Smashing Pumpkins Songs Ranked

The Smashing Pumpkins (or Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman Billy Corgan (lead vocals, guitar), D’arcy Wretzky (bass), James Iha (guitar), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums), the band has undergone many line-up changes. The current lineup features Corgan, Chamberlin, Iha, and guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Disavowing the punk rock roots of many of their alt-rock contemporaries, they have a diverse, densely layered, and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, shoegazing, and electronica in later recordings. n 2006, Corgan and Chamberlin reconvened to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. After touring throughout 2007 and 2008 with a lineup including new guitarist Jeff Schroeder, Chamberlin left the band in early 2009. Later that year, Corgan began a new recording series with a rotating lineup of musicians entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which encompassed the release of stand-alone singles, compilation EP releases, and two full albums that also fell under the project’s scope—Oceania in 2012 and Monuments to an Elegy in 2014. Here are all Smashing Pumpkins songs ranked.

Don’t miss out on the Smashing Pumpkins music below! Click to experience authentic Alternative rock songs.

20. Ava Adore (Adore, 1998)

“What a fantastic start, what a great rhythm! One of my favorite music ever made! The beat is very awesome, it’s like a cyber-swamp fantasy ambience.”

19. Quiet (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“That incredible solo! That riff! The screaming vocals live! It made me pick up the guitar back in the days and made me a definite Pumpkins fan. One of their best, albeit on their out-of-this world album Siamese Dream, it ain’t easy to call it their absolute best.”

18. Muzzle (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“This song reflect his pain, his poetry and his vision of the world! I think this song is about finding yourself. Going through pain and losing a part of yourself but finding some kind of calm or peace through it.

17. Bodies (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“Bodies is a close second for me. Jimmy just drives this song from start to finish in the way that only he can. Lyrics, guitars, drums it all sounds so amazing when performed together. Overall best SP song by a mile.”

See more: Smashing Pumpkins Albums Ranked

16. Thru the Eyes of Ruby (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“So underrated that it’s criminal. This song has everything you want in a song. It summarizes the boldness and musical ambition of Mellon Collie perfectly.”

15. Stand Inside Your Love (Machina/The Machines of God, 2000)

“I try not to listen to this song too often, don’t want to lose the feeling it gives me through overplaying it. It’s such an emotional song. I see it as a song about being in love, but it’s very dark in places. It feels like a love that isn’t fully reciprocated and it tears you apart. The “I’m telling how much I need and bleed for your every move and waking sound in my time..” verse is the dark one for me. This song lyrically just makes so much sense to me and musically it’s very powerful.”

14. Drown (Drown, 2001)

“I love the Smashing Pumpkins, and this song has a lot of meaning to me. To me, this song is about a guy who has a lot of feelings for a girl that broke up with him. He’s trying to get over her, but he can’t. He feels like his place in her life is to protect her and since he isn’t a part of her life anymore, he has to stay from afar and watch her as she is in distress. Not only that, but memories of the “good times” also come to him. Great song, great band.”

13. Hummer (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“Begins with a weird sitar-sound and has a riff that sounds nostalgic to the sitar sound and then an incredible solo (which I think is even better than the one from “Cherub Rock”) and then an instrumental guitar outro with a lot of delays that makes me imagine someone who’s stranded on a raft in the middle of a sea, but they’re happy and smiling because they’re never gonna be harassed by people again.”

12. Rhinoceros (Gish, 1991)

“This song kinda reminds me 1979, in terms of the mood it brings about. The song reminds me of me hanging out with my friends, bored, just hanging out in someone’s basement. That’s essentially what they are doing in the music video, which is pretty good by the way.”

11. X.Y.U. (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“I think the song is about Billy latching onto a girl who isn’t mentally stable, and who really isn’t a good girlfriend. He stays because he doesn’t want to be lonely. He knows that he doesn’t really feel for the girl, but still stays with her, possibly just for a companion, possibly out of sexual lust (He does say “I want to rape you”). Eventually the whole relationship blows up, and this song is the emotional outpouring fromt that.”

10. Geek U.S.A. (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“A fast energy-filled psychedelic punk song with well written lyrics and even better written guitar parts and drums. It’s like two songs in one, the beginning being a hard rock song and the ending being an epic climax to the song.”

9. Soma (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“The most beautiful and haunting song I have ever heard. Beautiful guitar riff which starts from the very beginning. The Cure previously had my favorite guitar riff, with their beautiful The Forest. Soma blows that song out of the water. Introspective lyrics which refer to loneliness, and a lack of connection to those you wish so greatly to connect too. In this case Corgan and his ex-wife. These struggles eventually lead to the writer’s conclusion that those bond(s) will never occur, and he therefore puts those desires, and/or relationships to rest, which is what he means by sleep.”

8. Zero (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“Zero is everything smashing pumpkins is about emptiness is loneliness and loneliness is cleanliness and cleanliness is godliness and god is empty, just like me”

7. Cherub Rock (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“First Smashing Pumpkins song I’ve ever heard, my mind was blown away the first time I heard that heart-throbbing riff in the chorus. The fuzzy, uplifting, grunge sound to this song marks a new beginning in music at that time. What a song to open such a magnificent album. “Cherub Rock” is hands down their best song.”

See more: King’s X Albums Ranked

6. Tonight, Tonight (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“This song is easily one of the most well composed on this list and Billy’s lyrics are given such power by the music (extremely powerful on it’s own).”

5. Disarm (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“One of the most beautiful songs ever committed to tape, and that’s no exaggeration, methinks. The string section, Corgan’s vocals, the acoustic guitar… Everything just comes together perfectly.”

4. Today (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“It’s just an AMAZING song! They made a great first impression on me with this one. I also love the sinfully simple music video which is great. This song in my opinion, is the diamond in the rough of the 90s.”

3. Mayonaise (Siamese Dream, 1993)

“It’s such a raw and emotional song that conveys such a feeling over you. The beginning is absolutely amazing as well. It starts off with an acoustic guitar solo kind of thing and then a huge wall of distortion and guitar comes in; it’s beautiful. Everything that Billy’s feeling when singing this, you can feel as well. A captivating and beautifully deep song.”

2. 1979 (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“Nostagia at its best. 1979 is the single most beautiful and catchy song ever written by Corgan. Almost everything is perfect about this song. By almost, I mean that it is a little too short so I often find myself playing it 2 or 3 times in a row without actually getting enough of it. This song is certainly not characteristic of The Smashing Pumpkins which usually have a rougher edge to their songs but it is undeniably the greatest one they’ve ever written.”

1. Bullet with Butterfly Wings (Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 1995)

“Perfect. Billy Corgan crafts a masterpiece while trying to keep everything relatively simple. No intricate drum fills, no show-off riffs and a rather simple guitar solo. Just a rocking beat and badass lyrics about pure frustration to make the most awesome song ever!”