Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the third album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released October 24, 1995 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.
Led by the single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", the record debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, the only such occurrence for the group with first week sales of 246,500 units.[1] The album spawned five more singles—"1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight", the promotional "Muzzle", and "Thirty-Three"—over the course of 1996, and has been certified diamond by the RIAA.[2] Praised by critics for its ambition and scope, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness earned the band seven Grammy Award nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year ("1979"). Not only did they all become hits on both mainstream rock and modern rock stations, but "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "1979", "Tonight, Tonight", and "Thirty-Three" also became the band's first Top 40 hits crossing over to pop radio stations.