Music
10 of the weirdest Billy Corgan moments of the last decade
by Greg Bouchard
April 14, 2014
There was a time when Billy Corgan, one of the biggest rock stars in the world, seemed like a generous artist who really cared about his fans. It was between 1995-1996, when the Smashing Pumpkins released their massive double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and then followed it up with a collection of 28 b-sides in The Aeroplane Flies High box set. That faux 1960s record holder, emblazoned with a black and white spiral, was the crown jewel in the CD collections of teenagers everywhere. Never mind that it cost a year’s worth of allowance, we were lucky Billy Corgan opened up the Pumpkins’ vault and let us hear those songs.
Many of us sat devastated in our suburban homes in May 2000 when Corgan announced that the band’s next tour would be their last. Then when Corgan started a MySpace account a few years later, it was like he was breaking down the walls, making himself available to us on a personal level. Now we could be Billy Corgan’s friend for real, after years of already feeling like he had our backs.
Imagine the disappointment of longtime Smashing Pumpkins fans everywhere when news came out that Corgan paid someone else to run his MySpace page. Sure, that kind of thing is common today, but back then it seemed like a disingenuous abuse of his fans’ trust.
The thing is, Billy Corgan had long cultivated the image of authenticity and artistic openness. He was an artist who knew how sell music to the kids. Hell, even the Smashing Pumpkins were/are a fake band, in a sense, acting as backing musicians for Corgan’s work.
His Royal Baldness has been back in the news recently as he pulls one weird stunt after another. From pro wrestling entrepreneurship to eight-hour poems over ambient music, Corgan seems to have lost any of the filters he had in earlier days. He has slowly but surely revealed his deeper character as an egomaniac with questionable taste, always ready to put down his former band members, his fans, and anyone else who dares to question him.
Here’s a list of things he has done over the past fifteen years to tarnish the legacy of the Smashing Pumpkins and make us realize that he has always had a few screws loose.
Dating Tila Tequila
The hardest part about this was imagining what kinds of conversations Corgan had with the MySpace queen and occasional Nazi sympathizer.
Performing day-long ambient jams in a teahouse that he owns
First it was an eight-hour reading of Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha backed by Corgan's improvised synth accompaniment. That was so riveting that he did it again, this time with poems by the Sufi mystic Rumi.
Utterly dissolving the original Smashing Pumpkins lineup
Sure, bands go through lineup changes, but did he really need to replace original drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin, with a kid?
Incessantly trash talking his old bandmates
It's cool if they're not friends anymore, but Corgan won't stop until everyone knows Jimmy Chamberlin is a liar, D'Arcy Wretzky is a drug addict, and James Iha is - he actually said this - a "piece of shit."
His “writing” career
Between a book of poetry and a "spiritual memoir" about the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan has no problems with spilling his guts all over the page.
His brain dumps on the Internet
It started with his rambling MySpace blog about his life growing up in Chicago, and now it has matured into the utterly ridiculous official Smashing Pumpkins website, where he posts pictures of his cat. Recently, he wrote this: "SAMMI, my beloved cat, has a message: 'Meow.'" Did you write that down?
Spending more time on wrestling than music
Whether he's taking over Resistance Pro Wrestling, starring on a reality show about wrestling, or taking a beating in the ring, Billy Corgan thinks wrestling is the best.
Breaking up Zwan
Remember these guys? After years of questionable output with the Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan came back in this joyous shred fest of a band, arguably his best output post-Mellon Collie. Infighting ensued, with Corgan accusing his bandmates of irresponsible and immature behaviour—allegations they deny.
His ongoing claims that he will no longer release albums, before releasing albums
Corgan repeatedly claims that the album format is outdated and that the Smashing Pumpkins will only release songs one at a time, ultimatley filling a 44-song box set. (The box set medium, it seems, is alive and well). A couple singles and EPs followed, and then he got right back to releasing albums: Oceania in 2012, and two more planned for next year.
Arguing with fans for liking his hits
When he announced the Smashing Pumpkins' retirement from releasing albums, he blamed listeners for having a short attention span. This was following a tour where he deliberately avoided playing old songs and replaced them with 20-minute guitar drones and long, formless jams.
Tags: Music, Lists, WTF, Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins
