeff Schroeder Jeffrey Kim Schroeder (born February 4, 1974, Los Angeles, California) is an American musician who plays guitar in the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins—initially replacing co-founder James Iha in 2007 and remaining in the band aft ...
 – guitar *
Nicole Fiorentino Nicole Margaret Fiorentino (born April 7, 1979) is an American bass guitarist. Originally a touring member of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins (replacing Ginger Pooley and her temporary replacement Mark Tulin),
 – bass guitar, backing vocals * Mike Byrne – drums, backing vocals Additional personnel *Geoff Benge – guitar technician *
David Bottrill David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Formerly, he owned Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz. Moneen, Basia Lyjak, and The Getaway Plan are among the artists to have recorded at th ...
 – mixing *Balthazar de Ley – studio technician *Kevin Dippold –
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
, backing vocals *Ryan Grostefon – engineer *
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, Qu ...
 – mastering *Greg Norman – studio technician *Richard Shay – photography *
Bjorn Thorsrud Bjorn Thorsrud (October 7, 1963 – October 19, 2021) was an American music producer, programmer, and audio engineer who produced film scores and albums for rock and pop artists. He also engineered, mixed, or contributed production or programmi ...
 – producer *Noel Waggener – art direction *Sam Wiewel – engineer *Jason Willwerth – assistant *Unnamed in-studio keyboardist.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References

{{Authority control Albums produced by Billy Corgan The Smashing Pumpkins albums Virgin Records albums Self-released albums 2012 albums EMI Records albums Psychedelic rock albums by American artists Progressive rock albums by American artists