The Smashing Pumpkins and YUNGBLUD have dropped a haunting new rendition of GRAMMY-Nominated ‘Zombie’
This marks the first-ever collaborative release from The Smashing Pumpkins.
2 min read
Credit: Tom Pallant 📸
YUNGBLUD kicked off 2026 making history, once again, by releasing a re-imagined version of his GRAMMY-nominated ‘Best Rock Song’ Zombie with The Smashing Pumpkins. The track has a haunting new sound, accompanied by a gothic music video.
YUNGBLUD (Dominic Harrison) and Billy Corgan crossed paths in Birmingham last July during Black Sabbath’s farewell concert, Back To The Beginning, where both artists paid tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. However, their connection dates back much further, with Corgan first discovering YUNGBLUD through a live performance and telling Allison Hagendorf, “We’ll be talking about him for the next 50 years”.
Produced by Matt Schwartz and Billy Corgan, the occasion marks the first time in their storied career that The Smashing Pumpkins have featured on another artist’s recording.
Speaking on the collaboration, YUNGBLUD shares:
“Siamese Dream was an album that was there for me more than I could ever explain when I was growing so to be making music with the band that created it is really quite hard to comprehend. Billy has always been such a massive inspiration to me but more recently a huge mentor of mine. His outlook on the importance of truth in art is something that I’ve always held close to my heart.”
The Smashing Pumpkins founder and frontman, Billy Corgan adds:
"YUNGBLUD’s star shines bright, so it’s been great fun to lend our zig-zag voice to his ‘Zombie’ which he’s said was inspired by one of our own. Hence the encouragement that we make this rendition as personal as possible and I’m proud to say we’ve done that; if only to honor him in return.”
After years of being overlooked, the now-28-year-old artist is beginning to be respected and honoured by the wider rock community. His performance of Changes at Ozzy Osbourne’s final show received critical acclaim, Billy Idol appeared at 2025’s BLUDFEST, and he’s admitted to making music with Lenny Kravitz.
Further underscoring this momentum, YUNGBLUD also scored his first Top 10 debut on the Billboard 200 with One More Time, a collaborative EP with Aerosmith, which topped the UK Albums Chart, becoming his second UK number 1 album of 2025.
His fourth, and most ambitious, studio album IDOLS also shot to #1 in the UK, and the second part of the record is poised to be released ‘imminently’.
YUNGBLUD is currently touring Australia and arrives in the UK this Spring.
Listen to ‘Zombie’ with The Smashing Pumpkins now.
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