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Smashing Pumpkin Soup for the Angst-Ridden Soul


The Smashing Pumpkins became a vital part of Chicago’s alternative-rock scene in the early 1990s. Their albums Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness met with great commercial success. Their combination of dreamy guitar melodies, angstful introspective lyrics, and lead singer Billy Corgan’s unique love-it-or-hate-it voice that vacillated wildly between gentle and fierce made them a grunge mainstay.

The band has been through many lineup changes over the years, with Corgan being the constant driving force. The current lineup consists of Corgan, original guitarist James Iha, original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and guitarist Jeff Schroeder. The Smashing Pumpkins released Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts in 2022 and this year.

The band pays homage to their hometown in the song “Tonight, Tonight” which features the lyrics “The embers never fade in your city by the lake.” Their song “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” is featured on many a Halloween playlist with its opening line “The world is a vampire” and chorus refrain “Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.” My personal favorite Smashing Pumpkins moment occurs in their music video for the song “Today,” which features Corgan driving an ice cream truck, picking up Iha who is playing a hitchhiker, and then encountering Chamberlin and original bassist D’arcy Wretsky as gas station attendants.

The band recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the release of their breakthrough album Siamese Dream with concerts and other festivities at Madame ZuZu's, a Highland Park tea shop and event venue owned by Corgan. The venue was decorated to look like Chicago's Tower Records store circa 1993, which was where the band originally performed a special record release show for an estimated 3,000 fans.

Even if you missed the show, you can still make this easy, seasonal pumpkin soup to pay homage to this iconic Chicago band.

Smashing Pumpkin Soup

*Adapted from the recipe for “Easy Pumpkin Soup from Canned Pumpkin” by Natasha Bull as featured on the Salt & Lavender blog, with a little lyrical help from The Smashing Pumpkins' song "Muzzle." 

Ingredients:

½ small onion, chopped

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

15 oz. pumpkin puree

32 oz. vegetable broth

½ tbsp. curry powder

13.5 oz. coconut milk

½ tbsp. maple syrup

1 tbsp. flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a large pot, saute the onion in the olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 to 7 minutes as you think about the meaning of it all. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute as you wonder about the distance to the sun. Sir in the pumpkin, broth, and curry powder as you ponder the echo that is love. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes as you contemplate the secrets in your spires. Stir in the coconut milk and maple syrup while thinking about the emptiness of youth. In a small bowl, mix the flour with ½ cup of the soup until the flour is dissolved as you ponder the solitude of heart. Then add this mixture back to the rest of the soup and let it gently simmer for 10 minutes as you listen to the murmurs of the soul. Season with salt and pepper to taste as you come to know the silence of the world.

Sources:

Gabriel Castillo and Dean Richards, "Smashing Pumpkins commemorates 30th anniversary of ‘Siamese Dream’ with pop-up, concerts in Highland Park," WGN, Sept. 18, 2023.

Madame ZuZu's

The Smashing Pumpkins, Wikipedia. 

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