Yeah, we’ve been tough on Billy Corgan and Co. for selling smashed guitars and sleepwalking through pointless contests, but have to hand it to them for the array of official free Pumpkins bootlegs — starting from ’88! — that popped up at the official site. It’s a great Pumpkin treasure trove.

Just click here. Don’t worry, we figured there had to be a catch, but so far all we’ve found are great recordings from back in the day (and later). Wanna hear “Silverfuck” from Paris ’92? Not a problem. “Geek USA” in San Diego in ’93? It’s there, too. The generosity, those tunes, and that smiley photo remind us why we put up with Billy’s bullshit for so long. We’ll get ya started, with the Pumpkins’ “new single”…

Enjoy.

Comments (14)
  1. lee  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    aww smiley photo

  2. this is amazing!!

  3. wow  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    This makes me day

  4. Ed K  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    ha, their ’88 stuff sounds like the band Live. But better Live.

  5. what ever happened to D’Arcy? I heard she became Marilyn Manson. T/T?

  6. The Benigma  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    Holy shit. Their live Gish stuff is amazing. So much better than the garbage they’re putting out now. Am I wrong in thinking that Iha was the one behind creating and structuring all the lovely distortion and feedback? Corgan can’t seem to re-create its sweeping swirliness on his own.
    All of a sudden it feels like 1991.

  7. blast from the past in a good way. Thanks for directing me to these.

  8. CR  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    They have the audio up from the Dublin show where the girl was crushed to death… wow.

  9. ko  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    this is great. makes me remember one of my most favorite bands of yesteryear. it was great while it lasted. and yeah, the dublin show is kinda creepy to listen to.

  10. Aba  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    cherub rock is gonna be on Guitar Hero III

  11. Try http://www.archive.org/details/SmashingPumpkins – it’s also band-sanctioned and there’s a LOT more than there is at the band’s site.

  12. zik  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    April 16th, 2000/Chicago, IL USA/Aragon – Wow, I was AT that show! This is cool being able to hear it again.

  13. grainy b  |   Posted on Sep 21st, 2007 0

    Holy crap!

    October 26, 1993
    Drown then Hummer back to back?

    Fantastic.

  14. Fans might wanna find their infamously awful 1992 Reading Festival set. There’s video of them doing Bury Me floating around (not on youtube currently) and it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever seen them do. Billy completely kills it even with a broken string and how he sings the end while playing that riff is still beyond me.

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