Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

One of my all time favourite albums, and definitely among the best albums released in the 90's. While I love 'Siamese Dream' as well, this is the Pumpkins' zenith, and they never managed to top this.

Damn Good

9/10 This album is concise despite having all sorts of songs, contains gems, and made me feel better on a sad day. Imo the pumpkins' best work. F.T.: Tonight, tonight (duh. One of the best songs of all time)

I loved it!

Hello

Dear Rock Bands. Kill your darlings. You don't need a double album. Just make a killer record, get some good b-sides out of it and move on. There is a great album in here but you have to get through some bloat to find it.

This is far too long. And I mean 1 hour over the top. But all their hits are here and there are a lot of other great songs on this. If they cut half of it out it would've been an easy 5. But it's too long and a good few songs don't add to it. It's a 4 but with the quality on this it could've been a 5

Does well to maintain interest over two hours. Sure to get better with repeated listening. Awesome sound and surprisingly worded range of styles.

This record’s delightfully broad range is what stops its two hour running time from being an issue. It is not consistent enough in tone to become boring. The lazy thing to say about a 2 hour album is “if only they cut out X number of songs they could have had Y quality record,” but that would miss the point of Mellon Collie. The Smashing Pumpkins are, at this time, a band with an uncontrollable number of ideas in their heads who would have had to significantly tone down this LP to be able to settle on a concise view of what it should sound like. You could cut three or four totally different albums out of this record. The metal elements on a cut down version could be used as short moments of contrast to show how far the band could push things in another direction. Instead they really go there and counterbalance the big breezy indie rock hit singles with sections of complete madness. It’s an exceptionally brave release, just not one that you can listen to over your lunch break. It's impossible to get to know as a casual listener, so if you can break through that it could make you a fan.

so I think LP1 is a low 5 for me and LP2 is a high 3, making the full double somewhere between a solid and high 4, that being said this could easily rise with repeated listens, which I will be doing

Dope

This is undoubtedly the Smashing Pumpkins’ magnum opus. It’s packed with track after track of familiar, iconic songs, and when you consider it came out in 1995, the scope of the album is even more impressive. Billy Corgan is a phenomenal lyricist and composer, but his voice does start to wear on me after a while—so I landed on a solid 4 stars.

Long, unwieldy, at points great, at points a little angsty for me at this point in my life. Remains a solid listen.

There is a truly great album buried within the ridiculous 2 hour runtime of Infinite Sadness. I genuinely believe one of the best albums of the 90s is somewhere inside of Corgan's bloated magnum opus.

Should be one good record instead of a double. Tonight, Tonight is a fav of mine.

I am screenprinter by trade, in being a screenprinter, I have alot of interesting shirts. One such shirt has a certain moon with certain rocket crashed in it's eye enblazed on the front. The moon is from an imfamous French silent film but that's not how I know of it. I and several others got that shirt because of the music video for Tonight, Tonight. I still wear this shirt, even though it's holey and fading. The Pumpkins really did do well for themselves with this album. I grew up with this band in the City by the Lake, I was the correct age when they were at their height with this album. Zero shirts adorned by many of my classmates. This is their masterpiece-eh Billy's masterpiece. Is it their best? Most definitely their peak.

Very good. Definitely put a lot of work and soul into it. But it is a lot of Billy Corgan

Il y a des morceaux de dingue mais d’autres un peu trop grunge pour moi

It's been a long time since I listened to Mellon Collie all the way through. Listening to it today reminded me of why. It's mostly really good, but so damn long. I love both of their previous albums. This one has a lot of great songs, but in my opinion it could have been better overall if they had pared it down just a bit. I'm not saying make it a single album, just jettison some of the lesser tracks and make the double a bit shorter.

I wish this album wasn't so goddamn long. This has to be the longest album besides Ella Fitzgerald and 69 love songs. Despite that it's a good album though. Some songs feel a bit pointless and some drag on for too long, but there are a lot of good and great tracks here. The variety is astounding and the some go from quick and grungy to lush and slow seemlessly. There are a lot of stand outs here, too many to mention.

Expected a 2 hour chore. Got a 2 hour work of art

I thought it was pretty good — the variety kept it interesting, and the overall sound really worked for me. It was a little long though.

What a great album. Amazing with fall weather. I could only imagine how it felt to have this much creativity explode from the songwriting process all at once. So many great songs. The only knock I have on this is the length. Two hours long is wild. I'm not even sure if I can say there are specific songs that don't belong on this, but it's just difficult to listen to two hours of the same band in this capacity. Siamese Dream has always been my preferred album by them for this reason.

The only Smashing Pumpkins songs I'd heard prior to today were the hit singles. I never really cared for them, mainly due to Billy Corgan's voice. Musically they seemed fine, but his vocals just got on my nerves. I was not excited to see this album pop up today. I was aware it was a double record, and then saw the run time of 2 hours and just figured I was in for a slog. The first song was pleasant, and then the first of the hit songs that I'd heard and immediately didn't care for. But then came some harder rock songs, and I really got into it. His voice was way more fitting for them than the slow songs, but even then I didn't mind it as much as the album was going along. I was shocked at how much I actually enjoyed all of the different styles. It didn't feel too long and I can say this is one of the more pleasant surprises of the project so far.

I was disappointed when I went to see them a year or so ago (although they co-headlined with Weezer so the toughest of acts to follow) but re-listening to this made me realise why I was excited in the first place. Fucking class album. Homer Simpson, smiling politely.

Siamese Dream was a revelation back in 1993 - the booming, upfront and in-your-face wall of guitar - and their Lollapalooza closing set one balmy San Diego night in summer 1994 earned them a permanent fan. I anxiously purchased this album on double cassette on release and set about listening in my base model '87 Civic but the album never really clicked - the "hits" too few and far in between, the volume too loud, the album simply too long. Eventually the cassettes disappeared in the glove box, then into a shoebox, and still today are out in the garage. I was excited after 30 years to give this one a listen and my original opinion remains largely unchanged. A much improved and more capable sound system has helped me find and "favorite" a few gems I missed back then: Here is No Why, To Forgive, Love, Galapagos, Porcelain and Starlight will go into normal rotation. Yes, Bullet still rocks and Zero still soars. But Jellybean, Scorched Earth, and too many others in between lack structure and become annoying. In the end, as an album, this thing remains too varied, too loud, and too long - a chunky mess that needs to lose half its weight to the junk bin but there is enough good to warrant the occasional revisit. 4/5.

A great album, very grungy and mixes very well loud with quieter moments. I loved the dirty, distorted tone of the electric guitars and Corgan's singing, they create such a grungy vibe. The album also works when slowing it down a bit, like "We Only Come Out At Night", a much more mellow track. This album is packed with amazing songs, I loved: "Zero", "Here Is No Why", "1979", "X.Y.U", "Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans", "Bodies", "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and "Tonight, Tonight". These were the standouts, but there are many great songs. The whole first half of the first album is just back to back perfection. That being said, I find double albums are always hard because you have to make a project that's cohesive and interesting throughout the whole duration (2 hours here). In this case, I understand why they did it, with the amount of material they had it's justified for it to be so long. But, it does get overlong, having a couple of fillers and overall not all the songs are that strong. I feel that if they had just picked the absolute best songs, they could've had a 5 star perfect album. It's still a very good album, and I really liked it, but a more focused version of the album would've been perfect.

1070 albums rated and counting...

One of the best albums of the 90s, took the best out of the grunge movement and mixed it with the My Bloody Valentine to make a great album! Billy Corgan is at his absolute best with this album! As are Jimmy Chamberlin, James Iha, and D'arcy Wretzky, they got something special with this. There are no massive weak points during this album and the non-singles are just as good as the singles Tonight, Tonight, and Zero, have been the very high points of this album while being very different songs! You can see this album as a blueprint for a lot of new indie bands coming out now, especially for the likes of NewDad The one weakness is, that it is probably 4 or 5 songs too long, but I can always forgive that on a double album, it is rare you will find a double album that you feel isn't to long.

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.

I loved the Pumpkins thru grade school/high school and I’m sure I have listened to this album in its entirety since I was a teen. I actually really enjoyed it, my memory of it was a bloated album with great songs peppered in and while it could be trimmed down a bit I was reintroduced to great tracks like An Ode to No One, X.Y.U. , We Only Come Out at Night. I think the Pumpkins greatness definitely gets overshadowed by Billy being an ass but they did write some great rock music. 4 stars

The lyrics on nearly every song on this album sound like they were composed by an android who learned about human emotion by studying a 14-year-old's diary. The whole thing is overly long, self-indulgent, and sounds like it was ripped off of a dozen other contemporary bands. Billy Corgan can't sing and is a humongous asshole in real life. Despite all of this, I unironically really, really like it. Maybe it's nostalgia. Maybe I'm a sucker for adolescent Big Feelings expressed in an objectively mediocre way. I think it's just that I decided I enjoyed their sound in sixth grade, so now it hits the part of my brain that makes me happy, even though it shouldn't. Best track: Bullet with Butterfly Wings

Though a tad overstuffed, this LP dodges any sort of datedness with a diverse set of influences to pull from. The scorching guitar tone still invokes the 90s, but purely in the best way possible as it floods the tire soundstage. A masterclass in production and arrangement all around

This is one of the more confusing choices for me. It came out right when I was forming musical perspective. The singles were all over the radio. The branding was fantastic. The double album. I remember going to the music shops in the mall where you could stand there and listen to the albums on the kiosks. It's very hard for me to listen to this without feeling all that nostalgia. What stands out to me today is how some of the best songs sound deeply heavy yet glimmery at the same time. And the vocals are objectively harsh but impressively versatile. I feel like there's some great songwriting on here. I'm giving it a nostalgia-driven 4

Homer Simpson. Smiling politely.

This album is loooonggg. I ended up listening to the 2 hour version (Spotify kept telling me that was the only available version) but despite all that this album ruled!! There are intricately placed highs that really get you going and some slower songs mingled in there that have you rewinding to make sure you caught what you thought you heard. This album will make it into the normal rotation

The production of the Smashing Pumpkins always baffled me and made it hard for me to figure them out. Their heavy songs never sounded heavy because of the weird boxiness of their guitars and all the weird static. His singing is rough for me to get through. I think they r a hard rock band that just has some slower songs, and I guess that's why metal fans like them. As for this album, my freaking goodness it is WAY TOO LONG. It's not that there is much filler (kudos to them), it just starts to get a bit repetitive. The songs are well crafted.

When Kurt Cobain sang "teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old," I think Billy Corgan heard the first part and thought "what a great marketing strategy!" and zoned out during second part. Some of these lyrics are downright juvenile: "the world is a vampire," "love is suicide," "the king of gloom," "God is empty just like me" etc etc etc. Cobain had a rich sense of irony and was taking the piss out of the music industry, Corgan is dead serious in a really embarrassing way. There's a lot of good rock songs on this album, but it still feels bloated. Not because there's any serious amount of filler, but because the songs themselves are just packed with content. Almost every song has a hundred guitar overdubs plus synthesizers, keyboards, harp, orchestra, drum machines, etc etc etc. The epic grandeur of this album can be nauseating. This was clearly Billy Corgan's attempt to reach "rock god" status -- just look at the title and the artwork. He's obviously going for something baroque and "artsy," but it actually just sounds like an expensive album made by a guy going through a manic episode. Overall, I have mixed feelings. SP were my "favorite band" from ages 10-13 and this album was a big reason why. Their media blitz worked on me because modern rock radio was blanketed with at least 4 songs (Zero, BWBW, 1979, Tonight Tonight) around this time, so I knew my dollar would stretch far if I bought this (double) CD. And on relisten, I still enjoyed much of it. But I was also reminded that, by high school, I grew aware there was something very cringe about SP. Kim Gordon put it best: "Smashing Pumpkins took themselves way too seriously and were in no way punk rock."

Reading the notes on this album I was really interested to listen to it, and I thought the music was good. But the screechy lead singer’s voice is a no.

I was conflicted on what to rate this because some songs are sooo good (tonight, tonight, galapogos, 1979) but others were so harsh and grating that I had to skip.

3/5. I think people seeking a smartly composed and arranged alt-rock double album will get a lot out of this, provided they can weather Corgan's singing. This is one of those albums that is legendary. What I mean by that is every serious music hobbyist has this album in their top alt rock albums, or at least that's how it seems to me. It's my first time giving it an honest shot. The instrumentation is awesome. Corgan and co. did a wonderful job with incorporating all their own instruments and then some. It all comes together really well. Piano, strings, harp, and others join the guitar, drums, bass, and vocals that make the backbone of the band. Many of Corgan's riffs are incredible, and the tones he gets on his guitar can be top-notch. There are lots of really beautiful songs on here. Some kickass riffs. A great mix of genres. At the end of the day though, Corgan's singing is just not enjoyable. It's really frustrating, because in some songs you can hear him sing pleasantly, competently, but in so many songs he grates on your ears so much that it's almost too much. There's this awful contrast between the expertly made instrumental pieces and then you get the most whinging, cringey vocal delivery possible over it. And it didn't HAVE to be that way. Some songs showcase perfectly fine Corgan vocals. Most don't. I imagine if Corgan approached vocal delivery differently, this album would be a 4, if not a 5. Some of the music is that good. But the vocals knock this down a great bit for me.

First LP was really strong and instantly tapped into my nostalgia of borrowing the CD in first year at halls. The first song on the second LP had me thinking it was dragging a bit in grungy distortion. But then trying to do them both in one go is a slog! Mid way through the second it felt easier again.

I liked the calm songs more than the weird rock songs

It's pretty good, but long. Didn't finish.

molinari

It’s a 3 star double album. It could have been a 4 star single album. Even a 5 star double A side single.

Siamese Dream was a juggernaut, but many critics criticised it as being one-note. Because of that this record is double the length, double the genres, double the ambition. So... double the fun? If all you ever heard were the singles, you could safely say 'Yes'. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" is the culmination of their previous adventures with fuzz, dynamics, and angst - just with the perspective of being the one of the biggest bands in the world. "Tonight, Tonight" is a symphonic gothic love song with possibly the best snare work in all rock music. "1979" is the rare acoustic nostalgia-bait that works - possibly because for all of its longing it doesn't sound a bit like 1979. However, the rest of the album is full of underdeveloped and under-realised ideas. "Zero" and "X.Y.U" sound like Siamese Dream demos, while the lighter sounds found elsewhere on tracks like "We Only Come Out at Night" only really takes off when they fully embrace electronica in their following album Adore. So, maybe not 2x the fun. More like 0.66x.

This will be interesting. I always found high pitched male vocals difficult (there have been few exceptions). Especially if they were also a bit nasal. Billy Corgan was simply not my cup of coffee, even though I liked some of the songs. But in recent years I’ve been challenging myself and those voices aren’t as repulsive anymore. Seeing that the album clocks in at over 2 hours scares me a little bit, but let’s dig in! Ok. There’s a lot to like here. Songwriting is varied. Production is great. But I can’t help feeling it’s a little too long. Apparently dozens of songs that were recorded didn’t make it onto the album. If another few had been excluded, it could’ve been a truly exceptional record. As it is, it’s still good. Funny thing it took me 30 years to realise. 😂 4/5

Great album all around, just a little bloated. The hits on the album are classics for a reason. Some great deep cuts too. Had it been edited down to 18 tracks and it could be near perfect. 7/10

It’s cool to see a double album that keeps a consistent quality all throughout. Every song ranges from okay to pretty good. I liked it but wasn’t blown away by it. An enjoyable listen but not much more than that.

Totally bloated. The good songs are all diluted by forgettable ones. The singer has great clean vocals and amazing screams, but instead chooses to sing in this zone between the two that just comes out as nasally and is very difficult to take seriously.

Nr. 120/1001 Mellon Collie 4/5 Tonight, Tonight 4/5 Jellybelly 3/5 Zero 3/5 Here Is No Why 5/5 Bullet With Butterfly Wings 3/5 To Forgive 4/5 An Ode To No One 3/5 Love 3/5 Cupid de Locke 4/5 Galapagos 4/5 Muzzle 4/5 Porcelina Of The Vast Ocean 3/5 Take Me Down 3/5 Where Boys Fear To Tread 2/5 Bodies 3/5 Thirty-Three 4/5 In The Arms Of Sleep 3/5 1979 5/5 Tales Of A Scorched Earth 1/5 Through The Eyes Of Ruby 4/5 Stumbleine 4/5 X.Y.U. 1/5 We Only Come Out At Night 4/5 Beautiful 3/5 Lily 4/5 By Starlight 4/5 Farewell And Goodnight 4/5 Average: 3,43 Had some really big hits and flops for me.

I am fan of anything with melancholy vibes. I liked the album cover and the album name. The album has range. I see how smashing pumpkins is a band that has a cult following

It’s a difficult album to review as it was one of those albums that entered my life as an “instant classic” lauded as genius. It’s a good grind, serious rock feel. At this stage, I’m weary of Billy’s voice and kind of wish I had an instrumental version. Bullet with Butterfly Wings is my standard fave. Muzzle hit me as a solid track on this listen, it might be a new top SP song. The double album gets a bit long and repetitive on a full listen.

To my ears, this is the correct way to sing badly. I think I'd be scoring this album lower if I'd already had Siamese Dream which is really the only Smashing Pumpkins album I come back to. This one has some good tracks, but its way too long and samey accross the span of it to leave a lasting impact.

A few years ago I came to realization about Billy Corgan…excuse me, William Corgan. I had heard the “Rat in a Cage” song at shop somewhere, probably a record store, and it clicked in my mind: he’s emulating Thurston Moore’s vocal style. The delivery, the cadence, it’s totally Thurston Moore, even if it was only for a line or two. He doesn’t do it all the time, or in every song, but when he does, it’s as clear as day. Since then, I haven’t been able to shake that. I notice it often in his songs. It’s not the only parallel you can draw to Sonic Youth, either: the gender make up of the original line up - three guys and a blonde female bass player, their guitar noise freak outs, especially on the first few tracks of this record, bear a striking similarity to those of Sonic Youth. Then I started noticing other bands that he was cribbing, like how the clean guitar intro to “Cherub Rock”, before the fuzz riff kicks in is exactly the same as the riff that plays throughout Neu’s “Hallgallo”. Literally identical. Or how the verse of “1979” sounds an awful lot like something fellow Chicagoans The Sea and Cake might do. If you don’t think that last one tracks, it’s worth pointing out The Sea and Cake had put out 3 records by the end of 1995 and shared a city with Corgan. The Sonic Youth thing cracks me up especially, because at least one member of Sonic Youth has made it clear they’re not a Corgan fan: “Courtney (Love) asked us for advice about her ‘secret affair’ with Billy Corgan. I thought, Ewwww, at even the mention of Billy Corgan, whom nobody liked because he was such a crybaby, and Smashing Pumpkins took themselves way too seriously and were in no way punk rock.” -Kim Gordon Ouch…if I’m right about Corgan’s admiration of Sonic Youth, that’s gotta hurt. You know what, though, Billy Corgan will be alright. Anyway, about Mellon Collie’s Infinite Sadness: This record is way too long. It’s two hours long. One hundred and twenty two minutes. There are classic films that are shorter than this thing. You could watch all of Dr. Strangelove and go pick up a pizza in the time it takes to listen to this entire record. I’m not saying you *should* do that, but it’s a viable alternative. Also, Kim Gordon’s not wrong about the Pumpkins taking themselves too seriously. In closing, I’ll leave you with some thoughts from Pavement, whom Billy Corgan hates because of this line from their song “Range Life”: “Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins Nature kids, they don't have no function I don't understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck”.

Thought I stepped on my cats tail when he started singing

The album as a whole is heavier than the main singles you hear on the radio. That doesn't make it better, just an observation. Billy Corgan's voice is not something I enjoy listening to and this is a LONG album. That being said, I found myself nodding my head at times to the heavy grunge feel.

This one just didnt do it for me

I think most double albums ( butnot all) would work better as a trimmed down, focused single album. So a triple album is just too much. Definitely a case quantity of over quality for me. Some amazing songs with a lot filler in between

Really fun to explore this one all the way through. However, I think it over stayed it's welcome after a little while. That said, there's such a range here. What a treasure

God, this was a tough one. Over two fucking hours. I had another SP album previously, which I thought was poor but this really takes the cake. This one is pretentious on every level. I’m conscious they were popular, and in terms of musicality they were good at what they did, but this is absolutely none of my business. With that in mind it gets a two. I feel I’d be being petty if I gave it a one. Not for everyone. Overrated and flaccid.

This was such a hard album for me to get through, jus wasn’t my style

Does it have a couple songs that I will,. listen to any time of day and in any mood? Yes. Will I go out of my way to listen to ANYTHING on the album? No. This is solid radio/mixtape music and nothing more. Tonight Tonight remains as one of the greatest songs of the 90's (and in a more different vein, Bullet with Butterfly Wings as one of the greatest and dumbest), but other than that I don't think there's a lot sticking to the wall off of this guy.

i don’t love his voice and it’s not my favorite genre. i know of smashing pumpkins for my dad. stand outs : 1979, here is no way, cupid de locke, beautiful 5/10

I just find this annoying, sorry!

The guitar tone is irritating. The vocals are irritating. The 90s alterna-rock cliches are irritating. But Billy Corgan could write a good pop tune and there are some gems here as well. That said, its almost never worth the effort to find them.

Gagi bisi isch das gsi. Me no like this. Weiss nüm vill aber hat mir nicht gfalle 2 direkti Rückzug

The answer to the question: "How many songs can we fit on a record, and really not get away with it?". I rarely find double (or in this case triple) albums worthwhile - in most cases they're released after the peak of an artist's career when their creative shackles are loosened and allowed to do whatever they want. If Billy Corgan had skimmed this down to the best 10/12 songs, this would be a belter of an album, but in this format, I can only imagine die-hard pumpkins fans enjoying the whole thing. Best Tracks: - 1979 - Zero Worst Tracks: - XYU - We Only Come Out At Night Rating: 3/10

make! shorter! albums! pls! it took me two days to finish it (and what about the deluxe version with 92 tracks??) ((the cover art is really good tho)) 2/5 🪐

much longer than it should be, but hard to deny the merits of the work in its best moments

What a yawning chasm between the quality of songwriting (at least musically) and instrumental performances, and the singing. Tonight, Tonight is one of the most beautiful songs that I never listen to. One day I hope to find a cover of it by a band that changes nothing about the arrangement and performance but has a halfway decent singer. I’d listen to the hell out of that. The voice is less off-putting in some contexts (it’s relatively inoffensive on Bullet and 1979), but other times it’s just distractingly forward in the mix with little to no processing to cover up the weaknesses, and ends up ruining otherwise good songs. Frustrating! Also, rock stars with egos are nothing new, but how up your own asshole do you have to be to think that anyone wants your next album to be more than 2 hours long? Speaking of which, fuck good-friend-of-Alex-Jones Billy Corgan. His guitar playing is great, the songwriting is frequently great too, but all of these positives are overshadowed by things that are clearly the product of his insufferable self-importance, from the insufferably self-pitying lyrics, the awful, awful title, his lack of perspective to realize that his songs would be better served by being sung by someone else, to the mind numbing length of this thing. On the positive, the guitars sound great in a very-1997 way, and Jimmy Chamberlin is a great fucking drummer. There’s an alternate universe where the Pumpkins have a lead singer who can actually sing and make a 45 minute-long album (or even a 90 minute double album) made of the best songs here and call it something - ANYTHING - else. In that alternate universe, I probably love this album. Unfortunately, we live in this one.

Insufferable. Felt like it would never end.

One or two tunes I genuinely enjoyed. Most of this sounded like angsty teenagers performing at a high school talent show.

This was a real rough. It’s pretty ballsy to start a double album with a meandering piano instrumental that goes nowhere. The singer seems unable to convey emotion or even slightly change, tone or rhythm in a song. It’s very well produced, but ultimately it feels like music without any emotion connected to it. Rough stuff

The only positive about this is the (long and very witty) review on here comparing Billy Corgan's voice to Cartman's. The album is every bit as dire as described in that review. Made it as far as Here Is No Why (what language is that? certainly isn't english) which sounded just like the preceeding two tracks. 1 star is really far too generous. Anyway off to listen to Boudewijn de Groot's Het Land Van Maas En Waal. The lyrics to that also make absolutely no sense but they are at least fun.

If Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness isn't on your 90s alternative Mount Rushmore, reexamine yourself.

[This review was written back on October 20th, 2025. It is being published as is.] The double album, if improperly handled, can seem like the biggest act of hubris an artist can commit. It's the declaration that all of their ideas are **so good**, not a single one can afford to be cut. You **could** trim it down to the best — but fuck you, here's two discs of shit. The artist might consider it bang for your buck; a lot of others would probably consider it bloat. It's a tricky balancing act, where you **need** to consistently keep the quality up. If it dips, for even a moment, people are gonna start to wonder if it was worth it and the whole thing can fall apart. And if this was an issue back in the vinyl era, you can imagine how much worse it got once CDs became a thing. Consider: if an artist were to release a double album on vinyl, they'd have, maximum, 92 minutes to work with. Each disc can contain up to 23 minutes per side — maybe more if they finagle it, but generally they were max 23 minutes. While you **could** include a lot, it would still mean some stuff would have to be dropped in order to make sure everything fits. Plus, with the extra production cost of manufacturing a second vinyl, it's no wonder they weren't altogether **that** common. They were mostly flex moves by artists who knew (or at least thought) they could justify it — The Beatles, Prince, Led Zeppelin . . . those kinda guys. But then the CD came along, and already things were screwey. A vinyl record, by itself, could only hold 46 minutes of music without sacrificing quality — a CD could hold anywhere from 74 to 80, though most people kept below 74. That's already 28 extra minutes of runtime to play around with, and that's before you realize that they don't even have the constraints of physical space to worry about anymore. They could just include whatever they wanted! **Every album** could be as long as a vinyl double album if they wanted! Thus came CD bloat in the 90's — every artist including every song idea they thought of because, fukkit, they have the freedom to, so why not? Give the people some more bang for their buck! Surely they won't mind all of these albums being ass-long! And then comes the **double CD** album. Albums on CD can already be long enough as it is. They can already be an hour and ten minutes long! What kind of egotistical madman would you hafta be to include **another** disc of material?! Thus: Billy Corrigan and his Smashing Pumpkins. Y'know, there aren't many albums on this list I find too daunting to talk about. I mean, honestly, what's the worry? It's just music — I know talking about it is like "dancing about architecture," but it's not **that** hard. But there are a few I knew I'd have some issues with. Some of them have to do with being respectful about the artist; some of them, it's about being respectful about the subject matter . . . though for most of them, it's about the length and, particularly, the scope. '69 Love Songs' was one of them. 'Songs In The Key Of Life' was another. 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Songbook' turned out to also be one. But all of them, for one reason or another, kind of paled in comparison to this album. Like . . . by this sentence, I am nearly 600 words into this review. And I have yet to really figure out how exactly I wanna try and capture the scope and magnitude of Billy Corrigan's epic masterwork. I mean, goodness, it's a 120-minute behemoth. It's far from the longest album my group's covered, but **for sure** it's the one with the grandest scope. How do you tackle something like this? Something so immense? How do you capture it all in one review — and can I even keep this from being under 2k words? I guess it just comes down to the question I indirectly posed above: is this an act of hubris? Is this album Billy Corrigan waving his dick in our face, telling us how good all of his ideas are, or does the album actually manage to hold itself up despite its weight? For my money . . . I'd say it does. It manages to live up its own lofty scope, and then some. And it's all for one simple reason, I think: variety. "Tonight, Tonight" doesn't sound anything like "Fuck You (An Ode To No One)". Similar goes for "Bodies" and "1979". Or "Lily (My One And Only)" and "Jelly Belly". Or "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" sounds nothing like "Stumbleine". They're all very recognizably Smashing Pumpkins, but they switch it up from track to track and keep things fresh. There's grunge and orchestral work and heavy metal and soft rock and alternative rock and progressive rock . . . it's a veritable smorgasbord of styles. What I'm getting at is that on the average long album from a band or artist, there would probably be just . . . more. Even with fast songs and slow songs and loud ones and quiet ones, it'd still just be the band doing their thing, however good or bad they do it. That's what leads to filler — when they just don't cut the chaff that doesn't stand out and it ends up causing everything else to mush together. I'm not saying you couldn't find 'Mellon Collie' to have filler — no album this long and with this many songs couldn't — but I think each song is unique enough from each other that there's nothing I'd personally point to. In that way, it succeeds in a manner similar to The White Album or 'Sign 'O' The Times'. I will say, I might've benefited from the way I listened to this album: I did **not** take it on all at once. Instead, I listened to it in chunks, following how it's split up on the 2022 vinyl issue (which splits the record into — yes — *four discs**). That allowed me to digest the songs a lot easier. I imagine if I'd put it on from front to back, all in one go and without stopping, I might've gotten sick of it. Heck, I **know** I would have gotten sick of it. With my attention span? You'd better believe that long before the end of side one I'd be dyin' out here! And seriously, if you don't tire yourself out, this thing is loaded with good songs. I've loved the grandeur of "Tonight, Tonight", for instance, with its orchestral backing. The title track is such a pretty intro. "1979" is a wonderfully wistful piece of alt. synth-pop. "Beautiful" is as lovely as the name implies. I've long appreciated the sound of "LIly (My One And Only)". "Cupid De Locke" is amazingly maximalist baroque pop. "Stumbelina" is a wonderful little acoustic number . . . and it's not just the quieter songs I like! "Jellybelly", "Fuck You (An Ode To No One)" (what a solo!), "Zero", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Bodies" all rip like hell. And then you have "Porcelina Of The Vast Ocean", which is nine minutes of progressive psychedelia and worth every damn second — goodness! (And to address this here quickly: Billy Corgan's voice. Me, I don't mind it all too much, but even I can **completely** see where other people would get **real** sick of it **real** fast and still have, like, what, 80 minutes left to go? Goodness.) It really does surprise me how well this album plays, despite its length. There's never a moment I think it's bloated, and it's all just so . . . wonderfully constructed. Even taking into account how I listened to it, no album should really be able to keep as consistent as this one does, and for as long as it does. I know albums both longer **and** shorter than haven't accomplished what this one's managed to. I just can't imagine cutting a single thing. It really is a testament not only to Billy Corgan as a songwriter (musically, anyway; I've heard his lyrics are maybe a bit **too** wangsty), but to the rest of the band for being able to play it as well as they do, and to the producer for pulling it all together. I understand completely that not everybody's gonna be able to put up with this record — again, it is a **lot** to ask **anyone** to swallow — but I think if you give it a chance there has to be **something** you like. I heard that Billy Corgan, in the face of the decline of grunge, wrote this album as if it was their last, and if it had been their last one . . . it would have been an amazing one to go out on. In the years since 'Mellon Collie', long albums haven't stopped. I can't name too many notable ones going into the 2000's, besides maybe 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below', but if you wanna look at where they're **really** bad now, check out your local streaming service. There's a lot of artists putting up bloated projects for no other reason than to optimize streaming numbers — and for some artists, it's clearly worked all too well, unfortunately. I mean, do you see how many albums Drake crams onto an album? And how damn **long** the last Weeknd album was? Goodness me — now **that** is an album where he tossed in every last idea he could think of just because he could. And don't even get me started on that one three-hour Chris Brown album. It kind of makes you wish they'd take more inspiration from 'Mellon Collie' — if not on a musical level, then at least as an example of how to make a good double album. One that's unique, eclectic, and filled to the brim with the strongest songs they could muster. **This** is an album that gives you bang for your buck. And whatever you wanna say about Billy Corgan and company these days, they at least provided us with a masterwork like this. It's not one I ever come back to in full all too often, but when I do . . . damn. Y'know? So lemme just close with as simply as I can, with a thank you, farewell and good night.

While it does feel a tad bit bloated due to the fact that it's 2 Goddamn Hours long, it's certainly an album that keeps your attention from Dawn to Dusk, and from Twilight to Starlight. 4.5 bumped up to 5.

It’s a 10. It’s probably higher. I genuinely don’t know what to say. I’m just exhausted & stunned, and I don’t want to force myself to type anything for too long. I just want to sit in this album’s conscience for as long as possible. It feels like a living, breathing personification of perseverance through a sea of roadblocks & struggles. If “Songs in the Key of Life” represents the breadth of a blessed existence, this album represents the breadth of an anguished one, with just as strong a variety & just as human a pulse to it all. I don’t know how Billy Corgan & friends brought it to life as potently as possible & with some of the most technically sound instrumental precision I’ve heard in my life (the drum work in particular is unbelievable), but… it exists. I heard it. I comprehended every single word of it, and I’m still stunned. It’s a 10, if not higher. Go listen to all 28 tracks. Somehow, it’ll leave you wanting more. That is a masterpiece.

Yesh

jedan od najboljih duplih albuma svih vremena, Corgan i Pumpkinsi kao i uvijek atmosfericni i kao sto album kaze melankolicni, dok ima i zescih stvari takodjer. U albumu su pokrili sva polja. top 3: Galapogos, Thru the eyes of ruby, Tonight tonight

Sorry "Siamese Dream", this still my favorite Smashing Pumpkins album despite being overall less-consistent. This thing is loaded with bangers such as "Tonight, Tonight", "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "Cupid de Locke", "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans", "1979", "Beautiful", and my favorite SP song- "We Only Come Out at Night". On top of all the great songs, I've also always enjoyed the celestial theme of the album and it's artwork. Its always a treat to revisit this album. Favorite track: We Only Come Out At Night 4.5/5

Mellon Collie!! One of my favorite and most played albums of the 90s. (Cd) Saw them live on this tour and still have the T-shirt. I love the dynamics on the songs from slow build ups to grungy/alternative guitar explosions ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Piękne czasy gimbazy

AMAZING 5

One of my fav albums! It has lots of great Smashing Pumpkins songs with all different sorts of vibes, but somehow all fit perfectly together in one single album. My only critiques are that the second half has less memorable songs and can sometimes feel like a chore to finish the rest. But on their own all the songs are awesome.

Fantastic album

One of the best albums of the 90s So many hits, it’s lush and brutal and I love it. Favourite track: stumbeline

This is essentially the end of youth album of the 1990s.

Immediate five stars

It’s rare that a 2 hour double album doesn’t elicit a groan or eye roll, but this is in a league of its own.

It’s the White Album for Gen X. Sure, it’s a little bloated, but it’s shocking how little filler there is for a 2 HOUR ALBUM. Mid 90s Billy Corgan really had the juice

_gish_ will always be my fav but this album is a masterpiece (as is _siamese dream_). haven’t listened to this in its entirety in a couple decades but man it is so good

I could write about this album for hours upon hours and still not fully encapsulate the impact it had on me. This was one of the first albums I ever got, so of course it was very formative, and it certainly doesn't hurt that it's one of the greatest albums ever made by anyone. I truly would put it in that category. The range, the emotion, the power, the depth, the beauty, it's all there in stunning glory. It elicits every emotion... the highs, the lows, angst, frustration, anger, love, longing, it's all there. This album showed me what true musical versatility is. This was a life changing masterpiece for me. If I could only pick five albums to take to a desert island with me to listen to for the rest of my life, this would be one of them. Hands down.

Kino

*1995. *I love the SP and was thrilled to see this album pop up. *This is such a timeless classic. Both Disc 1 and 2 have so much to offer, and while there are a bunch of stand alone hits, listening to the entire album is such a fun journey. *And now that we've hit both Siamese Dream and MCIS, the rest of this 1001 album journey is surely going downhill. RATING - 9.9/10

Though this lacks some of the more intricate, layered guitar compositions of Siamese Dream, there are still plenty of nods to that album’s sound, and the wider range of instrumentation and ideas here make for a wonderful musical journey. (I can understand that his singing is not for everyone and it is a bit more exposed at times on this record, but overall I love how effectively he uses his different voices).

A bit too short.

You may be tempted to say, 'if you just cut this down to the best songs, you'd have a perfect record.' And I'm with you – no one wants to listen to this all the way through each time they go back to it. But if you cut it down, even to just non-stop bangers, you’d make a worse album. With Melancholy the messiness is a feature, built in from before they even started writing. They were inspired by the Beatles’ White Album, firing the producer who had just made a masterpiece with them to force themselves into new creative territory. And they pushed and pushed, exploring the backrooms of their sound – there were around 60 songs that came from those sessions, nearly all worth hearing, with 28 making the final cut. The sprawl is the journey. The highs are high, and they’re usually all I go back to, but I was struck upon revisiting this how good the stuff I usually skip over is, and how little the contrast clashes. Even when it’s shit it’s brilliant.

What the other guy said

I don’t know too much about the band but album was amazing! OH MY OH MY OH MY! This is a complete no skip. I liked heavy tracks, just turn the volume up and let it booom! But my favourites are calm ones: Beautiful and By Starlight <3

I already knew I would like this album because I like this band a lot. Solid songs, would absolutely listen again.

This album is VERY long, I could listen to probably 3-5 albums in the span of two whole hours. The start of the album was really good, there was lots of versatility. If you played me the instrumentals to Bullet With Butterfly Wings and Galapagos I would NOT think it was from the same artist. Billy Corgan does a nice job singing and sounding unique. I don't really like it when they shift into the grungy metalish sound (tales of scorched earth) it's overwhelming, ESPECIALLY after you listen to one of their calm songs like wtf I feel betrayed. It's sort of consistent, I feel like there is more highs than lows but there's still a couple of skips unsurprisingly because of it being a 28 song album. I loved listening to this, I'd say cut out the metal songs and leave the calmer ones in there and it'd be even better and shorter.

i am aware that i am a hypocrite because i typically hate an album that's overly long until it's an album i love... dare i say i didn't want this to end? that being said, i definitely prefer disc 1 to disc 2, but still. insanely impressive to create an album so long but so captivating.

How have I not heard this before, this is phenomenal

Mellon Collie is a lot to take in...it's larger than life, extravagantly adorned, sometimes silly, oftentimes masterful, but always consistently Smashing Pumpkins. Is there fat that could be trimmed? Absolutely, but that's where the unique parts of the record live. Is it as sleek as Siamese Dream? I don't think it is. It still doesn't stop it from being the quintessential Pumpkins record, because it has it all. It's got the hooks, it's got the heart, and an almost childlike sense of adventure that elevate it (warts and all).

It holds up brilliantly, but I can’t imagine what it would be like to hear the whole thing for the first time in one day.

1979 and Tonight, Tonight was one of the most sensational alternative rocks and are one of my favorites.

This albums has some of my most favorite nostalgic songs. I wish I had more time to fully listen to the entire thing I wasn’t expecting two full discs.

Yes, the album is too long, I don't care for the more raucous tracks, but '1979' and 'Tonight,Tonight' rip so hard. I can't fault anyone when they effectively pay homage to Georges Méliès, I am a sucker for it. And '1979'... backseat memories of summer roadtrips with my family flooded my mind. Taste/smell are often associated with vivid involuntary memories, but hearing songs does it too!

Did I talk about how incredible Jimmy Chamberlin is on my Siamese Dream review? I went back to look but it was so long lol why would anybody read these things. Anyway, everything Jimmy does is just effing wow. My man says what the fuck is a click track and just goes out there and busts. And then he got a lead vocal on a song!!! This album in a strictly physical sense, is my favorite that I own. The packaging is massive and high quality. It takes up a ton of space on the shelf. All 4 LPs have unique sleeves with unique artwork and there’s a beautiful accompanying book. I give it a “buy/5” The album is too long but honestly it loops back around to being cool at a certain point. Like, one of these days we’re gonna get to 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields and I’m gonna gush over it as if I’ve not been talking about how everything over 40 minutes is unbearably long. And, again, 1979 is my favorite song ever written so I’m gonna give the album a perfect score regardless.

I loved this album as a teen, and it still holds up so well.

For me, this album is a perfect 10/10 — not only because of the music itself, but because of what it represents in the history of alternative rock. I first discovered The Smashing Pumpkins through their debut album "Gish", a record that already hinted at the enormous creative potential of the band. But it was the follow-up, "Siamese Dream", that truly revealed their greatness to the world. Songs like the stunning ballad "Disarm" showed that beneath the walls of distorted guitars and emotional intensity, there was also vulnerability, beauty, and genuine songwriting brilliance. Then came Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness — an ambitious, opulent double album that set new standards for alternative rock in the 1990s. What makes this record so extraordinary is its incredible diversity. It moves effortlessly between crushing rock anthems, fragile acoustic moments, dreamy atmospheres, gothic melancholy, and almost orchestral grandeur. Few albums manage to feel this massive and deeply personal at the same time. It was more than just a successful record; it became a defining statement for an entire generation of alternative music fans. After that came "Adore", an album that was unfairly underestimated at the time. Darker, more electronic, and emotionally exhausted, it reflected the difficult circumstances surrounding the band and especially Billy Corgan himself. Internal tensions and personal struggles would continue to affect the group, and the albums that followed never reached the same commercial heights again. Still, during the era of albums two through four, The Smashing Pumpkins were undoubtedly one of the most important and relevant bands in alternative rock. They combined emotional honesty with musical ambition in a way that very few bands ever achieved. And personally, I can still name favorite songs from every single album they released — right up to their current work. Their catalog has aged remarkably well because Billy Corgan always followed his own artistic vision instead of trends. Maybe the world simply moved on too quickly. Or maybe Billy Corgan’s music was always meant for listeners willing to dive deeper than the surface. Either way, I still believe there may come a time when people fully rediscover just how unique and important this music really is.

Bang. XYU is the only bad song.

This is an excellent example of how such a long album can be so great that time just flies by. I didn't want it to end.

I love this album more than I knew, it's very good, I've always enjoyed listening to it, now I will listen to it some more

Goat

I would give this 5 stars if not for the fact that it’s WAY TOO FUCKING LONG! I had to listen to this one in 4 sessions of 7 songs each to not get bored. I know that there are a lot of great songs here, SO WHY DO I HAVE TO LISTEN TO 5 FILLER TRACKS JUST TO GET TO THEM???!!!

One of my faves from the '90s !!

Dette var vel plata som lagde meg. Dramaturgien i plata er perfekt og man blir dratt inn i en eller annen rar verden i to akter med oppturer og nedturer. Perfeksjon.

Every song is a ballad - an epic ballad at that.

Big nostalgia hit. Killer guitars that I did not appreciate fully back in the day.

Absolutely fantastic album! It was one of my first albums I purchased with my own money

Their magnum opus

I don't know if it was the mood I was in last night, or the state of the world. I really liked this. It is at times aggressive, nihilistic and beautiful. I remember listening to this in 1995 when it came out, I had just become a Christian, and it seemed a little....much. Last night, it just fit

I really like how every song had a different vibe, so I didn't know what to expect next. But I'm glad it was that way because the album is really long.

Definitely are some duds but overall amazing album

Love this group

This album is beautiful and raw. Genuinely a masterpiece. It sounds incredible. There's a real live sounding energy to this album that I've never got from any other Pumpkins albums or any other band. Even as a double LP, I never felt there was any filler as every song has a purpose, even the bsides are worth checking out. Also never felt I had to listen to this album in it's entirety. I could easily play disc one or two as separate albums. Thirty-three is my one of my favourite songs of all time. Other highlights are Ruby, Muzzle, Bodies, XYU, Love and Ode to No One. But it's all good. It's the best of the nineties.

Best double album of the 90s.Only Life After Death comes close to it.

This is a master piece 2 hours of pure gold.

Ja ja ja

8/10. Definitely worth a listen. I would say some songs lean towards softer-ish rock, and I love it. I was lucky enough to see The Smashing Pumpkins live at Summer Camp, it was my first concert where I knew the band and it was amazing. I was expecting an album i've never heard before for my first day on 1001 Albums, so I was definitely pleased.

Un disco , con temas increíbles, con mucho rock, y buenas letras!

This is quite magical

Whimsical and quirky, enjoyed the album. I like the experimental use of a wide range of instruments in various songs, conveying very different emotions through each song. 5/5. Favourite song: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

My favorite Smashing Pumpkins album; Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the definition of nostalgia for my teenage years

An undeniably great album. I knew the five or six releases going in but little else. I expected the second half to be weaker and was pleasantly surprised that was not the case. There are a lot of great songs here. I have no doubt that I will be listening to this album a lot more in the future.

I've listened to this before during my Scott Pilgrim phase and really enjoyed it, so it was great to revisit it and let it wash over me again. Great album, great band.

This album was on every 90’s kids shelf and in every cd album. Zero t shirts were everywhere. I prefer their first three records, but the influence of this one is undeniable

Epic album which is still relevant and could have been released yesterday.

It's a beast. A behemoth, really. Could it be trimmed down to regular album length and be a completely perfect album? Yes. But then it wouldn't be the greatest double album ever released, and that's not a trade-off I'm willing to make. Billy Corgan was at his creative peak during the writing of this album, and it shows. While it is in no way concise, it takes the listener on an incredible journey showcasing a nice variety, from the beautiful to the downright ugly. And the songs are FANTASTIC. This has spent 30+ years being one of my favourite albums for a reason. Absolute greatness on display here.

As much as I can stand Billy Corrigan as person his music is amazing.

Was ein Brett

The highs, the lows. They hit the spectrum of emotion. This is still a solid listen.

I used to own this CD. One good song after another, mixing dreamy beautiful melodies with explosive energy. To me, it captures the mid 90s. Listening 30 years later, I'm impressed by the drumming (Jelly Belly, Thru The Eyes of Ruby). And yes Billy Corgan's voice is grating, but if you imagine a misunderstood Big Bird rockin' out it improves the experience. "I fear that I'm ordinary just like everyone"

The Smashing Pumpkins took a huge risk when they decided to release a double album, and I'm sure they didn't expect how much it would pay off. This is the band's magnum opus, and the crown jewel of '90s alternative rock, a multi-genre masterpiece that ranges from tender piano and orchestral ballads to screeching grunge riffs, from Floyd-esque art rock to new wave drum machines. It's a tome filled with stories of love, life, death, self-discovery, growing up, and infinite sadness. On first listen, you'll never guess what awaits you on the album, and that's its strength, making these epochal two hours fly by. I could go on and on about how magnificent this album is, but I recommend you don't waste your time reading it and just listen to it — it's the perfect introduction to the band.

My fave by the Pumpkins. Billy Corgan is a piece of work though, eh?

I have already heard this album, brilliant

I love them

Very good album, honestly it's timeless I think 🙌🏻 I used to listen to it when I was a teenager, definitely I will keep listening to it.

Wasn't a big fan of the Smashing Pumpkins, but this record is great, awesome!

Fav songs - tonight, tonight, zero, bullet with butterfly wings, love

Genial

Grote diversiteit aan nummers, origineel, vet geluid. Daarnaast als geheel sterk, maar wel wat aan de lange kant.

Billy Corgan is forgiven for all of his crimes because in the 90s he made like 200 songs and probably 100 of them are fully great and 60 more of them are good. I don't understand how nearly every single song on this is fantastic. He just had THE TOUCH. I also think this album is paced really well despite being very whiplash-y ('1979' into 'Tales of a Scorched Earth,' lol). My favorite album by one of my favorite bands (up through Machina, at least).

This one isn't fair because when it came out I was already a huge fan. I had spun Siamese Dream into the ground. So I was pumped and it didn't disappoint. So it's a bit nostalgic for me. I love how most of this double album is ballads but with many great heavy bangers. So much good stuff. I've always loved the wack-yness of "We Only Come Out At Night". And I love the concept of the entire thing. It has a beginning, middle, and end.

Would be awkward if I didn’t rate this a 5 right?

I didn't hope this album will be so soon. First thing first I LOVE this album. Cover perfect, instrumentals as well. Vocals are discussable, indeed, but I personaly love them. So many songs that are to this day masterpieces. Zero, Bullet with the butterfly wings, 1979, Tonight tonight,... Ofcours these are incredible but now my absolute favorites: Love, Cupid de locke, Porcelina of the vast oceans, Here is no why, Lily,... Everytime I listen to this album I find new thing I love albout it. I grew up with this album and its still holding on me.

When I was younger I just decided one day that I did not like The Smashing Pumpkins without even listening to them seriously. It's a shame, cause an album like this would've hit me really hard if I gave it a chance.

Arguably the magnum opus from an innovative band with exceptional talent. I guess the most telling think is that I remained enthralled from start to finish, which is rare for a double album.

The best Smashing Pumpkins album. I know the ones before this are great but this is the peak.

Look now, this album was everything to 15 year old me almost 30 years ago. I thought relistening to it would have been cringe but boy was I wrong, it's fucking perfect and everything I said I'd give 5 stars to albums that I'd knife fight people over. Don't think I'd knife fight someone else over it, but I'd definitely knife fight myself so

Эти парни мои любимые, я их знаю хорошо и часто слушаю

I heard this album for the first time my freshman year of college, when I met my first friend there, Jerod. He loved the Smashing Pumpkins unabashedly, and it rubbed off pretty easily on me. I truly adore their biggest singles, especially 1979, Tonight, Tonight and Zero from this album. They certainly have an incredible debut here....and yet, I've never been a fan of double albums. It's to note that this was what I'd first heard from them, so it didn't feel as oppressive as other double albums often feel. It was just a lot of music all at once, to me. Now, 22 years later from first listen, I can say that I would listen to this plenty more if it was shorter. I'm more likely to cut off after the first album and never hear the back half. It's a shame, but sometimes you should just have albums split between the beginning and end of the year. That's not to say the Pumpkins did anything wrong here, I think that's more of a statement on the industry loving to pump big albums out if they have it. I can't speak to their timing, or Pumpkins' urgency to get all of this out at once, but like most double albums, it feels bloated nonetheless. As for the sound, it's always going to remind me of those nascent days at college learning my way around campus. It's so moody yet uplifting, melodic but uninterpretable. Beautiful, and a perfect title.

What an album! Definitely their best, so many hits!

I love this album so much!!!

Amazing album. Not really my sort of thing but I can appreciate the complexity and depth of this album. Great lyricism.

Lots of big hits but a lot of a style I wouldn’t typically associate with the smashing Pumpkins. Nice to be exposed to the variety but like many double albums it did drag a little (although less than I would have expected). Nostalgia bump for this one

There's an absolutely stellar 5-star 12-track album in the midst of this 2 hour monstrosity. I recall spending probably a day's wages of student work money on this the day it came out in the Fall of 95 and not sure I ever listened to all it the way through since then. There's some stinkers but the highs - 1979, Tonight Tonight. and Bullet With Butterfly Wings - are so g-damn high that I'm giving this five stars in spite of the very excessive filler.

This is a masterpiece.

Holy balls this album is so good. At first I was caught off guard with the fact this album was 2 hours long, but I enjoyed every bit of it. The transition from the rebellious loud tracks at the beginning to the dream-like melancholy (lol) songs at the end was beautiful. My favorites were probably Here Is Why and An Ode To No One, but all the songs were solid. 1979 is a hit for a reason and Farewell and Goodnight was a beautiful ending. 9/10.

One of the best albums ever.

obra maestra

Difficult to rate, as it's a very long album and I rarely listen all the way through in one sitting. However, I really love the five singles from this album, and their respective music videos, and the EPs that accompanied each single. There are also some other tracks (Love, We Only Come Out At Night) that I really like from each CD. My parents had this CD, I think it was one of the last pieces of then-new music they purchased. There is an enormous amount of nostalgia tied up in this one.

I had a friend in college whose favorite band was The Smashing Pumpkins. My awareness of them was limited to their goofy band name and the fact that they misspelled “melancholy.” I heard about 15 seconds of Billy Corgan singing and decided I couldn’t get past his harsh, pinched voice. Up until now, that was the only intentional interaction I’ve had with The Smashing Pumpkins. But I got this album today, and was excited to give them another chance. In college, I was a needlessly judgmental music major (undergrad insecurity mixed with narrow pop exposure). My tastes have developed significantly, my opinions have developed much greater nuance, and my ears appreciate different sounds now. My god, I loved this. A tour de force of songwriting, an exceptional mishmash of genres, an expertly curated collection of sounds, tones, and production. Billy Corgan’s voice is certainly not pretty, but it works. It suits the songs, and as the album wears on, I’d find myself appreciating his vocal performances more than I’d ever imagined. A new favorite, and one that enters the pantheon of great discoveries from this project.

From '93 ish and for a good few years, the Pumpkins were my favourite band. By the time this was released, I knew _Siamese Dream_, _Pisces Iscariot_ and _Gish_ inside out. and I remember being so excited for this coming out. When it finally did, I took my copy up to my room and sat on the bed listening to it in its entirety whilst doing nothing else but reading the lyrics and the inlay. I was mesmerised... in another world... for two hours! And soon after I knew this inside out too.... and despite not listening to it really for a good while... I still do. Rather than being turned off by its sprawling nature, it's volatility and it's obvious pomposity, it only made me love it more. It's excessive, uneven and indulgent and that's why I love it.. .the messiness feels human. Perhaps this hit me at the perfect time, a 16 year old full of adolescent self-importance, confusion, rage, romanticism and despair. It felt like a diary written at maximum intensity. If it were tighter and more curated, it might lose that sense of sincerity. In short, it's a brilliant album because of it's imperfections and not despite them. I've had many favourite tracks from it but after a long absence, it was perhaps one of the most obvious that hit me and it goes to show exactly why it helps to have a really fucking good dummer!

Just an incredible album start to finish it feels very of its time but a perfectly preserved time capsule of emotion and feeling through the 90's. Once of my favorite albums.

Ya ya Billy Corgan kinda went off the deep end in the last few years but the Smashing Pumpkins older albums are still pretty great

The album is not too long, it came out in another time when acquiring new music was not yet completely trivial. You got the album because you wanted to have it, and you were interested in spending some time with it, to be present with the music. And when you went to see the show you weren't there to record it for likes on social media, you were there for the experience which took place in that moment, and not later when you got some external validation. And you never lost the ability to do that, you just got distracted by shiny gadgets. You can reconnect with your true lived experience right now and be present in this moment. Why not give it a try?

I thought this was okay when it came out, but I really enjoy it now. Excellent song writing, Jimmy Chamberlin shines. 2+ hours is a lot of Smashing Pumpkins, but it works.

My favorite band from my 20's even though I only really love their first album (Gish) and half-like their second (Siamese Dream). I've probably heard 30% of this one before now ... really liked it. I sort of have to give it 5 stars but get why people would not.

There’s just so many great songs on here, even though not all 2 hours is excellent, I can’t not give it 5/5. Others will say it’s too long of course, but I can’t overlook the quality of it.

First time listen but I've listened to disc 1 a few times Surprisingly doesn't feel too bloated for a double album. The classics are mostly front loaded but there's a lot of stuff on the second disc that I really enjoyed Was definitely ready for it to be over by the last couple songs, but the ratio of hits to misses is pretty great for a two hour album Fav tracks: Zero, An Ode to No One, 1979, X.Y.U. Least favourite: Cupid De Locke, Galapogos 4.5, leaning 5/5

Listened many times – great album.

On of my all time favourites.

It's not perfect, and it's probably a bit long, but it's an excellent album that I can't rate as a 4. The first six song stretch is legendary and there's lots of deep cuts

Eins meiner allerliebsten Alben aller Zeiten. Von vorne bis hinten grandios, stilistisch extrem bunt und ständig wechselnd zwischen den schönsten zartesten Balladen und brutalsten Brettern mit Höllenproduktion. Das angejazzte Drumming Chamberlins ist extrem stark ("Jellybelly"!) und die Gitarren haben diesen typischen Hummelsound. Das Trio ab "We Only Come Out.." ist vielleicht ein wenig albern, aber auch eine schöne Erholungspause nach dem bitterbösen "X.Y.U.". Mit Abstand mein liebstes Album der Band, dagegen ist das tolle "Siamese Dream" fast schon generisch.

One of those “this meant a lot to me” albums that might be the worst type of music journalism/criticism. Equivalent to hearing someone talk about their dreams. It’s a five star for me, no need to say why other than “it just is”

Going into this album, I didn’t really like the Smashing Pumpkins. And seeing that the album was 2 hours long, I was overwhelmed. I listened to it on the bus ride to class, while waiting for class, walking out of class, eating lunch, waiting for my next class, then i listened to them walking home. The album justifies its length, and I’m glad I got to listen to it

A bit long for my taste but still packed with some epic 90s tunes some over played, some not played enough

Love this album! "Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage!" Who hasn't felt that angst in their own life?

It was very good

Amazing!!!!!

So long but so good

I'm totally failing to understand why we need three Arcade Fire albums on this list if we have the more string/piano-focused songs on this album. These guys even have the crappy singing, but Billy Corgan's voice is at least interestingly crappy, unlike Mr. "my wife left me after I sexually assaulted four people that were half my age on tour." Arcade Fire hate aside, this is an amazing record. It's always impressive when 2 hours of music manages to stay good for its entire runtime. It has some really amazing songs and the album as a whole feels like it gets better as it goes on. I like all the random directions the album follows. There are some acoustic songs, followed by some metal, even an industrial rock song thrown in there somewhere, and it all sounds great.

Absolute masterpiece. The coolest vibes. Dad core. But like… why does he want to be called Deacon Blues?

favorite songs: basically everything except first 3 tbh

Masterpiece. Self-indulgent in a good way, this album shows The Smashing Pumpkins at their artistic peak. Highly recommended.

Incredible

At first you get intimidated by the 2 hour runtime, but I think this album deserves it. Who knew some guys as silly as the Smashing Pumpkins could make sadness infinite? All these songs bang in one way or another, really cool 9/10

Hard to be objective here as this album and its b-sides (via Aeroplane Flies High) was probably the most important music to me for at least four years--1995-1999. But it holds up... I don't listen very often any more, but--there is incredible range here. I think the double album was ambitious and I don't think it could have been any other way, but there are songs left off that might have made it better (Ugly, Set the Ray, Jupiter's Lament) had they replaced the weakest tracks on the album (We Only Come Out at Night, Tales of a Scorched Earth, and--sorry--Lilly). The other thing I want to say here is JAMES IHA. Iha is the George Harrison of SP. This record's James songs and B-sides are superb and need more recognition. "Take me Down" is gorgeous. "Said Sadly," "The Boy," "Believe," "The Bells"--all incredible. His solo record Let it Come Down tracks right along side Harrison's This Too Shall Pass: A full record of gems passed up by the main band's double album. He was right to feel dissed. So, let's hear it for The Boy.

It's amazing

found so many new favourite songs

Perfection

Great Songs: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, Tonight, Tonight, Zero, Here Is No Why, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, To Forgive, An Ode To No One, Cupid De Locke, Galapagos, Muzzle, Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans, Take Me Down, Where Boys Fear To Tread, Bodies, In The Arms Of Sleep, 1979, Thru The Eyes Of Ruby, X.Y.U, Beautiful, Lily (My One And Only), By Starlight, Farewell And Goodnight Good Songs: Jellybelly, Love, Thirty-Three, Tales Of A Scorched Earth, We Only Come Out At Night Mid Songs: Bad Songs:

A favorite 5

Going into this I didn't have a high opinion of the smashing pumpkins - as a millennial it felt like they were the butt of many jokes, their main singles from the 90s were horribly overplayed on the radio, and they just seemed lame. However, this album pleasantly surprised me. Although the main singles (tonight, tonight, 1979) might seem eh on their own, listening to them for the first time with the rest of this album makes sense; these songs fit perfectly with the ensemble that is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Musically, this album is absolutely beautiful - while it seems like such a wide range of instruments used throughout to back Billy Corgan's distinct vocals may seem like it's doing too much on the surface, it is absolutely the glue that holds together this masterpiece. Two main surprises from this album are its ability to stretch over a wide range of genres (and hitting those genres very well, especially each of the more grungey/metal tracks), and the feeling that, even at slightly over 2 hours, none of the tracks feel out of place, or that theres something missing. Understanding too that this album is meant to emulate the wide range of emotions one goes through during their teenage years into their early twenties, the juxtaposition of loud, angry music with light, atmospheric tracks works perfectly. Overall, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is a perfect album. I never at all expected this from the smashing pumpkins, but color me impressed

One of my favorites from my teenage years. Still love it as much as I did then.

Ts the longest one i’ve listened to but it’s okay the album is great. At least three absolute bangers, fav is “Thru the eyes of Ruby”. Not a full 5 star but banger to bad ones ratio is acceptable so.

wise choice

First time in my life that I've faced such a long album that doesn't get repetitive or boring. 90s landmark.

Album iconico, solo pezzoni. Capolavoro assoluto, adatto a tutti i mood. Preferite: Porcelina, Bodies, love

Удивительный альбом. Удивительный тем, что на 28 треков здесь почти нет скипов. Эпичный, грандиозный и амбициозный, это один из лучших альбомов когда-либо написанных.

nice one, like song bullet with butterfly wings, to forgive, love, thru the eyes of ruby, x.y.u

uh, holy shit

I was so ready to dislike this as a) 90s rock bothers me b) its two hours long c) its Billy Corgen singing for two hours Eating humble pie. The highs on this album are incredible, I know the big ones but tracks like Galapogos and Thru The Eyes of Ruby are new discoveries that I just adored. It sprawls out over you and makes you take notice, it feels like a jungle that you hunt for the view from the top. Magic.

One of the best albums to come out of the 90s alternative scene, if not THE best. Two hours long, but it still manages to maintain a cohesive sound and vibe that makes the longer run time fly past.

2+ hours and I didn’t really get bored of it. FIVE

Fantastic. One of my favorite albums ever. Recently discovered lily and beautiful on this album and I really like them.

Favorite album of all time.

Wow. I had not revisited this as a whole in quite some time - the hits are the hits (and great hits they are) but it's so impressive to have a 2 hour run length but not have it feel bloated, no real duds or must-skip tracks. The scope and sweep of this album is just incredible - within the first three songs you get a microcosm of what it's all about; wistful ethereal intro, the sweeping grandeur of Tonight, Tonight, and the pummeling, propulsive aggression of Jellybelly. Galopogos is probably the track that stood out most on a re-listen. Jimmy Chamberlin is an INCREDIBLE drummer and Billy's legendary focus on guitar tone and just layering track upon track is evident (and awesome). This isn't my personal favorite Pumpkins album (that goes to Siamese Dream) but is pretty breathtaking in its ambition. I love it.

This is a long ass album. I can’t believe I’ve never listened to it all the way through until today. It’s so so good

Its got the theme song to Whale Wars.

Thank fucking god......5/5

This one is special to me. So many cool tracks on this and one of the first albums I ever bought for myself.

masterpiece

Taking a glance at the glaring one star review where the user wrote a book longer than the album about how terrible it is. All I can say is, "whatever dude, I like Billy's voice and this album is a banger."

I love the mix of alternative styles on this album. It keeps it very fresh across its 2-hour runtime so that it doesn't get boring. Favorite Track: Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Not a huge fan of most of their work, but this album delights me with its broad range of songwriting

i already loved it it was released on my birthday !!!! 23 oct but i dont have time to listen but i will sooon

Siamese Dream is a top 10 all time album so when Mellon Collie came out in 1995 it was highly anticipated. The double album had both hits and some swing and misses. Overall I think the album deserves 5 stars because there are at least four or five gems that stand the test of time.

Billy Corgan’s vocals here made me shout OH! numerous times. With the exceptional guitar work and gut punching drums this is an almost perfect album. Just a bit to long for me at 2 hours

Lobed

Classic

FOR TWO HOURS! Two good ass hours

Un voyage émotionnel intense, oscillant sans arrêt entre fureur, fragilité et mélancolie lumineuse...

Classic album that was the sound of my childhood. This is the most ambitious album I've listened to in the first 100. It covers so many sounds and genres. Reading up on says Billy Corgan wanted this to be the Smashing Pumpkins White Album so had 28 songs and made a jambalaya of great music. 4 generational bangers, generational talent and generational influence. I thankfully got to see Smashing Pumpkins play at the Fox Theater in 1998 from the 2nd row!!! Far left in front of the bassist D'arcy. It was for the Ava Adore album one after Mellon Collie but still got the see the bangers. 5 stars & one of the best 90's albums & albums period.

A staple of my adolescent years. A cosmic endeavor indeed. From space prog over grungy ragers to fragile ballads and some of the best dream rock singles.

Favourite tracks - Tonight, Tonight, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979

I've always heard about Smashing Pumpkins, but had never really listened to them. I did not expect the sound that they make. I love it!

Een van mijn absolute lievelingsalbums is dat andere album van de Pumpkins, Siamese Dream. Als dat niet in de lijst had gestaan, dan had ik hier misschien een rant afgestoken a la Mezzannine. Maar gelukkig staat Siamese Dream ook gewoon in de lijst. Net als deze dubbelaar, die door velen wordt gezien als beter. Het is ontegenzeggelijk de bekendste plaat van de Pumpkins, met een aantal kneiters van nummers. Maar omdat het een dubbelaar is, staan er ook een flink aantal opvullers op (we only come out at night, waarom?). Wat wil je, als je 2 uur denkt te kunnen vullen. Dat is gewoon lastig om alles goed te doen. Ik ben vooral fan van de groove vd gitaren en de dikke drumpartijen. Door de zang van Billy Corgan luister ik al lang heen, al geef ik gelijk toe dat hij een matige zanger is. Bij iedere andere artiest had ik een 4 gegeven, maar om het af te steken tegen andere 4en, geef ik dit het bonuspuntje dat Siamese Dream nog extra verdient bovenop de 5. Maar wie dit beter vindt dan Siamese Dream, "die snapt er echt niks van", om maar even een snob te parafraseren.

Brilliant album.

Say 132 One of my favourite albums of all time, simple as that. Highlights Zero Love An Ode to No one

yay

amazing album!!

Yo, did you know Billy Corgan can write music? Yeah, this record starts with a lovely piano bit. Also, heads up, it's two hours long and has four or five really big singles so it's actually pretty dense with quality tunes. Did we have any truly great songwriters in the 90's? Was it all just angry grunge, Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit? Turns out, there were some incredible songwriters in that decade (many involved with the angry grunge -- don't sleep on Cornell/Thayil). Corgan & Co exhibit their ambitions on this one. It's a masterclass in 90's alt throughout: tender, angst-filled lyrics, vocals to match either; drums ranging from precision snare work to complete thunder; steady, clean bass, largely driving the chord changes; twin guitars which play off one another perfectly, despite near-anarchic levels of fuzz. This is a remarkable album not just for its influence on the 90's alt-rock scene that surrounded it but also because it's a genuinely enjoyable double album. The major singles ('Bullet With Butterfly Wings', 'Zero', '1979', 'Tonight, Tonight', 'Thirty Three') are interspersed with enough variety that the whole thing breathes very comfortably. Plaintive, introspective piano songs are sprinkled among the roaring distortion-laden fare. Reputedly, both 'Muzzle' and 'Jellybelly' (both much more in the guitar-rock formula than '79' and 'Tonight') were almost singles or performed like they were and you could make a case for either -- which would put us at *seven* songs strong enough for use as singles, which is basically a whole record. I guess I can see why this is a double. This is actually my first time listening through all of Mellon Collie -- it's sufficiently legendary among rock nerds of my generation that I'd become somewhat sick of hearing about it. It was a mistake to let my hype fatigue get the better of me (probably also why I've never done a Bjork deep-dive). Billy Corgan's voice -- nasal, piercing, often sounding like a sneer -- can make this difficult to penetrate. Likewise, his habit of naming songs something pretentious, like 'Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans' pushes me away. That would be judging a book by its cover, though. His voice does sound strained when he's belting but when he sings gently, it has the effect of an intimate whisper. Part of the norm-challenging of the Pumpkins *is* aesthetic: Corgan's voice is not a typical frontman's voice; their whole deal is a bit too Addams Family to show up on a Jock Jams compilation. The sensitivity recalls the work of the Smiths, or even Sonic Youth. Their somewhat feminine (or at least androgynous) style and their emotional and introspective lyrics are at odds with the screaming guitars, pounding rhythms and wailing vocals. Corgan's vocals sound inimitable and authentic. It's clear that he's making music with all of the tools available to him -- that's not a voice you put on to blend in. And, in case you were thinking about suggesting that any of this wasn't intentional, Corgan wrote and orchestrated 'Tonight, Tonight' with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra as incontrovertible evidence of his capacity for deliberation. 'Thru The Eyes of Ruby' is a straight epic. 'In The Arms of Sleep' is basically a ballad. 'Tales of A Scorched Earth' is nearly metal. It's heavy, it's delicate, it's long but it's also engrossing and immediate. This is two hours very well spent; at times challenging and at times as inviting as anything that's been written. It's all rewarding, in the end: something I've rarely ever said about a double album. 5/5 -- this is one of the torchbearers for good music from the 1990's.

Amazing album with some absolute bangers. Really really long though

i love the smashing pumpkins

the worlds a freaking vampire yo

Super nostalgic, awesome mix of songs and genres, so many hits

All-around great grunge/alt-rock album. Jimmy Chamberlain's drums easily bring out one of the best drum performances ever in rock, and Billy Corgan's vocals really shine through, with some of the greatest grunge writing ever, although his voice is a little bit of an acquired taste. Particularly I thought Tonight, Tonight, Jellybelly and Bullet With Butterfly Wings (which was easily my favorite) were really amazing tracks. And for a 2-hour runtime, this album does a great job of not being boring or repetitive.

Incredible album, no notes, i love smashing pumpkins & this introduced me to a style i wasn’t familiar with by them! Love love love

Brilliant

Viime vuosina Smashing Pumpkinsista on tullut yksi lempiyhtyeistäni ja kävinkin heitä kuuntelemassa Helsingin jäähallissa viime kesänä. Tämä kyseinen levy on ehdoton suosikkini heidän tuotannostaan ja ollut kovassa soitossa viimeiset pari vuotta. Tämän massiivisen tupla-albumin hienous perustuu sen monipuolisuuteen. Kahden tunnin keston aikana kuullaan herkkiä balladeja orkesterin säestämänä, elektronisesta musiikista ammentavaa poppia, metalliriffejä ja kiukkuista grungea. Muutamia biisejä olisi voinut tiputtaa pois, mutta muuten kyseessä on yksi 1990-luvun parhaista albumeista.

So much to see hear

After roughly 100 albums rated on here, this one is one of the only I would say is quintessential listening based solely on its own merits of sound and discounting its context and temporality. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness represents the best of alternative music to come out of the 90s. Perhaps it is able to do this because of the scope of the record which presents an incredible and diverse track listing. Songs styles from the orchestral "Tonight Tonight" to the heavy rock of "Bodies" and "Here is Bo Why" to oddball jangle pop of "We Only Come Out At Night" and "Lily", to the pure angsty grunge of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" to electronic mashups in "Beautiful". The Pumpkins seem to capture the entire moment of the alternative music scene of decade prior to this album's release. Mixing together different styles, motifs, and sounds, they capstone a decade of music. The only place where the record perhaps fails os that it is uneven in places and Corgan sometimes puts forth too romantic as to be corny artistic overtures (I am looking at you "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"). But perhaps this is part of the package as well, and captures this moment in music as well. Regardless of those small stumblings, there are unforgettable tracks, and even more unforgettable imagery with may of it's songs. "1979", "Tonight Tonight", and "Bullet with Buttefly Wings" all had iconic music videos, and showcase a good encapsulation of the album itself. I wish I could be more critical, but where the album struggles it tends to innovate or explore, and where it absolutely excels it provides something provocative and different. I don't think the Pumpkins had prior reached this level of artistry, and I don't think they would again with subsequent releases. Absolutely a must listen.

Legitimately astounding just how big the Pumpkins were in the 90s. While this double album might seem bloated by today's standards, it remains an impressive eclectic group of sounds and styles and will forever be a 5-star album to me.

One of the first more modern albums that I can unequivocally agree needs to be on the list, meaning everyone should hear it before they die. A long album (maybe a bit too long) it spans an amazing amount of musical styles yet always with a SP flavor. I loved this album when I had it on double cd and while I would likely only play pieces of it nowadays I still think it is musically relevant.

This album is amazing from start to finish. Always been a huge fan of this album and the way it swings from big rock driven songs to slower ballads.

Classic!

“Billy Corgan stupid! Billy Corgan annoying voice!” Shut up. 5 stars.

Lots of good interest between the songs. Much longer than I was anticipating so it was hard to get through it quickly

This is my generation's White Album

I've heard this album quite a few times and didn't feel like listening to it again for this just due to its sheer girth. I don't feel like there are any real duds on here, and although the great songs are outnumbered by good ones, the album is still engaging to me all the way through. It's not as focused as Siamese Dream in terms of sound, and it would be easier to justify its length if it told a coherent story, but I still think this is an essential album and I’m going to throw it a 5 just because it contains a large number of songs that I would consider great if not classic at this point.

5 full stars. I found myself skipping the songs I have already encoded in my DNA. Tonight, Tonight, Bullet, 1979 are engrained in my heart, either through constant radio play when they were new, or my own obsessive play when I couldn't find the will to change the cd in my car. I wore this out. I might wear it out again, for my kids sake of course.

I can't believe I enjoyed a 2 hour long album this much, but it's really all killer, no filler. Certainty helps that this is one of 3 TSP albums I used to listen to on repeat years ago because it was the only music I had access to at the time.

awesome

Loved it. It's really long though.

I absolutely love SP and this is a great double album. The best? No, but still. I know others might think Corgan’s vocals get annoying or that the ideas lose steam at the end or that some of the lyrics are cringy, but I just can’t see that (well, maybe except that last point lol). It’s a rollercoaster that’s fun, punchy, and stupid. It’s also beautiful, raw, and captivating. That’s why I like it. I also think his vocals add to the album. He sounds weird, but I mean this whole thing is weird. A two-hour concept (but not really a concept?) album that goes from a song with beautiful stings to a song with heavy (almost metal?) drums/guitars back to a piano ballad is kind of weird. Maybe it’s because I grew up listening to them in my dad’s car, but I think this project goes by really fast and is great. When this album ends, I always feel a bit bittersweet. And that’s how I know an album is amazing, it makes me feel something beautiful. Standout songs: Bodies, Here Is No Why, and Jellybelly.

This was far better than I had been expecting. I'm familiar with most of their singles and have heard them so many times that I've become bored with them. However, I was surprised at how good this album is throughout. The last three tracks are a little weak, but I also had an interruption between those and the rest of the album so maybe I was taken out of the moment. Overall, a very pleasant surprise.

This is my favorite album of the '90s. I was 18 when it came out during my first semester in college. I bought it on double tape. No other album matches the way I felt at that time. Like many great recordings of the past, it both captures and shapes the experience of the audience, usually young people. Some accuse this record of being bloated and self-indulgent. At the time Pitchfork said something along the lines of this record's lyrics being adolescent at it's arena-rocking worst. Like we didn't know! I saw the Pumpkins twice, in arenas, during the tour for Mellon Collie. I was very aware that while we were sneering at the outside world, the joke was on us. I was young and stupid, and I knew I was young and stupid. Self-awareness doesn't automatically convey wisdom, so I was just stuck waiting it out. Just because we knew the line "God is empty just like me" is corny doesn't mean it didn't represent us. At one of the shows I saw, the band brought out Jimmy Frog, who walked across the floor dressed as a frog and carrying balloons. At the other, Billy played a extended guitar solo after the lights came up, the whole time wearing a shit eating grin. The entire project was absurd. In 1995, many Gen Xers felt that our lives were absurd. We knew! And bloated? Self-indulgent? What double album isn't? You don't have to listen to every B-side or rejected track to know that Billy and the Pumpkins exercised restraint by releasing a double album instead of a triple. If I was in the throws of the creative burst that Corgan was experiencing during that time, I'd be full of myself too. Filler? There's not one song in this album I would cut. How would YOU trim this thing down to one disc or tape? OAD projects side, no one has to listen to this thing all at once. Guns and Roses named their album Use Your Illusion vols. 1 and 2. To me that always indicated that it was a double release of two albums, not the release of a double album. Mellon Collie's two albums even have different names! Look at the iconography around this album, at once overly sincere and romantic, joyous and depressing. A few years prior, we were all "Losers." In 1995, Zero was a label, not an accusation. What would you expect from a generation of kids who raised themselves? Except for criticisms of the length, every negative thing anyone says about this record is true. I'm not sure why I've chosen to express my love of this great record through finger-pointing. That doesn't give anyone a reason to listen to the thing. The music on Mellon Collie is as diverse as any other album in rock n roll. Arena rock, grunge, metal, new-wave, and electronic music all coexist here, often on the same song. Every human emotion is represented here, even the embarrassing ones. It is sweet and angry and beautiful and loud. It's a record for young people and those who connected to it when we were young. I could never listen to a mature Billy Corgan if he wrote them as a grown man who should know better. But Mellon Collie is a messy masterpiece, just like Gen X itself. Five stars.

This was incredible

😍😍 this is my favorite album . Hard stop

Álbum incrível! Que obra sensacional. Alguns discos já nascem clássicos e esse é um deles. Truthear Zero: Red.

This is one of the most impressive albums ever written. It is over 2 hours of all-killer-no-filler bangers, but it feels like an hour mainly due to the phenomenal sequencing. I think this is probably the best sequenced album ever, every song just flows so perfectly into the next one, and there is a great balance of ballads and high energy rock songs. There are the obviously great songs on here like Zero and 1979, but I want to shout out, Here is No Why, Bodies, Muzzle, Thru the Eyes of Ruby and especially X.Y.U., no song gets my blood pumping like X.Y.U. (it is also really fun to drum along too). This is the best double album. High 5!!!!!

adoro

I already know I love this one so I’m very exited to listen again today

Really loved this album, came together as a whole. Was afraid there were too many whiny ballads, but the Smashing Pumpkins can rock hard! A good listen & would repeat.

it's been a while

This album goes kaboom, like the eyes of a jackal. If it doesn't coil your tongue around a bumblebee mouth, I don't know what will.

Inscrutable

The perfect album from start to finish (but only if you skip “Take Me Down”)

Standouts Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Tonight, Tonight Zero Bullet With Butterfly Wings Galapagos Muzzle Thirty-Three In the Arms of Sleep 1979

Favourite album

Been a big pumpkins fan for a long time. This album is just a huge and great overall snapshot of them at their best. There is so much music but you never feel bored. Love it

Great

This is a long album. But, there are way too many songs in here that are 4s and 5s. So this album is a 5 for me. Definitely a must listen.

Very nice.

Classic 90s rick

I have long ago stopped listening to these songs as singles and only listen to this as a whole album, usually the second one, but I realized while the songs are great, the truly magical thing about this album is how they are arranged. Like he wrote a greatest hits just for a single album and this is the perfect live set list. The high points and low points all seem so expertly interwoven. I could listen to the end of Where boys fear to tread and the beginning of bodies forever just for that anticipation. He really hit a high point with this, and if it makes the people that hate him feel any better I'm pretty sure he resents this album as much as you do. He can't out do this for a million different reasons, and I think there is a part of him that is destroyed by that.

Rating: 4.8 Radio hits are here, deep cuts that are very listenable and addable to playlists are here, the album is long as FUCK but nothing is boring. Wonderful masterpiece of an album from a band who was still throwing a 104 MPH fastball.

Brilliant.

Just wow

One of the greatest double albums of all time

1 - Beautiful combination of violins and piano 8/10 2 - Classic! Epic yet emotional -9/10 3 - Big contrast WAY heavier - 6.5/10 4 - Built on a amazing riff and the Drive goes crazy with some inspiration of metal - 8/10 5 - Melodic yet energetic - 7/10 6 - Classic, with an epic build up and a generational choras - 8.5/10 7 - Slow approach to the album, dreamy song with an amazing instrumental and good vocals - 8.5/10

Holy moly. Gotta be up there as one of the best double albums ever. Twists turns riffs and also 1979. 5.0/5.0 Best Song: Tonight Tonight//1979

What can you say really, what a world class album. The man is a genius. I’ve forgotten how good this album is, there is so much emotion in this album. What a 90s this band had. I don’t think I can pick a favourite song, but Zero might be as close to a perfect song as it’s possible to get.

Love