Billy Corgan is an elitist, asshole, jack-off.

[arcadian]

Every interview I hear with him, he talks about how rich he is and name drops celebrities he "hangs out" with. Seriously, the guy is an asshole. The latest interview I heard with him talked about how he would dismiss fans by telling them to return to their miserable lives while he jets off some place on his own private plane. Yeah, that's some real teenage angst there Billy. Actually, sounds like the guy has a lot of emotional baggage.

[regnaD kciN]

1. Who the hell is Billy Corgan...?

:shrug:

Just sayin'...

[arcadian]

2. Lead singer of "The Smashing Pumpkins"

Or just, "The Pumkins" if you are Billy Corgan and talking about your own band.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

3. He may be that. But the man is a musical genius.

Head of what I can make a clear and convincing case (beyond a reasonable doubt, no less)was the hands down greatest rock band of the 1990s. I would argue that it should be considered up there with the greatest rock bands of all time. And yes, I'm being totally serious here.

And face it, elitist, jerk-off asshole is just another word for rock star. And that Billy is.


Three words: Starla. Case closed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFeCex032g

[arcadian]

4. Writing songs about teenage angst

Is like shooting fish in a barrel.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

5. But having those songs manage to be both hard rocking and musically beautiful....

...is a tall order to fill. And the Pumpkins did that par excellance.

True, anyone can write about teenage angst. But to do so in such a way where the music transforms the listener is something only a genius can manage to do. The Smashing Pumpkins were the soundtrack of my high school and college years, and that's something no other band could ever do. Every other band is just music.

[Taverner]

13. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pumpkins - but they were a Pixies ripoff band

Everything they did the Pixies did two to three years before. And if they weren't stealing from The Pixies, they were stealing from Sonic Youth.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

32. No, Nirvana stole from the Pixies.

Although you can make an argument about the Pumpkins and Sonic Youth, as well as My Bloody Valentine.

Pfft. Everybody was influenced by everybody before them, and so on and so forth.

[Taverner]

39. Nirvana did too, but they ADMITTED it

In fact, Cobain said himself Teen Spirit was their attempt at a Pixies song.

Sonic Youth was pretty much Velvet Underground 2.0, not in members but in style.

[cemaphonic]

49. Once again, the Simpsons get right to the essence of a thing.

(although I think it was "making teenagers depressed...")

[Orsino]

29. He also has an incredibly annoying "singing" voice...

...but even so, the music is great. Pumpkins and Rush are two bands that could have been hugely great with different singers.

[maxsolomon]

31. let me guess

you were in high school in the 90's?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

34. That I was.

Best decade ever.

[maxsolomon]

36. Except for all the ones that you weren't around for!

I graduated HS in 1981. We thought we were the shit. The Clash, the Gang of 4, X, Wire, etc.

Certainly the 90's have proved more innovative than the Aughts have been.

[Ishoutandscream2]

38. Well, for peace and prosperity, yeah

Musically, no. No decade will ever surpass the 60's musically (and I'm a child of the 70's).

[DS1]

6. Smashing Pumpkins rock

until Billy Corgan opens his mouth.

Granted, that pitch works for about 10% of his music, but the rest is like fingers on chalkboard.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. An acquired taste, no doubt.

But it beats the ten million Eddie Vedder soundalikes that dominate the rock scene.

At least when you hear Billy sing, you aren't thinking "Wait is this Pearl Jam? STP? Creed?"

(Nothing against Pearl Jam or STP, both good bands in their own right. Creed, on the other hand....)

[meegbear]

8. You're right, I'm thinking "How do you change the station on this thing?"

[arcadian]

9. There is no denying that.

For the longest time I thought Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam were the same band.;-)

I used to like Smashing Pumkins, but listening to Corgan explain how they were reinventing themselves without really reinventing themselves just sounded pretentious.

To Billy Corgan:

Face it Billy you ARE those rock bands that do the reunion tours after a 10 year hiatus. You are no longer cool and you have sold out. Your nonconformity has blossomed into full on conformity. Your association with your teenage fans is on a par with The Wiggles singing to toddlers at the grand opening of a Toy's R 'Us.

[Chovexani]

12. lmao

Good music is good music to me, which is why I love the Pumpkins in spite of Corgan's bloviating.

The thing you've got to understand though is the Smashing Pumpkins died right after releasing Machina II. This animated corpse that had a horrible song on the Transformers soundtrack is not the Pumpkins, but the Billy Corgan Ego Project.

It's telling that the only one who went along with this "reunion" was the dopehead he kicked out of the band years prior. I don't even know who the other two warm bodies are.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

14. I would have probably been more disappointed in Zeitgeist...

....had I not gotten the version with "Death from Above" on it, which IMHO is a great song. The rest weren't quite to pre-breakup par.

I do think that Adore and the Machinas don't get enough love from those who only consider the Pumpkins as Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, and those two albums alone (as absolutely incredible as they are).

[Chovexani]

16. Oh, totally.

Adore was a really brilliant album and totally doesn't get enough love. Same with Machina I especially, that was just quintessential old school Pumpkins. "Stand Inside Your Love" and "Try, Try, Try" are my favorites...hell, you can put that disc on and hit play and not have to skip anything on it, it's that damned good. And I seriously don't get the Adore hate, except people think every album they put out has to sound exactly like Siamese Dream. One of the reasons I love the Pumpkins so much is that distinctive sound they have no matter where they go musically. "Crestfallen" is such a beautiful song. Corgan's goth roots are all over that album, which is probably why I like it so much.

I'll have to try "Death from Above", though, because my copy of Zeitgeist doesn't have it.

[DarkTirade]

15. Damn it, quit stealin' my brainwaves.

:P

[Chovexani]

17. nom nom nom

tasty brainz :D

[Chovexani]

11. I'm a big fan of the band in spite of his voice.

However, the new stuff by that band he claims is the Pumpkins made me realize that a good chunk of why that band was so good was James Iha, who tends to be really underrated as a guitarist.

[DarkTirade]

42. Mmm... James Iha...

... I'm sorry, what were we talking about? My mind went somewhere else for a moment. :P

[Symarip]

10. Crazy.

I was in Georgetown Saturday and saw him walking around. He seems disturbed in an odd kind of way. I never cared much for Smashing Pumpkins so I don't really have an opinion on him one way or the other.

[VenusRising]

18. Smashing Pumpkins headlined Lollapalooza in '94.

My friends and I left during their performance because it was such a garbled mess. There was a massive wall of distortion with a weird psychedelic thing going on behind them. It made absolutely no sense at all musically or artistically. After being rained on and being muddy, we said, "Fuck it!". We saw the real stars of that show. Too bad they didn't kick SP off the tour and let George Clinton or the Beastie Boys headline instead. It was supposed to be Nirvana, but Kurt had other plans.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

19. Beastie Boys? Are you serious?

They're good for a frat house, but that's about it.

[VenusRising]

20. Yes, I'm serious.

Sorry you don't like them, but some people do.

[DS1]

22. You clearly know not of which you speak

[AlCzervik]

23. Wrong.

[Nevernose]

44. They were still largely sucking in '94

But, in terms of overall music (and not just their largely ridiculous lyrics), they were releasing some of the most vibrant, complicated music of the 90s. Ill Communication and Hello Nasty remain two of my most-listened-to albums, and I'm a guy way more into The Beatles, Black Sabbath, or Buddy Holly, and who mentally interprets everything as Southern Rock anyway.

[Lincolngirl]

21. I have to agree

I'm not a Pumpkins fan, and it's mostly getting past his voice, but Corgan can even sound pompus when he is talking at a Cubs game.
That's not an easy task.
I agree on the Pixies point made as well.

[Throd]

24. Every country has their own version of Oasis. Billy Corgan is ours.

I suspect him of saving his own turds for the future Billy Corgan wing of the Smithsonian.

[MrCoffee]

25. Amen, arcadian

Billy Corgan is a whiny punk-ass tool.

[mvd]

26. At least IMO, he's a talented jerk, though

:hi:

[Lucian]

27. Who now?

Last I checked, he is no longer relevant.

[JVS]

28. Cheer up. Maybe he'll become a washed up rocker with no money and die penniless in a scuzzy motel.

The who will have the last laugh?

[Throd]

30. I would rather condemn him to the Stanilaus County Fair for life.

[XemaSab]

41. Harsh

n/t

[Orrex]

48. Aw, you're just saying that to make us feel better

[JVS]

53. I believe in keeping hope alive

[DU GrovelBot]

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[cyberswede]

35. Osbourne on Corgan

From 2000:

Just three months after taking the job, Smashing Pumpkins manager Sharon Osbourne has brashly and publicly tendered her resignation. Osbourne's departure comes as the Pumpkins prepare for the Feb. 28 release of a new album titled "MACHINA/the machines of God."

Said Osbourne in a statement issued yesterday (1/11): ''It was with great pride and enthusiasm that I took on management of the Pumpkins back in October, but unfortunately I must resign today due to medical reasons--Billy Corgan was making me sick!!!''

http://www.livedaily.com/news/437.html



LOL!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

37. And now Sharon Osbourne is stuck hosting bad reality shows on VH1.

:P

[cyberswede]

40. Touche!

I'm no Sharon fan (and I like the Pumpkins' music). I just LOVE that quote! :)

[mitchum]

43. And he "sings" like a goddamn gnat

[MrSlayer]

45. Yes and he has a terrible voice and writes crappy songs.

Fuck him, fuck him with a rusty, jagged lead pipe.

[cemaphonic]

46. Eh, lots of rock stars and other artists are total assholes.

The bigger problem is that almost all of his music totally sucks.

[Orrex]

47. Isn't he The Spectre?

If so, you'd better watch what you say, or he'll turn you into a pillar of salt.

[Orrex]

50. Oh, wait a minute. That's Jim Corrigan

Way to kill the thread, Orrex!

[Midlodemocrat]

51. Is this the offending thread?

:woohoo:

[TZ]

52. Yes it is!!

Kicking for PeterU!

[arcadian]

54. Offensive to PeterU or offensive in general?

Offensive to Billy Corgan, most assuredly.

[TZ]

56. This is the thread that generated this mornings

"punishment"....

[secretoftheoldclock]

55. Why are you pussy-footing around? Say it ain't so, Joe! Doggone it!