1998-
Early 1998-With production by Flood and Brad Wood, and the assistance of others, the band records
the bulk of Adore and mixing is done.
January 15, 1998-James and Billy play solo acoustic sets at LA's Viper Room. James opens with four
songs from his upcoming album. Billy followed with ten songs that included "1979", songs from Adore,
as well as two songs that would not be released till much later:"Blissed and Gone", and "Let Me Give
The World To You".
February 1998-On the 10th, James' solo album, Let It Come Down was released. On the 22nd, James
started a small tour to promote his solo album. Virgin filed a lawsuit against the Pumpkins on the 24th
for such things as breach of contract. They won "Best Hard Rock Performance" for "TEIBITE" on the
26th at the Grammies.
March 1998-The band sued Sound and Media Ltd. for the unauthorized release of a interview book
and a CD of a 1991 interview with Billy and Jimmy. This was a book by Jim Stapelton, which was
released in 1994 and later released in a new package in 1996. They won the terms to their existing
contract with Virgin Records.
April 1998-In Spin magzine's "Top 40 Vital Artists of the Year", the Pumpkins came in at #18, sixteen
spots down from last year. It was officially announced that Kenny Aronoff would be the drummer for
the band during their Adore tour, supported by 2 other percussionists. At the end of the month, Lisa
Germano, a violinist joined the Pumpkins for the tour.
May 1998-On the 2nd, the band opened for Cheap Trick at the Chicago Metro. Billy, D'arcy, and
Kenny Aronoff joined Cheap Trick at on time or another during the show. SP played "Ava Adore",
"Daphne Descends",and "Once Upon A Time" on Later with Jools Holland on the 12th in the UK. The
"Ava Adore" single with the b-sides, "Czarina" and "Once In A While", was released on the 18th in the
UK. The single was was later released in North America, which was sometime in June. Lisa Germano
wasdischarged from the tour. The band shot the "Ava Adore" video.
June 1998-June 2 marked the release of the Pumpkins new album, Adore. On June 30, the band began
their charity tour in San Francisco.
July 1998-On the 7th, the Pumpkins played a charity show at the World Music Theater for their
10th anniversary. It was originally supposed to be a free show in Grant Park but the mayor of Chicago
declined. They appeared on Modern Rock Live, a radio show, to do an interview on the 9th. The band
appeared on the Rockline radio show to do an interview and answer fans questions on the 13th. On
the 17th, two years after the firing of Jimmy Chamberlin, the Pumpkins performed their only free concert
in the US, for the Minneapolis Aquatennial festival. The day was dubbed "Smashing Pumpkins Day" in
Minneapolis and they played to an estimated 75,000-150,000 people.The band performed on Muchmusic's
Intimate and Interactive on the 19th, there was some technical difficulties during the show. Puff Daddy
was reported to have done remixes for "Ava Adore" and "Perfect". They filmed the "Perfect" video in LA
on the 26th. On the 30th, the Pumpkins made an appearance on David Letterman. They played a short
show on 53rd street, which began with "Perfect", the song was broadcast on the show.
August 1998-On the 3rd, Billy Corgan did an indepth interview on Charlie Rose, which was on PBS. The
band was on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee on the 4th. They played "Perfect" and did a short interview.
short interview. It was announced that they would be playing again later in the show but the whole thing
wasn't broadcast. During Showbiz Today on CNN on the 10th, the Pumpkins did an interview talking about
lacking record sales and so on. An interview with James and Billy was shown on the 11th, on The New
Music on Muchmusic. It was shown earlier in the month on City TV, which Muchmusic is a division of.
September 1998-On the 7th, the two Perfect UK singles were released. UK single 1 includes two extra
tracks, "Summer", which is by James Iha, and "Perfect (Nellee Main Mix)". UK single 2 also has two extra
tracks, "Perfect(Oakenfold Perfecto Mix)" and "Daphne Descends (Kerry B. Remix)". The Perfect European
Maxi single was also released on the 7th. The track listing included the studio version,the Nellee Main Mix,
Nellee Instrumental Mix, Oakenfold Perfecto Mix, Oakenfold Electro Backbeat Mix, and Oakenold Dub Mix.
The Perfect US single was released on the 22nd. It included the extra tracks, "Summer" and "Daphne
Descends(Kerry B. Mix). The Smashing Pumpkins performed "Ava Adore" to kick of The Muchmusic Video
Awards on the 24th. They also received a special award called the "Road Warrior" award. On the 26th,
they appeared on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live and performed "Perfect". Afterwards they
appeared in a skit with the Butabi Brothers (Chris Katan and Will Ferrell) and "Those Wild and Crazy Guys"
(Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd). Billy said one line twice to Cameron Diaz's chartacter "Celeste, may I
have this dance?" and he was rejected everytime for the two duos.
October 1998-It was reported that the Pumpkins raised $2,686,973.59 for charity during their charity
tour in support of Adore. "Crestfallen" was confirmed as the next single and the promotional release
for it was set for November 3. They were nominated for Best Rock Act for the MTV Europe Music
Video Awards. The band was also nominated for Album of the Year by Q Magazine; Billy was nominated
nominated for Best Producer for Hole's Celebrity Skin as well. It was also reported that Billy among
others made contributions as a guest musician on the new Garbage album, which is being done during
their tour. This seems to have only been a rumour. On October 27th, the Pumpkins performed
"Crestfallen" at the VH1 Fashion Awards. Billy played the piano for the song. They were also nominated
for Most Stylish Video for "Ava Adore" for the VH1 Awards but they didn't win. The 31st marked the
bands opening for Kiss at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. They came out as The Beatles, opening with
song "Money(It's All I Want)" (a song also covered by The Beatles). The rest of the setlist was: "Zero"
"Ava Adore", "Eye", "Tear", "Today", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "Thru the Eyes of Ruby", a new song
called "Cash Car Star", and "X.Y.U.". The concert was on a webcast at Pepsi.com and "Cash Car Star"
was shown on FOX as well during their presentation of the Kiss concert.
November 1998-The promo release for "Crestfallen" was released on the 3rd. On the 6th, Billy was
interviewed on the Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.
December 1998-On the 12th, Billy Corgan performed at the Shrine Auditorium for KROQ's Almost
Acoustic Christmas. A very interesting setlist:"One Less Moment","Today","To Sheila", "1979", "Rotten
Apples","Perfect","Ava Adore","If There Is A God","Shame","Muzzle", and "Disarm". He also sang and
played lead guitar on "Never Let Me Down Again" during Depeche Mode's set. The Pumpkins were
scheduled to play at White House on the 17th (on TNT on the 20th) for the Very Special Christmas
Benefit but Billy apparently cancelled. In Rolling Stone's year end issue, Adore was rated one of the
"Albums that mattered in 1998" and it was rated #10 on "Rolling Stone Readers Top 40 For 1998".
