Interesting quotes from Billy Corgan...

Recent quotes from Corgan while on the road as Smashing Pumpkins:

Why he thinks whole albums are an old mindset:

Quote :

"I got really sick of the 'singular moment' mentality when it came to putting out a record. Like, if it doesn't happen in the first moment, usually centered around the first single, 'That's it - your record's done, we're moving on.' To put that kind of investment, possibly a year or a year and a half of work on a record, and then have somebody in an office somewhere decide they're not interested in you because they have another priority that week or something - that was really hard to deal with.... It's more about content and staying current. It's an oblique strategy since no one knows what success is, so all you can do is feel it along and see what feels good."

On why he is releasing music for free, one song at a time:

Quote :

"It really harkens back to the early days of rock & roll. You're as good as your last song and I'm kind of OK with that. Right now, everybody likes my new song, and the next one they'll smurfing hate, you know? One day I'm an idiot and one day I'm a genius. And I've been both and I'm probably somewhere in the middle. I'm probably just a pretty good musician.


"The whole thing about who sets the price of music is interesting because the consumers are just not interested in that price," he said. "They're not getting anything more than a digital file, and everyone knows that. If the difference between people hearing what I'm doing right now is between zero and 33 cents, I'm willing to take a risk on zero."

On the last SP album:

Quote :

"That album sold over 500,000 copies, it went gold. But people didn't listen to it. Now, is it the best album I've ever done? No. But I could tell that people weren't listening to the album. In the past if you put out an album, people at least knew the first song. We would go out and play the first song and I could tell they had not even listened to the first song. I don't view it as a gross disappointment. It's disappointing to me that what I was trying to communicate didn't get the chance to be communicated. It's remarkable to me that things can come and go and people don't even know they happened."

On the SP message board:

Quote :

"If I read anything from let's call it the "hardcore fanbase," they are stuck in '93. It's 17 years [later] and I don't know what they expect to have happen. It's sort of beautiful because what they are saying is, "You so touched me in that moment, I want more of that." But the thing that I find really insulting is there's a deeper message there which is "You'll never be better." To try to tell a man that he'll never improve beyond something he did when he was half-crocked on drugs or drama, that's just not right. When I look at Johnny Cash or Neil Young or Tom Waits, those guys have proven that by remaining vital to themselves, that at some point they are able to burst through with another period."

On the average fan mindset:

Quote :

"When we broke up in 2000, there was a group of people who thought the Smashing Pumpkins were a very important band, and then there was the rest of the world. We haven't had a Lady Gaga moment. I could put out 40 songs and they'd be saying, "Eh, not as good as Mellon Collie." Half of those f-ing jerkos would have us playing all of Siamese Dream on this tour."

On fellow reformed bands:

Quote :

"I've been in contact with those bands, as a fan and in many cases as a peer. I say to them, "Please write new music. We need you." When I got the Pumpkins back I made it very clear — it's this way or no way. If I walked onstage tonight and there were 20 people out there, I [still wouldn't] go back and like ring up anybody that used to be in the band [for a payday]. That's it. It's over. I'll go make some kids or play the f-ing ukulele. I will never, ever, be that guy. And I've said a lot of things that I've gone back on, but I can guarantee you I will never be that guy. It's just not in my DNA.

Excellent.

Yeah, I don't like a lot of his music but he's spot on. I especially like this one:

Quote :

"If I read anything from let's call it the "hardcore fanbase," they are stuck in '93. It's 17 years [later] and I don't know what they expect to have happen. It's sort of beautiful because what they are saying is, "You so touched me in that moment, I want more of that." But the thing that I find really insulting is there's a deeper message there which is "You'll never be better." To try to tell a man that he'll never improve beyond something he did when he was half-crocked on drugs or drama, that's just not right. When I look at Johnny Cash or Neil Young or Tom Waits, those guys have proven that by remaining vital to themselves, that at some point they are able to burst through with another period."

maybe its me but he comes across with a little too much complaining for my taste.

I know an artists opinion of their stuff and fans/listeners opinions can be different but music is in the ear of the hearer. You may work on an album for a year and no one likes it or they dismiss it. Its life. People hear things differently and music fans can be exceptionally fickle. You may be on the top today and be on VH1 ten years from now explaining why your flipping burgers. I dont play music but i would imagine that if I did I would do it for myself and if others liked it - cool. If not - thats their loss.

Interesting quotes and I am one of the few, maybe only fan on this board of Smashing Pumpkins, IMO an important band of that era.

Everything he is saying is true IMO for the most part, I do not agree that people who bought the album did not listen to it, they did listen to it and I am sure most who bought grew to like it, but Corgan is not writing for radio etc and that album was lot of music and was music that needed time to digest.

As far as bands with an extensive back catalog of great songs and well songs, it is always going to be difficult for a band to drop favorites and play newer songs. Sadly alot of fans, radio etc are indifferent to an older artists newer material, these problem does not just plague Smashing Pumpkins but any number of bands that have been around for longer then five minutes, I think it sucks radio does not support classic rock artists newer works

Quote :

I think it sucks radio does not support classic rock artists newer works

But lately both AC/DC and Kiss have proven that radio support is not necessarily needed to be successful.

tohostudios wrote:

Quote :

I think it sucks radio does not support classic rock artists newer works

But lately both AC/DC and Kiss have proven that radio support is not necessarily needed to be successful.

You are correct sir, and Corgan should not brush aside selling half a million copies of an album that was badly promoted and ignored by radio, and I think in the future more older artists will be using mediums outside of radio to promote their music, alot of them have been resistant to embrace technology but they seem to be coming around.

- He didn't "brush aside" the album going gold...he was making the point that it did go gold in spite of everything else, even in spite of (from his perspective) nobody "listening to it".

- The comment about a year and a half on an album was aimed at the labels, not the fans.

- I like Smashing Pumpkins too...

- I think everything he is saying is spot on.

tohostudios wrote:

Quote :

I think it sucks radio does not support classic rock artists newer works

But lately both AC/DC and Kiss have proven that radio support is not necessarily needed to be successful.

Don't forget that both of those groups went through other forms of advertising to move their product by signing on exclusive deals with Walmart. I bet that their numbers wouldn't have been nearly as high without those deals put in place. How many Joe Sixpacks were in Walmart stocking up on Dale Earnhardt t-shirts and Cheetos, saw the AC/DC displays and picked up the disc as an impulse buy without hearing a note on radio? And Kiss did one better by offering 2 cds & a dvd for $11.99. That's a pretty sweet deal.

True, radio support is severly lacking for older artists, but the ones that have been selling decent numbers (The Eagles, Journey, etc) stopped relying on radio airplay ages ago. Look how Journey sales took off after they allowed one song to be used in the finale of "The Sopranos".

MetalGuy71 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Quote :

I think it sucks radio does not support classic rock artists newer works

But lately both AC/DC and Kiss have proven that radio support is not necessarily needed to be successful.

Don't forget that both of those groups went through other forms of advertising to move their product by signing on exclusive deals with Walmart. I bet that their numbers wouldn't have been nearly as high without those deals put in place. How many Joe Sixpacks were in Walmart stocking up on Dale Earnhardt t-shirts and Cheetos, saw the AC/DC displays and picked up the disc as an impulse buy without hearing a note on radio? And Kiss did one better by offering 2 cds & a dvd for $11.99. That's a pretty sweet deal.

True, radio support is severly lacking for older artists, but the ones that have been selling decent numbers (The Eagles, Journey, etc) stopped relying on radio airplay ages ago. Look how Journey sales took off after they allowed one song to be used in the finale of "The Sopranos".

Exactly. You're also talking about 2 giant names...AC/DC & KISS in America are as common and well-known as Coca-Cola and Ford. They don't need radio. Smashing Pumpkins, as big as they were, are not near the level of those 2 bands. At this point AC/DC & KISS could tour arenas forever and never release a note of new music.

I think Billy is a little too self absorbed but some of that makes sense. It would be difficult to be pigeonholed into one album. Then again, there are hundreds of bands that would love to have that one album.

exact33 wrote:

maybe its me but he comes across with a little too much complaining for my taste.

I know an artists opinion of their stuff and fans/listeners opinions can be different but music is in the ear of the hearer. You may work on an album for a year and no one likes it or they dismiss it. Its life. People hear things differently and music fans can be exceptionally fickle. You may be on the top today and be on VH1 ten years from now explaining why your flipping burgers. I dont play music but i would imagine that if I did I would do it for myself and if others liked it - cool. If not - thats their loss.

But it's not "the people" who are deciding this, it's some dummy executive in a shiny building that decides this. The sad reality is, "the people" look to that dummy to tell them what is okay to like. Simple as that. It's unfortunate.

TheNazgul wrote:

I think Billy is a little too self absorbed

In other words, he's a musician...

Eyesore wrote:

exact33 wrote:

maybe its me but he comes across with a little too much complaining for my taste.

I know an artists opinion of their stuff and fans/listeners opinions can be different but music is in the ear of the hearer. You may work on an album for a year and no one likes it or they dismiss it. Its life. People hear things differently and music fans can be exceptionally fickle. You may be on the top today and be on VH1 ten years from now explaining why your flipping burgers. I dont play music but i would imagine that if I did I would do it for myself and if others liked it - cool. If not - thats their loss.

But it's not "the people" who are deciding this, it's some dummy executive in a shiny building that decides this. The sad reality is, "the people" look to that dummy to tell them what is okay to like. Simple as that. It's unfortunate.

but in the end it is the consumer who decides whether they like an album enough to buy it or not. Suits have some control over what gets released but the populace ultimately decides what is a hit and what isnt.

exact33 wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

exact33 wrote:

maybe its me but he comes across with a little too much complaining for my taste.

I know an artists opinion of their stuff and fans/listeners opinions can be different but music is in the ear of the hearer. You may work on an album for a year and no one likes it or they dismiss it. Its life. People hear things differently and music fans can be exceptionally fickle. You may be on the top today and be on VH1 ten years from now explaining why your flipping burgers. I dont play music but i would imagine that if I did I would do it for myself and if others liked it - cool. If not - thats their loss.

But it's not "the people" who are deciding this, it's some dummy executive in a shiny building that decides this. The sad reality is, "the people" look to that dummy to tell them what is okay to like. Simple as that. It's unfortunate.

but in the end it is the consumer who decides whether they like an album enough to buy it or not. Suits have some control over what gets released but the populace ultimately decides what is a hit and what isnt.

But I think what Eyesore is saying is that in that quote Billy is talking about labels...not fans.