Billy Corgan names his favourite punk band of all time
Before Billy Corgan ascended to the role of frontman for the rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, he was a young music enthusiast, diving headfirst into the tumultuous realms of rock and punk, relishing the ability to discern a musician’s essence through their music. With the passage of time, Corgan has consistently maintained his status as a captivating and perceptive commentator on the music world, often providing a trove of knowledge and fascination concerning various musical genres.
Anyone growing up in the 1970s will have enjoyed the exposure to some of rock and punk’s finest offerings. Corgan was no exception, who became immersed in a scene filled with the Ramones, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Metallica, and many more. As Corgan explained himself, his upbringing included the best of the best when it came to music: “I was listening to Yes, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Queen, but I was also listening to pop radio — the biggest dreck from the ’70s.”
He added: “Then I started discovering little pieces of alternative culture like the Ramones, the Plasmatics and Adam Ant. I’d hear all these different voices and think, ‘What the fuck?’” For Corgan, punk became less of a direct influence than other genres, but the Ramones were the one band that he “adored […] from age 10 on, and never lost my love for them.”
Although Corgan found himself gravitating more towards the sonic soundscapes of rock and metal, the many bands he cites as influences were also either strongly impacted by the punk movement or running alongside it during its reign. For instance, Joy Division, along with their tumultuous hit ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, remains one of Corgan’s favourite songs of all time. “Joy Division were the second most important band after The Beatles in the 20th century,” he claimed. “They capture a particular form of nihilism in a way that doesn’t feel mawkish or childish. There’s an adultness to it. There’s a sobriety.”
Describing the Manchester band as “anti-Beatles”, Corgan called their hit song the “perfect pop song for people who are not trying to write perfect pop songs”. He also believes that “It’s not a perfect recording; it’s not perfectly mixed,” yet this gives it a special quality that perfectly alludes to the punk attitude. “Punk was this cry against like ‘fuck it all’,” he said, “Somehow, out of that comes this really beautiful language that’s held up really, really well.”
The musician also praises Pink Floyd, particularly their track ‘Wish You Were Here’, which he found when his grandmother was dying. “You try and find something that you can hold onto, and for some reason, that song became the song of that, it sort of moored me into something,” he explained.
He added, “[Pink Floyd are] not in a hurry to get to the end. Floyd works in their own time scale. It’s very unique. The way David [Gilmour] has a way of playing guitar lines you can literally sing along to. It’s rare for a guitar player to solo but not in a wanky way.”
