The Smashing Pumpkins albums ranked: From worst to best

The Smashing Pumpkins are a complex band. They’ve written some of the greatest alternative-rock songs of all time, but they’ve constantly refused to play by the rules. Tracks like “Tonight, Tonight,” “1979,” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” are as important to rock as anthems from their peers in Nirvana, Weezer, Pearl Jam, and Green Day, but ambitious double albums often acted as a roadblock, stopping casual fans from becoming die-hards. 

Billy Corgan and co. never let that put them off, though — their back catalog being a series of ambitious, theatrical, occasionally bizarre albums that cover everything from urgent rock ‘n’ roll to freewheeling jazz. 

Read more: Every Foo Fighters album ranked: From worst to best

They’ve also gone through many iterations. Original bassist D’arcy Wretzky left the group in 1999 before the entire band broke up in 2000; then in 2006, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin reunited, only for Chamberlain to leave again in 2009 while Corgan kept Smashing Pumpkins going. Finally in 2018, Chamberlain officially rejoined, along with guitarist James Iha, before the release of a new album and setting out on tour.

Most recently, the band released their latest album Atum, which acts as a sequel to 1995’s double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God. See, we told you it was complex. To help make things easier, we ranked the Smashing Pumpkins’ complete discography.

The Smashing Pumpkins albums ranked

Martha's Music/Reprise Records

10. Zeitgeist (2007)

Zeitgeist is the black sheep of the Smashing Pumpkins’ back catalog. Released in 2007 by the recently reunited band featuring Corgan and Chamberlin, Zeitgeist is a no-frills punk record that seemingly takes heavy influence from Green Day’s American Idiot. Snotty and to-the-point, but without the theatrics fans had come to expect from the Smashing Pumpkins, the excitement about the band’s return quickly diminished. “The mindset of the record was to put our best foot forward and not get too artsy,” Chamberlain said at the time. Hoping to speak to a new generation of fans with something urgent and accessible, it’s a record stuck between worlds. (Perhaps that’s the reason it’s not currently available to stream.)

Martha's Music

9. Oceania (2012) and Monuments to an Elegy (2014)

Following the departure of Chamberlin in 2009, the Smashing Pumpkins recruited an ever-shifting lineup that, at different points, featured members of the Killers, Rage Against the Machine, Mötley Crüe, and Madina Lake. At the same time, Corgan announced plans to release a 44-song album to be titled Teargarden By Kaleidyscope for free, one song at a time. 2012’s Oceania was an album within an album, with 2014’s Monuments to an Elegy making up the second part of their Teargarden By Kaleidyscope project. However the third and final installment Day For Night was abandoned, after criticism that the project was confused. There are moments of brilliance across this era, but with Corgan wrestling with the weight of expectation without a solid foundation, all that ambition quickly fell apart.

Martha's Music/Sumerian

8. Cyr (2020)

Following an epic tour celebrating three quarters of the original lineup returning and the comfortable SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN., the Smashing Pumpkins took a left turn. A 20-track double album, Cyr is an optimistic synth-pop record that couldn’t be further from the doom and gloom the band is famed for. Corgan described the synth-heavy sound as his attempt to prove that the Smashing Pumpkins could be a modern band that still had something to say. Despite the 72-minute run-time, though, there’s not a whole lot of depth to this polished, space-pop record.

Constantinople

7. Machina/The Machines of God and Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (2000)

A concept album about a rock star named Zero hearing the voice of God, Machina was designed to let the Smashing Pumpkins play up to the caricatures the media had apparently turned them into. Taking everything to the extreme, Machina is super ambitious and super dynamic. Released shortly before the band broke up for the first time, it’s basically a Greatest Hits album, driven by a newfound confidence. Corgan originally wanted Machina to be a double album, but after the disappointing sales of 1998’s Adore, they refused and Machina II was given away to fans to share amongst themselves. An 80-track reissue is due out at some point in the near future, which will perhaps give Machina the respect it never got at the time. 

Caroline Records

6. Gish (1991)

Gish is a highly focused debut album that saw the Smashing Pumpkins blend the heavy, visceral riffs of Black Sabbath with the more emotional introspection of the Cure, cut with moments of grunge and psychedelia. It might sound messy on paper, but the 10-track record is perhaps the Smashing Pumpkins at their most distilled. The likes of “I Am One” and “Rhinoceros” have an early-career flicker of theatrical grandstanding that went on to become the band’s signature trick, while the urgency of “Snail” and “Crush” shaped the band’s most iconic songs. 

Napalm Records

5. SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. (2018)

At only eight tracks long, SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT isn’t really an album. Even Billy Corgan has disputed its status as a full-length — but it’s simply too good to ignore, so here we are. Fresh from a triumphant reunion tour that celebrated the Smashing Pumpkins’ storied origins, the band went into the studio to make this record. Despite not having worked together since 2000, there’s no apprehension or awkwardness on SHINY. Instead, the eight songs offer a glimpse of the magic that once was, without succumbing to nostalgia. There’s a touch of Oasis’ swagger to opener “Knights of Malta,” while “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)” sees the band embracing their own legacy. “Solara” and “Marchin’ On” are driven by a familiar rage before beauty shines through on the hammering “Seek and You Shall Destroy.” A fine return from a band who’d spent years in the wilderness.

Martha's Music/Thirty Tigers

4. Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts (2023)

Nothing says “for the fans” like a triple album continuing the story of a record originally released over 20 years ago. But Atum is far from a nostalgic cash-in. Continuing the urgency of SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT with a dash of Cyr’s desire to stay relevant, Atum sees the Smashing Pumpkins return to guitar-driven theatrics. Recorded over two years and with plans being drawn up long before that, there’s a considered narrative to Atum that’s been missing from recent Pumpkins albums. The record swings confidently between fury, apathy, hope, and beauty in a way that feels unpredictable but never jarring. Like the best records from this band, Atum goes in a million different directions and gleefully sits opposing ideas next to each other. That ambition often pays off though. After years of back and forth, Atum is a true return to iconic form. 

Virgin Records

3. Adore (1998)

A string of successful albums in the early ‘90s had turned the Smashing Pumpkins into superstars — but Corgan would later say Adore was made by a group “falling apart.” They weren’t getting on as a band and there were big questions about the future. It didn’t help that Corgan lost his mother and his marriage broke down around the same time.

The Smashing Pumpkins responded with Adore, a bleak, electronic-driven album that rebelled against everything people thought they knew about the band. It was divisive and only sold half as many copies as Mellon Collie, but it ensured the Smashing Pumpkins were more than another grunge band. It’s gone on to become a fan favorite, while tracks like “Ava Adore,” “Perfect,” and “Pug” remain some of the most effecting songs the band have ever created. 

Virgin Records

2. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)

After tentatively dialing up the confidence between their first and second albums, the Smashing Pumpkins went all in with the ambitious double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, which was described by Corgan as Pink Floyd’s The Wall for a new generation. The opening title track is a lush, piano-driven instrumental before the reflective “Tonight, Tonight” kicks in. Over the next two hours, the 28-tracks of Mellon Collie range from ferocious alt-rock anthems like “Zero” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” to haunting moments of introspection (“Thirty-Three”). The menacing “X.Y.U” is a prog-rock breakdown that sits comfortably at unhinged, while fuzzy electronic tracks like “1979” hinted at where the band would go next. Driven by a familiar teenage angst, but refusing to settle into the ever-growing grunge scene that was rapidly taking over the world, Mellon Collie was the first time the Smashing Pumpkins really shook things up. A critical and commercial success, it gave the band the belief to shake things up time and time again.

Virgin Records

1. Siamese Dream (1993)

After the game-changing release of Nirvana’s Nevermind, the Smashing Pumpkins were set to become “the next Nirvana” after the release of their debut album. Rather than wanting more of the same, though, Siamese Dream saw the band out to carve their own lane. A vicious grunge album driven by a genuine aspiration for greatness, Siamese Dream almost destroyed the Smashing Pumpkins before they even got going — but Corgan turned that friction into a strength, writing candidly about his own insecurities. It went on to sell over 6 million copies and is probably one of the greatest alternative-rock albums of all time. While later albums would be hindered by Pumpkins’ quest to go against the grain, on Siamese Dream, that fierce rebellion gave a voice to a generation quickly becoming disillusioned. From the sarcastic opening number “Cherub Rock” to the troubled “Today,” the Smashing Pumpkins tapped into unspoken and complicated feelings of apathy, isolation, and anxiety, and twisted them into a snarling rallying cry. 30 years on, it’s as powerful as ever.