You have to be brilliant to create masterpiece like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness; you have to be insane to say something as ridiculous as, “I’ll piss on f*ckin’ Radiohead, because of all this pomposity.” But that’s exactly what singer Billy Corgan told Antiquiet, in an interview that also has the Smashing Pumpkins frontman comparing himself to Weird Al Yankovic and talking about an oppressive “value system” that, probably through numbers or something, says “Jonny Greenwood is more valuable than [Deep Purple’s] Ritchie Blackmore.”
So, really, nobody knows what the f*ck Corgan, who I guarantee either has a Google Alert set for his name or doesn’t own a computer because of the “technological evils that vanish the soul,” is talking about anymore. But this isn’t new — Corgan has been making little to no sense since becoming one of biggest musicians of the 1990s, and even more so now that he’s the Vince McMahon of indie wrestling. Here are some of his craziest sayings and doings, ranked from least to most crazy town banana pants.
10. Naming an album Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music
9. Putting full-page ads in the Chicago Tribute and Chicago Sun-Times to reunite the Pumpkins
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 what 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.
8. This entire quote…
“I can tell that our plans right now are to do an album over two or three years and put it out in pieces and then maybe eventually bring it all back together. The album doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be ten songs. Some dumb white guy somewhere doesn’t have to like it. Some old fart, out-of-touch has to decide, oh, these ten songs aren’t as good as Sgt. Pepper’s. Well, you know what? I don’t think the Beatles would be making an album right now.”
7. Dating Jessica Simpson, which led to this tweet
“He braids my prayers.”
6. Ranting about “poseurs” at SXSW
“I was part of a generation that changed the world – and it was taken over by poseurs.”
5. Launching a spiritual website called “Everything from Here to There”
“The purpose of this website is to discuss openly and without fear concepts of Mind-Body-Soul integration. If you are drawn to the Hidden Truths, drawn to God as something beyond limitation, and drawn to Love as the greatest force in the Universe, then you have come to the right place.”
4. Supporting the terrible, terrible merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation
“This is a new model that puts power into the hands of the artist, creating a dynamic synergy that will inspire great works and attract healthy competition. The proposed merger you have before you helps create those opportunities by boldly addressing the complexity of the existing musical and economic landscapes.”
3. Dating Courtney Love, post-Cobain
2. Starting a Twitter war with Courtney Love, post-Cobain, about her daughter, Francis Bean
“Only u could abandon such a beautiful, incredible child who is smarter than u, cooler than u and better than u,” he wrote, before adding: “Oops, did I say too much?”
1. Dating Tila Tequila
