Adore (album)

Adore
A black-and-white photo of a Caucasian woman leaning forward while holding the ends of a flowing black dress. In the corner, "Adore" is displayed in white handwriting.
Studio album by
the Smashing Pumpkins
ReleasedJune 2, 1998 (1998-06-02)
RecordedJune 1997 – March 1998
StudioSunset Sound, Village Recorder, CRC & various studios
Genre
Length73:25
LabelVirgin
Producer
The Smashing Pumpkins chronology
The Aeroplane Flies High
(1996) 		Adore
(1998) 		Machina/The Machines of God
(2000)
Singles from Adore
  1. "Ava Adore"
    Released: May 18, 1998
  2. "Perfect"
    Released: September 7, 1998
Alternate cover
Vinyl cover/2014 reissue cover

Adore is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on June 2, 1998, by Virgin Records. After the multi-platinum success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and a subsequent world tour, Adore was considered "one of the most anticipated albums of 1998" by MTV.[1] Recording the album proved to be a challenge as the band members struggled with lingering interpersonal problems, musical uncertainty in the wake of three increasingly successful rock albums, and the departure of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.[2] Frontman Billy Corgan would later characterize Adore as made by "a band falling apart".[3] Corgan was also going through a divorce and the death of his mother while recording the album.[4]

The result was a much more subdued and electronica-tinged sound that Greg Kot of Rolling Stone magazine called "a complete break with the past".[5] The album divided the Smashing Pumpkins fan base and was not as commercially successful as their previous two albums. However, similar to the band's other releases across the decade, the album was critically acclaimed, becoming the third straight Pumpkins album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance[6] and has retrospectively gained a cult following.[7] A remastered and expanded version of the album was released on CD and vinyl in September 2014 as a part of the band's project to reissue their back catalogue from 1991 to 2000. This is their only album to be recorded as trio and their first album not to feature an official drummer.

  1. ^ "Smashing Pumpkins Set Release Date, Track Listing For "Adore"". MTV. April 28, 1998. Archived from the original on February 4, 2002. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. ^ The primary source on the recording climate is a three-part blog written by Billy Corgan in 2005, all three of which are referenced extensively in the body of this article.
  3. ^ Interview: Billy Corgan. INsite Magazine. May 14, 2000.
  4. ^ "Revisiting Adore, the Worst Smashing Pumpkins Album That Still Matters". The Ringer. June 2, 2018. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  5. ^ Kot, Greg (May 18, 1998). "Adore". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  6. ^ "41st annual Grammy nominees and winners". CNN.com. February 24, 1999. Archived from the original on December 22, 2006. Retrieved February 11, 2007.
  7. ^ "20 Years Later: Looking Back On The Smashing Pumpkins' 'Adore'". The Music. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2020.