Billy Corgan: Bad-ASS or bad ass?

"Well, what we normally do, is every city we go to, we hire a fifteen year
old boy and we turn it up until he starts to make a funny face, and then we
turn it up about ten notches louder then that."-Billy

That's certianly what you would expect from the son of a professional
guitarist, and a child of '70s album. Best of Mountain; Songs From the
Trilogy, by Philip Glass; a '77 live album by Rainbow; a disc from the
Lynyrd Skynyrd box set; a UFO best-of album; Beatles "Rubber Soul"; Black
Sabbath "Master of Reality",the Sex Pistols; and Cheap Trick; is what Billy
Corgan rocks to when he's not rockin' to his own drum.

Billy Corgan is the driving force behind the Smashing Pumkins, if you didn't
know. Since 1993, when things really exploded for Smashing Pumpkins with the
release of the multimillion-selling Siamese Dream; and it's hard-rocking
"Cherub Rock" to the smooth pop of "Today" and "Disarm."

In 1996, they won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance for the
single Bullet With Butterfly Wings and Rolling Stone ís Reader's Poll Album
of the Year. 1997 began with the Pumpkins receiving seven Grammy nominations
nabbing two Grammy Awards, Rolling Stone's 1997 Artist of the Year, and
seven MTV Video Music Awards. They've played everywhere from Saturday Night
Live to Spaceghost. Billy joined a long list of entertainers who have
stopped by Chicago's Wrigley Field to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
during the seventh inning stretch in tribute to the late radio sports
announcer, Harry Caray.  He even inducted Pink Floyd into the Rock & Roll
Hall of Fame in 1996. Life should be good. So what's wrong? Read on.

Success and pain come hand in hand. On May 12, 1996, seven people were
injured-one a 17 year-old girl, fatally in an unruly mosh pit at a Pumpkins
concert in Dublin. Two months later, touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin
died from a heroin overdose in Manhattan, after shooting up with drummer
Chamberlin whose substance-abuse problems had already put him on thin ice
with the rest of the band. The group decided to sack its drummer, who was
subsequently cleared of any charges related to Melvoin's death and entered a
drug-rehabilitation program. Along with this, Billy was having emotional
struggles, and became suicidal, leading him into a nervous breakdown.
Actually, he's always had a problem with depression.

But Billy doesn't suffer well.  He seems to want eveyone to know just how
miserable he is an wants everyone to share.  But then most egotists are like
that.

"Music has basically followed a shallow route for 50 years. People come
along, do something really cool and different, everyone copies them, the
original gets diluted, distorted, and eventually the diluted - in most cases
achieves more success than the thing that started it. And I kinda thought
the alternative scene was gonna be different: We thought `Brave new world!'
So it's really wierd to be competing against the imitators. It wasn't always
comfortable competing against Nirvana, and it was certainly not healthy
living under that shadow at times. But at least there was honor in it. We
always respected that it was a great band - Pearl Jam too. But competing
against Bush?! It's nothing to get your dick hard about, you know what i
mean? There's no mojo in that!"-Billy

Billy doesn't like Gavin Rossdale of Bush. Say's he insulted the Smashing
Pumpkins.  Says that Bush is a Nirvana wanna be band, that Gavin is a
"pretty-boy." Sound like an "snit?"

SAID SOME TIME BEFORE JULY 1996:
"I have always said that if one person leaves, that's the end of the band.
I'm not going to carry on with a faux Jimmy or faux D'Arcy. No fucking way."

September of '99 witnessed the extremely coincidental departures of Melisa
Auf Der Maur from Hole and D'Arcy from the Smashing Pumpkins(Sept. 9) and
Melisa Auf Der Maur joining the Pumpkins.

"There's a lot of chemistry in the band that the outside world could never
witness. In our band, D'Arcy is the moral conscience-it's really hard to do
something if D'Arcy thinks its f**ked."-Billy
Yeah, you guys are real tight.

"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!!!"-Sharon Osbourne

Osbourne resigned as the band's manager on January 12, after only four
months on the job. In an interview with Reuters news service, calling Corgan
a "stupid little boy" she cited their incompatibilities through a series of
power struggles. "He's a control freak and I'm a control freak, and I can't
be intimidated by him," she told Reuters. "As big an ego as he's got, mine's
probably bigger." Says Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo. Billy is a very heavy
handed. he knows what he wants. Most genius' or successful men know what
they want. It's his way or the highway. You either get it or you don't. He
goes through personal assistants like they are underwear. I could see him
being pretty authoritative" adds Nine Inch Nails guitarist Richard Patrick.
"We know her and we know Ozzy. She is a sweetheart. She embodies what I
think makes a great manager. She would take a bullet for the bands she wants
to work with". As a friend of both Corgan and Osbourne, Patrick assures us
it isn't a major issue between the two parties, "I'm sure it's not a
personal issue but I think it's probably that they couldn't click" Although
Osbourne did add that she thought Corgan was "amazingly talented," Osbourne
blames a tiff over Corgan's desire to wear a dress in the band's video for
"Stand Inside Your Love," from the forthcoming MACHINA/the machines of God
(due Feb. 29 on Virgin Records), as the final blow to the relationship. "The
dress was a try-hard." After a lengthy silent treatment from Corgan,
Osbourne had had enough.
"If he thought I was a naughty girl, he'd give you the silent treatment,"
Osbourne told the news service. "I don't need games in my life. I don't need
stupid little boys making faces at me."

"Well, we have brought certain things upon ourselves. I've certainly brought
things upon us with my mouth."-Billy
Yeah, Billy.  But the dress?


He's, also, having problems with Courtney Love. You see she's been
"downplaying" his contributions to the Hole album "Celebrity Skin,"
and says band leader Courtney Love was turning the situation into an "ugly
incident because she's embarrassed that she needed someone to help her."

Corgan also noted, "We're not talking anymore."


Billy Corgan is and extremely talented guy. Siamese Dream became somewhat
controversial when it was revealed that Corgan had played nearly all of the
album's guitar and bass tracks himself. His father was a professional
guitarist (you can hear his dad play guitar on "The Last Song" which is
found on the 33 single), but Billy wasn't encouraged musically. Billy was 14
before one day at a friends house,  this friend of his showed him a "Flying
V" guitar and inspired him to music.  18 years later, this 6'4',
hunched-over (it's called the"Corgan hunch" his whole family has it),
outcast is still trying to find and express himself. But now he's 32 years
old. His first marriage ended as badly as his parents' had, and the rest of
his relationships tend to be just as fragile. When his parents got a divorce
when he was very young, and he was shuffled around from one family member to
another, and did the whole "who's got a kid shell game" with his three
brothers; first his great-grandmother, then his grandmother, then his dad
and step-mother and then just his step-mother.  Not a very stable start, and
hardly a wonder he has poblems with relationships. But how many stable
rockers are really out there? (or DJ's for that matter) Most of the best
music is created from pain.  It's as theraputic for those who listen to it,
as to those who write it.

"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."-Billy

So now with a new album coming out February 29th, and tours being planned;
what's happening with the prime emotional channel for this talented and sad
individual?

Dotmusic  revealed that Billy Corgan intends to
split the Smashing Pumpkins following the promotion of their forthcoming
album.

"Billy expressed to me that this is it - this is the last time he will go
out as the Pumpkins - and he wants to conquer the world, do it one last time
and go out with a big boom" says Filter guitarist Geno Lenardo.


"We're the worst band in America...that makes us the best"-Billy

"We are just a rock band."-Billy

"The Smashing Pumpkins may be Billy Corgan's last best hope for
sanity."-Lucas Foxx  XL 102
2/1/00