Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan: The Music Industry Has Been "Taken Over by Poseurs"

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan says the music industry has been "taken over by poseurs."

Corgan, who was being interviewed publicly by author Brian Solis at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, said he was part of a generation of artists who "wanted to change the world." Today's musicians, he added, are obsessed merely with being famous.

Said Corgan to Billboard: "I was part of a generation that changed the world -– and it was taken over by poseurs."

Corgan noted that he would have to set himself on fire on YouTube if he were starting out today. He compared being a breakthrough artist to being a "fresh stripper." "Artists that break through now have grown up thinking that being famous is the goal. Not to be respected, not to be dangerous."

Corgan and Smashing Pumpkins will be releasing a new album, Oceania, this year.

Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.