Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne claims Billy Corgan was a “raging asshole” to him at Lollapalooza
A new book, Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival, was published recently. The book highlights how many people were rubbed the wrong way when Smashing Pumpkins headlined the festival in 1994, including other artists who were performing.
The Smashing Pumpkins headlined the travelling festival during a year when the rest of the line-up was filled with a huge list of great acts. The main stage also included the Beastie Boys, The Breeders and Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Meanwhile, taking to the second stage were The Flaming Lips, The Verve and Guided By Voices.
Nirvana was supposed to headline the 1994 festival; however, Kurt Cobain’s passing led to the band’s withdrawal, and The Smashing Pumpkins stepped in as a last-minute replacement.
Upon reflecting on the festival, Billy Corgan later admitted that he may have been out of his depth when he agreed to replace Nirvana on the main stage. He said he would have preferred if they were both playing at the festival.
“You talk about going into Middle America at the height of MTV, in 1994, and I was twenty-six or twenty-seven. I was not prepared for that at all,” he said, “So we’re headlining what became historically the biggest Lollapalooza ever. And there they are. There are the same football players who used to bully us in the hallways. I looked at it as, like, ‘No. You’re the enemy and we are here to take you on’.”
He still feels hate for the way he treated fans on the 1994 tour, but he upset more than just the audience. Some of the bands who were playing also recount his behaviour, with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips remembering him as an “asshole.”
“Billy Corgan was such a raging asshole, especially back then, that you didn’t want to stick around them,” he said, “We liked a few of their songs, but we would just despise him after a while. So we’d leave right after the Beastie Boys played to avoid the traffic, because the audience was also starting to clear out.”
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