Say all you may want about Billy but he is a musical genius. He was the driving force behind SP. Not to discount, James, Jimmy & D’Arcy but it was his vision and direction that spurred the band to success.
What a brilliant interview. I began to cry when he speaks of feeling isolated. That's the #1 reason I connect so much to his music. I've felt the same most of my life. People really don't understand him who say he's a douche or arrogant. He's incredibly smart and down to earth.
Same here...I always felt he put so much of his vulnerability into his music and hear him confirm that was really cool. And I am glad that he changed my perception of him in this interview because I had always gotten and arrogant douche vibe. I guess it's that I only saw one aspect of his Pisces. It's funny because now I'm seeing how much I have in common with him and am getting logical confirmation of why I connected with his music on an energetic level.
@@antiochiaadtaurum3786 I disagree He's a Completely different person behind the curtain as you can see here very understanding and intelligent, open. He's A Different Character behind the Microphone though, that's where you may see a display of arrogance.
Wow. I love smashing pumpkins soooko much more than the late 80s bands like I really hated GUNS and roses. I rather listen to led zepplin at that point in 1988 89. I hated skid row too. But I so would have listened to slayer. Metallic really sucked. I'm so happy for smashing pumpkins. Ha ha I ran out and bought the CD. In the mall in Texas.
He was totally right about alternative rock becoming conservative and safe and general rock coming to an end as a social phenomenon. Awesome to see how accurate his position was.
@@godzillasimpson8357 it’s not really about selling out well, it’s about having a real social impact to the point of having leverage on the industry as a whole.
@@fatninjacatmatt That's right, and as an example, as cool as those bands he mentioned may (or may not) be, I bet 100 out of 100 people I ask on the street will not know Cinderella, Rat Poison, or Dokken. Rock is dead... although I think a modest comeback is on the horizon... starting a bit already... just seems like people are really getting into guitar on RUclips lol.
@@fatninjacatmatt and the industry figured out if you just have single pop artists and rappers theyre much easier to control, manipulate, and make a ton of $$$ that theyll never see that was harder to do with full bands
I would be very interested in knowing billy Corgans IQ. When you listen to him speak , he is extraordinarily intelligent. He’s fascinating to listen to. He’s also very introspective, and that paired up with his exceedingly high ability to articulate himself just makes him , probably the most interesting person to listen to I’ve come across. He’s also very honest. Charlie Rose is a master interviewer too.
Billy entertaining the idea of Alex Jones and Donald Trump being taken seriously and his transphobia probably knocks his IQ down a couple dozen points or so.
I hear and read so many negative comments about Corgan. I’m sure quite a bit of it stems from him not toeing the ideological progressive line. But whatever you think of his personal worldview, you cannot watch an interview like this and listen to him discuss this myriad of subjects without concluding that he is an intensively passionate, intelligent and reasoned person.
Idk people have hated him since the 90s. They were just so ubiquitous at that time and he has a very idiosyncratic vocal style, not to mention that they were a very strange breed of pop band even then. If you believe the press his perfectionism and artistic ego drove his band apart, not to mention people just found his demeanor to be aloof and pretentious. I think those things about him are fascinating, but not everyone does. I think he is just a very distinctive person in ways that compel some and repel others. Some people will always be that way.
Adore is a great album. Shame has so much emotion in it and it's absolutely beautiful. Behold !The nightmare and Pug are also incredible songs. They are one of the greatest bands of all time.
wonderful album.. still don't get why it was not considered as good as the previous ones (later Machina and Machina II again, good material). This man has been continuously evolving in terms of his comprehension of music and his ways to compose lyrically and musically.
I was born in 1998 and my mother used this album for basically the soundtrack of my life along with all the others. She followed the tour bus around and bombarded him while leaving the bus and asked him to hold her baby. This band has had a major impact on me and my life, since i can remember. Such a smart man.
I'm surprised he actually held you. I once asked him to sign my guitar and he refused and ridiculed me. I asked him to at least please just touch it and he just barely grazed the stock with the tip of his finger like he was God. I love him but he does treat fans like trash often.
I was going to keep my mouth shut and just move on, but I know some people of the time or younger might miss the point of what Billy Corgan is saying. Having been a young music enthusiast at about 12 years old when I pick up my first smashing pumpkins CD, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness emblem. I can say they were without a doubt hated and love at the same time , in the none cliche meaning. They were intricate and poetic to the point of overcomplicated for the general public that wanted easier catch choruses to sing along to. You had to live a life of actual struggle and not some fake rebellion of the 90s to understand and appreciate the Smashing Pumpkins. My parents got divorced in the 90s and the Smashing Pumpkins helped me through it and I understood Billy's songs more deeply for it. I still tear up when I hear tonight tonight song. Final Note: The Smashing Pumpkins, the most underappreciated band of the 90's. Thanks, Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins.........
Man, great questions Charlie. I love how he would follow the conversation and let that dictate the next question instead of a preset list like most interviewers.
Adore was ahead of its time, it would done better in the early/mid 2000s. When adore came, everybody was still expecting loud riffs from rock alternative bands, its one of the reasons why nu metal got so popular by the end of the 90s. Billy was so right about alternative grunge bands or rock music in general, i loved the analogy “they basically threw away the keys of the car” .Today, in 2020, we know what happened in the industry in the last 20 years, rap, hip hop and pop didn’t feel guilty of being successful and took the opportunity to define the industry. I love the new album CYR it will be looked at in the future with a different perspective by their detractors just like adore. Its time for rock music to grow and stop living in the past. Its time for a new rock revolution in the next decade.
Nice interview, haven't seen this before. Still, it's funny to hear Billy talk like this in 1998. Because omg was the worst yet to come. He couldn't tell, but he sat right there in the middle of THE best decade of music there has been, and ever will be. Oh man, take me back. The cowboy hat looks good on Billy, yet he does send out a handsome serial killer vibe in this clip xD
In 1998....Billy says you can't be an alternative rock artist but for more than 4-5 years, and in 2023 here he and the Pumpkins present Atum, A Rock Opera in Three Parts, that rivals, to me, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I am so glad his genius kept churning.....long may his artistry and contemplation continue....
The new 33 podcast related to "Atum" shows Billy's positivity that was present back then and has continued to evolve to this day. There were a lot of critics and fans back then and now who don't agree about his or the band's direction always. As a superfan, I had no idea about his attitudes and was always led to believe that he was a very negative person. I've been lucky enough to say hey and get an autograph. He was always nice. The band members have mostly reunited and continues to thrive and change because they were never afraid to. Thank you for posting this! Very cool
Looking back on this interview, he was 100% right on rock music becoming finite and reaching a creative conclusion around 1995, 1996. I often said the time era from the LATE 1990's through 2010 created some of the worst rock music in history. I won't bother naming the bands here because they don't deserve more recognition.
@@DrGalazkiewicz Nothing like the early 90s but there are gems. Hip hop has the momentum and youth energy but hip hop try as it might cannot get out of its own ego and trappings. The venurbility, independence and intellengence that shines in the pumpkins and other great rock seems hard to find these days.
OK Computer came out in 1997, one year before this interview, and is the album that Billy is trying to describe that would end up changing the landscape of pop music, artistically and structurally. Radiohead took what grunge had started, what Billy finished, and took the music biz into the 21st C with their next 4 records. In 1998, Radiohead were the heroes that Billy talks about at the end.
Yeah, he didn't have the full vision of what was to come, although he had the brilliant song Stand inside, he didn't achieve the next phase and transition into the unknown that Radiohead did and modest mouse and the great Sigur ross did post the indie rock era... he forever missed the boat... but that was his lexicon, and hes been tied up in ever since
There was no big transformation after OK Computer in rock music. It just sort of died out into the Emo scene, which was generally very poorly made music by whiners. Perhaps we should be blaming Radiohead for that. In fact, I would say their first album, Pablo Honey, was more influential than OK Computer. They literally sang about how anyone can play guitar. Yes, it was much simpler music than on OK Computer, but, again, OK Computer didn't have such an influence as to really change rock. Punk was a game changer. New Wave was a game changer. Alternative rock of the very late 80s and early 90s was a game changer. Not OK Computer. Not Radiohead. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Radiohead were bad. They were great.
@@alukuhito I said 'pop music', and Radiohead are a pop band IMO. Rock gave us Nickleback and Sleep and I'll take Dopesmoker anyday. don't mind my reply. stoked this comment has any traction at all.
@@alukuhito Radiohead can sing all they want about how anyone can play the guitar, but no one plays the guitar like Jonny Greenwood, a game changing player of the instrument, genres aside.
He's right when he says that him and his peers didn't take the chance to change the business to the artists benefit. I think the business works really hard to contain the talent. Either with lawyers, narcotics, fame, or with silicon valley having more innovation distributing it than the musicians creating it.
His argument about the alternative bands squandering their opportunity to change the game is interesting, and makes me realize that the figures in hip hop did not squander that same opportunity. They created their own labels, they built up other artists, they took control of their own careers, and shaped their own images and the culture as a whole, and now a quarter century later it is still the dominant form in popular music. It’s probably time for the next revolution, but they’ve gotten a lot more right than wrong. The major figures of hip hop in the 90s are millionaires and billionaires now with tremendous respect and power in the industry, and meanwhile “alternative” is basically meaningless, and the bands left from that era are nostalgia acts struggling to make a living. Billy Corgan recognized way back then that apathy isn’t cool and it certainly isn’t beneficial, but not many others in rock music felt the same way, and still to this day. It’s not cool to care, and cool is the name of the game, so aloof hipsters rule the game, but in the end they’re just ineffectual. Radiohead never feared sincerity (and also used their success to set their own rules) and they continue to have success. That old rock and roll attitude of not giving a shit is tired, postmodernism is dull, and eventually the rock and rollers will wake up to that.
I wouldn’t judge him based on his political ideas. These also may evolve with age. It is the music and the spiritual part that makes him so intriguing. I wish I could have these times back when all these rock bands played the wonderful music. I subscribe to the generation X.
He's a strange and fascinating man. Best songwriter since Roger Waters. Mellon Collie is probably the best and deepest album since The Wall. A lot of similarities in these albums and their creators. Both men were troubled and unhappy when they came up with their masterpieces, both value and emphasize personal integrity, and their themes of isolation and loss are quite similar as well.
@@AY-uf4oz Mellon Collie's got a handful of skippable tracks, OKC has none except if you count fitter happier. In Utero by Nirvana is also better imo because each track is awesome and I'd say it definitely has more emotional depth than Mellon Collie. The shit in there is just extremely dark. Not knocking Mellon Collie because I love a lot of the songs on there but there are definitely better and deeper albums from the '90s. I just think it would've fared much better as a normal size album.
@@benjamindevlin4057 you are so so wrong. And I’m a huge Nirvana and Radiohead fan. Mellon Collie is a masterpiece through and through. The songwriting and layering is top notch.
@@Chevy-hw6lw I really wish I liked it as much as other people do. Are there any key songs I’m missing? I feel like a lot of the hard rockers just feel like a rip-off brand of Zero. Here is no why and To Forgive are the two ones that aren’t singles that I absolutely love, are there any other hidden gems? I also just think both of Iha’s contributions just plain suck if I’m being blunt. I think there’s definitely a reason Corgan is so controlling.
It seemed like they were not on the same page during this interview. Mainly, Ross didn’t understand the direction Billy was going. However, it was nice to hear Billy express himself like that.
I agree about the media not taking the music seriously anymore, and being more concerned about who you are dating. That might be a reflection of why the music has stagnated.
General state of negativity.......... I believe this feeling goes through all the generations, feeling the last generation had it better. Every generation is going to go through difficulties, as time goes on, the problems seem to be more frivolous.
The trajectory that Elvis, the Beatles, and Chuck Berry took getting music to a certain extremity, then rock showing up pushing the envelope even more, then heavy metal. That's when people called rock dead, meaning dead to them, or commercially. Rock isn't dead at all, it just kept going its natural evolution into extremity. Into extreme metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Grindcore, and Doom. The Rock train has never stopped, it's just that most people left the train when it started to go too fast and the track became too bumpy for them. Real Rock isn't dead, it's just too extreme for the average listener.
It's literally not alternative anymore though. It's just pop. It's popular. Mainstream. Alternative means different from the mainstream. Radiohead literally has become mainstream.
I noticed, I also noticed that you are touched, aren't you. Good thing Billy C never came up missing. You probably would have been the #1 suspect in his disappearance.
It interesting he thinks “pure rock” is often corralling energy with no great purpose - and sees authentic emotional territory as the goal which he has achieved at times - how he shifts from the easy way to the deep way...
country roaaaaaaaaaaad take me hoooooooome to the plaaaaaaaaace i belooooooooooooon oh west virginiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa country mamaaaaaaa take me hoooooooooome courney looooooooooooove
A coincidence for me that he mentioned John Lennon cause a couple of weeks prior I stumble upon Julian Lennon and find out he is one of two sons of John Lennon which obviously I'm not a Beatles fan since the only song at the time I knew was " Hey Jude " but I did go through an Paul McCartney/Beatles binge . Although Oasis which came much later than the Beatles sounds familiar to the Beatles and roughly about that time Third Eye Blind , Oasis , a little more cleaned up Goo Goo Dolls , The Smashing Pumpkins , and etc . Although I don't remember SP being around when The Goo Goo Dolls were grunge like Nirvana , and maybe Marilyn Manson but apparently SP in the earlier years were grungy . I'm glad they somewhat changed I was not a big fan of the Goo Goo Dolls in there earlier years or maybe in the future I'll learn to appreciate the music I don't like now .
Actually it suits him really well. He's one of US, not a liberal into critical theory like YOU. He is literally a patriarch and he fights for the Right side.
He was basically right about the whole institution of rock music dying. There have been a handful of revivals since then, but rock music as a genre really peaked at around 1996. It had gone from a serious and increasingly sophisticated art form to easy listening party music by the end of the 90’s. Much more downtempo and one dimensional. Of course we saw the rise of the heavier nu-metal bands, but I really put them in their own category and personally suspect that Nu-metal was predominantly a fabrication of the music industry, where they wanted to try and create an updated form of grunge music for the new millennium, which they basically did. I don’t want to shit on individual bands and their achievements, but all of a sudden you had these bands exploding onto the mainstream, all wearing the same stuff, all collaborating with the same producers, and basically all sounding the same. A completely different approach, clearly driven by commercial interests, and in many ways the opposite of what Rock music was supposed to be about.
The 90s gets a bad rep for the music not being Van Halen white snake good. You realize there is more than one way to show guitar talent than be malmsteen. The 90s proved that. Don’t get me wrong I love the 80s but the 90s had good hits too.
'How long can you DO this?' Whoa. This was perhaps the most savage interview I've ever seen. Billy spends 20 minutes hawking a made up version of the rock star he wishes he could be meanwhile Charlie tries to crack him like a nut. Charlie sounded truly angry at times just trying to get something real out of him. And notice Billy sipping that water and giggling every odd minute? He was scared to death. I mean look at that freaking hat! (I wish we had interviewers this good today. I think you may have to be off be that interested in getting to the root of people.)
![MAF Teeski - Whole Thing (feat. VonOff1700) [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SHWEj-ndz6g/mqdefault.jpg)
Charlie: “How long can you do this?” WPC: “Maybe four or 5 more years” ....22 years later... selling out stadiums.
I think he's a genius. True artist.
Aye. On the same never-ending nostalgia tour that everyone else is on. No-one's going to the gigs to hear the new stuff, lol.
Charlie rose is a great interviewer here
Say all you may want about Billy but he is a musical genius. He was the driving force behind SP. Not to discount, James, Jimmy & D’Arcy but it was his vision and direction that spurred the band to success.
exactly
I think it's fair to discount them.
@@coryc1904 not jimmy
Yawn. Same old trope.
@@coryc1904 LOL, savage. (But I don't necessarily disagree ha.)
Billy Corgan Has left a Legacy on this World, will inspire people beyond His generation.
Did he die???
Def me
I'm 19
Mindrex he’s not dead
I’m grateful that I got to see them last year 3 hr set what a night
What a brilliant interview. I began to cry when he speaks of feeling isolated. That's the #1 reason I connect so much to his music. I've felt the same most of my life. People really don't understand him who say he's a douche or arrogant. He's incredibly smart and down to earth.
Yeah he came from the bottom and you can see how that resulted in his personality, which not everyone seems to get.
Same here...I always felt he put so much of his vulnerability into his music and hear him confirm that was really cool. And I am glad that he changed my perception of him in this interview because I had always gotten and arrogant douche vibe. I guess it's that I only saw one aspect of his Pisces. It's funny because now I'm seeing how much I have in common with him and am getting logical confirmation of why I connected with his music on an energetic level.
no, he's arrogant, very arrogant
@@antiochiaadtaurum3786 I disagree He's a Completely different person behind the curtain as you can see here very understanding and intelligent, open. He's A Different Character behind the Microphone though, that's where you may see a display of arrogance.
bollocks, a narc is a narc @@TheMovieReelWriter1005
He looks and sounds so beautiful
You think?
Wow. I love smashing pumpkins soooko much more than the late 80s bands like I really hated GUNS and roses. I rather listen to led zepplin at that point in 1988 89. I hated skid row too. But I so would have listened to slayer. Metallic really sucked. I'm so happy for smashing pumpkins. Ha ha I ran out and bought the CD. In the mall in Texas.
@@jetjacobwildandcrazyrandom1320 yes smashing pumkins is way better than them
He was totally right about alternative rock becoming conservative and safe and general rock coming to an end as a social phenomenon. Awesome to see how accurate his position was.
But bands like Cinderella, ratt poison are good too. Also Dokken ruled back before don discovered marlboros and scotch.
And he forgets to mention kiss, Motley Crue, and AC/DC still sell out pretty good
@@godzillasimpson8357 it’s not really about selling out well, it’s about having a real social impact to the point of having leverage on the industry as a whole.
@@fatninjacatmatt That's right, and as an example, as cool as those bands he mentioned may (or may not) be, I bet 100 out of 100 people I ask on the street will not know Cinderella, Rat Poison, or Dokken. Rock is dead... although I think a modest comeback is on the horizon... starting a bit already... just seems like people are really getting into guitar on RUclips lol.
@@fatninjacatmatt and the industry figured out if you just have single pop artists and rappers theyre much easier to control, manipulate, and make a ton of $$$ that theyll never see that was harder to do with full bands
This is one of the best interviews with an artist I've ever seen
I would be very interested in knowing billy Corgans IQ. When you listen to him speak , he is extraordinarily intelligent. He’s fascinating to listen to. He’s also very introspective, and that paired up with his exceedingly high ability to articulate himself just makes him , probably the most interesting person to listen to I’ve come across. He’s also very honest. Charlie Rose is a master interviewer too.
I believe he has a very high IQ- MENSA level.
He’s crazy well smarted himself too
I met him by chance and he is very complex, intelligent, open and interesting.
Billy entertaining the idea of Alex Jones and Donald Trump being taken seriously and his transphobia probably knocks his IQ down a couple dozen points or so.
He just speaks from the heart, nothing to do with IQ.
I hear and read so many negative comments about Corgan. I’m sure quite a bit of it stems from him not toeing the ideological progressive line. But whatever you think of his personal worldview, you cannot watch an interview like this and listen to him discuss this myriad of subjects without concluding that he is an intensively passionate, intelligent and reasoned person.
Plus his worldview has been so misrepresented by the media. He’s always been a socially liberal person.
Idk people have hated him since the 90s. They were just so ubiquitous at that time and he has a very idiosyncratic vocal style, not to mention that they were a very strange breed of pop band even then. If you believe the press his perfectionism and artistic ego drove his band apart, not to mention people just found his demeanor to be aloof and pretentious. I think those things about him are fascinating, but not everyone does. I think he is just a very distinctive person in ways that compel some and repel others. Some people will always be that way.
@@thomasbeckley-forest1785 Well put.
Of course he doesn't "tow" the progressive line, he's actually intelligent, not a numb skull!
@@chasec9197 huh?
Adore is a great album. Shame has so much emotion in it and it's absolutely beautiful. Behold !The nightmare and Pug are also incredible songs. They are one of the greatest bands of all time.
Shame is one of their best songs, absolutely beautiful and touching
Annie Dog is one of my favorites on the album.
Adore would be more accepted nowdays
would be a hit now
Absolutely
He still sings it live.
It still exists and is loved today
wonderful album.. still don't get why it was not considered as good as the previous ones (later Machina and Machina II again, good material). This man has been continuously evolving in terms of his comprehension of music and his ways to compose lyrically and musically.
I was born in 1998 and my mother used this album for basically the soundtrack of my life along with all the others. She followed the tour bus around and bombarded him while leaving the bus and asked him to hold her baby. This band has had a major impact on me and my life, since i can remember. Such a smart man.
I'm surprised he actually held you. I once asked him to sign my guitar and he refused and ridiculed me. I asked him to at least please just touch it and he just barely grazed the stock with the tip of his finger like he was God. I love him but he does treat fans like trash often.
Lmaoooo your mom was crazy dude
I miss the 90's
I was forever changed by the song "Disarm."
Billy Corgan absolute humble Legend and Charlie Rose expert level interviewer
I realize wish Charlie hadn’t fucked up like he did. Always enjoyed his long-form interviews.
"The culture we're in we have no hero's."
This is a classic interview
I was going to keep my mouth shut and just move on, but I know some people of the time or younger might miss the point of what Billy Corgan is saying. Having been a young music enthusiast at about 12 years old when I pick up my first smashing pumpkins CD, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness emblem. I can say they were without a doubt hated and love at the same time , in the none cliche meaning. They were intricate and poetic to the point of overcomplicated for the general public that wanted easier catch choruses to sing along to. You had to live a life of actual struggle and not some fake rebellion of the 90s to understand and appreciate the Smashing Pumpkins.
My parents got divorced in the 90s and the Smashing Pumpkins helped me through it and I understood Billy's songs more deeply for it.
I still tear up when I hear tonight tonight song.
Final Note:
The Smashing Pumpkins, the most underappreciated band of the 90's.
Thanks,
Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins.........
I love the album Adore
Man, great questions Charlie. I love how he would follow the conversation and let that dictate the next question instead of a preset list like most interviewers.
Lookie there🙌♥️🙌
A musical genius & wonderful soul in a cowboy hat🙌🐴♥️🦋🙌
He needs to bring that hat back. I always thought it was a sophisticated yet flashy look for a rocker
Billy doesn't have to be "nice". He is smart and good.
yes
Billy has always been a hero to me for some reason. He’s such a pure soul and one of my favorite people ever. Rock on, my friend 🤘🏻
Adore billy x
Billy, just off of safari, came in to do a nice interview here.
Adore was ahead of its time, it would done better in the early/mid 2000s. When adore came, everybody was still expecting loud riffs from rock alternative bands, its one of the reasons why nu metal got so popular by the end of the 90s. Billy was so right about alternative grunge bands or rock music in general, i loved the analogy “they basically threw away the keys of the car” .Today, in 2020, we know what happened in the industry in the last 20 years, rap, hip hop and pop didn’t feel guilty of being successful and took the opportunity to define the industry. I love the new album CYR it will be looked at in the future with a different perspective by their detractors just like adore. Its time for rock music to grow and stop living in the past. Its time for a new rock revolution in the next decade.
It probably wont happen at all on a big mainstream level unless its just the industry plants that they pick out doing it
There’s so many great sub genres now that rock music is dead. I guess there’s the Foo Fighters. Not my cup of tea but they exist
Eh I still don't like Adore
@@Taylor.Dude. It's like any other genre, there's good and bad
@@destroyermaker you are missing out
Rose is so versatile. He is toe tipping around interviewer to get the conversation deeper.
@@SNAFU78 oops! Thank you
Amazing interview, good ol Charlie Rose. Just wish it was like an hour longer.
Nice interview, haven't seen this before. Still, it's funny to hear Billy talk like this in 1998. Because omg was the worst yet to come. He couldn't tell, but he sat right there in the middle of THE best decade of music there has been, and ever will be. Oh man, take me back. The cowboy hat looks good on Billy, yet he does send out a handsome serial killer vibe in this clip xD
In 1998....Billy says you can't be an alternative rock artist but for more than 4-5 years, and in 2023 here he and the Pumpkins present Atum, A Rock Opera in Three Parts, that rivals, to me, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I am so glad his genius kept churning.....long may his artistry and contemplation continue....
Thanks for posting this. I remember watching this back when it aired.
Love this so much.
Seems so intelligent, and pretty interesting guy.
I was so in love with billy corgan then
Wow
he was so fine in gish era and his 1994 hair
The new 33 podcast related to "Atum" shows Billy's positivity that was present back then and has continued to evolve to this day. There were a lot of critics and fans back then and now who don't agree about his or the band's direction always. As a superfan, I had no idea about his attitudes and was always led to believe that he was a very negative person. I've been lucky enough to say hey and get an autograph. He was always nice. The band members have mostly reunited and continues to thrive and change because they were never afraid to. Thank you for posting this! Very cool
He was right on in this interview and putting out Adore when they did was an epic statement. Ahead of it's time.
Mellon Collie was also an epic statement, putting out a double album when nobody had seriously done that since the 70s in the era of stadium rock.
Love Billy, very intelligent and interesting guy and brilliant musician to boot 🖤
Oh wow my son was born on 1995 and grew up listening to smashing pumpkins. So anything billy says should never ever be deleted. I want 2 protect him
Just discovered you today! I love your videos, and these might sound weird, but I like the shape of your teeth. They’re very aesthetically pleasing!
Have to appreciate his honesty, and critique.
Great interview
This is so great.
He makes some solid points.
One of the best attempts to describe “Rock N’ Roll”.
Ive seen a lot of BC interviews. Never thought Id see him here.
Infowars style
i love this one
Looking back on this interview, he was 100% right on rock music becoming finite and reaching a creative conclusion around 1995, 1996. I often said the time era from the LATE 1990's through 2010 created some of the worst rock music in history. I won't bother naming the bands here because they don't deserve more recognition.
Agree, but has rock improved since 2010??
@@DrGalazkiewicz Nothing like the early 90s but there are gems. Hip hop has the momentum and youth energy but hip hop try as it might cannot get out of its own ego and trappings. The venurbility, independence and intellengence that shines in the pumpkins and other great rock seems hard to find these days.
The Mars Volta started in 2003.
The 3 Evanescence albums and Blink 182's self titled album from 2003 are my favorite of the 21st Century.
Bagstreeee boi
OK Computer came out in 1997, one year before this interview, and is the album that Billy is trying to describe that would end up changing the landscape of pop music, artistically and structurally. Radiohead took what grunge had started, what Billy finished, and took the music biz into the 21st C with their next 4 records. In 1998, Radiohead were the heroes that Billy talks about at the end.
Yeah, he didn't have the full vision of what was to come, although he had the brilliant song Stand inside, he didn't achieve the next phase and transition into the unknown that Radiohead did and modest mouse and the great Sigur ross did post the indie rock era... he forever missed the boat... but that was his lexicon, and hes been tied up in ever since
There was no big transformation after OK Computer in rock music. It just sort of died out into the Emo scene, which was generally very poorly made music by whiners. Perhaps we should be blaming Radiohead for that. In fact, I would say their first album, Pablo Honey, was more influential than OK Computer. They literally sang about how anyone can play guitar. Yes, it was much simpler music than on OK Computer, but, again, OK Computer didn't have such an influence as to really change rock. Punk was a game changer. New Wave was a game changer. Alternative rock of the very late 80s and early 90s was a game changer. Not OK Computer. Not Radiohead. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Radiohead were bad. They were great.
@@alukuhito I said 'pop music', and Radiohead are a pop band IMO. Rock gave us Nickleback and Sleep and I'll take Dopesmoker anyday. don't mind my reply. stoked this comment has any traction at all.
@@alukuhito Radiohead are arguably the best band to survive and outlive the 90s' alt rock label.
@@alukuhito Radiohead can sing all they want about how anyone can play the guitar, but no one plays the guitar like Jonny Greenwood, a game changing player of the instrument, genres aside.
great interview
charlie rose showing why he's a great interviewer
Imagine having a ding dong.
He's right when he says that him and his peers didn't take the chance to change the business to the artists benefit. I think the business works really hard to contain the talent. Either with lawyers, narcotics, fame, or with silicon valley having more innovation distributing it than the musicians creating it.
His argument about the alternative bands squandering their opportunity to change the game is interesting, and makes me realize that the figures in hip hop did not squander that same opportunity. They created their own labels, they built up other artists, they took control of their own careers, and shaped their own images and the culture as a whole, and now a quarter century later it is still the dominant form in popular music. It’s probably time for the next revolution, but they’ve gotten a lot more right than wrong. The major figures of hip hop in the 90s are millionaires and billionaires now with tremendous respect and power in the industry, and meanwhile “alternative” is basically meaningless, and the bands left from that era are nostalgia acts struggling to make a living.
Billy Corgan recognized way back then that apathy isn’t cool and it certainly isn’t beneficial, but not many others in rock music felt the same way, and still to this day. It’s not cool to care, and cool is the name of the game, so aloof hipsters rule the game, but in the end they’re just ineffectual. Radiohead never feared sincerity (and also used their success to set their own rules) and they continue to have success. That old rock and roll attitude of not giving a shit is tired, postmodernism is dull, and eventually the rock and rollers will wake up to that.
I love the interview. Btw. I am a Pisces too and sure, very moody as well. I wish the 90ies came back. It was the best time of my life as a teenager.
He's a right wing Man's Man.
He’s a very talented musician, though.
He's libertarian not right wing.
I wouldn’t judge him based on his political ideas. These also may evolve with age. It is the music and the spiritual part that makes him so intriguing. I wish I could have these times back when all these rock bands played the wonderful music. I subscribe to the generation X.
This is what a good journalist looks like.
I love what he says about death. So true.
He's a strange and fascinating man. Best songwriter since Roger Waters. Mellon Collie is probably the best and deepest album since The Wall. A lot of similarities in these albums and their creators. Both men were troubled and unhappy when they came up with their masterpieces, both value and emphasize personal integrity, and their themes of isolation and loss are quite similar as well.
Nah Ok computer
@@uncledarren9775 Certainly that's a very good album, but to me Mellon Collie is stronger.
@@AY-uf4oz Mellon Collie's got a handful of skippable tracks, OKC has none except if you count fitter happier. In Utero by Nirvana is also better imo because each track is awesome and I'd say it definitely has more emotional depth than Mellon Collie. The shit in there is just extremely dark. Not knocking Mellon Collie because I love a lot of the songs on there but there are definitely better and deeper albums from the '90s. I just think it would've fared much better as a normal size album.
@@benjamindevlin4057 you are so so wrong. And I’m a huge Nirvana and Radiohead fan. Mellon Collie is a masterpiece through and through. The songwriting and layering is top notch.
@@Chevy-hw6lw I really wish I liked it as much as other people do. Are there any key songs I’m missing? I feel like a lot of the hard rockers just feel like a rip-off brand of Zero. Here is no why and To Forgive are the two ones that aren’t singles that I absolutely love, are there any other hidden gems? I also just think both of Iha’s contributions just plain suck if I’m being blunt. I think there’s definitely a reason Corgan is so controlling.
Inlove bill Madison
really authentic
It seemed like they were not on the same page during this interview. Mainly, Ross didn’t understand the direction Billy was going. However, it was nice to hear Billy express himself like that.
Billy Corgan if you see this I would like to apologize to you profusely. Thank you for helping others.
I agree about the media not taking the music seriously anymore, and being more concerned about who you are dating. That might be a reflection of why the music has stagnated.
Yeah and computers ruin every damn thing. Cars, music, you name it. Computers ruin everything. Takes the fun out of everything
"Positivity, money, compassion" - Billy Corgan 1998.
Not really a fan of Smashing Pumpkins but am definitely a fan of Billy Corgan. Love his honesty.
General state of negativity.......... I believe this feeling goes through all the generations, feeling the last generation had it better.
Every generation is going to go through difficulties, as time goes on, the problems seem to be more frivolous.
Be looks like he can get the vows and all the horses in the trailer wearing that cowboy hat. I'm from ft worth tx so yes boy. Looks very good.
817 in the house!
Rock wasn't dead. Even "alternative" didn't die. It evolved. "Alternative" was transformed by Radiohead in ways no one could possibly imagine.
Wow's man. Heavy dude
As Billy once said, “Radiohead are one of the best if not the best band in the world.” Radiohead & Smashing Pumpkins are 2 of my all time favs!!
The trajectory that Elvis, the Beatles, and Chuck Berry took getting music to a certain extremity, then rock showing up pushing the envelope even more, then heavy metal. That's when people called rock dead, meaning dead to them, or commercially. Rock isn't dead at all, it just kept going its natural evolution into extremity. Into extreme metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Grindcore, and Doom. The Rock train has never stopped, it's just that most people left the train when it started to go too fast and the track became too bumpy for them. Real Rock isn't dead, it's just too extreme for the average listener.
It's literally not alternative anymore though. It's just pop. It's popular. Mainstream. Alternative means different from the mainstream. Radiohead literally has become mainstream.
@@coryc1904 With that logic Brutal Death Metal would be called Pop Music if it became mainstream?
Shit, I just saw him talking about EHX OP Amp and ordered it... now he he is talking about HX effects... Was the re-issue not that good than? ;)
I care about politics. I care about humanity and the environment. I don't worship Billy but I respect him and I love his messages
The interview is from 1998
Believe me, it was better when the youth _didn't_ care about politics, as strange as that is to say.
Julie I want to talk to you
@@51MontyPython ikr
His ego is wounded here. I love him
I don't know what I am doing commenting on this you tube video of billy back in 1998. Nobody notices! Ha ha
I do.
I noticed, I also noticed that you are touched, aren't you. Good thing Billy C never came up missing. You probably would have been the #1 suspect in his disappearance.
I notice you, brother. Hi there. You truly matter.
Billy Corgan looks like the robot killer from Westworld.
It interesting he thinks “pure rock” is often corralling energy with no great purpose - and sees authentic emotional territory as the goal which he has achieved at times - how he shifts from the easy way to the deep way...
He looks like a young Yul Brynner from the Bizarro World.
koooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
He seems sad when asked ab9 asked about adores success
the interviewer asked the question in the worst way possible lol
It wasn’t selling.
country roaaaaaaaaaaad take me hoooooooome to the plaaaaaaaaace i belooooooooooooon oh west virginiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa country mamaaaaaaa take me hoooooooooome courney looooooooooooove
Bill.. I was a extra in West world!!! 😂
Perfect. You know it had 2 B
A coincidence for me that he mentioned John Lennon cause a couple of weeks prior I stumble upon Julian Lennon and find out he is one of two sons of John Lennon which obviously I'm not a Beatles fan since the only song at the time I knew was " Hey Jude " but I did go through an Paul McCartney/Beatles binge . Although Oasis which came much later than the Beatles sounds familiar to the Beatles and roughly about that time Third Eye Blind , Oasis , a little more cleaned up Goo Goo Dolls , The Smashing Pumpkins , and etc . Although I don't remember SP being around when The Goo Goo Dolls were grunge like Nirvana , and maybe Marilyn Manson but apparently SP in the earlier years were grungy . I'm glad they somewhat changed I was not a big fan of the Goo Goo Dolls in there earlier years or maybe in the future I'll learn to appreciate the music I don't like now .
Billy Corgan 1998: This hat is a good look.
2020: Noooooooooooooo!
Actually it suits him really well. He's one of US, not a liberal into critical theory like YOU. He is literally a patriarch and he fights for the Right side.
@@coryc1904 oh boyyyy
Adore would have been accepted if it wasn't SP. BC himself said it was purposely different.
Also, if it came out a decade later.
I wonder how he started.
That interview must’ve been when they did their country record.
That cowboy hat noooooo
you the real clown
Well I like him
6:15 and 6:58 Billy releasing his inner Betty la fea
He was basically right about the whole institution of rock music dying. There have been a handful of revivals since then, but rock music as a genre really peaked at around 1996. It had gone from a serious and increasingly sophisticated art form to easy listening party music by the end of the 90’s. Much more downtempo and one dimensional. Of course we saw the rise of the heavier nu-metal bands, but I really put them in their own category and personally suspect that Nu-metal was predominantly a fabrication of the music industry, where they wanted to try and create an updated form of grunge music for the new millennium, which they basically did. I don’t want to shit on individual bands and their achievements, but all of a sudden you had these bands exploding onto the mainstream, all wearing the same stuff, all collaborating with the same producers, and basically all sounding the same. A completely different approach, clearly driven by commercial interests, and in many ways the opposite of what Rock music was supposed to be about.
So sad that he said he's waited years to have Billy Corgan on, yet he's oblivious as a host to give him some more damn water!
I liked adore but after that I took a break
The 90s gets a bad rep for the music not being Van Halen white snake good. You realize there is more than one way to show guitar talent than be malmsteen. The 90s proved that. Don’t get me wrong I love the 80s but the 90s had good hits too.
Yeehaw
'How long can you DO this?' Whoa. This was perhaps the most savage interview I've ever seen. Billy spends 20 minutes hawking a made up version of the rock star he wishes he could be meanwhile Charlie tries to crack him like a nut. Charlie sounded truly angry at times just trying to get something real out of him. And notice Billy sipping that water and giggling every odd minute? He was scared to death. I mean look at that freaking hat! (I wish we had interviewers this good today. I think you may have to be off be that interested in getting to the root of people.)
This is a pretty typical Charlie Rose interview.
Intelligence is shining through here
Some might consider Gemini the ultimate expression of duality, but sure Billy, go with Pisces.
Alvin 🐿
My dad
Lol he was totally ducking with him about the signs stuff 😂
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