internetwolf
Banned
Never liked corgan's vocals but the pumpkins make some great music despite that.
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Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) details contentious encounter with Billy Corgan in 2007
- Thread starter uncelestial
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old manatee
Banned
Courtney Love wrote that stuff.
captainnapalm
Member
Oh definitely. Great drummer.
freenudemacusers
Member
Gonna need to see you in a zero shirt
¡HarlequinPanic!
Member
Hey I'd fight for my voss, too. fuckers.
Going to any shows during the zeitgeist era when the new lineup formed was typically a pretty angry time. guy dressed down people in the audience a lot and was pretty pissed most of the time. I don't doubt this story.
that said, this was like 8 years ago, and the shows I've seen since had him mellowed out and down to good ol' regular diva levels.
Going to any shows during the zeitgeist era when the new lineup formed was typically a pretty angry time. guy dressed down people in the audience a lot and was pretty pissed most of the time. I don't doubt this story.
that said, this was like 8 years ago, and the shows I've seen since had him mellowed out and down to good ol' regular diva levels.
dave is ok
aztek is ok
It's funny how Courtney Love's songs went from sounding like Kurt Cobain to sounding like Billy Corgan right around 1995
TheBaldEmperor
Member
Well the reason is that dear old Bill wrote a good chunk of the material on her albums.
FrenchMovieTheme
Member
Billy ghost wrote celebrity skin and mechanical animals
DontBeThatGuy
Member
Seriously. Outside of the drumming, Corgan did basically everything.
freenudemacusers
Member
Live through this is her best album so it shouldn't upset anyone.
The Illiterati
Member
I'm sorry, but if anyone believes one shred of that story after his lame 'retraction', they're fools.
BronsonLee
Member
Ehhh, it seems more like he didn't want it to make a thing right after Billy's friend died.
TheBaldEmperor
Member
I thought the retraction was nice enough. Also that piece that Billy wrote about Scott is beautiful.
Bradford is a good dude.
The Illiterati
Member
"My statement was my recollection of the events mixed with some humor. It was meant to be taken as casual stage banter. Not defamation or slander. The easiest thing for me to do to kill this story and hopefully avoid anymore drama is to admit it now. I was tacky and I retract my statements. If the video from 2007 ever does surface I will be very interested to see how my memory matches or contradicts reality."
'No really, I just realized I was recorded and will be called on my bullshit, so I'd better back away from it now. LOL I hope noone really does resurface the video that shows what really happened LOL that would be totes funny am i right people?'
BronsonLee
Member
Doesn't he say in the intial telling of the story that Billy had cameras there
The Illiterati
Member
Yes, but he seems to not understand modern technology when his "humorous and not slanderous banter" was in fact recorded as well.
Generalpsyduck
Banned
Fake bullshit sounds like fake bullshit. Even if it's true I does not make there music bad
uncelestial
Member
Obviously, something happened between these guys. It's clear Bradford wasn't lying and didn't admit to such. Both parties agree that some kind of altercation was caught on video. I think he just didn't want to make a thing of it because it looks bad after Billy wrote such kind and beautiful thoughts after Weiland's passing.
I love Smashing Pumpkins so much, but anyone who has been a fan as long as I have knows there is probably more than a "shred" of truth to this story.
I worked with a producer (who I won't name) who told me about how he worked with Kenny Aronoff, who was SP's touring drummer. Billy kept calling him "Drummer" every day. Finally Kenny had to go "dude, my name is Kenny. For the tenth time." And Billy pointedly still called him "Drummer" as a response. IIRC he said something like "whatever, *Drummer.*" And they had it out -- a huge fight. About some dumb shit like that? The entire staff was mortified.
Billy definitely seems like someone who views himself as being at a certain privileged place in the music world. And he's right, he is. But the better way would be to have some fucking tact and humility about it.
lol Why would he make up this very specific story
Indeed he was, but they both needed each other for the formula to work most of the time. Adore and Oceania are exceptions.
...and Machina 2... and the various other gems scattered throughout... and all the b-sides... and even demos. It's insane.
Malibu in particular, I think, is a Smashing Pumpkins song that Billy just gave to Courtney without even trying to make it sound less authentic.
I saw them in Pittsburgh back in 2007. Billy was pretty cool and made some jokes, and tried to have a convo with the crowd. He mentioned Ben Roethlisberger and mostly everyone booed, to his surprise. It was hilarious.¡HarlequinPanic!;188284715 said:
It was an awesome show. Zeitgeist for being a so-so album had an epic tour.
Anyway, two sides to every story and blah blah, but Corgan at his worst is just not a person you would want to hang out with. Not to defend him but I don't think he can help it, he can go from projecting confidence and his brilliance to all of the sudden acting insecure and making petty statements, picking fights with people, etc. It's very sad, but is seems to be an endless circle. For a couple years he's cool, then he hits rock bottom, recharges and then he's back to acting well enough. Over and over.
It really sucks because with Cobain, Staley and Weiland gone we basically have Corgan and Vedder left (and I guess Cornell). I wish Billy would just learn to stay consistent when being perceived by the public, relax and just focus on making good music instead of whatever hole he's stuck in now.
uncelestial
Member
I think Adore only worked (and it only worked occasionally) because it was designed as the anti-Jimmy album. Oceania only worked because in Mike Byrne, Billy found the closest possible approximation of Jimmy that was willing to work with him. Both albums still would've been better with Jimmy on them.
Not that that helped Zeitgeist. What a disappointment that album was. (Well, except USA -- which is pretty killer live w/JC on drums).a) Holy shit, I love your username. I suppose I should've expected to attract some SP fans in this thread.
b) Yeah, the original lineup's run of albums was really incredible. If Billy had a more universally "palatable" voice, had kept his hair, and had a little better attitude, I don't think he would've become such a punchline. But whatever made him Billy, you have to take the good with the bad.
Siamese Dream in particular is one of those 10 out of 10 albums that a generation can hold up decades later to explain what their youth was like and what was going on in their time. Only Nevermind is a better encapsulation of what 90s alternative rock was all about. So really, I cut Billy a lot of slack and I see a wounded person when he lashes out like this. After many years of the gifts he gave the world, I can chalk up a certain amount of his bullshit as "testy diva" behavior.
Now I regret not catching that tour. Billy still sounded more like himself, JC was in there, nice long sets, better ratio of 90s stuff. I caught them this year on the End Times tour and it was great but just a quickie show. Hearing Jimmy play Ruby for the first time ever was just... goosebumps!
Let's leave Cornell out of the conversation. If the 90s were the 60s, Cornell would be, like, Donovan or something. Nirvana was the Beatles. Smashing Pumpkins were the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Oasis were the Stones? Okay I'm going off the rails.
Anyway, I think that was somehow a very unhappy time for him. "If All Goes Wrong" was shot at that time and I'll never forget feeling his anger while watching it. Especially this scene where it shows his insomnia and hatred of the subject of James Iha's contributions to SP. Maybe he was bitter that he couldn't get the original band back together and felt betrayed. I don't know. He does seem more chill these days I think.
Stairouais
Member
Billy_Pilgrim
Member
Smashing Pumpkins are one of the absolute greatest bands of all time, imo.
Siamese Dream is a masterpiece. A masterpiece that went mainstream. We're never likely to see anything as good as that become as popular as that again. (I'm blinkered)
However Corgan has long been known for being an asshole. He's a very bitter dude, his own fans hate him (if you think Gaf is bad sometimes take a walk over to Netphoria to see what self loathing hobbyists really look like). He suffers a lot from being an almost forgotten man, who threw away ever lasting fame and adulation so that he could dress up like a vampire in a dress.
I believe this song alone is worth everything Deerhunter have ever done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHOwM59IlQ4
Siamese Dream is a masterpiece. A masterpiece that went mainstream. We're never likely to see anything as good as that become as popular as that again. (I'm blinkered)
However Corgan has long been known for being an asshole. He's a very bitter dude, his own fans hate him (if you think Gaf is bad sometimes take a walk over to Netphoria to see what self loathing hobbyists really look like). He suffers a lot from being an almost forgotten man, who threw away ever lasting fame and adulation so that he could dress up like a vampire in a dress.
I believe this song alone is worth everything Deerhunter have ever done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHOwM59IlQ4
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