Gish, the Smashing Pumpkins LP that started it all, will turn 35 years old this year. To celebrate their landmark debut album’s anniversary, the band is releasing a special edition vinyl reissue in multiple color variants. They’ll be available May 29, the same week as the anniversary.
Both versions of the reissue are housed in the original 1991 packaging. The limited edition colorway, available at Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan’s Madame ZuZu’s and other independent record stores, features 180-gram gray vinyl accented with pink and purple splatter, nodding to the album artwork. A standard black 180-gram vinyl version is also available. Both editions are up for pre-order now.
Recorded with producer Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Gish shows the Pumpkins stepping into their powers. The band’s signature blend of classic rock, pop, metal, shoegaze, and more was already coming into full bloom, marked by shifts from dreamy textures to towering guitar riffs, topped off with Corgan’s unmistakable vocals. From the singles “Siva,” “I Am One” and “Rhinoceros” to beloved deep cuts like “Snail,” “Daydream,” and “Bury Me,” it’s a magnificent introduction to what would become a generation-defining band.
Described by Corgan as “an album about spiritual ascension,” Gish kicked off the Pumpkins’ own rise into the ranks of rock stardom. The album has been consistently praised in retrospectives, including appearances on “best grunge albums” lists from Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Looking back on the album on its 25th anniversary, Billboard marveled, “There’s cryptic poetry, jarring dynamic shifts, mammoth riffs, and moments of startling beauty — everything fans around the world would love about the Pumpkins once they grew into themselves.”
Corgan has continued to be a fixture of pop culture in the ensuing decades, all the way up to the present. He recently collaborated with YUNGBLUD on a new version of his song “Zombie,” the first ever Smashing Pumpkins feature on another artist’s recording. His podcast The Magnificent Others also just reached its first anniversary after a year spent engaging with figures like Gene Simmons, Tom Morello, and Sharon Osbourne.
