We’re experiencing another beautiful autumn day, but this one falls on the birthday of one of the greatest alt rock albums of all time.
Happy 26th birthday to the Smashing Pumpkins third studio album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The band recorded the album from March of 1995 to August of 1995 and released it on October 24th, 1995.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness reached number one in 1995 on the Australian Albums chart, Canadian Albums chart, New Zealand Albums chart, Swedish Albums chart, Canadian Albums chart, and the U.S. Billboard 200.
In addition to its many number one placements, it was number two on the Belgium Albums chart, number three on the Irish Albums chart, and number four on the UK albums chart and European Albums chart in 1995.
The album ended the 1990’s as the eightieth best album of the decade and when the band released the remastered album, it reached twenty two on the U.S. Billboard chart and number one on the U.S. Vinyl Album chart.
One of the most interesting facts about the album is that it was recorded as a double sided album originally with two names for the sides, Dawn to Dusk and Twilight to Starlight.
The vinyl version was broken up into six parts and featured two unreleased songs "Tonite Reprise" and "Infinite Sadness”. The addition of these two songs rearranged the order of songs.
Now fast forward to 2012, the album was remastered and re-released as a 6 disc edition, with 3 bonus discs of music and a DVD and also on 4 vinyl LPs which contained the regular CD track order instead of the original LP order.
This album was a cultural phenomenon with songs that ranged from light rock like 1979 and Today to songs that would be on your gym playlist like Bullet With Butterfly Wings.
In my opinion, it’s a top five Alt Rock album to ever exist.
Happy 26th Birthday to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.