On October 24, 1995, The Smashing Pumpkins released what would become one of the most iconic works of the decade: the sprawling double album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. Now, thirty years later, the band is returning with a special deluxe reissue expanding on the original album, including eighty minutes of previously unreleased recordings from the 1996 tour in support of the album.
On November 21, three new versions of Mellon Collie will be available via UMe. The album and live material will hit DSPs, while there will also be a four-disc deluxe edition CD package, featuring new liner notes written by Billy Corgan. The band has also put together a limited edition boxset essential for the diehard fans, including Mellon Collie and the 1996 Infinite Sadness tour audio on four CDs and six LPs, the new liner notes in a hardbound book, a custom tarot card deck, and seven frameable lithographs, all housed in a velvet slipcase with a cloth carrying bag.
Included in all versions, the 1996 live material is a holy grail for longtime Pumpkins devotees. Only recently discovered, the recordings showcase the original lineup at the height of their powers. Listen to the newly discovered live track, “Geek U.S.A.” From The Infinite Sadness Tour ’96, now HERE.
“Unearthing these live recordings from the original lineup’s true, last large-scale tour was a labour of love, and for me certainly a bittersweet as once we blew apart in 1996, we were never quite the same: be it emotionally, or spiritually,” says Corgan “Thankfully, I can say this as the band is now enjoying our greatest public success since that time, and one can hear in these tapes the raw power that such nascent faith afforded us, then, and the will and wisdom to persevere that followed.”
By the time the Smashing Pumpkins released Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, they had already announced themselves as one of the definitive rock bands of the ‘90s with 1991’s Gish and 1993’s Siamese Dream. While those two albums are classics in their own right, and the Pumpkins already had a host of beloved hits under their belts, Mellon Collie saw them ascend to a whole other level. Across the double album, Corgan threw everything he had at this music, resulting in some of the band’s most ubiquitous hits: “1979,” “Tonight, Tonight,” “Zero,” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” Mellon Collie soon earned the Smashing Pumpkins seven Grammy nominations, including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year, and would later attain Diamond certification from the RIAA. It lives on not only as one of the most pivotal albums of the ‘90s, but also as one of the great albums in the rock canon. The live material included in the reissue captures the band on a sprawling tour amidst the whirlwind that greeted Mellon Collie, at their most vital and performing songs that were already instant classics.
In addition to the expanded reissue, the Pumpkins will celebrate the album’s anniversary with two special collaborations. In late November, Corgan will team with the Lyric Opera of Chicago to present A Night Of Melon Collie And Infinite Sadness. Running for seven performances only, the concerts will feature reimagined versions of Mellon Collie — everything from the hits to beloved fan favorites like “Thirty-Three” and “Thru The Eyes Of Ruby” — with Corgan performing newly commissioned arrangements and orchestrations he made alongside conductor James Lowe. Corgan will be joined by soprano Sydney Mancasola, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Dominick Chenes, and baritone Edward Parks.
The Lyric performances will occur on November 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, and 30. They also include costume design by House Of Gilles, from Gilles Mendel and Chloé Mendel Corgan, altogether promising an immersive sonic and visual experience that blurs the boundaries of opera, rock, and performance art.
The homegrown celebration of Mellon Collie’s anniversary continues with another collaboration with Chicago’s famed Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Corgan and Vosges have joined forces for The Mellon Collie Sessions, a limited-edition chocolate box set. Available beginning October 21, the boxset includes a limited-edition poster and six chocolate bars — two each of unique flavors made with inspiration from Mellon Collie’s most famous songs. The “Zero” Black Raspberry Tea Bar combines dark chocolate and Forbidden Forest Lapsang Souchong tea from Madame Zuzu’s, the Highland Park tea house institution founded by Corgan and his wife in 2012. Similarly, the “Tonight Tonight” Electric Blue Matcha Bar infuses vegan white chocolate with Madame Zuzu’s Electric Blue Matcha, while the “1979” Kitchen Sink Bar throws pretzels, marshmallow, and rice crunch into a 72% dark chocolate.
The ‘20s have been a furiously productive decade for the Smashing Pumpkins, kicking off with Cyr in 2020, followed by the ambitious Atum: A Rock Opera In Three Parts which unfolded across 2022 and 2023, providing the next chapter in the stories begun on Mellon Collie and 2000’s Machina/The Machines Of God. The flood of inspiration continued into last year, with the critically acclaimed album Aghori Mhori Mei. Since then, the band have taken a moment to reflect on the achievements of the past, first re-releasing Machina this summer for its 25th anniversary, finally presenting the album as they’d always wished. Now, the multi-faceted celebration of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness puts a capstone on 2025 before whatever the always adventurous Pumpkins do next.
MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS 4CD TRACK LIST
Discs 3 and 4 are unreleased
Disc 1 (Main Album)
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
Tonight, Tonight
Jellybelly
Zero
Here Is No Why
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
To Forgive
Fuck You (An Ode To No One)
Love
Cupid De Locke
Galapogos
Muzzle
Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans
Take Me Down
Disc 2 (Main Album)
Where Boys Fear To Tread
Bodies
Thirty-Three
In The Arms Of Sleep
1979
Tales Of A Scorched Earth
Thru The Eyes Of Ruby
Stumbleine
X.Y.U.
We Only Come Out At Night
Beautiful
Lily (My One And Only)
By Starlight
Farewell And Goodnight
Disc 3 (Infinite Sadness Tour ’96)
Geek U.S.A. (1.30.96. San Diego)
X.Y.U. (1.30.96. San Diego)
Cupid De Locke (1.30.96. San Diego)
Here Is No Why (2.4.96. Los Angeles)
Bullet With Butterfly Wings (2.4.96. Los Angeles)
Galapogos (2.4.96. Los Angeles)
Bodies (6.25.96. Saginaw)
Where Boys Fear To Tread (6.29.96. Detroit)
Disc 4 (Infinite Sadness Tour ’96)
Zero (6.29.96. Detroit)
Muzzle (6.29.96. Detroit)
Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans/ Beautiful/ Rocket (7.3.96. Cleveland)
Siva (6.30.96. Detroit)
An Ode To No One (7.3.96. Cleveland)
Thru The Eyes Of Ruby/ By Starlight (7.5.96. Philadelphia)
