Yungblud teams up with The Smashing Pumpkins for new version of his hit song ‘Zombie’

Yungblud is teaming up with another legendary act, this time being The Smashing Pumpkins, for a re-imagined version of his hit song ‘Zombie’. This also marks the first time in the bands history that The Smashing Pumpkins has collaborated on an another artists song.

Yungblud first crossed paths with Billy Corgan in Birmingham last July during Black Sabbath’s farewell concert, Back To The Beginning, where both artists took part in tributes honoring Ozzy Osbourne. Their connection, however, dates back further — with Corgan first discovering Yungblud through a live performance video and immediately recognizing his raw potential and powerful voice. In a 2023 interview with Allison Hagendorf, Corgan spoke openly about Yungblud’s trajectory, noting, “I can tell where he’s going, and if I’m right, we’ll be talking about him for the next 50 years.” That belief — echoed more recently on Corgan’s podcast The Magnificent Ones (LISTEN), where he likened Yungblud’s evolution to that of Elton John— deeply resonated with Yungblud, which helped lead him to create the rock album he had long envisioned. Coming full circle, their eventual meeting in Birmingham led to Yungblud inviting Corgan to collaborate — giving rise to this new iteration of “Zombie,” with The Smashing Pumpkins now featuring on a song that Corgan had indirectly inspired years earlier.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.

‘Zombie’ is the most important song of IDOLS to me. It’s deeply personal and it was heavily influenced by The Smashing Pumpkins’ ability to mix emotion, cinema and heavy guitars. I sent Billy an email, asking if he would re-imagine this song with me and when he agreed to it, it was a dream come true. To watch one of my idols work on something that I had written was one of the greatest honours of my life. I love that this new version of ‘Zombie’ is heavier, it has Billy Corgan’s iconic guitar sound, it has more urgency and it rips my heart out. I’m so proud of it.”

The Smashing Pumpkins founder and front-man, 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.”