Quote:
Originally Posted by Bread Regal
ok but seriously i had no idea jimmy was on drugs again during the machina tour. where did you hear that from? very curious.
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It's come up in multiple interviews since the band broke up.
-In that Rolling Stone interview with Corgan (from 2010: where Corgan says he fired Chamberlin) both Jimmy and Billy say Jimmy did not get completely clean until 2003, right before his first daughter was born.
-In the same interview, Corgan says something along the lines of, "I never should have broken the band up. I should have told Jimmy to get sober and told James to get with the program or get the fuck out."
-On that official website from 2007-2009, where the writers would post articles about the band's history, they did an in-depth analysis of the origin and failure of Glass and the Ghost Children. I'm paraphrasing once again, but Billy said something along the lines of "James and D'arcy could not have cared less about the idea, and Jimmy was into it, but too messed up to put all his efforts into the project." (I only remember this because I remember it being the first time I heard that Jimmy was not clean when he rejoined the band).
We have no evidence that Jimmy continued to use heroin, but it would not surprise me. But it's been established he was not completely clean from 1998-2003. At the time, I think most people assumed he was because of how strongly Billy spoke about him in 1996/1997, but if you go back, no one actually said Jimmy cleaned up his act.
Regarding Billy, Jimmy, and 1996 incidents, no one could deny Billy could definitely have made better choices about the whole mess, Billy has said this countless times, but as others have pointed out, these were adults we were talking about. The band was at their absolute height, and I'm sure Billy knew the pressures and logistical nightmares that would come with having to cancel whole legs of a huge tour. Jimmy dropped the ball, and that falls on no one else but him. Also, and others have also pointed this out, dealing with addicts can be a tricky situation. I'm sure Jimmy and Johnathan were very convincing in their assertions that they could keep their shit together for a few more months, and I'm sure Billy truly wanted to hold them to their word.
From the Rolling Stone article:
"By the late nineties, the Pumpkins had been reduced to Corgan plus, 'two drug addicts and one guy who hated me, and I hated him.' The non-drug addict was guitarist James Iha . . ."
"As Corgan tells it, Iha got deep under his skin by acting hostile and then insisting nothing was wrong. Bassist Wretzky - who seemed to be around for her cool vibe and good taste than any particular musical talent - had already left the band by the time Corgan broke it up. He now wishes he'd done the whole thing differently. 'Rather than break up the band, what I should have done is chuck James out,' Corgan says. 'I should have just said to Jimmy, you go to rehab, and we'll continue, and James, get the fuck out of here.' "
"Until he had his first child seven years ago, Chamberlin was a heron addict..."