The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album art
“Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on October 24, 1995, in the United Kingdom and a day later in the United States on Virgin Records. Produced by frontman Billy Corgan with Flood and Alan Moulder, the 28-track album was released as a two-disc CD and triple LP. The album features a wide array of styles, as well as greater musical input from bassist D’arcy Wretzky and second guitarist James Iha.” – Wikipedia
In an interview published on the band’s website in 2009 (reposted on rigmarole.de), art director Frank Olinsky – who performed all the type work – commented on the process:
The band had creative control over the package. That basically meant that I interacted directly with Billy and passed the results on to the record company. I was first contacted by someone who worked closely with the Pumpkins. They called me up and asked if I would be interested in designing the band’s forthcoming album package. I was already a Smashing Pumpkins fan – in fact, I was listening to Siamese Dream when I received that preliminary phone call. Of course I said yes.
A short while later, I got a call from Billy. He described the music on the album Mellon Collie as ‘psychedelic music played by a heavy metal band from the 1920s’. Pretty good description don’t you think? I figured that if I were going to be working with him closely over a long period of time, it would be helpful to know why he had chosen me for the project. He said he owned quite a few CDs that I had art directed/designed and he liked that I didn’t have one style that I imposed on all my projects. Rather, he felt that each was a good design that fit the particular recording. Besides being flattered I thought that here was someone with a keen eye who knew exactly what he wanted. I felt we could collaborate on some great things, and that turned out to be true.
The images shown are from the original 1995 CD and cassette releases. Some subsequent re-releases use some different typefaces, which are not included here.
The album logo is set in Columbian, while the track listing, liner notes and text on the CD itself are set in Toulouse Lautrec Le Petit Trottin.
Front cover and tops of both CDs in the double CD album.
Casette slip cover and two cassette cases.
Back cover and track listing of cassette release.
1 Comment on “The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album art”
I worked with illustrator John Craig frequently in the early '80s when I was a magazine art director. He was phenomenally good at collage using vintage artwork. I’d been out of touch with him for a while by the time this album was released and did a double-take when I saw his work on the cover.