Interesting story behind this one … The artist, John Craig, was not familiar with the band, and was engaged by his agent. He was signed, let go, then signed again.
Band lead Billy Corgan wanted an antique look, and provided Craig with lots of directions.
Hard to believe, but the work is all collage. The cover includes Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s The Souvenir, as well as a Raphael Madonna:
There’s tons of inside art as well:
And here's the whole kit and caboodle:
It's very whimsical, but without ever being twee. NPR did a great interview of Craig talking about the project.
Craig had a little over 25 credits, most of them very obscure and not all that great. He did two for Rod Stewart, though, that are kinda interesting:
MC&IS is quite an ambitious album. It includes 2 discs (and 3 LPSs), garnered 7 Grammy nominations, and was the band’s only #1. Lots of hits, including “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” – which Craig did the 45 sleeve for as well:
The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the great alt bands of the 90s. There were an interesting combo of psychedelic, gothic, prog, and dream, with deeply emotional, cathartic lyrics.
They were also famous for their very creative videos. The one for “Tonight Tonight” is my fave, and perfectly encapsulates this album.
They had a couple of other really great album covers as well. My two favorites are Machina II and Oh So Bright.
The band was Bassist Darcy Wretsky, the incredible Billy Corgan, and guitarist James Iha:
Yes, there are a few parodies. In fact, this one is probably my favorite in this whole blog:
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