“Teargarden by Kaleidyscope” is the eighth studio album by The Smashing Pumpkins, released as free MP3 downloads, and as a series of physical limited-edition EPs, culminating in a single box set release.  The album will have 44 new songs, released one at a time, and will also be issued as eleven four-song EPs.

Just go to www.smashingpumpkins.com and download.  Or click the story headline and the player will pop up.

Billy Corgan announced on September 16, 2009, the concept album, “a new kind of album…you can hear as it’s being made,” “Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere. There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won’t have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish.”

As of July 7, 2010 there are 5 songs available.

raul The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins

In 1996, The Smashing Pumpkins embarked on an extended world tour in support of the album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.   Billy Corgan’s look during this period—a shaved head, a longsleeve black shirt with the word “ZERO” printed on it, and silver pants—became iconic. If you ever wondered what the “ZERO” shirt stood for below you will find some theories behind it…..

1. He wore that “ZERO” shirt because he looked at himself as a superhero and that was his trademark shirt.

2. Ccross-promotion since they had a song called “Zero” on the album.

or the more drawn out theory…

3. “Zero” was/is sort of a “super-hero” Billy Corgan created that is loosely based around himself.  The concept is a bit tongue-in-cheek though as he had rather low self-esteem for a number of years and it was kind of like his way of juxtaposing this public image everyone had of him (messianic rockstar) with what was “actually” there.  This same kind of irony can be found in the lyrics to “Today” (the song sounds happy and the chorus even says “Today is the greatest day” but it’s actually about suicide and hopelessness) and even in “Here Is No Why“, a song Billy wrote about himself.

Billy corroborated this idea in 2000 when the Machina mystery was revealed. The main character in the Machina story was named” Zero” and he had a band called the Machines of God.

The shirt that he wore during that period was originally made by a skate company called Zero Skateboards. The shirts stopped being produced and once Billy sported the iconic shirt they became quite rare.

“Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins brought the logo to the world stage, rarely being spotted without a black Zero shirt at the height of the band’s popularity.  Millions of Pumpkinheads joined their hero, running out to get matching shirts and hoodies after the band debuted the hit single, Zero, in 1996.”

The Pumpkins eventually bought the rights to the shirt and made their own and are still on sale today.  Billy brought it back and wore an inverted version of the shirt (white material with black lettering/star) on the last Smashing Pumpkins Tour.

raul The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins

Footage of Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins playing Twister with Crisco lard has emerged. The three minute clip sees the bandss struggling to get to grips with the game, and each other.  Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, D’Arcy Wretzky and Billy Corgan fail spectacularly to hold a civilised game of Twister for MTV.

raul Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins song “Spaceboy” off the Siamese Dreams album was written by Billy Corgan about his half-brother Jesse Corgan (on-stage in the red shirt).  Jesse was born with mild cerebral palsy that caused him to walk on his toes, and Tourette’s syndrome (a neurological disorder that can cause nonsensical or uncontrolled speech). He also had heart problems and a chromosomal disorder that caused him to be slower than the other children.

Jesse was born in 1976 making Billy his older brother by 9 years.  Billy spent a good deal of his youth taking care of and defending him and pretty much remembers always being with Jesse.  When Billy would play sports for hours on end and he always brought Jesse, who played in a nearby sandbox.  Some boys wanted to know who the “retard kid” was. “That’s my brother,” Billy would tell them.  He taught Jesse how to play baseball and read him books at night before they fell asleep.  Occasionally, in the middle of the night, Jesse would wake up and then go back to sleep on the floor by his brother’s bed until Billy would wake up and let him in.  Says Billy’s stepmother, Penny Andersen: “He became to Jesse what he would have wanted in a father.”

The two remain close as Jesse joined The Smashing Pumpkins on stage in Chicago in December 2008.

1979

Disarm

Here is what Billy said about the song “Spaceboy”
“That’s about my little brother. He’s an interesting character. It’s kind of about how he’s different. He has physical handicap, it’s hard to explain. He has a rare chromosomal disorder, it gives him a some what different genetic make up. He has different physical and mental problems and yet somehow by all accounts, I’m physically and mentally OK. But I feel our lives are the similar. (Similar in the way that we are both) Freaks of nature, freaks of society, I always keep going back to something by Henry Miller. No matter how much he smiled, told jokes, shook hands, patted people on the back. People still looked at him funny, they still sensed something wasn’t right. I’ve always felt that way, that no matter how normal I appear, I was treated differently.

raul The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins

Billy Corgan is dressed up as an Ice Cream truck driver for Smashing Pumpkins video for “Today” but on his uniform, his name is spelled “Billie” instead of Billy.  Why???  If you know please explain.

raul The Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins

Tom Morello, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder

Billy Corgan, Anthony Kiedis, Prince

raul Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins Anthony Kedis, Billy Corgan, Eddie Vedder, Kurt Cobain, Pearl Jam, Prince, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Tom Morello