The 1970 heavy metal album that changed Billy Corgan’s life: “I’ve chased that sound my whole life”
Like millions of others, The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was first seduced by music thanks to the magical tones of The Beatles.
However, it wasn’t until a few years later, a time when he found Black Sabbath, that Corgan finally discovered a band that spoke to him on a deep-rooted level, altering his life forever.
Due to the success of his own musical career, Corgan has been fortunate enough to spend time with Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath and feels a strong connection with the guitarist. The primary reason why Corgan believes they are similar is due to their upbringing, with both The Pumpkins and Sabbath originating from minor cities, which provided the respective groups with an underdog mentality.
That shared sense of being outsiders helped shape the identity of both bands. Rather than following trends emerging from more fashionable cultural centres, they forged their own paths, creating distinctive sounds that reflected their environments and experiences.
Black Sabbath famously came from Birmingham, while The Smashing Pumpkins are sons of Chicago. Although the cities are on different sides of the Atlantic, they are not the main musical hubs in their respective countries; therefore, acts have to fight harder for attention, and naturally, they develop a dogged spirit.
For Corgan, that determination became a defining characteristic of artistic success. He has often gravitated towards musicians who transformed adversity into creativity, and Black Sabbath’s rise from working-class Birmingham provided a blueprint for what could be achieved through resilience and self-belief.
On the Loudwire Nights podcast, Corgan said: “I think the commonality between us and bands like Thin Lizzy or Judas Priest or Black Sabbath and even Queen, to a certain extent, is the connection. Because people really came from this working-class background and they made very aspirational music and somewhere in there some critic just doesn’t like the way they walk or the things they’re singing about.”
In a different conversation with Laney Amps, Corgan spoke in more detail about his love of Black Sabbath and explained the seismic impact of hearing their 1971 album Sweet Leaf as a child. Of the LP, he told host Chuck Armstrong: “I’ve chased that sound my whole life. For me, Sabbath was the blueprint […] I never realised that part of what attracted me to that sound was the Laney sound.”
As the title suggests, Sweet Leaf was Black Sabbath’s ode to marijuana. The LP is named after the record’s title track, and in the first verse, Ozzy Osbourne sings to the medical wonder: “When I first met you, didn’t realise, I can’t forget you or your surprise, You introduced me to my mind, And left me wanting you and your kind.”
Meanwhile, on the podcast episode, Corgan told host Chuck Armstrong how Sabbath “were making music for me and I didn’t know what that meant” as a child. He then revealed he’s still unable to “articulate” the impact Black Sabbath has had on him, adding: “There’s something about Sabbath that makes me think about the stars and the moon and how it’s a big, crazy universe out there and we’re just kind of navigating here on this little planet.”
What made Black Sabbath so important to Corgan was not simply their heaviness or technical prowess, but the way their music sparked his imagination. Long before he became one of alternative rock’s defining voices, Sabbath showed him that music could be expansive, mysterious and emotionally transformative. Decades later, their influence continues to resonate through his work, serving as a reminder of the profound impact a single band can have on a young listener’s life.
Listen to ‘Sweet Leaf’ below.
