Gish is the debut studio album by the Smashing Pumpkins, released on May 28, 1991 through Caroline Records. Frontman Billy Corgan has variously described Gish as a “very spiritual album” and “an album about spiritual ascension”. Despite initially peaking at only number 195 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, Gish received critical acclaim, with particular praise directed at the band’s distinctive psychedelic sound. The album was eventually certified platinum (one million copies shipped in the US) by the RIAA. On April 1, 2019 Rolling Stone magazine ranked Gish the 32nd greatest Grunge album of all time.
As a writer, Billy Corgan wanted to find the balance between classic rock of bands playing heavy riffs like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and the sensuality and grace of alternative bands like the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and My Bloody Valentine.
“For us, it was trying to become this balance point between what felt like dumb riff rock and then the stuff we were really attracted to coming out of the U.K. And then we put those pieces together with the Beatles somewhere in the middle”.
A song like Rhinoceros reflected that balance and what Corgan wanted to achieve:
“we could be beautiful, pretty, psychedelic, and then flip the switch and be heavy and play a ripping lead.”
When composing the songs, Corgan was experimenting taking LSD to get a psychedelic feeling:
“LSD gave me the confidence to attempt these things on kind of a weird tightrope wire act”.
Gish was recorded from December 1990 to March 1991 in Butch Vig‘s Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin with a budget of $20,000. Vig and Corgan worked together as co producers, at the time Vig was still a relatively unknown producer. The album was named after silent film icon Lillian Gish. In an interview, Corgan said:
“My grandmother used to tell me that one of the biggest things that ever happened was when Lillian Gish rode through town on a train, my grandmother lived in the middle of nowhere, so that was a big deal …”
Later, Corgan joked that the album was originally going to be called Fish, but was changed to Gish to avoid comparisons to jam band Phish.
Gish spent one week on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 195 (later re peaking at number 146 upon its 2011 re release); however, the album reached number one on the College Music Journal chart, which tracks airplay and popularity on college radio stations. It also had a six week run on the New Zealand Albums Chart, peaking at number 40. Despite an inauspicious start, the album sold 100,000 copies in less than a year, far exceeding the expectations of indie label Caroline Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Records. In the US, the album was certified gold by RIAA on March 14, 1994. Until the release of the Offspring album Smash in 1994, Gish was the highest selling independently released album of all time. Gish would later be reissued under the Virgin label, and was certified platinum in the US on February 5, 1999.
Tracklist:
- I Am One
- Siva
- Rhinoceros
- Bury Me
- Crush
- Suffer
- Snail
- Tristessa
- Window Paine
- Daydream
- I’m Going Crazy (hidden track)
The Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan: lead vocals, guitar, bass, production
James Iha: guitar, backing vocals
D’arcy Wretzky: bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Daydream”, layouts
Jimmy Chamberlin: drums
Additional musicians
Mary Gaines: cello on “Daydream”
Chris Wagner: violin and viola on “Daydream”
Production
Bob Knapp: photography
Michael Lavine: photography
Butch Vig: production, engineering
Doug “Mr. Colson” Olson: engineering
Howie Weinberg: mastering (1991 and 1994 releases)
