Billy Corgan: Radiohead Was the Last Band That Did Anything New With Guitar
Story by Charles Ken
Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan gives Radiohead props for getting creative with guitar
The Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan doesn’t shy away from giving his thoughts on the state of modern rock, and he tackled the subject of guitars in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
“Guitar isn’t new technology — there are only so many ways you can warp it around,” Corgan said in the interview. “Radiohead was probably the last band that really did anything new with the guitar.”
Corgan went on to say rock artists have fallen prey to “EDM or some of these artists that are more keyboard and drum machine and reverb. They’re engaging in new technology.”
He also wishes there were more artists who can “invoke a darker spirit on stage and conjure it right in front of you in a mass of power you can’t explain.”
“Most of the bands you can point to that have been successful that still do that, like Queens of the Stone Age, they’re coming from an earlier generation of power and an earlier language, even though they’re having contemporary success,” Corgan said.
He also had kind words to say about Royal Blood: “There are some flashes, like a Royal Blood or something, where they’re trying to figure that power out. But they’re dealing with an audience that is so predisposed to pop.”
The Smashing Pumpkins are currently on a North American jaunt with Marilyn Manson.
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