An understated, joyous electronic pop song with Corgan reflecting upon carefree adolescent innocence and optimism. The accompanying video starred US actor Giuseppe Andrews, who Corgan spotted in ‘Independence Day’.

The experience of headlining Lollapalooza in 1994 was profoundly dispiriting for Corgan, who found the cliquish, wholly conservative nature of the ‘alternative nation’ sickening. <<‘Now I’m naked, nothing but an animal. But can you fake it for just one more show’>> he spits here, adding <<‘Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage’>>. The song earned the band a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1997.

The opening track of the Pumpkins’ second album, ‘Cherub Rock’ was Corgan’s sneering riposte to the uber-hip alt. rock bands who dismissed the Pumpkins for their lack of grounding in the punk underground. "I won't play some one else's game anymore,” said Corgan at the time. “'Fuck you, I don't care. I'm going to do this.'”

The beautiful, orchestral third single from ‘Siamese Dream’ has a dark heart. “The reason I wrote ‘Disarm’ was because I didn't have the guts to kill my parents, so I thought I'd get back at them through song,” explained Corgan. “And rather then have an angry, angry, angry violent song I'd thought I'd write something beautiful and make them realize what tender feelings I have in my heart, and make them feel really bad for treating me like shit.” Job done.

Boasting a rare co-writing credit from James Iha, the Pumpkins’s first ever single was originally released in 1990, then re-recorded by Butch Vig at Smart Studios for ‘Gish’. Though the main riff sounds suspiciously close to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Paradise City’, this was the blueprint for a new age.

A Corgan/Iha co-write, which builds from chiming guitar harmonics through swooning, dreamy verses to a euphoric climax, with Corgan meditating upon a loss of childhood innocence and concluding <<’I just want to be me’>>.

An unsung highlight from the ‘Dawn To Dusk’ set. Corgan’s swooping vocals melodies on the lines <<’my life has been extraordinary’>> still raise goosebumps ten years on.

Another rare burst of optimism from Corgan, in a song which was esssentially a sequel to ‘1979’, a fact emphasised by the video which followed up the story of the characters in the ‘1979’ video. The video directors re-cast 4 out of the 5 actors from the original video: the fifth was allegedly in jail.

At one point, Billy Corgan toyed with the idea of calling his band Siva, after Shiva, the Hindu God of death and destruction. The song is quintessential Pumpkins, with a lurching, driving riff, an ambient mid-section and thunderous drumming from Jimmy Chamberlin.

Another brilliant Corgan out-take full of images of alienation, with a filthy grinding riff giving way to swooning verses. “[Producer] Flood didn't like this one much…"too heavy metal" - a common complaint…” noted Corgan wryly.

Dark, melancholic metal, recorded for the soundtrack to ‘Batman And Robin’. Confusingly, the band recorded another more mellow version of the track titled ‘The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning’. Thanks for that.

<<’You know I’m not dead’>> sneers Corgan, dismissing the critics who considered his band washed up after ‘Adore’. During the recording of MACHINA/The Machines of God, this song had the working title of ‘Disco King’.

The most optimistic suicide anthem ever, and the Pumpkins ‘breakthrough’ hit. "I was really suicidal,” said Corgan of its creation. “I just thought it was funny to write a song that said today is the greatest day of your life because it can't get any worse." Trivia fans should note that the two girls on the UK single cover are bassist D’Arcy’s sisters.

A lush, multi-layered love song, with Corgan gilding the lily with orchestral flourishes. “Recording to 30-piece string section was probably one of the most exciting recording experiences I have ever had." he said in 1997. The dream-like video garnered the Pumpkins 6 MTV Awards.

The first song recorded for ‘Mellon Collie…’ finds Corgan at his angriest and most bitter, lashing out at <<’bullshit’ fakers’>< and <<’fashion victims’>> with <<’charcoal teeth’>>. "We like to call this style of our music ‘Cybermetal',” Corgan told ‘Guitar World’ in 1997. “James has always said this reminds him of Judas Priest." Er, whatever.