The Smashing Pumpkins will revisit their groundbreaking 1995 album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness with a sequel, the band announced on Thursday. Additionally, the pop-grunge outfit will embark on a world tour next year in honor of the album’s 25th anniversary, though no specific dates were announced.
The 28-track album, the Billy Corgan-fronted group’s third overall, saw them ascend the charts with hits like “1979”, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, “Zero”, and more. The new 33-song offering is set to arrive in 2021 will act as a sequel to Mellon Collie as well as 2000’s Machina. This new record will act as the third part of the conceptual trilogy that those two albums established.
In a video posted to the Smashing Pumpkins’ YouTube page on Thursday, Corgan announced the details of the musical expedition before the press release was sent out. The 10-minute upload sees the singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter laying out the fine points of the upcoming release that he felt would be lost in translation from the press agency to news outlets. Chief among them was the fact that this—yet untitled—”rock opera” will not just be a sequel to Mellon Collie, but also to Machina.
“We’re very proud to [make this sequel] because in many ways this completes the circle on everything we started and weren’t able to finish at that time, so we’re very excited about that,” Corgan said.
While the video seemed somewhat rambling or cyclical at times, it seemed necessary to clarify the band’s intentions as they work on a myriad of projects simultaneously. The group is currently gearing up for the release of a new studio album, Cyr, on November 27th. It’s worth noting that Cyr is the band’s first double album since Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.
Corgan also clarified that Cyr is merely volume two of the group’s 2018 record Shiny And Oh So Bright Vol. 1/LP: No Past. No Present. No Future. The band is already working on volume three for a release at a later date. All of this is going on as the band is recording the tracks that will be the sequel to Mellon Collie and Machina.
Taking a detour from the studio efforts, Corgan also explained what a Mellon Collie anniversary tour might look like. He specifically stated that it would not entail playing the entire album front to back every night. Rather it would mean having the band “build an evening around a certain period of music.” Lastly, Corgan set his sights on a goal for the future.
“My dream, as I’ve said to the band internally, is that we will ultimately be able to stage all three albums as a show. You can call it Broadway, call it full production, whatever you want,” Corgan said. “So my dream is we’ll be able to do a Mellon Collie show full production, a Machina show full production, and then ultimately what will be the album we’re working on, which will be like a living film.”
Just in case that wasn’t clear enough, Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin will participate in a live-streamed Q&A session on Friday. Hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Daniel P Carter, the Zoom chat will be open to select fans to share their Mellon Collie memories. Fans can register by signing up here.
Watch Billy Corgan’s video below for the full rundown on the Smashing Pumpkins’ sequel to Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and Machina.
Mellon Collie anniversary announcement with William Patrick Corgan
[Video: Smashing Pumpkins]