Why The Smashing Pumpkins' Bassist Disappeared Without A Trace

Rolling Stone magazine claimed, “For a large portion of the female population of the 1990s, there was no cooler aesthetic in the world than hers.”

The statement referring to The Smashing Pumpkins was not simply hyperbole or clickbait. With blackened lips, devil-horned headbands, pale complexions, golden bobs and scrawny, wiry figures, the group of musicians – led by Billy Corgan – were called “the most psychologist-billed band in the world.”

For a decade, The Smashing Pumpkins filled stadiums and became alternative rock’s most glamorous and deified misfits. However, one afternoon in 1999, the group announced the sudden dismissal of their guitarist, citing his uncontrollable drug addiction. She disappeared without a trace. Nearly 20 years later, during a reunion of the band’s original quartet, D’Arcy Wretzky once again showed signs of life. After retiring from music, she lived on a farm, trained horses and practiced martial arts. She claimed to be “much healthier and in better shape” than any of her former bandmates. And she also took the opportunity to speak her truth about one of the most bitter, controversial and long-running feuds to ever hit the music scene.

The Smashing Pumpkins: Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky and Jimmy Chamberlin at the Rock Werchter Festival in Werchter, Belgium. Gie Knaeps (Getty Images)

Reconstructing a story that is never fully told by its protagonists is an arduous task. But to discover the first tensions between the band members and their bassist, we have to go back to 1992. This year, D’arcy Wretzky and James Iha – the group’s co-founder – ended a four-year-long romance that began during the band’s meteoric rise. As a result, the guitarist lost her emotional support. Her relationship with Corgan had been contentious from the start, as he only recruited Wretzky after getting into a heated argument with her during a concert. “We never had a warm relationship. He was always throwing tantrums and I was [was always] laughs at him. When James insulted me [for laughing]I answered, ‘Who died and made him God?'”

Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, D’arcy Wretzky, Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, Belgium, August 28, 1993. (Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)Gie Knaeps (Getty Images)

Wretzky played bass for The Smashing Pumpkins on their first five albums, catapulting them into a generational band capable of filling stadiums with tens of thousands of young people dressed in black in just a few hours. During their world tour, another traumatic event occurred: keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, accompanied by drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, died of a heroin overdose in New York. Chamberlin was then kicked out of the band because he had already passed out at several concerts on the tour due to his extreme addiction. Corgan claims that they had to inject a dose of adrenaline into Chamberlin’s heart before their performance in Lisbon. “Like in Pulp Fiction,” he confirms, recalling the scene in which Vincent (John Travolta) “resurrects” Mia (Uma Thurman).

Three years later, Chamberlin was welcomed back into the band to take part in the recording of the album Machina/The Machines of God. However, this album would be Wretzky’s last. Without even completing the scheduled sessions, Billy Corgan suddenly fired her, claiming she was “a bad-tempered drug addict who refused to seek help.” A few weeks later, the bassist was arrested after police found a gram of cocaine in his car during a search. She was replaced by bassist Melissa Auf der Maur – a friend of Wretzky – who played on the subsequent tour and appeared in some music videos for the album’s singles until the band announced their dissolution in 2000.

American rock band The Smashing Pumpkins pose for the cameras with their award for Best Rock Group at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards, held at Alexandra Palace in London. (L-R) D’arcy Wretzky, Billy Corgan and James Iha. Sue Moore (EMPICS Entertainment/PA Photos /)

Much later, in 2018, the return of the Smashing Pumpkins with the original trio (Corgan, Iha and Chamberlin) was announced. Then news of a hypothetical return of D’arcy Wretzky forced the artist to emerge from her self-imposed exile. After accusations were made about who was to blame, the bassist took the opportunity to once again denounce the bandleader’s messianic ego and clarify the reasons that led to his dismissal. Wretzky assures that her silence was an attempt to let her wounds heal. But 25 years later, this wish seems impossible.

“Going into the studio with the band was always a fucking nightmare. It was terrible. I was so stressed that I had a miscarriage. Not even the band knows that. It was traumatic,” she told music website Alternative Nation. “Billy loved to humiliate and embarrass people in front of others. He was a bully and I was the only one who stood up to him. [But] “I got to a point where I couldn’t fight anymore and had to leave.”

The guitarist’s reported toxic environment affected her emotional well-being and caused her to suffer a severe mental breakdown. “One day I had 30 panic attacks. It was terrible. I tried to quit two or three times after the last tour, but it’s hard to do it when everyone – my husband (musician Kerry Brown), my family – tells you to wait until the next album and says that for a lot of people that’s the job it’s up to you. Don’t just think about yourself. I should have stayed a few years [before I did].”

Wretzky has also denied rumors that his drug addiction affected the band’s dynamic. She says she saw cocaine for the first time in her life at the age of 27, when Marilyn Manson used it in the dressing room after one of her concerts.

D’arcy Wretzky of Smashing Pumpkins performs during Neil Young’s annual Bridge School fundraiser at Shoreline Amphitheater on October 19, 1997 in Mountain View, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)Tim Mosenfelder (Getty Images)

D’arcy Wretzky also reveals the betrayal her bandmates subjected her to when they replaced her as the band’s bassist. During a three-month vacation – which was approved by the rest of the group after a tour – she was offered the opportunity to make her debut film in a film opposite Mickey Rourke. The producers even mentioned the possibility of Melissa Auf der Maur appearing in it and asked Wretzky to contact her friend.

When her bandmates found out about the project, they became “angry” and urged her to return to the group immediately. “I was told Billy would have thought that [I] While I was well enough to make a film, I was healthy enough to return to the studio. But he never called me – he always left it to someone else.” The bassist also interpreted the fact that Auf der Maur never responded to her call to take part in the film as a sign that her colleagues had already spoken to her about it , replacing Wretzky in The Smashing Pumpkins. She claims that the alleged concern about her addiction was merely an excuse to facilitate her exclusion.

Smashing Pumpkins, D’arcy Wretzky, Botanique, Brussels, Belgium, May 28, 1998. (Photo by Gie Knaeps/Getty Images)Gie Knaeps (Getty Images)

None of Wretzky’s statements were denied by Billy Corgan, who, on the other hand, never disputed his authoritarian leadership. “It was never a democracy,” he once told EL PAÍS.

In the last 20 years, Wreztky made headlines only once, when she was arrested in 2011 for failing to appear at a court hearing. The musician-turned-farmer was reported over the commotion caused in a nearby town by a pair of horses that escaped from his ranch. Although she has received several suggestions to join other bands and return to the studio, she says she is happy with her current life.

One of the last pictures we have of Wretzky, taken in 2011.