The Smashing Pumpkins will mark 35 years of their debut album Gish with new vinyl editions, revisiting the record that introduced The Smashing Pumpkins as a formidable force in alternative rock.
by Paul Cashmere
The Smashing Pumpkins will celebrate the 35th anniversary of their debut album Gish with a suite of new vinyl editions arriving on May 29, 2026, aligning with the record’s original May 28, 1991 release.
The anniversary campaign honours an album that quietly reshaped the parameters of American alternative music. Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin with producer Butch Vig, Gish captured a young Chicago band synthesising hard rock heft, psychedelic textures and dream-pop atmospherics into something that felt expansive and singular in 1991.
For the 35th anniversary, frontman Billy Corgan will make a special colour pressing available through his Madame ZuZu’s tea shop and select independent record stores. That edition recreates the original 1991 packaging and is pressed on 180-gram grey vinyl with pink and purple splatter, echoing the hues of the iconic cover. A standard black 180-gram vinyl edition, also housed in the original packaging, will be widely available.
Produced by Corgan and Vig on a modest budget of US$20,000, Gish was recorded between December 1990 and March 1991. At the time, Vig was still early in his production career, months away from helming Nevermind for Nirvana. The sessions were unusually meticulous for an independent release of the era. Corgan famously overdubbed many of the guitar and bass parts himself, pursuing a dense, layered sound that drew from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as much as British acts such as The Cure and My Bloody Valentine.
On release, Gish peaked at No. 195 on the Billboard 200, a modest commercial debut that belied its longer-term impact. Through word of mouth and college radio support, it became one of the most successful independently released albums of its time, eventually earning platinum certification in the United States. Before the breakthrough of Smash by The Offspring in 1994, Gish held the distinction of being the highest-selling independently released album in history.
The album’s 10 tracks introduced a band already operating with considerable ambition. “I Am One”, co-written by Corgan and James Iha, set the tone with its taut riffing and declarative vocal. “Siva” and “Tristessa” delivered muscular, riff-driven intensity, while “Rhinoceros” unfolded across six minutes of shifting dynamics, moving from fragile, psychedelic passages to towering guitar climaxes. The record closed with “Daydream”, featuring bassist D’arcy Wretzky on lead vocal, adding an unexpected coda to an album otherwise dominated by Corgan’s voice.
Corgan later described Gish as a spiritual album concerned with pain and transcendence. The title itself was drawn from silent film actress Lillian Gish, a name Corgan associated with stories from his grandmother about the star passing through her hometown. The reference underscored the band’s sense of romanticism and cinematic scale, qualities that would define their work throughout the decade.
In retrospect, Gish is often viewed as a crucial prelude to the commercial and artistic leap of Siamese Dream in 1993 and the multi-platinum Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness in 1995. Yet its influence stands on its own. The record’s fusion of heavy guitars with ornate production and melodic sensitivity broadened the scope of what alternative rock could encompass at the dawn of the 1990s.
Three and a half decades on, The Smashing Pumpkins remain active and prolific. Following the ambitious ATUM in 2023, a conceptual sequel to Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and Machina/The Machines Of God, the band released Aghori Mhori Mei in 2024, reuniting Corgan with original members Jimmy Chamberlin and James Iha for a guitar-driven set that revisited the intensity of their early catalogue.
Beyond the anniversary vinyl, Corgan has continued to extend his creative reach. He recently collaborated with YUNGBLUD on a reimagining of “Zombie”, marking the first time The Smashing Pumpkins have appeared on another artist’s recording. His podcast, The Magnificent Others, has also drawn attention for in-depth conversations with artists including Gene Simmons, Sharon Osbourne and Tom Morello.
For longtime fans and a new generation discovering the band’s origins, the 35th anniversary editions of Gish offer an opportunity to revisit a record that captured The Smashing Pumpkins at the beginning of a remarkable trajectory, already reaching beyond the confines of the underground.
Tracklisting
A1 – I Am One
A2 – Siva
A3 – Rhinoceros
A4 – Bury Me
A5 – Crush
B1 – Suffer
B2 – Snail
B3 – Tristessa
B4 – Window Paine
B5 – Daydream
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