The three songs that inspired Billy Corgan
The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, emerging in the early half of the decade while alternative rock was booming. Taking influence from a wide array of genres, from shoegaze and psychedelic rock to heavy metal, The Smashing Pumpkins were quick to earn commercial success.
At the forefront was Billy Corgan, the band’s controversial leader. Often accused of selling out, being a narcissist, and feuding with other artists, Corgan isn’t exactly one of alternative rock’s most beloved figures. After all, Courtney Love put a hex on the singer after their shortlived relationship, and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon even labelled him a “crybaby” in her memoir, Girl in a Band, writing: “Smashing Pumpkins took themselves way too seriously”.
Still, Corgan remains a potent figure in the industry, still releasing music with The Smashing Pumpkins. He evidently possesses an intense love for creating music, to which he is highly dedicated, regardless of the backlash he’s received over the years. For Corgan, music has the ability to transform lives and act as a source of comfort and hope. Talking to Conan O’Brien, Corgan discussed three songs that have changed his life, taking on a spiritual quality for the musician.
The first track he selected was Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ from their 1975 album of the same name. The musician explained how he found the song when his grandmother was dying, stating, “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.”
Further praising the song, Corgan said, “[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.”
His second choice was Metallica’s ‘Fade to Black’, which he associates with the period when he was kicked out of his house, leading Corgan to move in with a drug dealer. “I have this enduring memory where I latch onto this song because it seemed to sum up what I was going through. This kinda existential crisis in my life. And I’d seen Metallica live, and I’d seen the power of what they were creating.”
He even stated that he played the song so many times that the drug dealer kicked him out of the house. “James [Hetfield] is such a talented songwriter,” he asserted, “I still get the feels on that.”
Corgan’s last pick was Joy Division’s classic single ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, released a month after lead vocalist Ian Curtis committed suicide. “Joy Division were the second most important band after The Beatles in the 20th century,” he boldly 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 soboriety.”
Describing the Manchester quartet as “anti-Beatles”, Corgan called ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ the “perfect pop song for people who are not trying to write perfect pop songs”.
The musician believes that “It’s not a perfect recording; it’s not perfectly mixed,” yet this gives it a special quality that encapsulates the punk ethos. “Punk was this cry against like ‘fuck it all’. Somehow out of that comes this really beautiful language that’s held up really, really well,” he explained.
Listen to the full episode below.
