The Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

After the maximalism of Mellon Collie, Adore sounds like The Smashing Pumpkins pulling the curtains closed.

Released in 1998 during a period of personal loss and internal shift, the album marks a stark departure from the band’s arena-sized guitar walls. Instead of doubling down on volume, Billy Corgan leaned into electronics, drum machines, and subdued arrangements, creating a record that feels intimate, controlled, and emotionally restrained.

Synth textures replace distortion as the primary atmosphere, rhythms are steady and minimal, and the songs move with a deliberate, almost funereal pacing. Corgan’s vocals sit exposed in the mix, carrying themes of grief, detachment, and spiritual searching without the cathartic surge that defined earlier work. The result is somber and reflective rather than explosive.

Adore remains one of the band’s most divisive releases, precisely because it refuses expectation. It trades grandeur for vulnerability, offering a record that feels inward and deliberate, built on mood and emotional clarity rather than scale.