Win a Smashing Pumpkins ‘Pisces Iscariot’ Deluxe Reissue Prize Pack
In the year that fell between the Smashing Pumpkins releasing their 1993 breakthrough album, 'Siamese Dream,' and their 1995 crossover smash, 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,' the band tied over impatient fans with a collection of rarities called 'Pisces Iscariot.' The 14-track disc peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart and went on to platinum certification on the strength of more than a million units sold. Diffuser.fm is teaming up with Loudwire to give away a prize pack consisting of the new 'Pisces Iscariot' reissue (featuring remastered tracks, 17 additional unheard or alternative versions of songs from the era, a DVD with unreleased live performances and more), as well as deluxe reissues of 'Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream.’ You can enter below.
By 1994, the Smashing Pumpkins certainly had taken over some prime real estate in the alternative nation. Grunge, of course, ruled the roost, and with it rose the fortunes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and their Seattle-based ilk. The Pumpkins were something different -- not busting out Black Sabbath riffs, not from the Pacific Northwest -- and being an alternative to the alternative proved to be a successful strategy.
Starting with 1991's 'Gish' and working past 'Siamese Dream' to 'Pisces Iscariot,' the Pumpkins assembled an impressive body of work, alternative enough to ride the trendy wave but still very much of its own sound. Melding together psychedelic rock, punk, metal and what was then often called "college rock," 'Gish' was gorgeous, and 'Dream' was, well, dreamy.
'Iscariot' took the extreme dynamics of both discs -- the head-banging hard hitters ('Frail and Bedazzled,' 'Whir'), the soothing acoustic cuts ('Soothe,' 'Blue') -- then threw in a couple of radio-ready catchy numbers ('Starla,' 'Blue') to tie it all together. Add frontman Billy Corgan's unforgettable cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic 'Landslide,' and 'Pisces Iscariot' is about as classic as a random collection of B-sides, outtakes and other rarities as you can get.
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