Smashing Pumpkins are set to reissue their classic debut album, ‘Gish’ on vinyl for its 35th anniversary – check out all the details below.
The reissue will arrive on May 29 to coincide with the original release date 35 years ago in 1991. There will be multiple new variants of the album available and you can pre-order yours here.
The Smashing Pumpkins recorded ‘Gish’ with producer and Garbage drummer Butch Vig at Smart Studios. Combining rock, metal, psychedelia, pop, and shoegaze, it was released on May 28 1991 and went on to become one of the most successful independent releases of the decade.
The 10-track album eventually went Platinum and featured songs including ‘I Am One’, ‘Siva’ and ‘Rhinoceros.’
Frontman Billy Corgan will be selling a colour vinyl housed in the original 1991 packaging via his ‘Madame ZuZu’ emporium. Other independent record stores will stock this too with the special edition also featuring “a limited-edition colour-way evoking the classic cover,” according to a statement. This will be pressed on 180-gram grey vinyl.
Fans will also be able to purchase a standard black 180-gram vinyl in the original 1991 packaging.
Check out the post and track listing below:
Tracklist – ‘Gish’
Side One
1 – ‘I Am One’
2 – ‘Siva’
3 – ‘Rhinoceros’
4 – ‘Bury Me’
5 – ‘Crush’
Side Two
1 – ‘Suffer’
2 – ‘Snail’
3 – ‘Tristessa’
4 – ‘Window Paine’
5 – ‘Daydream’
Recently, Yungblud teamed up with The Smashing Pumpkins for a rocked-up rendition of his hit ‘Zombie’.
The reimagined version sees the Doncaster singer-songwriter (aka Dom Harrison) swapping vocals with Corgan over roaring guitars on the hit from his recent album ‘IDOLS’.
“Yungblud’s star shines bright, so it’s been great fun to lend our zig-zag voice to his ‘Zombie’ which he’s said was inspired by one of our own”, Corgan said of the track. “Hence the encouragement that we make this rendition as personal as possible and I’m proud to say we’ve done that; if only to honour him in return.”
Yungblud added: “‘Siamese Dream’ was an album that was there for me more than I could ever explain when I was growing so to be making music with the band that created it is really quite hard to comprehend. Billy has always been such a massive inspiration to me but more recently a huge mentor of mine. His outlook on the importance of truth in art is something that I’ve always held close to my heart.”
Recently, Corgan named his pick for the second most influential band of the 20th century – after The Beatles.
The frontman was a guest on a recent episode of the YouTube series Track Star, where he was quizzed on a range of bands that the host considered to be among the greatest of all time. After hearing an excerpt of one song in particular, Corgan made the bold claim that only the Fab Four have had a greater impact on music than the artist he had just listened to.
The song was ‘Disorder’, the opening track of ‘Unknown Pleasures’ – the debut album from Manchester post-punk giants Joy Division. “So, I’ve argued for a good 20 years that probably outside of The Beatles, Joy Division is the most influential rock band of the 20th century,” Corgan said.
“I think it sort of speaks for itself. They sort of crystallised post-punk in a way that no bands ever did and they became the template for so many bands that followed.”
Expanding on his claim, he added: “It’s pop music not made for a pop market and that’s why people are still listening. But where does that music go? They had what, one big song, maybe, which is ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart.’ But I just think they’re one of the greatest bands of all-time and it’s such an easy case for me to make that I don’t know how to make it.”
Corgan has spoken admiringly about Joy Division and New Order in the past, and was credited as a special guest vocalist on the latter’s 2001 song ‘Turn My Way’. He went on to briefly tour with them for a short run that year at some UK, US and Japan dates.
Last year, Corgan appeared on a podcast about the history of New Order and explained why he felt the band’s “alien quality” landed so well with Generation X music fans in the US.
In other news, The Smashing Pumpkins recently kicked off a seven-night takeover of Lyric Opera House in their Chicago hometown, at which they are reimagining ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’ alongside a 60-piece house orchestra.
The band also recently released the 30th anniversary deluxe reissue of ‘Mellon Collie’, which included a 6LP package that offered over 80 minutes of unreleased audio from the album’s accompanying 1996 tour.
Speaking to NME back in February, Corgan touched on ‘Mellon Collie’ turning 30 and joked: “It’s weird because I can’t believe it’s been 30 years. I’m really excited, but at the same time, I’m like ‘What happened over these last 30 years?’”