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
It's what the mainstream does - they absorb things and they blunt the power of it. And so the next generation and the next generation has to become more shocking and more provocative in order to get any rise out of anybody.
I just don't want to live in the past. I'm really disappointed by so many people of my generation who - in order to promote their new work, they have to constantly lean on their past. I don't want to be that type of artist... I see a lot of people out here doing really marginal music.
Are you all ready to have a rockin' mashed potato time?
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.
I think rock & roll has prepared me for a lot of flexibility.
When alternative music - which is supposed to be the standard-bearer of where white rock is headed - becomes either too cute or too manufactured, that's just really not good.
I'm not going to die glamorously. I'll probably be eating a Twinkie, take a bite, and fall over.
I'm by nature kind of a glum person, but I'm not a sad pathetic
People act like Nirvana invented grunge; they just took it and personified it.
When you present people with things from the heart and from the soul, they make better choices: They make better choices about their bodies, they make better choices about their partners, they make better choices about the environment.
The closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets.
We don't make music for people to take drugs to, we make music for people to live their life.
Well, I'm known as a guitar-rock guy, you know? You're not supposed to play with synthesizers. This is not in the rulebook.
The difficulty, if you're in the world - and this is for anybody - is the eventual disappointment that comes with having to meet other versions of reality. Imposed systems that ask you to compromise or sacrifice things which you consider holy or sacred.