The Smashing Pumpkins were a defining 1990s rock band. They embodied alienation and angst during the first half of the decade, and several of their songs remain alternative radio staples some three decades later.
The classic lineup of the band included singer/songwriter Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, drummer Jimmy Chamberlain and bassist D'arcy Wretzky. Corgan, Iha and Chamberlain are still active today as the Smashing Pumpkins, but Wretzky, a founding member in 1988, has not performed with the band since 1999.
D'arcy Wretzky was fired from the band in 1999
According to Corgan, D'arcy Wretzky's substance abuse was partially to blame for her exit. The band frontman claimed that the Wretzky began an "apparent slow descent into insanity and/or drugs (take your pick" following the success of the Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Corgan also claimed that the bassist was not performing up the standard that he wanted or needed in the studio during a 2005 message board post. "It is not a matter of anyone’s fault, so much as it is my distrust of her in the studio," he added. Wretzy played nine additional tour dates with the band in April 1999 before being let go.
Corgan's claims were seemingly confirmed when Wretzy was arrested for crack cocaine possession in January 2000. The latter pled guilty, according to MTV News, and was ordered to complete a drug education program. The bassist was also jailed twice in 2011, with the first time being related to four missed court dates and the second being due to misdemeanor drunken-driving road rage charges in Michigan.
Wretzky continues to feud with the Pumpkins
Wretzy claimed that her health struggles have kept her from performing regularly as a musician during an interview with Chicago Q101, but she has continued to make headlines for her fraught relationship with her ex-bandmate Corgan. She joined forces with ex-boyfriend James Iha to sue Smashing Pumpkins for using songs without their permission as ringtones in 2008. Wretzky also claimed to have been invited to rejoin the band for multiple tour dates in 2018, but alleged Corgan quickly rescinded the offer.
Corgan told Rolling Stone that Wretzy was indeed invited, but that she turned the opportunity to rejoin the band down. "Wretzky has repeatedly been invited out to play with the group, participate in demo sessions," the frontman alleged. "Or at the very least, meet face-to-face, and in each and every instance she always deferred."
D'arcy Wretzy has contributed to various musical acts over the years, but her ongoing tensions with her former band has overshadowed these contributions. The bassist will always, for better or worse, be remembered as a core member of the Smashing Pumpkins.