The world is a vampire…

The Smashing Pumpkins‘ “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” from 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, has one of the best opening lyrics ever. Billy Corgan couldn’t have predicted the global obsession with vampires that would begin a decade later, fueled by Twilight‘s arrival, but knowing how much material the Pumpkins had recorded with producers Flood and Alan Moulder, the frontman might have envisioned compiling an even more sprawling version of the already double-disc Mellon Collie at some future point.

That point arrived this week with the release of a 5-CD/1-DVD deluxe box set. Here are the details of the Mellon Collie reissue, direct from the press release:

The Deluxe Box Set’s 5 CDs include 64 bonus tracks of previously unreleased material or alternate versions of ‘Mellon Collie‘ era songs, and its DVD features a live show filmed at the Brixton Academy, London (1996) and bonus performances from the German music television show ‘Rockpalast‘ (1996). It all comes housed in a 12 x 12 lift-top box with magnetic closure, reimagined cover art and velvet-lined disc holder. The package includes 2 books containing personal notes, lyrics, new collage artwork, plus a decoupage kit for creating your own scenes from the ‘Mellon Collie’ universe. The bonus content and special features were curated from the band’s archives by Billy Corgan, and have been painstakingly remastered for the first time from the original master tapes by Bob Ludwig.

Sent to drain Smashing Pumpkins’ devotees of some serious cash — a nearly $130 price tag via Amazon — the massive Mellon Collie reissue also arrives in time for holiday giving (hint, hint).

My most vivid Mellon Collie memory happened well before I ripped off the set’s plastic wrap. In 1995, I was working in close proximity to a both Best Buy and a Circuit City (RIP), which made feeding my music obsession all too easy. Every Tuesday, I’d visit one or both to check out the new releases, and on this particular October evening I stopped by Best Buy to purchase The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest release. I looked and looked, but couldn’t spot Mellon Collie anywhere in sight. After approaching a blue-shirted clerk who said they didn’t have it in stock yet, I became indignant.

Then I realized that it was Monday. (Or I was kindly informed of that fact. I can’t recall.)

So anxious to get my mitts on Mellon Collie, I was about 15 hours too early. I returned the next day to purchase the album as well as its first single, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” To this day, I theorize that Corgan’s song is about Kurt Cobain, who had used a shotgun to kill himself a year earlier.

NPR Music has a great interview with John Craig, the artist who designed the Mellon Collie album cover and its interior collages.

Purchase The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [Deluxe Edition] via iTunes, Amazon. A remastered version of the original 2-CD set is also available.