Who is on the album cover of ‘Siamese Dream’?
What connects Spencer Elden, Leilani Bishop, Janine Lindemulder, and Chris McClure? The answer is Nevermind, Live Through This, Enema of the State, and Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. That’s right—they’re all people who’ve appeared on iconic album covers that aren’t their own, and today, there’s a small cottage industry dedicated to catching up with them. Some embraced their fame or infamy more gracefully than others, but few stories are as heartwarming as the one behind The Smashing Pumpkins’ breakout album Siamese Dream.
It’s true that the words ‘heartwarming’ and ‘Smashing Pumpkins’ don’t normally go together, but the world’s made a special case here. For one thing, the image itself is beautiful before anything else. Two pre-teen girls dressed as fairies, arm in arm with each other, smiling at something off-camera while bathed in late afternoon sunlight.
It’s iconic for a very good reason and has the cosy intimacy of a candid childhood snap at a birthday party. The truth is, however, that it was staged, and the two girls are child models Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts. That doesn’t stop the shoot, or what happened next, from being truly joyous, though. In 2018, The Pumpkins reunited for a reunion tour, and not content with getting the band back together, they also brought Laenger and Roberts back together as well.
Corgan said on Instagram: “Their coming together, and the beauty that Melodie’s shot captures of youth and innocence, was meant to be SP’s own, personal lucky star.”
The two stars, now with families of their own, have similarly fond memories of the shoot and its legacy. Laenger told Setlist: “I remember playing dress up with Lysandra and having the ultimate childhood dream day. We ate lemon heads and enjoyed rocket pop popsicles from the ice cream truck… all while being dressed up in a cute dress with angel wings. Of course, any seven-year-old would love that.”
I can also imagine the shoot they were brought back together for, where they torched a sculpture of the Pumpkins’ logo with a flamethrower, being the kind of shoot any seven-year-old would love, but for a very different reason. In the years since the shoot, Laenger has pursued a career in nursing, and Roberts works in tech in her home state of Arkansas.
This would all be worth it for the warm fuzzy feelings alone, but it’s also a good thing we’ve got another set of people confirming what Corgan said. A few years ago, he made another claim about the Siamese Dream cover, which turned out to be untrue. In February 2011, the eternal whack-a-mole machine that is the bass player spot in The Smashing Pumpkins was filled by ex-Veruca Salt bassist Nicole Fiorentino.
On Twitter, Corgan claimed that she was one of the models on Siamese Dream but “didn’t want us to know because she thought maybe we wouldn’t let her in the band.” Considering that Corgan was at the original shoot with Laenger and Roberts (he gave them the lemon heads, no less!), chalk this one up to Corgan’s somewhat inscrutable sense of humour.
