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 reached a point in my life where I felt like I was living through some old character.
I really think it's a white, bourgeois idea to pretend that you don't have influences. It seems to be the obsession strictly of white people in college.
If there was a simple ethic for the band, it was that we want to be able to do whatever we want to do.
The Smashing Pumpkins was never meant to be a small band. It was going to either be a big band, or a no band.
Actually, I was having dinner with Michael [Stipe, of R.E.M.] when our second album went platinum, which up until that point was the highest success we'd ever had. And he turned to me during dinner and said, 'Welcome to the deep waters, kid.' I'll never forget that.
For a 6-foot-3 guy with no hair and a whiny voice, I've done all right.
As a 28 year old who's lived long enough to know the difference, I know now that the feelings I felt an 16 were not necessarily correct. But however overly dramatic, the desperation and hopelessness I felt at 16 was my reality.
There are people out there who are older who are cool. I want that.
It's wonderful to read interviews by old blues guys - they talk about all their influences, they talk about who taught them how to play, and who they saw, and how they were determined to play that way.
Intoxicated With the madness I'm in love with My sadness Bullshit beggars, enchanted kingdom Fashion victims through their charcoaled teeth
What most people do is try to find a comfortable persona that they're in alignment with and the public likes and appreciates them for.
To re-embrace what I once loved about music has been a warming process for me, because it's a good, earned feeling now.
I feel completely free to do whatever I want and how I want to do it. I feel unburdened by my past.
There is something mighty suspicious about declaring an emergency for something that has yet to show itself to be a grand pandemic.