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've always believed that we could reach past genre -- we didn't ride the grunge coat-tails; we've always been on our terms.
We were just a little immature in the past. I think we actually wanted to create difficult situations for ourselves just to be able to use that emotion for stimulation.
I rummage around in artistic things from the past. If you don't understand the context, they wouldn't make any sense. I rummage around in conceptual ideas of the future, but if you don't know the source of the thinking, [it] wouldn't make any sense.
Thinking about the future and thinking about the past is really only a way of ignoring the present.
I feel completely free to do whatever I want and how I want to do it. I feel unburdened by my past.
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.