What's going on my fellow rock n' rollers. Don't forget to hit the bell notification
icon to be notified every time i put out a new video on my channel.
Smashing Pumpkins Frontman Billy Corgan has had a long list of feuds with different
musicians and bands over the years, but perhaps one of the stranger feuds he had was with
the band Soundgarden. Find out the full story in today's video.
Billy Corgan gave an interview in 2012 with Philstar just before playing a show in the
Philippines where he singled out the band Soundgarden who he labeled as a nostalgia
act for making money off playing their old tunes. And Soundgarden would reunite in 2010
after a 13 year break. Corgan would say there are bands that are essentially coming back
to only make money playing their old albums &maybe somewhere in the back of their minds
they are thinking that their might be a future. I'm not in that business obviously. .I condemn
anybody whose in that business, but doesn't admit he's in that business. When Soundgarden
came back and they just played their old songs. Great! Iwas a fan of Soundgarden. But call
it for what it is. They are just out to have one more round at the till he'd say.
The same month Corgan appeared on a a radio station and seemed to indicate that it was
Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell who started the feud the frontman told an interviewer
in 2007 that he didn't consider the Smashing Pumpkins reunion at that point in timeas he
put it to be legitimate. In 2007 Corgan had reunited with original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin
but not the rest of the original band, leading many in the press and in their fanbase to
criticize the band for not reuniting with other members D'Arcy Wretzky and James Iha.
Corgan would claim in that interview
“I kind of have an elephant’s memory when it comes to somebody punching me in the face.”
“Cornell’s one of those people who is extremely talented, I was a fan from literally
their 2nd EP, met him in 1991 and still believe in what was great about the band”.
“But when we’re sitting there having conversations about who is doing what, I am no longer going
to shield somebody. I want all of my generation to raise the bar and i don't appreciate when
somebody from my generation who i once considered a friend decides to piss in my little corner
for whatever reason right around the same time he's making the
Timbaland album. You know what I mean? Corgan would say. An Cornell would retaliate a few
months later in 2012 telling ABC Radio "When Billy Corgan was completely broke, I
got him a movie deal with [director] Cameron Crowe where he made $40,000. He was very happy
about that, and he was specifically happy about the $40,000. So next time you see him,
tell him he owes me my $40,000 back he'd say. While Cornell wouldn't state which Cameron
Crowe film he was referring to, it's probably safe to assume he was referring to the 1992
film Singles which included the Smashing Pumpkins tune 'Drown.' Cornell for his part would have
2 songs on the sound track. Even Soundgarden guitarist Kim thayil would
also clap back at Corgan twice in the same interview saying
"There's a lot of other bands; Alice In Chains came back a few years before us, Smashing
Pumpkins... I guess that's not really Smashing Pumpkins, it's just a Billy Corgan solo project
with a bunch of new guys, right?" "It's not possible for us to do a bad record.
Here's how it's possible to do a bad record. You've got one jackass who runs the whole
thing, and a bunch of guys they hire around him,Now you can make a bad record because
your stupid ideas aren't being bounced around, going to the f**king ether he'd say."
Following Cornell's tragic death in 2017 Corgan seemed to express some regret over the pair's
falling out telling an interviewer from the San Francisco weekly.
I wish I had more answers and I’d done more. I knew Chris, and we had a bit of a falling
out and were never able to patch that up. I wish I hadn’t contributed in even the
most miniscule way to his unhappiness. I wish I’d have been a force for encouragement,
because he influenced me, and I looked up to him. And in 2019 the feud between Soundgarden's
surviving members and Cornell's widow Vicky escalated over unpaid royalties leading to
a lawsuit. Corgan would share his two cents on the feud telling a fan on instagram "Vicky
is my friend and all i can say is that i support her. It's not a matter of choosing sides as
much as saying she and her family have been through a lot and that needs to be considered,
especially for the children."
That does it for today's video guys. Thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe. If you guys have suggestions for future topics let me know in the comments
section below. Take care.