Smashing Pumpkins

An award honoring a band should be given to one that has performed with musical excellence in their chosen genre, has exerted an influence over the way that music has developed and will continue to develop, and has continued to write powerful, intelligent, and fresh music. It is for these reasons that I believe that you, the board, should present the Grammy to the Smashing Pumpkins. Since their first CD, Gish, was released in 1991, the Smashing Pumpkins have shown their musical excellence, influenced the music of the last decade, and have written personal, well planned, and fresh music even into their latest album, Zeitgeist, released only earlier this year.

The Smashing Pumpkins are an alternative rock band that have widely rejected the punk-rock formula implemented by other alternative bands in favor or more densely layered and diverse sounds. Billy Corgan, the group’s founder and front man, incorporates ambitious and intelligent lyrics into music that spans many different genres and styles. Though the lineup of the group has changed over the years, singer/songwriter/guitarist Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain have both been with the band since the beginning. Much of Corgan’s lyrics are expressions of emotion, thoughtful musings on life, philosophical expressions about ambitious subjects, and strong impressions of himself and the people around him. Though the Pumpkin’s first CD, Gish, was only a minor success, Virgin Records took notice of them, and in 1991, the Pumpkins signed with Virgin. The band’s popularity was boosted by the sudden explosion of grunge bands, like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Corgan, who suffers from depression, spent most of 1993 in the studio for the band’s second studio album, Siamese Dream. Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard Charts.

Working non-stop, Corgan wrote about fifty six songs for the third studio album, a two disk CD set that Corgan described as “(Pink Floyd’s) The Wall, for Generation X.” Time Magazine praised the resulting concept album, Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, which was intended to describe the circle of life and death, as “The groups most ambitious and accomplished work yet. Released in 1995, it debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, was certified platinum nine times in the United States, and became the best selling double album of the decade. Adore, released in 1998, contained a sound significantly different than the guitar based rock of previous albums. Adore, in fact, veered almost into the realm of electronica.

The Pumpkins concert tour in support of Adore was charity based. At each stop, the Pumpkins donated 100 percent of ticket sales to a local charity organization and paid all of their expenses out of their own pocket. They donated over 2.8 million dollars to various charities over the span of the tour. Machina, an album released in 2000, marked the pumpkins return to the more traditional rock sound of their past. Though the album debuted at number three in the charts, it was quickly forgotten in favor of more poppy sounding music. Corgan announced the band’s breakup on May 23, 2000. The final album before their breakup, Machina II/ The Friends and the Enemies of Modern Music, was released in September of 2000.

On June 21, 2005, Corgan announced a reunion of the Smashing Pumpkins, though only Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain of the original line up participated in the reunion. On May 22, 2007, the band performed live for the first time since 2000. They revealed the new members of the band, Ginger Reyes, the bassist, Jeff Schroeder, the second bassist, and Lisa Harriton, a keyboardist. Zeitgiest, the latest Pumpkin’s album, was released in July of this year.

While the Pumpkins draw their influence from a variety of different sources, as diverse as Pantera is from Jimi Hendrix, the Pumpkins have been as influential to modern bands as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, the same bands that escalated them to fame. My Chemical Romance founder and vocalist Gerard Way has said that he modeled his career on the Smashing Pumpkins. Members of Kill Hannah, an alt rock band formed in 1994, has listed the Pumpkins as influences, as have others such as Nelly Furtado and The Beautiful Disaster.

Because of their musical excellence, influence exerted over the years, and their continuously fresh and well executed music, the Smashing Pumpkins should receive a Grammy.