Gish

Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison between December 1990 and March 1991, with Vig and Corgan as co-producers and a budget of $20,000. Vig said the longer period and bigger budget were unprecedented for him, and that Corgan wanted to make everything sound amazing. Drums were left unprocessed. Corgan played nearly all the guitar and bass parts, which Vig later confirmed. Corgan called it a very spiritual album, about spiritual ascension.

The title comes from the silent film star Lillian Gish, after Corgan's grandmother's story of her riding through town on a train. The album peaked at number 195 on the Billboard 200 but reached number one on the College Music Journal chart. It sold 100,000 copies within a year, went gold in March 1994 and platinum in February 1999. Rolling Stone's Chris Mundy called it awe-inspiring. Pitchfork's Ned Raggett, reviewing the 2011 reissue, thought it started well with Siva and Rhinoceros but meandered toward the end. The reissue added a bonus disc and a DVD of a 1990 show at the Metro.