Billy Corgan names the classic Smashing Pumpkins song that “ripped off” Rush
Like most prominent guitar bands of their era, The Smashing Pumpkins have a distinctly metal edge. While the Billy Corgan outfit is often lumped in with the Seattle grunge scene, which existed at a clear nexus between punk and metal, the Chicago band always had a more multifarious sound, touching on psychedelia, shoegaze, jazz, and even prog. However, their love of the world of devil horns and chugging was one link that saw them closely associated with their West Coast counterparts.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has always been open about his love of metal. He adores the genre in all its forms, from its formative hard rock roots to more muscular palettes such as thrash and groove metal. He’s even compiled a list of his favourite metal cuts, a varied assortment featuring Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio’s Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Slayer and contemporary black metal artist Myrkur.
This connection goes way back to Corgan’s complex formative years. Reportedly, his father was a complex character. Although his lifestyle would have a largely scarring impact on his sons, with Corgan claiming physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his stepmother, it was his dad who showed him his route into music. Despite his personal pitfalls, The Smashing Pumpkins leader is in doubt that his father was an exemplary musician.
During his childhood, after visiting a friend’s house, Billy Corgan discovered his next hobby upon seeing a cool, space-age-looking Gibson Flying V. Fascinated, he eagerly shared his discovery with his dad, who, in his typically detached manner, was happy to help. Encouraging young William Jr to listen to hard rock heroes and pioneers like Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, he pointed his son in the right direction. He even used his savings to buy a cheap Les Paul copy for Billy to practice on. However, that was the extent of his contributions. Despite his father’s evident aptitude for music, which could have fast-tracked Billy’s talent, the future Smashing Pumpkins frontman was left to teach himself.
Providence offered Corgan another hand, and high school proved a fertile ground for discovering new music. There, he delved deep into heavy metal and its related genres, such as prog and glam. During this period, he found lifelong favourites such as Black Sabbath, Queen, Van Halen, and Rush, who would significantly impact his developing approach to the guitar and broader sonic proclivities.
When speaking to Rick Beato in 2022, The Smashing Pumpkins frontman opened up on the inner “violence” of his band’s sound. While this has much to do with his challenging upbringing, he also suggested that this has to do with the metal influences featured in their diverse sonic blend. Offering a typically head-scratching example, he said ‘Siva’ from their 1991 debut Gish was violent because it mixed taking LSD and listening to Ravi Shankar with Black Sabbath.
However, he then straightened up and supplied a much simpler exhibit that wasn’t violent but a “straight rip-off” of one metal influence. He revealed that one of his band’s most influential alternative rock tracks, ‘Cherub Rock’, actually pilfered from a lesser-known song by Canadian prog trio Rush. Demonstrating himself as a true metal nerd, he claimed that the Siamese Dream highlight ripped off ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’ from Rush’s 1975 second album, Fly by the Night. He said that its central melody and rhythm were lifted straight from a part in the middle of the extensive prog number. It’s true; it can be heard clearly from the 3:54 mark.
Corgan revealed: “A song like ‘Cherub Rock’, that would be more like, that’s basically us doing Rush or something.Basically, the beginning of ‘Cherub Rock’ is ripped off from ‘By-Tor and the Snow Dog’ by Rush. [Hums melody] It’s a straight rip-off of Rush.”
It makes you wonder what other niche metal moments Corgan plundered for The Smashing Pumpkins and is buried deep within their work, obscured from public view by the other elements they’re cloaked by.
