Billy Corgan > Rockline Interview (2010)

[amoergosum]

You can listen to the complete interview here:
Rockline Radio - Interviews and music from classic rockers and cutting edge superstars!

"On Rockline last night Billy Corgan finally revealed the reason that he fired original Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin last year.
Billy said that he has always been the one to choose the direction of the band, even if others disagreed. He said that he and Jimmy had a disagreement about the future of the band. He said that the disagreement had been long standing, and Billy said it was nothing he was going to fight over. He said “not all band members live in reality” but he lives in today’s music world reality. He said he’s determined to move the Smashing Pumpkins forward with new music. He also said he doesn’t want to be an oldies band taking money to pay his bills, he wants to be an artist to be an artist. He said Jimmy wanted to shut things down and make things simpler, and become an oldies act."

Source:
GrungeReport.net » Blog Archive » BILLY CORGAN REVEALS WHY HE FIRED SMASHING PUMPKINS DRUMMER JIMMY CHAMBERLIN

[soniclovenoize]

http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/a...organIrony.jpg

[stumpycat]

Originally Posted by amoergosum

"On Rockline last night Billy Corgan finally revealed the reason that he fired original Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin last year.
Billy said that he has always been the one to choose the direction of the band, even if others disagreed. He said that he and Jimmy had a disagreement about the future of the band. He said that the disagreement had been long standing, and Billy said it was nothing he was going to fight over.

Billy is finally being truthful about this. Something WE insisted was the case all along (not the unhealthy human being, druggie BS.)

He said “not all band members live in reality” but he lives in today’s music world reality.

ohhh my god. This is just too rich.

He said he’s determined to move the Smashing Pumpkins forward with new music. He also said he doesn’t want to be an oldies band taking money to pay his bills, he wants to be an artist to be an artist. He said Jimmy Billy wanted to shut things down and make things simpler, and become an oldies act."

Fixed for truth.

[Trotskilicious]

well if billy wants to do new stuff he should probably drop this whole pumpkins bullshit altogether but i guess he lives in today's music reality or whatever

[Trotskilicious]

man this guy

[Monet LSD]

*sigh*

[paranoid]

so of the two men, which is currently touring on set lists that are half greatest hits? fuck all mighty.

and as i heard it, JC wanted to do a tour that contained mostly hits and fan favorites (like Ruby, Geek, etc etc) to win the back the love of the fan base, or least get some positivity brewing again.. and this was all his reaction to the 20th tour not going over so well as far as audience reactions go.

just put yourself in jimmy's shoes. you do two night shows at about 2.5-3 hours each. you sit behind the kit, wanting to play music, but instead your band leader spends a chunk of that time throwing sarcastic insults at how the audience doesn't ''get it.'' as a result, you are met with boos or general apathy. to top it off, you have to get out from behind the kit at the end of the show and play a kazoo fest in which your leader continues to berate the audience and then walk off of stage all miserable. he then calls it art. oh, and hey, you get to play the same two damn set lists at another city!! wahoo! yeah, after traveling the country on that bullshit for 3 months straight i'd want to get back to basics and play some shit that the crowd would be excited about.

for the record i loved that tour. but i was just one fan who went to one show. a lot of people HATED that tour.

[ilikeplanets]

Originally Posted by soniclovenoize

http://i928.photobucket.com/albums/a...organIrony.jpg

Oh god that one's bad

[Luke de Spa]

today’s music world reality

[Mablak]

Yeah, I'm guessing if there's any truth to this statement, it's because Jimmy saw playing the hits as the only way to avoid playing Billy's shitastic new material without directly telling him how much it sucked.

[vbshlofbvgos]

so billy disagreed with jimmy about touring as an oldies act and fired him and did it anyway

[vbshlofbvgos]

oh wait but he came out with teargarden on top of it
that shows what you know jimmy c!!!!

[Reyngel]

This is all very consistent with what most of us thought was the real truth. I'm even more convinced now that Jimmy was sick of Billy forcing uncomfortable vibes onto the band, such as nights of insults at crowds who didn't care for a lot of his newer material, and a switch to music that less and less fans could emotionally relate or connect to.


Jimmy knew what we've known all along, too: after the Zeitgeist album and 2007 rivival, nothing Billy's put out since has had the lyrical, emotional or sonic quality to move people.


I bet Jimmy bought into the idea of reviving the band with Billy because Billy explained a vision of bringing back what made the Pumpkins great. So Jimmy puts his heart and soul into recording Zeitgeist and touring with a GOOD mix of old and new back in 2007, and it was actually a pretty decent start. But then Billy threw all of that away. Countless nights of hurling insults at fans at shows, whoring out Pumpkins music to Visa, Hyundai and Guitar Hero, and shallow, less-inspired song writing, such as Widow Wake My Mind and Spangled.


The difference between 7 Shades of Black and anything off of Teargarden, aside from MAYBE Song For a Son, in terms of lyrical and structural defintion, is crazy. Zeitgeist may not have had as huge an impact as anything from 2000 and prior, but it definitely had a lot more depth in its lyrical and sonic quality than Teargarden.


It's like, as soon as Jimmy signed up to what he thought was going to be a great mix of the past and a new, inspired take on the present and future, Billy pulled the rug out from underneath him, exclaiming, "GOTCHA SUCKER. HERE, learn this kazoo medley! This will REALLY piss off all those fans who paid a shitload of money to hear nostalgic music at an anniversary show! Idiots!" Jimmy got fed up with Billy throwing logical fan expectations back in their faces each night, got fed up with shallow songwriting that was not at all like what Billy was going for with Zeitgeist or with the 2000 and prior stint... he told Billy, Billy got insulted by Jimmy not agreeing with him, and they went separate ways.


The ONLY past songs Billy plays at shows now are the radio hits. It's almost comical to think that Billy was upset with Jimmy wanting to play more of the hits, when the only back-catalog material Billy plays now are the songs that radio stations still whore out. What a fucking hypocrite. And, there are many interviews where Jimmy's talked about how excited he was to play a mix of the past and the present, so long as there was a focus on making good music. It's ridiculous of Billy to claim now that Jimmy never felt that way.


And it's fucking insulting that Billy said that bullshit before about Jimmy being ousted because of him not being a healthy person who makes healthy decisions, and now he's saying it's because Jimmy wanted to play more older music. Ridiculous.

[Luke de Spa]

Originally Posted by Reyngel

Jimmy Billy

Jimmy Billy's

Jimmy Billy Billy the Pumpkins Jimmy Billy Pumpkins

...

Jimmy Billy Jimmy Billy Billy Billy, Billy Jimmy

Billy Billy Jimmy Billy Jimmy's Billy Jimmy

Billy Jimmy Jimmy. Ridiculous.

mommy daddy stop fighting

[Luke de Spa]

today’s music world reality

[Pizza Club]

Originally Posted by paranoid

so of the two men, which is currently touring on set lists that are half greatest hits? fuck all mighty.

and as i heard it, JC wanted to do a tour that contained mostly hits and fan favorites (like Ruby, Geek, etc etc) to win the back the love of the fan base, or least get some positivity brewing again.. and this was all his reaction to the 20th tour not going over so well as far as audience reactions go.

just put yourself in jimmy's shoes. you do two night shows at about 2.5-3 hours each. you sit behind the kit, wanting to play music, but instead your band leader spends a chunk of that time throwing sarcastic insults at how the audience doesn't ''get it.'' as a result, you are met with boos or general apathy. to top it off, you have to get out from behind the kit at the end of the show and play a kazoo fest in which your leader continues to berate the audience and then walk off of stage all miserable. he then calls it art. oh, and hey, you get to play the same two damn set lists at another city!! wahoo! yeah, after traveling the country on that bullshit for 3 months straight i'd want to get back to basics and play some shit that the crowd would be excited about.

for the record i loved that tour. but i was just one fan who went to one show. a lot of people HATED that tour.

you nailed it exactly. it drives me absolutely fucking nuts that billy can't think rationally about this...or about ANYTHING lately (conspiracy theories, new age bullshit, being an "artist"). the guy is fairly intelligent but has his head up his own ass so much people that LOVED what he has done in the past go out of their way to dump on him. billy needs to have some kind of traumatic life-changing experience that will allow him to step back and look at things objectively and say "what the fuck am i thinking".

i also enjoyed that tour and i saw 5 shows.

[Morlock]

Later in the interview Billy admits that Monte freaks him out. Hilarious.

[DaveKShape]

corgan is so full of shit. "it's hard to tour in the U.S. because not a lot of people have money." yeah... uh huh. that's why people aren't coming out in the thousands. oh, also, you charged $65 for the 20th anniversary tour and yelled at the crowd. money well spent.

[june_soma]

Originally Posted by Morlock

Later in the interview Billy admits that Monte freaks him out. Hilarious.

Yeah, what's that about? He tweeted that too. I mean, I get why, but in what context did this come up? I can't be bothered listening to the whole interview now.

[davidrf]

I think he should put an end to the Pumpkins and move on...

[samuel redman]

2008 shows were great

now im looking at the setlists. they areb't radio friendly at all

[samuel redman]

i dont understand anything anymore

[samuel redman]

"see, they love it when i am dark and spooky! gaining again...i'm gonna write sad songs and sell my soul...follow me grrr"

he missed the point. nobody cares about dark and spooky/sad songs

[wHATcOLOR]

Originally Posted by Morlock

Later in the interview Billy admits that Monte freaks him out. Hilarious.

do you know where, specifically? would like to hear this, don't want to listen to the whole thing

[slunken]

Originally Posted by samuel redman

"see, they love it when i am dark and spooky! gaining again...i'm gonna write sad songs and sell my soul...follow me grrr"

he missed the point. nobody cares about dark and spooky/sad songs

I like sad songs.

[slunken]

Sometimes I put on a Patsy Cline record, stretch out in the middle of the kitchen floor and sob uncontrollably.

[slunken]

LOL @ the title being consistently mispronounced.

[june_soma]

Ok, I caved and listened to it. The Monte-bit is in the last clip.

"Let's just put it this way, Monte is there for every holiday". BC

Ha ha!

[wHATcOLOR]

Originally Posted by june_soma

Ok, I caved and listened to it. The Monte-bit is in the last clip.

"Let's just put it this way, Monte is there for every holiday". BC

Ha ha!

thanks. that was fantastically awkward.

[Caine Walker]

"i learned my lesson with the internet."

no, i don't think you have.