Billy Corgan: 'I'm Over Rock 'n' Roll' - Audio Ink Radio Audio Ink Radio

Billy Corgan: ‘I’m Over Rock ‘n’ Roll’

2014-12-19

Story by Charles Ken

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is giving conflicting impressions about the future of the band

The Smashing Pumpkins have a new album out this month, “Monuments to an Elegy,” but will it be one of the Pumpkins’ final releases? Corgan is keeping that very fuzzy. Back in September, Corgan told the Chicago Tribune that he might “bail on this ship for good,” talking about the Pumpkins, if “Monuments” and the group’s next planned album, “Day for Night,” don’t do well. But last month, he told NME those comments simply meant that he believes “audiences are not interested in buying rock albums in large quantities any more any more and the music industry refuses to adapt to that.”

Now, again, Corgan is hinting as some sort of end for the Pumpkins. “The next album is like the end, end, end,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “The trite way to say it is I’m over rock ‘n’ roll. Which is strange because rock ‘n’ roll is getting back into me.”

Corgan went on to say he doesn’t think there’s strong support for the Pumpkins anymore.

“Honestly I think the fanbase is gone,” he said. “I know it’s a prickly way to put it, but I don’t think there are fans anymore. I would define a fan as someone who explores the depth of the artist’s work, and allows the artist to show you something. It’s not up to the artist to walk you by the hand. I don’t think there are that many of those people who exist. I’d say they’re in the low thousands.”

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.