I didn't realy know who The Smashing Pumpkins were when i first startet listening to them in 2000(14 years old at the time), or anyone else that i knew(I live in a small town in Iceland so you can see how that's possible). I got Rotten Apples for a birthday present and because i did not know the band i almost returned it, but my mother did not want me to do that(Extremly thankful for that now), so i started listening to it and did not like it at first... Billy's voice sounded wierd to me and i did not understand these beutiful written songs whereas i was not used to such an amazing music. But with time i started getting hooked on the riffs, guitar solo's and jimmy's drumming. I found myself listening to that one CD over and over and over again. And then there was no going back...
At that time i had no idea that they had split up, so that was a huge bummer for me when i found out that i could never go to a live show with them or be around when they gave out a new song or CD, But of course that changed
In the middle of 2001 Rotten Apples had become one of the greatest CD i had ever listened to. But knowing it was a "best Of CD" I of course had to know if that was all they had, and living in a small town like Selfoss there was only one record store, and they didn't have any CD's with the pumpkins, and if it would not be for the internet i would never had known about songs like Hummer, Mayonaise, Rocket and other amazing songs that did not make it to the Rotten Apples. And soon after that Gish and Siamese Dream had become my all time favourate CD's, and still are.
To answer the question "why I'm a Fan" is easy, Billy's uniqe voice and songwriting skill, the guitar solo's and Jimmy's amazing talent to play the drums.
Also it does help knowing that they're not some lame sellouts.
Sorry about my bad english hope someone has the patient to read it.