Work on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

During 1995, Corgan wrote about 56 songs, following which the band went into the studio with producers Flood and Alan Moulder to work on what Corgan described as ” The Wall for Generation X “, and which became Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness , a double album of twenty-eight songs, lasting over two hours (the vinyl version of the album contained three records, two extra songs, and an alternate track listing). The songs were intended to hang together conceptually as a symbol of the cycle of life and death. Praised by Time as “the group’s most ambitious and accomplished work yet”, Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in October 1995. Even more successful than Siamese Dream , it was certified ten times platinum in the United States and became the best-selling double album of the decade. It also garnered seven 1997 Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year. The band won only the Best Hard Rock Performance award, for the album’s lead single ” Bullet with Butterfly Wings “. The album spawned five singles—”Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, ” 1979 “, ” Zero “, ” Tonight, Tonight ” which Corgan stated was inspired by the Cheap Trick song “I’ll Be with You Tonight”, and ” Thirty-Three “—of which the first three were certified gold and all but “Zero” entered the Top 40. Many of the songs that did not make it onto Mellon Collie were released as B-sides to the singles, and were later compiled in The Aeroplane Flies High box set. The set was originally limited to 200,000 copies, but more were produced to meet demand.