Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan Jr. is an American musician, songwriter, producer, television writer, poet, and professional wrestling promoter best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois, in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the addition of bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The band's direction has largely been driven by Corgan through his confessional lyrics, grandiose production values, and virtuosic musical...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth17 March 1967
CityElk Grove Village, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I was fantasising about my own death, I started thinking what my funeral would be like and what music would be played, I was at that level of insanity.
Well, what we usually do is in every city we got to, we hire a fifteen-year-old boy and we turn it up until he starts to make a funny face, then we turn it up about ten notches higher than that.
You have to keep adapting to the times. If you kind of go with it, it can kind of fun.
To be able to put your arms around 24 years of music, it's really fun.
The funny thing about me that most people never really understand is that, at heart, I'm really a jock.
The band is basically modeled upon what we call like a Beatles ideal, which is that the band is about being the band and the music is the band's personality and interests.
I met with a lot of resistance when I wanted our newest album to be a double CD. Many people thought I was going to ruin the band by doing it.
Are you all ready to have a rockin' mashed potato time?
You can't be greater than Elvis, change things as much as the Beatles, or be as original as Led Zeppelin. All you can do is rip them off.
It's my role as an artist to basically destroy the obvious and recreate the obvious, to put it back together into a form that maybe you wouldn't have considered, ... I'm not into making things unimaginable.
For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams. In this desire I feel I have come home again.
For a 6-foot-3 guy with no hair and a whiny voice, I've done alright.
A lot of great music got easily dismissed because the baby boomers threw their weight around and we had to listen to Motown 'til our ears bled,
Interviewer: "If you weren't a rock star..." Billy: "I wouldn't be wearing these silver pants.