When Revolver last caught up with Smashing Pumpkins bandleader Billy Corgan in 2024, he reflected on an incredible career by noting that he doesn’t “play to lose,” but also doesn’t “necessarily play to win each round in the current culture, either.” What you can glean from that — as well as the millions of albums sold worldwide and continued dominance on the arena circuit — is that the Pumpkins’ music is both immediate and everlasting.
Indeed, since forming out of Chicago, Illinois, in the Eighties, Corgan and an evolving cast of collaborators — most notably guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain — have cemented themselves as one of heavy rock’s most enduring forces. Yet across 13 full-lengths and an onslaught of B-sides, they’ve dreamt up anything from fuzz-obliterated alt-rock, to psychedelic jams, to gothic-metal romps, to Nineties pop-tronica, to baroque anthems, to darkened synth-pop and more.
It’s a vast and raging catalog, but we tasked out readers to zero in on the Pumpkins track they adore the most. These were the top five vote-getters, ranked accordingly.
“Stand Inside Your Love”
Though released in 2000, “Stand Inside Your Love” is the youngest Pumpkins track to make the cut in this week’s poll.
Back then, Corgan told VH1 Storytellers that the Machina/The Machines of God single was initially meant to be performed in a new wave style, but that angle stalled out during the recording sessions. Instead, they cranked the amps, wore their hearts on their sleeves and delivered a turn-of-the-century stunner.
While there’s a lot to swoon over in Corgan’s songbook, he’d also called this one — dedicated to photographer, Pumpkins visual collaborator and then-girlfriend Yelena Yemchuk — “probably one of the only love songs I’ve ever written.”
“Cherub Rock”
The Smashing Pumpkins’ multi-platinum-selling Siamese Dream is one of the Nineties’ most beloved and fuzz-freaked albums, and the hypnotic opening groove laid out on the record’s hypnotic “Cherub Rock” is one of their most memorable. That it’s very much rooted in Corgan’s love of Rush proves that inspiration can morph into something iconic in its own right.
Who wants that honey? A lot of our readers, turns out
“Thru the Eyes of Ruby”
It’d seemingly be near-impossible for a group of people to pick out a single favorite off 1995’s epic Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness — after all, that’s a 28-song juggernaut full of some of the band’s biggest-ever singles, like “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “1979,” not to mention a treasure trove of deep cuts. That said, the track that readers rallied around the most this week was “Thru the Eyes of Ruby.”
Within a visionary release, “Ruby” specializes in galaxy-crossing, phaser-glazed guitar hooks with a somewhat sinister edge. It also fades into an almost Western-styled reprise of the Melon Collie theme, which is a great touch.
“Hummer”
“Hummer” is one of many Pumpkins song — on Siamese Dream or otherwise — that explodes with melodic, maximalist, monstrously Big Muffed guitar hooks. Then again, “Hummer” also begins with a uniquely funky reversed-sitar loop, and eventually swings towards a psychedelic, low-key jam full of star-glimmering effects work.
It’s been said that life’s a bummer when you’re a hummer. Whether singing with a crowd of thousands or gently murmuring it to themselves on a late-night walk, the fans’ love for this early jam is real.
“Mayonaise”
“Mayonaise” is remarkably Siamese Dream’s fifth single, released as such three decades after “Disarm” during the promo push for a 30th anniversary edition. Old heads have loved it since the album dropped in ’93, and new fans have flocked to its creamy distortion, heart-wrought vocals and — arguably most important of all — its distinctive pockets of whistling feedback.
Structurally, the Pumpkins’ loud, longing anthem is steered by luscious, stacked-fifth chord sublimity. Its noisiest element arose from of a cheap guitar Corgan was using, which bled into the extreme each time he stopped playing. Rather then be deterred, the Pumpkins “started using the whistle to our advantage.”
Corgan once called “Mayonaise” a “treasured song by Pumpkins fans,” and sure enough, going by the votes it’s clear that Revolver readers will “always feel this.”