Billy Corgan thinks the CIA “dialed down” rock music in the 1990s
Billy Corgan has presented a new conspiracy theory on the state of rock music in the 1990s, posing the idea that the CIA had a hand in “dialling down” the genre.
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman made the remark on an episode of his own podcast, The Magnificent Others, while in conversation with cultural commentator Conrad Flynn.
Corgan touched upon the subject of rock music by suggesting it had been “purposefully dialled down in the culture”.
He added, “Again, this gets ‘wizard behind the curtain,’ right? Somebody’s gonna say, ‘Well, how do you know who was the wizard behind the curtain?’ All I know is I saw the gravity shift.”
Corgan continued, “If you were at MTV or around MTV in 1997 or 1998, suddenly they decided rock was out when rock was still very, very high up in the thing. And it was replaced by rap… Their standards and practices immediately shifted, so now that things that weren’t allowed were suddenly allowed.”
Hyperbolically, he added, “People were waving guns. Some people assert that the CIA was involved in all that. Again, above my pay grade, but I saw it happen. I did witness it happen.”
Lately, the media has hyperfocused on the extent of the relationship between culture and art, as musicians and celebrities are increasingly expected to use their platform for politics at a time of global turmoil.
Corgan’s addition to the conversation centres around the rock star’s lack of cultural influence: “Pop is completely dominant. Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the Western world, and yet there’s almost no representation of rock in culture,” he mused on the show.
He concluded, “So, why do we have that schism? I think they purposely dialled down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture.”
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