其实在The Smashing Pumpkins解散之后，Billy Corgan就应该走上现在才走上的单飞道路。但在他看来，"除了David Bowie，没有任何一个歌手会比一个乐队更加出色"，于是便成立了每一位成员都大有来头的Zwan。这支乐队的组建，从一开始便预示着后来的失败。Billy想当然的把Zwan当成了另一支The Smashing Pumpkins，希望自己在这里同样担当这领导的角色，但他似乎忘记了Matt Sweeney和David Pajo的身份，同时也忽视了他们的野心。
因此他们合作了一年多，发表首张专辑《Mary Star Of The Sea》之后，便宣告解散，其原因便是出自David Pajo，他带着漂亮的女贝斯手Paz Lenchantin离开了Zwan，并加入到自己的Papa M，玩起了后遥
我不知道这件事儿是否会让The Smashing Pumpkins歌迷对Papa M产生什么恶意，但肯定的是，刚从The Smashing Pumpkins解散的阴影中缓和过来的歌迷又一次陷入了黑暗。不过幸运的是，Zwan解散之后没多久，Billy就宣布了个人的单飞计划。
早在The Smashing Pumpkins时期，便有队员发表个人专辑，那便是吉他手James Iha，有意思的是，他在1996年发表的首张专辑《Let It Come Down》走的是一条清新迷人的吉他流行路线，和乐队时期的嘈杂吉他声大相径庭。如今Billy Corgan的单飞，也和James Iha一样，避免了以往的嘈杂，转而复古了八十年代，出版了以Post-Punk和New Wave为主线的《TheFutureEmbrace》。
先行单曲Walking Shade和A100都是明显带有New Order色彩的作品，前者突出的是Peter Hook似的贝斯演奏，后者则是模仿了他们八十年代中期经常创作的Techno-Rock风格。
在八十年代，还有一支比New Order影响更加深远的乐队，那便是the Cure。这次Billy单飞，也找来了Rebort Smiths前来帮忙。在翻唱自The Bee Gees的To Love Somebody行至副歌部分时，你会明显的听出老罗那极具穿透力的嗓音。另一首表达了Billy思乡之情的Mina Loy，从Post-Punk节拍到Goth吉他，也都传承着The Cure的风格。
1998年的时侯，The Smashing Pumpkins曾出版过一张让评论界大失所望的《Adore》，许多人都觉得他们失去了原有的特色，但客观的讲，这是他们所有专辑中最有特点的一张，而且Billy Corgan在当时的采访中，也曾表示，"这是我最用心的一张唱片"。今天，《TheFutureEmbrace》的出现，正像是对7年前的一个延续。
by Greg Prato & Steve Bekkala
As the guitarist/singer/head-songwriter for the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan was one of alt-rock's leaders and focal points for much of the '90s. Born on March 17, 1967, in Elk Grove, IL, Corgan's first true exposure to music came from his father, Bill Corgan, Sr., who was a blues guitarist. After his parents divorced at an early age, Corgan moved from one relative to the next, and by age 14, he began playing guitar himself (citing such hard rock bands as Cheap Trick and Van Halen as important early influences). In 1985, Corgan formed his first real band, a goth metal group called the Marked. After gigging around the Chicago area, the Marked soon relocated from Illinois to St. Petersburg, FL, in pursuit of greener musical pastures. However, the change of scenery did little to improve the group's fortunes, and so the Marked disbanded and Corgan moved back north, into his father's house in Chicago.
Working at a record store, Corgan began putting the pieces together for his next band, which would be the Smashing Pumpkins. He befriended guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy, and the three started to play in bars and clubs around Chicago with a drum machine in place of a real drummer. But from the advice of a friend, Corgan checked out local jazz fusion drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, who immediately landed the gig with his powerful, John Bonham-esque drumming style (one of the quartet's first shows was opening for Jane's Addiction). Like the Marked, the Pumpkins merged a dark alternative sound with metal, but also gave it a psychedelic and experimental twist. Several independent singles led to a deal with Caroline Records, who issued their debut, Gish, in 1991. A woefully underrated guitarist, Corgan's wild, Jimi Hendrix-esque playing was an integral part of the early-Pumpkins sound.
With each subsequent album (1993's classic Siamese Dream, 1995's double-album Mellon Collie), the Pumpkins grew in popularity, until they were one of rock's top dogs by the mid- to late '90s. A very proficient songwriter, Corgan contributed Pumpkins songs to movie soundtracks (Singles, Lost Highway, Batman & Robin), supplied the musical score for such movies as Stigmata and Ransom, and produced albums for such other artists as Ric Ocasek, Hole, and Catherine. After the Pumpkins split in 2000, many assumed Corgan would automatically pursue a solo career, but shortly after playing several shows with New Order as a sideman/guitarist in the summer of 2001, Corgan announced his next project would be a new band. Called Zwan, the group featured Corgan joined by former bandmate Chamberlin on drums, as well as Matt Sweeney (from Chavez) on guitar and David Pajo (Papa M/Slint) on bass. Pajo soon moved over to guitar with the additional of bassist Paz Lenchantin (formerly of A Perfect Circle), and the quintet released their debut album, Mary Star of the Sea, in January 2003. However, by September Zwan had disbanded in a cloud of bandmember angst and frustrated ego, and Corgan announced that he would finally take the plunge as a solo artist. The following year found him popping up at Chicago-area spoken word nights, and in October 2004 he issued the poetry collection Blinking With Fists (Faber and Faber). At the same time he was working on the solo debut with collaborators Bjorn Thorsrud and Bon Harris (Nitzer Ebb). The ambitious, very personal Future Embrace appeared in June 2005. Guests on the album included drummer Chamberlin and the Cure's Robert Smith.