Music Banter - Billy Corgan slams Soundgarden and Pavement

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Billy Corgan slams Soundgarden and Pavement

Billy Corgan: 'Soundgarden and Pavement are only back together to make money' | News | NME.COM

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Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan slammed reformed rock bands Soundgarden and Pavement, accusing them of only reforming so they can "make money".

The singer, whose band released their new studio album 'Oceania' in June, has said that he "condemned" anyone who didn't acknowledge that they were simply touring to make money and described the reunions of the Chris Cornell and Stephen Malkmus-fronted bands as "one more round at the till".

Speaking at a press conference to Philstar.com , Corgan said: "There are those bands that are essentially coming back only to make money – playing their old albums, and maybe somewhere in the back of their minds they're thinking there might be a future."

He continued: "I am not in that business, obviously. I condemn anybody who’s in that business but doesn’t admit he’s in that business. When Soundgarden came back and they just played their old songs, great. I was a fan of Soundgarden, but call it for what it is. They’re just out there to have one more round at the till; same with Pavement and these other bands."

Corgan added that he believed that the Smashing Pumpkins had a growing fanbase amongst younger people and that this was essential to their survival.

He added: "Without the young fans there is no future for Smashing Pumpkins. We can’t run an oldies business. Not only is it boring, it’s actually not a very good business."

Corgan also hit out at the changing landscape of music, describing it as one where people prefer fame to the music itself.

He said of this: "They have no respect for the people that came before them," he said. "They have no respect for the tradition of music, they have no respect for the blood and tears that have been spilled by great musicians all over the world – many of whom will never even know their name."

'Oceania' is the seventh of the Smashing Pumpkins career and was released on June 18.

Jesus Christ. People usually get less obnoxious as they get older, not more.

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Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1219857)

Jesus Christ. People usually get less obnoxious as they get older, not more.

"Pot meet kettle". [Chris Cornell]

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Originally Posted by Halen (Post 1219855)

Billy Corgan: 'Soundgarden and Pavement are only back together to make money' | News | NME.COM

But don't most of these groups just get back together to make a buck, they've usually seen better days but when the money runs out you can't beat a reunion.

I love how he criticizes other bands for trying to make money yet nevertheless refers to his own band as a "business".

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Originally Posted by Janszoon (Post 1219868)

I love how he criticizes other bands for trying to make money yet nevertheless refers to his own band as a "business".

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Without the young fans there is no future for Smashing Pumpkins. We can’t run an oldies business. Not only is it boring, it’s actually not a very good business."

I think he means he can't run Smashing Pumpkins as "an oldies business [because] ...it's actually not a very good business." - it doesn't make good business sense.

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Corgan also hit out at the changing landscape of music, describing it as one where people prefer fame to the music itself.

He said of this: "They have no respect for the people that came before them," he said. "They have no respect for the tradition of music, they have no respect for the blood and tears that have been spilled by great musicians all over the world – many of whom will never even know their name."

I think that is true for any age of music.

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Originally Posted by Neapolitan (Post 1220032)

I think he means he can't run Smashing Pumpkins as "an oldies business [because] ...it's actually not a very good business." - it doesn't make good business sense.

Yes, that is explicitly what he said. What's your point?

I actually agree with Corgan on this one.

While I didn't like what I heard from Oceania at least there's an honest to goodness new album out for his band. Sure he's trying to make money, but at least he's offering something new.

What did Soundgarden do? They released a weak leftover from the Badmotorfinger days and a live disc from the waning days of the band.

Here's my biggest beef with SGs whole deal though. Back in '97 when they first broke up they publicly discussed not one, but two compilations to be released for the fans. The first was the A-Sides greatest hits package, the companion comp was an appropriately named B-Sides, featuring all the bonus tracks that were only featured on singles, or the super rare double album version of Badmotorfinger, and in some cases tunes only ever released in certain markets.

Then there was a boo-hoo article / interview with Thayil in a Rolling Stone type magazine a while back leading up to the reunion announcement where he openly complained about not profiting from the 2nd gen grunge fans. How their label contacts all essentially disappeared as the conglomerates ate up smaller labels etc. He did bring up a good point - when was last time you saw a SG t-shirt for sale? They simply didn't exist anymore until they reunited. But his comments made his purpose clear - and it wasn't to just rock out anymore.

At this point I'm more embarrassed than excited at the reformed Soundgarden.

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Originally Posted by mr dave (Post 1220095)

I actually agree with Corgan on this one...

It sounds like you only agree with him about Soundgarden though. What about Pavement? That's where I found Corgan's comments particularly ironic since Smashing Pumpkins are a far more commercial band than Pavement.