It's a lot of he-said, she-said BS. At the end of the day I don't think anyone outside of the band will REALLY know why it imploded. At it's simplest, I think it was just a clash of personalities between Billy and the rest (perhaps that's putting it mildly). Anyway, here are some choice quotes I dug up pretty fast:
David Pajo: ...[T]hat's one of the reasons I initially liked the guy[Corgan] was so arrogant, it cracked me up. He would constantly bring up the fact that he sold 25 million records, or that his hit song was played at the Super Bowl or something. It just made me laugh. You know that character Alan Partridge, the one Steve Coogan played? Billy reminds me of Alan Partridge if he'd made a hit record. But after a while, the joke wears off.
Matt Sweeney: Back in the day, I got off on a great foot with [Corgan]. I met him before he was famous then we fell out of touch. Then we did Zwan and I hate to be negative but I wish it would have turned out differently...whatever you read or hear about him, it became more like that. There was a time when Corgan was really fun to work with and open. It's not up to me...it's between him and his maker. I don't want to trash the dude although he's trashed me.
Billy Corgan: I am not afraid of dirty, filthy people who have no self-respect or class...never have I met such creatures who feel so entitled to all yet contribute so little, not only to my life but the culture and the world in general...the world is on the brink of wars and mass terror, and their main concern is whether or not their indy friends still like them... [They were] people who told me they were my friends but were really just there to take, take, take...time will reveal them to be the poseurs they truly are...don't let their dirty faces fool you, they painted them that way...their filth is in their larcenous hearts, if they have them at all...
BC: The music wasn't the big problem, it was more their attitude... Sex acts between band members in public. People carrying drugs across borders. Pajo sleeping with the producer's girlfriend while we were making the record.
BC: Sex and drugs and junk. Tick off the list: heroin, band members having relationships...You don't trust the person next to you. I'm on the bus. I send an email to somebody and I throw my BlackBerry in my little day bag. The next day, my ex-girlfriend calls me screaming. Somebody in the group went into my BlackBerry and forwarded her an e-mail that another girl sends me. I mean, that's the kind of stuff we were dealing with.
