Music

Billy Corgan wants rock 'n' roll to wage war against pop music

by Mark Teo

Over his decades-long musical career, Billy Corgan hasn’t been pinned down to one style. Gish and had him dabbling in grungy college rock; he dabbled with orchestral hard rock on Mellon Collie; he explored gothier territories on Adore; Zwan dabbled in posi, overdriven guitar music; and latest effort, Monuments to an Elegy, was an exercise in surprisingly decent alt-rock. Still, for all the styles Corgan’s attempted, one thing remains constant: He plays rock ‘n’ roll, and, it appears, he’s fiercely proud of the fact.

But he’s less fond of today’s pop musicians. Speaking to Australia’s The Morning Show, the outspoken Smashing Pumpkins singer said that he doesn’t blame artists for pursuing pop music, but that he wants rock ‘n’ roll to stand up against the genre.

First, he said that pop music was an affront to originality, adding that the pop-music industry puts marketing before artistic integrity. “What’s difficult about it from an insider point of view is that it sends out a message to kids that that’s the only way to be successful in the music business, is to sort of package yourself,” he says.

Paradoxically, he adds, the biggest success stories in music are people who are fiercely independent. “And quite frankly if you look at the history of the music business the biggest stars are individuals. There’s only one Bob Marley, there’s only one Ozzy Osbourne or Madonna. You can try, but you can’t recreate them. So the industry has become about following rather than leading. I think it’s reflected in the sales.”

Further, he adds, the music industry’s shift towards pop music caters to what he calls the “lowest common denominator.” But more concerning to Corgan was the blurring of the lines between pop music and rock—something which, it seems, every generation of rock fans struggles with, although everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Blink-182 has been called “pop before.” He added that pop and rock were akin to church and state; they need to be separated.

Kurt Cobain, he added, had “an incredible level of integrity” and would know how to deal with the situation. But since he isn’t around, Corgan offered a solution: To take up arms agains pop music.

The answer? Segregation.

“Everybody belongs on their own side of the street for a good reason. By definition a rock star is supposed to be an independent individual who pursues a vision to an end—an Axl Rose, an Elton John. And a pop star is supposed to do whatever they can do to pray at some horrible idol of fame which is ubiquitous and fleeting. That contradiction, to me, is why everyone should stay on their own side of the street.”

That’s a little severe, we’d say. It’s hard not to see Corgan, in this light, as a rock supremacist: He wants rockists to mind their own, because they create superior—read: not driven by fame—music. Follow his logic, and the fact that rock music tends is the dominant mode of expression of old, white, men, and you can get to some pretty dark implications.

Corgan didn’t go that far, of course. All we’re saying: Take his comments with a grain of salt.