Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Takes Shots at Pearl Jam + Foo Fighters
You can count on Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan to speak his mind and when you pair him with Howard Stern on the radio, there's bound to be some headline making comments.
Corgan recently stated that he felt he and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain were the top two scribes of the '90s and he served up opinions on a number of other peers while on Stern's satellite radio show. Among those that came up were Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters, with Corgan being critical of both groups.
While Corgan has shown respect for Nirvana, he states that he doesn't feel that Pearl Jam are on the same level. "I think they were derivative and the work speaks for itself. If you listen to the band’s work, and I know they have a tremendous fanbase and they should, they’re a great band but you know, I’m a Beatles guy, a Stones guy and a Kinks [guy], but if you go to a lot of those other bands, [Pearl jam] just don’t have the work."
He went on to add, "I don't think they have the songs. I think you stack my songs up, Cobain’s songs up and that band’s songs up, they don’t have the songs. They’re a great band. Look, they're still an arena act. They’ve been getting it done for a long time and I have to bow to that." But Corgan says it's a mystery to him how the band has kept their popularity. He adds, "People will take that the wrong way but speaking competitively, they are my competitors and I have to say who am I competing against and why.”
Corgan says he was friendly with Eddie Vedder at one point in time, but they haven't been social in years. He adds, "I haven’t been in a social frame with the guy in I don’t know how long but I think a lot of people are transformed by fame. I knew one person and then there was another person. I’m another person so maybe he felt the same way about me. You can’t blame him. He was on the cover of 'TIME' magazine, not me and dealt with a level of fame that I never dealt with, so I can't say what that feels like."
The vocalist was also asked about Foo Fighters, who recently released their new 'Sonic Highways' album. Once again, while he does credit Foo Fighters for their success, he's not exactly fond of what they're doing these days. "Dave [Grohl] is a great musician, a great songwriter and has done the work," says Corgan. "To me, my criticism of the Foo Fighters, if I’m being a music critic is that they just haven’t evolved and that’s sort of the recent wrap on them is, you know, making the same music. Obviously, I’ve put my whole life on the line for making different types music as I’ve gone along. We’ve talked last time I was here about playing old songs, evolving and that’s just my mentality. I know it’s not for everybody. Listen, he’s getting it done so it’s like, if you want to be competitive, my philosophy against his, he’s winning.”
You can check out the full interview above in which Corgan also speaks about the current state of the music industry, his relationship with Courtney Love and the band's current disc, 'Monuments to an Elegy.' The band also plays a couple of tracks for Stern -- their new single 'Once and All,' the classic 'Zero,' as well as a cover of David Bowie's 'Fame.'
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