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The Latest Breaking News from Pumpkins

Alien-shred, Brit-rock royalty, one blues icon and a hardcore superstar: here are Guitar World's Guitarists of the Year 2025

All the players who rocked our world, in the year of Oasis reunions, Black Sabbath farewells, and guitarists keeping their shoulder to the evolutionary wheel of guitar playing

Guitar World

“His deep commitment to innovation and artistic evolution places him among the most distinctive and influential musical architects of the last three decades”: Which '90s rock guitarist is set to be honoured at the NAMM show in January?

He will be this year’s recipient of the TEC Innovation award

MusicRadar

“The moment I discovered what it feels like to teach yourself a riff that you love, I was hooked. It feels like you're riding the universe”: Hole and Smashing Pumpkins' Melissa Auf der Maur reveals the bassists who compelled her to pick up the instrument

The ’90s bass icon pays homage to the other women in the scene at the time – and recalls how seeing them onstage was a total game-changer for her

Guitar World

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"When we would align, it was powerful." Billy Corgan praises estranged bassist D’arcy Wretzky's contributions to the Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins mainman appears to extend olive branch to bassist with whom he's waged longstanding war of words

Louder

“Turned each band member’s concept into reality”: The Smashing Pumpkins designed some wild Yamaha guitars to celebrate their first gigs in Japan in 12 years – and they were played live

The guitars designed by Billy Corgan, Kiki Wong, James Iha and Jack Bates are now on display

Guitar World

“M***********, you stole my guitar sound!”: the classic Nirvana song that another major 90s artist says ripped him off

This grunge icon reckons Kurt Cobain & co.’s biggest hit smells less like Teen Spirit and more like they nicked his guitar sound

Louder

"He said, ‘Kid, it’s a smash! You gotta trust me!’ I thought he was crazy." The Smashing Pumpkins classic Billy Corgan thought was "stupid" - and that his own label boss had to talk him round on

Praise be for the persuasive powers of the music exec who brought Corgan round to his way of thinking

Louder

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“Once we blew apart in 1996, we were never quite the same”: Smashing Pumpkins announce 30th anniversary edition of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

The Chicago rockers’ masterpiece double album will come with an additional disc of previously-unreleased live recordings unearthed by Billy Corgan

Louder

11 sublimely mellow Smashing Pumpkins cuts

Despite all their rage, sometimes Billy Corgan & co. made some of the most perfectly tranquil music of the 90s

Louder

“Whether or not my fingers bled, I don't remember”: Billy Corgan on the making of Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness – and how one of its biggest hits nearly didn’t make the record

With no let-up for 86 days straight, Mellon Collie was the double album that spooked the label, pushed Corgan to the limit, and would become the ’90s own White Album. This is its story

Guitar World

The 10 best B-side albums

Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Oasis, The Smiths, Deftones, the Manics and more all had classics going spare, as these superlative compilations prove

Louder

“Our riffs are unconventional because we don’t know what key anything is in. Most guitar players wouldn’t admit that”: From Billy Corgan to Big Thief, how Momma became one of alt-rock’s most addictive bands

On album number four, Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten find themselves at their most autobiographical, searching deep to channel the music – and employing pedals with secret powers

Guitar World

“Isaw Kiki’s name, I stopped and thought, ‘Wait… I think I follow her on Instagram.’ …I was like, ‘Oh, that’s that person I really like’”: Billy Corgan and Kiki Wong on the guitar chemistry behind Smashing Pumpkins’ new era

How bonding over Dimebag Darrell and dressing like “Rob Halford's cousin” helped turn Wong into a Pumpkin overnight

Guitar World

Sometimes bands shouldn’t be trusted to revisit their own material, as the latest Smashing Pumpkins reissue set proves

Billy Corgan has made the band's 2000 Machina project even bigger and more bombastic when it needed toning down, not blowing up

Louder

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Metal Hammer

Billy Corgan joins My Chemical Romance for Smashing Pumpkins cover in Chicago

Smashing Pumpkins frontman is surprise guest for My Chemical Romance's cover of Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Guitar World

“She's got that thing that I could never do – I have to cheat”: Billy Corgan reveals the technique Kiki Wong can do on guitar that’s beyond him

Wong was handpicked by Corgan and co. from over 10,000 applicants to join the Smashing Pumpkins, and it's safe to say she's been a powerhouse addition to the lineup

Guitar World

The all-new October 2025 Guitar World – where Smashing Pumpkins and Sex Pistols mingle openly with Carlos Santana and Khruangbin

Featuring new interviews with Billy Corgan, Kiki Wong, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, Zakk Wylde, the Beach Boys' Al Jardine, Inhaler's Josh Jenkinson and dynamic duos from Khruangbin, Momma, the Voidz and Phoneboy

Guitar World

“I actually prefer people who play bass with their fingers. A pick has to be used just right to not blunt the guitar attack”:Billy Corgan takes us inside the zeitgeist of his low-end studio work with the Smashing Pumpkins

One of the most influential guitarists of his generation, Billy Corgan has also written and recorded the bass tracks on almost every album in the entirety of the Smashing Pumpkins’ history

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Guitar World

“I apologize for the broken beer bottle that was thrown at him”: Melissa Auf der Maur surprises fans as she reunites with Billy Corgan to perform a Smashing Pumpkins classic

The bassist linked up with the alt-rock titans for the final song of the night in Montreal

Louder

Why the Adore tour was the messiest, most all-over-the-shop moment in Smashing Pumpkins’ history (and it’s not just because some bloke wee’d on my foot at one of the gigs)

Billy Corgan & co. totally lost the plot in the bid to try and replace Jimmy Chamberlin in 1998. Two words: "percussion solo".

Louder

"They are bigger than the Ramones. Their influence is greater, their reach is greater, and certainly their success is greater." Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan on the punk band he believes has eclipsed the Ramones

Billy Corgan shares his respect and admiration for some old friends

Guitar World

“Distortion, distortion, gain and more gain were my digs before I joined the Smashing Pumpkins. But they’ve introduced me to a whole new world of pedals”: Kiki Wong on her life-changing audition, and what she's learned from Billy Corgan and James Iha

Wong enjoyed a high-profile on social media and maybe that would have been enough. But when Billy Corgan called an open audition, she beat 9,999 others to live out her grunge dreams as guitar player for the Smashing Pumpkins

Guitar World

“Smashing Pumpkins taught me that music doesn’t have to fit neatly into a box… it’s not as easy as pie. It’s pie with a side of metal!” Billy Corgan asked Jenna Fournier to go back to bass, and she says the timing is perfect

The guitarist-vocalist’s band Niights, solo project Kid Tigrrr, and visual arts projects are one thing, but hitting the stage as part of Corgan’s Machines of God band as a four-stringer is another

Guitar World

“I had big shoes to fill, but I knew I had a lot to offer on my own. I think Billy Corgan saw that in me”: From Veruca Salt to the Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage, Nicole Fiorentino has become alt-rock's go-to bassist

Traditionally a tube amp user, the Reverend Decision fan is hitting the Helix-powered stage with Shirley Manson and co., with in-ear monitors and no pedals – and delivering her own bass take on the band's classics

Guitar World

“I still use the Strat and Big Muff sound here and there for overdubs, but when I watched Eddie Van Halen play 3 feet in front of me, I learned that it’s about the hands”: Billy Corgan on critics, tone secrets, and how he keeps Smashing Pumpkins fresh

Aghori Mhori Mei sees Corgan and co. finding a fresh perspective in revisiting gear and writing approaches from the past, and – “for a change!” says Corgan – fans and media alike are loving it

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