1995-
March 1995-The band begins to record Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness with Flood and Alan
Moulder as the producers.
July 14, 1995-The Pumpkins deadline for a new touring keyboardist, they ended up picking Jonathan
Melvoin.
August 1995-The Infinite Sadness Tour on the 22nd in Dublin. On the 25th, the Pumpkins played at
the Reading Festival. Their set included half new and half old songs. They also played at the
Pukelpop Festival on the 26th. They finished recording Mellon Collie earlier in the month.
October 1995-MTV aired a Rockmentary on the band on the 17th.SP held a release party for
Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness at the Rivera Theater on the 23rd. Cheap Trick was the
opener, who played some songs with the Pumpkins at the end of the night. Besides playing
tracks from the new album, they played some old songs such as "Disarm", which was played in total
darkness because the power went out. The new album and the "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" single
were released on the 24th. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard. The "BWBW" single contained
"Said Sadly", a b-side by James Iha and had a guest singer, Nina Gordon. The single was only out
for one week.
Novemeber 11, 1995-They perform "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Zero" during SNL. Courtney
Love was in attendance. Siamese Dream,the previous album had made over 4 million dollars by this
time.
December 1995-They perform "BWBW" at The White Room on UK TV. The Pumpkins also played the
song on French TV on the 10th. Around Christmas, The Smashing Pumpkins went back to Chicago
start shooting the "1979" video.
1996-
January 1996-The "1979" single is released on the 22nd with the b-sides,"Ugly","The Boy", "Cherry",
"Believe", and "Set The Ray To Jerry". Though not all versions included all the b-sides. They perform
"1979" at the American Music Awards on the 29th.
February 1996-They asked Chris Cornell of Soungarden to use some of his equipment since their
equipment didn't arrive for their shows on the 9th and 10th in Seattle.
March 1996-They postoned some dates in Sydney and New Zealand because of the death of Jimmy
Chamberlin's father.
April 1996-The RIAA released a press release on the 2nd saying that Mellon Collie had reached the
$6 million dollar mark in sales. On April 23rd, the "Zero" single was released. The b-sides were "God",
"Mouths of Babes", "Tribute To Johnny", "Marquis In Spades", "Pennies", and "Pastichio Medley".
May 1996-On May 11, a 17 year old girl named Bernadette O'Brien died because of severe injuries
she suffered in the mosh pit during the Pumpkins concert in Dublin. The Pumpkins immediately ended
the concert when they realized what was happening. Because of this incident there would be no more
mosh pits at SP's concerts for the rest of the Infinite Sadness Tour in some cities, this was apparently
not the decision of the band. The Smashing Pumpkins concert in Belfast on the 12th was cancelled
in respect to Bernadette and her family. The Pumpkins appeared on the Simpsons episode,
"Hullabalooza", which aired in North America on the 19th and was part of a 2 episode season finale of
the popular cartoon.
June 1996-The 11th marked the release of the "Tonight, Tonight" single. It included the b-sides:
"Meladori Magpie","Rotten Apples","Jupiter's Lament","Medellia of the GreySkies", "Blank", and "Tonite
Reprise".
July 1996-On the 12th, Jonathan Melvoin, their touring keyboardist (age:34) died of an apparent
heroin overdose. Jimmy Chamberlin was present when the actual fatal injection occured near
midnight on the 11th. Chamberlin was charged with heroin possession. He was ordered to appear in
court. SP's sold out Madison Square Garden shows were cancelled. On Wednesday, July 17th, the
band issued a statement saying "Today, we are sorry to tell our friends and fans that we have
decided to sever our relationship with our friend and drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin,". The band went
on to say that they battle with Jimmy's "insidious drug addiction" for 9 years and that they were
to look for an immediate replacement. Chamberlin goes into drug rehab. The 31st
marked both the results of a toxicology report that said Melvoin died of a lethal combination of
heroin and alcohol and, as well as SP receiving 8 nominations for the MTV VMA awards.
August 1996-On the 6th, the Pumpkins annouced that Dennis Flemion from The Frogs will be their
new touring keyboardist. The Sweet Relief II compilation was also released on this date. "Sad Peter
Pan", a song on the release, was performed by the Pumpkins and Red Red Meat. Matt Walker (Filter)
was announced as the new touring drummer for the Pumpkins. On the 10th, it was announced that
shows set for August would be rescheduled. All the other dates that were previously cancelled
would be rescheduled as well. On the 27th, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness was certified 7X
platimum by the RIAA. They also continued their tour on the same date in Las Vegas.
September 1996-The Smashing Pumpkins kicked off the MTV VMA awards on the 4th with their hit,
"Tonight, Tonight." The Pumpkins won 7 out of 8 awards they were nominated for, including 'Video
The Year' and 'Best Direction' (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris), both for "Tonight,Tonight".
October 1996- On the 8th, Jimmy Chamberlin pleaded to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct in
a NY court room. He avoided a year in jail because of the plea and was given a conditional
discharge, he would have to continue to be in rehab. Pisces Iscariot was released for the first time
in the UK on the 21st.
November 1996-The "Thirty-Three" single was released on the 12th and contained the b-sides:
"The Last Song","The Aeroplane Flies High","Transformer", "The Bells", and "My Blue Heaven". Like the
"1979" and "Tonight, Tonight" singles, not all the songs appear on all versions. On the 14th, they won
Best Rock Act and performed "BWBW" at the MTV Europe VMA awards. On the 26th, The Aeroplane
Flies High box set wasreleased. The set contains all the 5 Mellon Collie cd singles and 5 additional
cover songs on the "BWBW" single. Released on the same date was the soundtrack to the movie,
Ransom, which included six songs by Billy Corgan and Matt Walker.
December 29,1996-On a very personal note, Billy Corgan and his wife, Chris Fabian seperated.
1997-
January 1997-They received 7 Grammy nominations on the 7th. Billy Corgan did duets on "Jean Genie"
and "All The Young Dudes" with David Bowie during Bowie's 50th birthday concert at Madison Square
Garden on the 9th. The band filed a lawsuit on the 9th against Cinderful Music/Chrysalis Songs, their
music publisher. They claimed for declaratory relief, rescission, damages for breach of contract, slander
of title, among other claims. They also claimed that a publishing deal from 1992 for 32 songs, was now
void since they had exceeded the deal by releasing four albums. The Pumpkins asked for a minimum of
$10 million in damages. However, Chrysalis demanded two additional albums from the band. They won
the band. They won "Favorite Alternative Artist" at The American Music Awards on the 27th but were
not able to attend because of their tour.
February 1997-The Infinite Sadness Tour ends in New Orleans on the 5th. The Lost Highway soundtrack,
including a Pumpkins track, "Eye", was released on the 18th. Billy made an appearance on Live With
Regis and Kathie Lee on the 19th. The Pumpkins perform "Muzzle" on Conan O'Brien on the 25th. On the
26th, they win one of the seven Grammies they were nominated for, "Best Hard Rock Performance" for
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings". They received the award after their performance of "1979"; they were
accompanied by The Smashing Pumpkins Dancers (a one time gig), Matt Walker and Chris Vrenna (Nine
Inch Nails) played drums on the song.
April 1997-The Smashing Pumpkins are rate #2 on Spin Magazine's "40 Most Vital Artists".
June 1997-On the 10th, the Batman and Robin soundtrack is released with two SP songs, "The End is
The Beginning is The End" and "The Beginning is The End is The Beginning". They also released the
"TEIBITE" single with two b-sides, "The Ethers Tragic" and "Guns of Love Disatrous" with the two tracks
from the soundtrack. Remixes were also released on seperate releases. The Pumpkins played a show on
the 23rd at the Double Door under the name "Audio Vanguard Association" with The Frogs as the opener.
The Frogs came out in a drag mock Pumpkins' outfit.
July 1997-"TEITBITE" earns the band 4 nominations for the MTV VMA awards.
August 1997-TIG insurance sued the band for $200,000 for supposedly damaging equipment during a
show in Rochester, NY on the 26th of January.
Fall 1997-Throughout the fall they would be doing early recordings for Adore. These sessions, for the
the most part were originally scrapped but were later incorporated into the album.
September 1997-On the 5th at the MTV VMA awards, the band doesn't win any of the awards they
were nominated for.
October 1997-On the 7th, The Very Special Christmas 3 compilation was released with one SP song,
"Christmastime". The band performed at the Bridge School benefit on the 18th and 19th. They played
three new songs, "Ava Adore", "To Sheila", and "Behold! The Night Mare". SP was also joined at
different times by Marilyn MansonTwiggy Ramirez, and John Popper(Blues Traveler). The band gave
the widow of Jonathan Melvoin, Laura, a settlement of $10,001 after she sued the band on behalf of
of her 4 month old son. She said that the band should have made sure Jonathan wasn't taking drugs.
November 3,1997-The Pumpkins did a suprise opening for Jane's Addicition at the Aragon Ballroom in
Chicago, dressed in drag.
December 5,1997- Matt Walker played his last show with the Pumpkins tojoin his new band, The
Cupcakes.
During the year the Pumpkins played some tour dates as one of the openers for the
Rolling Stones.
