BILLY CORGAN SAYS FEW 90′S MUSICIANS HAD THE TALENT THAT HE & KURT COBAIN DID
Arachnea from the SmashingPumpkins.com message board transcribed Mojo magazine’s new interview with Billy Corgan. Here is an excerpt:
After Siamese Dream you decided to record Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and make it as a double album. How did the label react to that?
They were horror-stricken. They tried to talk me out of it and when they realised they couldn’t talk me out of it then they tried to say, “Let’s do what Guns N’ Roses did and release it as two separate records: Mellon Collie One, Mellon Collie Two.” I said absolutely not. In my mind double album meant The White Album. I felt there were only a few people in my generation who had that talent level that I did. Kurt Cobain could have made The White Album. To me he had that talent level. He didn’t do it but he could have done it, but we were getting lumped in with people that could never have written Tonight, Tonight or Disarm or even a Today, so I was like, “Fuck all this!” Mellon Collie…was our way of saying, “W are not like those other bands.”
By the way you left the e out on We mr Grungy.
I’d have to say In Utero was, in a sense, a little, single disc White Album, as was Down on the Upside by Soundgarden. At least, that’s how I’ve always thought of those albums.
Mellon Collie is an awesome double album!
SG – Down on the Upside, Mad Season – Above, Temple of the Dog, Mother Love Bone, Mark Lanegan, AIC – Jar of Flies.
There was a shit ton of talented songwriters/amazing albums. I’m a fan of the Pumpkins, but I always get irritated when he makes this ignorant statement.
Twilight to Starlight has a lot of filler tbh.
This asshole needs to get over himself.
Man I can’t stand this dude.
Can the Grunge Report dump them for Jane’s Addiction yet?
That is all. Thanks
fuck billie, fuck courtney… 2 biggest cunts
Every example Superunknown posted is an example of greatness. I can count about 10-15 albums from that era that I would personally put above anything he’s done (that’s not to say he hasn’t made good stuff). Why Corgan is so adamant to commend anybody but himself and/or Kurt Cobain is beyond me.
I like his music but I think it is pretty egostical of him to say that he and Kurt Cobain were the only talented musicians in the 90s when that is clearly not the case. And there are plenty that have continued to make better albums than his current output.
bitch PLEASE
Bitch please, Corgan is A LOT BETTER than Cornell and or Cantrell. NOBODY in the 90s made 3 masterpieces one after the other like he did: Siamese Dream – MCIS – Adore.
@jack
Cantrell: Dirt – Jar of Flies – Tripod
Cornell: Temple of the Dog – Badmotorfinger – Superunknown – DOTU – Euphoria Morning
And the best part about Cantrell and Cornell is that they never treat their work like the masterpieces they truly are. To them, it’s work they’re proud of, and not some standard of quality waiting to be matched.
This comment HAD to be made with tongue in cheek, right? Who says shit like this?!? Well, I mean aside from politicians, televangelists & pro rasslers.
He needs to pull his head out of his ass. The day he stops being up himself will be the day I may just believe what he has to say.
and Kurt was much greater than him!
I like the early Smashing Pumpkins stuff BUT it cannot compare to the stuff put out by Alice In Chains and Soundgarden during that same era. His ego continues to inflate and I’m not sure why since he is rather insignificant anymore.
He’s still douchey, but he didn’t hate on any of the other classic 90′s grunge bands so really no one should get too angry. He just complimented Cobain in particular.
@ Dreux…exactly re: Cantrell & Cornell!
Cornell and Cantrell both have big egos. Recently, Cornell said something about Soundgarden being superior to all other bands of that era. I’m not saying Billy’s right, but to think that the other two are such humble guys is ridiculous.
Cornell and Cantrell are always first to compliment their contemporaries. I always hear Cornell commending his fellow bands from that era. Billy always has been bitter towards other bands from that time, especially Soundgarden probably because of the things Kim Thayil said to him.
@Michael
While that may be true, that doesn’t mean Cornell didn’t say that he thinks he’s better than his contemporaries.
No wonder I change the channel every time SP is on.
Cornell never said he was better than his contemporaries, he said something along the lines of “Soundgarden’s body of work was more diverse” than their contemporaries. This could easily be called a stroke of his ego, but, with the possible exception of Mark Lanegan, it was a fair statement. In three albums, they completely transcended their “alternative metal” label and turned out a very diverse, you could even say disjointed, final album. He never said that he himself as a musician was superior in talent to anyone else. I can at least admit that Cornell and Cantrell aren’t the most humble guys in the world (I don’t bow at their altars like Corgan fans tend to bow at his), but they don’t say shit like this, and certainly not on such a regular basis. A lot of these musicians came from generally neglectful or harsh home lives, so it’s very easy to assert that any one of them tends to be attracted to a sense of recognition of some kind (Eddie Vedder’s tug-and-pull relationship with fame during PJ’s early years is a prime example). None of these guys are perfect, Corgan just takes it to a level that it flat-out stubborn.
BILLY CORGAN SAYS FEW 90?S MUSICIANS HAD THE TALENT THAT HE & KURT COBAIN DID —->TO MAKE A DOUBLE ALBUM<—-
That is all he is saying – he and Kurt were two musicians who could pull off making a double album in the '90s. He's not saying that he's generally better than everyone else. Even Billy Corgan knows better than to say that.
Billy Corgan on Soundgarden – “it’s the same thing as when I watched Soundgarden for the first time. I get that same excitement, and you feel like someone is doing something that is so new. Maybe to some people it sounds like the same old thing, but to me it sounds so fresh. I want to stay there, I want to be there, all the time.”
Billy Corgan on STP, Soundgarden, NIN, Hole & Nirvana – “If you look at the popular bands of our generation, like Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, Hole, Nirvana and others, you see now clearly that the bands were very influential, very important not only for music but for culture, fashion”
Billy Corgan on Nirvana & Pearl Jam – “It wasn’t always comfortable competing against Nirvana, and it was certainly not healthy living under that shadow at times. But at least there was honor in it. We always respected that it was a great band – Pearl Jam too.”
Billy Corgan on Layne Staley/AIC – “Layne had an amazing voice that had such a beautiful, sad, haunting quality about it. He was different because his heaviness was in that voice. I saw Alice in Chains at one of their final performances, opening for Kiss at Tiger Stadium. They played outside in the sunshine, and they were awesome. I think that’s a good way to remember someone who has and will be missed”
Billy Corgan on Alice in Chains – Billy starts with asking what does alt rock means to people now and how he doesn’t know what it means to him anymore. He reflects on how at a time that MTV didn’t even have a name for it and it was called “post modern” rock. He went on with talking about how he “stupidly” thought that Alice in Chains was “to heavy for alt. music”. When he saw them back in the day he thought they were too heavy for them and too classic rock. He went on to saying they are “back as good as ever”. Followed by which he said he would listen to “Down in a Hole” every morning while recording Siamese Dream. Then how years later he ended up singing this song with Alice in Chains when they reformed in 2006.
He compliments his contemporaries plenty.
Great comment Gus. I think Billy champions Grunge/the 90′s more than any musician who is/was part of it, he realizes what an important time it was. Many of them get cynical when it comes to a band or two out of the group but Billy has been supportive of every one of them. Billy’s main problem in the press is continually talking shit about James Iha when he needs to move on. I do get a kick out of his hatred of Pavement though.
Lol at the guy saying tripod is as good as jof or dirt. But heck jof or dirt are not as good as mellon collie.
Anybody that say corgan thinks hes superior to other 90s bands is ignorant. Billy likes them all and has said good things about them.
oh hell no!billy,you are insane!kurt couldnt even sing!he nor billy were that talented.ok billy an smashing had good songs but kurt was over rated. oh god i am glad kurt died. Layne was always so under rated and he always had such great ideas and a unique,wonderful voice. shame on you billy..totally kissing kurts ass
the last few albums by AIC werent great, but Layne never lost his strength.
john are you kidding? hell,Dirt is KING in comparison to Mellon. Million times better band.period.
‘kurt couldnt even sing!he nor billy were that talented.ok billy an smashing had good songs but kurt was over rated. oh god i am glad kurt died.’
No way!
Kurt could kick out the jams!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZYp2mYGfho
^^^^ I was at that show!
Jesus christ, he is so pompous.
I heard that Scott Weiland will be joining the Smashing Pumpkins
after hes done rejoining Velvet Revolver ( in his crazy mind )
Poor Billy Corgan
hahaha
Oh wait , what about Stone Temple Pilots then?
Guess Chris Cornell or Eddie Vedder will have to substitute for Scott while hes grunge-band shopping
hahaha
No wonder Axl Rose went crazy at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame
Maybe Slash, Duff and Matt are so hard to work with
hahaha
Billy, Idk where you get your MASSIVE ego from, but someone needs to talk some sense into you. I loved 90′s “grunge” and your band out of all of them, was the worst one IMO. Your ONLY song I’d deem amazing was “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”. You’re a great guitar player, but you are tooting your horn on your songwriting too much…. because your songwriting was nowhere NEAR Cobain level. And no I am not one of those who only says that because Cobain is dead and now an “icon”. He was just a far far better songwriter than you. Cobain made every single song on each album into a potential radio hit. You didn’t. The Pumpkins music was IMO- boring and redundant.
I could name at least other 100 or more great records from the ’90′s that are absolute masterpieces just like Mellon Collie, dear Mr. Ego Corgan. I’m talking about masterpieces like “In Utero”, “Superunknown” by Soundgarden, “Crookedrain Crookedrain” by PAVEMENT, “Last Splash” by The Breeders, “Jar of Flies” by Alice In Chains, “Nico” by Blind Melon, “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine, “III” by Sebadoh etc etc etc etc….Well, and for me, Smashing Pumpkins’ masterpiece has always been Siamese Dream, IMHO far superior than the good but too long Mellon Collie..
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