The Smashing Pumpkins

A large fan site currently offers all of them: http://www.billy-corgan.com/downloads/mp3/mashed_potatoes/index.php . This edition of the band also toured extensively as part of a '70s rock nostalgia package through the early 2000s. With Billy's blessing, the 5-disc set, along with many other demos, can today be downloaded on various sites throughout the web. A version of Styx featuring Shaw, Gowan, and sole remaining original member James Young released an album called Cyclorama in February, 2003. A very limited-release boxed set of rarities (fewer than 10 copies are rumored to have been produced) was distributed to friends by Corgan in 1994; known as Mashed Potatoes, this set has achieved near-legendary status among fans. DeYoung continued his solo career (his biggest solo album was "Desert Moon"), and Chuck Panozzo announced he was HIV positive in 2001. In addition to official releases, there are a wide variety of bootleg and rare tracks circulating on the web. Chuck Panozzo also left at this time - partly out of loyalty to DeYoung, and also to mourn his brother's death (Glen Burtnik returned to fill Chuck's bass duties).

D'arcy Wretzky has not made any statements or appearances since leaving the band in 1999. Before he had a chance to return to the group - whose members were perfectly willing to wait for him to recover - DeYoung found himself replaced by Lawrence Gowan on the record company's insistence that the band begin touring again as soon as possible. James Iha continues his work as guitarist with A Perfect Circle. DeYoung was further hindered in attempts to reform due to a strange viral illness which made him excessively sensitive to light. At the same time, Jimmy Chamberlin has completed work on his first solo album, entitled The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. Once again, though, personality conflicts drove the band members apart. He is also publicly open with his work on a new solo album, even requesting fans to attend live taping sessions. Continuing with Todd Sucherman replacing Panozzo, Styx's reunion tour was a success and the band soon released a new album Brave New World (1999).

In October, 2004, Corgan released his first book, a book of poetry entitled Blinking with Fists. The entire band reunited in 1996 for a tour, but John Panozzo was unable to participate due to problems with alcohol that killed him soon after. On June 3, 2004, he added that "the depth of my hurt [from Iha] is only matched with the depth of my gratitude". The new line-up released one album, Edge of the Century, before once again disbanding. On February 17, 2004, Billy Corgan posted a bitter message on his personal blog calling Wretzky a "mean spirited drug addict" and blaming Iha for the breakup of The Smashing Pumpkins. In 1990, with Shaw achieving some success with Damn Yankees, the remaining elements of Styx reformed with Glen Burtnik replacing Shaw. Their only album, Mary Star of the Sea, was released to mixed reviews, and after cancelling a few festival appearances Corgan announced the demise of the band in 2003. Shaw formed Damn Yankees in 1989 with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone.

Corgan and Chamberlin would reunite in 2001 as members of Corgan's next project, the shortlived Zwan. DeYoung released several successful solo albums centered around pop ballads and soft rock tunes, and James Young attempted a solo career with limited success. This is excluded because the rights are owned by Warner Brothers, who loaned out the band from their regular label, Virgin Records.). By 1985, this most-successful version of Styx had disbanded and the members had moved onto moderately successful solo careers. (There is one notable omission, "The End Is the Beginning Is the End", used in the Batman and Robin soundtrack. Roboto" and DeYoung's power ballad "Don't Let It End". It also features the performance of "Fuck You (An Ode To No One)" from their final gig at the Metro. Kilroy did contain several hits, including the synthesizer-based "Mr.

It compiled all of the Pumpkins promo videos from Gish to MACHINA, the rare promo for "I Am One", a 15 minute short film called "Try" as well as a TV performance of "Geek U.S.A.". Kilroy sold well and was the centerpiece of an ambitious and theatrical stage show; however, the album and tour were a critical disaster and brought the tensions within the band to a breaking point. A greatest hits DVD was also released around the same time. Critics said that the concept behind the album was still very murky; several band members themselves admitted to not really getting it. The now rare double disc version of the album, released as a limited edition, included a B-sides/rarities collection called Judas O. The band followed DeYoung's lead with their next project, Kilroy Was Here: another, more fully-realized concept album, this one set in a future where music itself has been outlawed. 2001 saw the release of a posthumous greatest hits compilation, Rotten Apples (Greatest Hits), which included various singles spanning their decade long career. On the success of the ballad "Babe", Styx founder DeYoung had been pushing for a more theatrical and pop-oriented direction, while Shaw favored a harder-edged approach.

The Smashing Pumpkins won many awards during their careers (including two Grammy awards: Hard Rock Performance 1996 for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", and Hard Rock Performance 1997 for "The End Is the Beginning Is the End"), headlined several major tours, appeared on a few movie soundtracks and released an impressive number of songs in a fairly short time. During this period of greatest success, the band, particularly DeYoung and Shaw, began to be affected by interpersonal tensions. A DVD of the 4 hour concert is still in the works. In 1980, Styx released Paradise Theater, a loose concept album that became their biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard pop albums chart and yielding five top-40 singles including the top 10 hits "The Best Of Times" and "Too Much Time on My Hands". On December 2, 2000, Smashing Pumpkins played their final concert at The Metro, the same Chicago club where their career had effectively started twelve years earlier. Through the late 1970s the band enjoyed its greatest success, with the album releases Pieces of Eight (1978) finding the group moving in a more straight-ahead pop-rock direction and spawning the hit singles "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man", and Cornerstone (1979) yielding the group's first number one hit, the DeYoung ballad "Babe", as well as their biggest international hit, "Boat on the River". The Smashing Pumpkins' final commercial recording was a single, "Untitled". The first album with Shaw, Crystal Ball (1976), was moderately successful, and its followup, The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough hit, going platinum and spawning a top-ten hit and AOR radio staple in "Come Sail Away".

In a first for an established band, the group's final album, MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, was released in September 2000 in a limited pressing on vinyl with permission and instructions for free redistribution on the internet by fans. Following the move to A&M, Curulewski left the band, replaced by singer and guitarist Tommy Shaw. In May 2000, Billy Corgan announced the band's decision to break up at the end of that year following additional touring and recording. On the heels of its belated hit single, Styx signed with A&M Records and released Equinox (1975), which sold well and yielded a minor hit in "Lorelei". Bass player Wretzky departed after the recording of MACHINA/The Machines of God, and former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited for the "Sacred and Profane" tour in support of the album. In the spring of 1975, nearly two years after the album it came from was released, "Lady" hit the top ten, and Styx II went gold soon after. The band's lineup changed again at this point. On the strength of these releases and constant playing in local clubs and schools, the band established a fan base in the Chicago area, but was unable to break into the mainstream until an early song, the power ballad "Lady" (from Styx II) began to earn some radio time, first in Chicago and then nation-wide.

MACHINA also brought Corgan's desire to write a concept album to fruition. The band's Wooden Nickel recordings, Styx (1972), Styx II (1973), The Serpent Is Rising (1974) and Man of Miracles (also 1974) were a mixture of straight-ahead rock with some dramatic prog-rock flourishes and art-rock aspirations. The return of a rehabilitated Jimmy Chamberlin for 2000's MACHINA/The Machines of God signaled a return to a more familiar Pumpkins sound, but failed to widely connect with fans. Changing their name briefly to TW4, the band added guitarists James Young and John Curulewski, and were soon signed to Wooden Nickel Records, under the name Styx. Although Adore received quite favorable reviews and was nominated for Best Alternative Performance at the Grammys, the album sold only 3 million copies. This earliest line-up of the group included singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, and a rhythm section comprised of brothers Chuck and John Panozzo. Corgan also modified his public image, shedding his alternative hipster look for a dark Gothic persona, and began hanging around Marilyn Manson. The group originally formed in the Chicago area in the late 1960s as The Tradewinds.

The record was cut using drum machines and was distinctly experimental. Styx was an American rock and roll band popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. Recorded following the death of Corgan's mother, 1998's Adore represented a significant change of style from the Pumpkins' previous guitar based rock, veering into electronica, trimming much of the guitar-driven sonic underpinnings and infused with a much heavier mood. 200- The Big Bang Theory. Billy Corgan became something of a hate figure amongst the hard rock press following a statement in which he declared rock to be dead. He stated that Mellon Collie would be the last Pumpkins record of that type, and that rock was, for himself at least, becoming stale due to a lack of willingness to experiment from other rock artists. 2003 Cyclorama. Though the band finished the tour with another drummer and keyboardist, their profile had taken a marked downturn. 2003 21st Century Live (live).

Chamberlin was subsequently fired from the band. Louis (live). Melvoin died, and Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession. 2002 At the River's Edge: Live in St. The band's fortunes changed significantly on July 12, 1996, when touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin and Chamberlin overdosed on heroin in a hotel room in New York City. 2001 Styx World: Live 2001 (live). Its hit songs included "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "Tonight, Tonight," "1979" and "Zero." Many of the remaining songs that, for one reason or another, did not make it onto Mellon Collie were released as B-sides to the singles, eventually compiled in the now out of print The Aeroplane Flies High box set. 2000 Arch Allies: Live at Riverport (live) (with REO Speedwagon).