The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins formed in Chicago in 1988, built around Billy Corgan on vocals and guitar, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Corgan has been the main songwriter and the one constant member throughout. Their sound is dense and heavily layered, drawing on shoegaze, dream pop, grunge, heavy metal, psychedelia and electronica.

Gish arrived in 1991 and became an underground success. Siamese Dream (1993), made through a difficult recording process, brought wide popularity, and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and went Diamond in the US. Adore and the Machina records followed before the band split around the turn of the millennium. They reunited in 2006 and continue to release albums, with Corgan, Iha and Chamberlin as the current line-up.