Billy Corgan 2000-02-17

February 17, 2000 – Atlanta, GA, US
Live performance by Billy Corgan
Artist	Billy Corgan
Date	February 17, 2000
Venue	Tree Sound Studios
Coordinates	33°58′19″N 84°11′7″W
Location	Atlanta, GA, US
Venue type	Radio studio
Personnel	Billy Corgan
Order of bands	Billy Corgan
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February 17, 2000 was a Billy Corgan solo local radio broadcast and interview.

Setlist

1. "I of the Mourning" (acoustic) 
2. (interview)
3. "Age of Innocence" (acoustic) 
4. (interview)
5. "Stand Inside Your Love" (acoustic) 
6. (interview)
7. "Rock On" [David Essex] (acoustic) [3:03] 
8. (interview)
9. "Today" (abandoned) (piano) 
10. "Today" (abandoned) (piano) 
11. (interview)
12. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" (acoustic) 

Banter

Steve Barnes: [cuts in] ...99X, The Morning X at a special Live X, please welcome Billy Corgan.
BC: Uh, wha –- am I supposed to start now?
Barnes: Yes, sir.
BC: Oh, okay.
I of the Mourning
BC: Thank you.
Leslie Fram: That’s one of my favorite songs from the new record, by the way.
BC: Thank you, yeah, it’s called I of the Mourning and...originally it was two songs and then I had to beg Flood to let me put ‘em together, so....
Fram: There’s another song, uh, called, I think it’s Raindrops and Sunshowers, it’s great.
BC: Yeah, oh, thank you, no, I won’t be playing that today. I could in a pickle, but I....
Fram: Thanks for doing this.
BC: Oh, thank you, thank you.
Fram: We’re all very excited. Do, uh -– does anyone in the audience wanna jump up here and ask a question?
Barnes: You guys have a question for Billy?
Guy #1: Yeah, I just--
Barnes: Run through, trample over the people, come to the mic, dude.
Jimmy Baron: I tell you what, while they come on up, is it more important to you, Billy, to have -– I know there have been albums that you’ve made where let’s say there's a song that you knew would be a hit but maybe chose not to put it on because it didn’t fit, so is it more important for you to please yourself artistically than put something on that you think will commercially be accepted?
BC: Well...there seems to be two ways to look at it. There’s the immediacy of the moment, which is what’s going on right at this particular moment, which I very much agree with, because rock and roll needs to be exciting, like, today, not tomorrow or yesterday. But there’s also the idea that you can’t be essentially a victim of the time that you’re in, that you can’t be willing to step outside of what’s comfortable or popular. Like, I think there’s a lot of great bands right now but my main criticism of a lot of the new bands would be that I don’t think they’re doing anything particularly original. They’ve kind of managed to do a very good job of honing down the idea of what exists but, you know, I remember at the time, like, when we put out Siamese Dream, not a lot of people understood the record. We had songs that kind of became big songs for alternative radio but in terms of mainstream pop and all that kind of stuff, nobody wanted to play those songs because they were too weird, they were too loud. Now if you look at what’s in the charts on mainstream radio, a lot of the heavier songs are getting played, so if we weren’t willing to step outside the boundaries of what was going on at the time, then those songs wouldn’t be -– by a lot of people -– be considered classic songs. So it’s very difficult, because you’re constantly at odds with what people are asking of you, which is to be big, sell records and keep feeding some heavy metal machine, which no one seems to know what the rules are, heh, versus doing what you want to do.
Baron: Does it bother you that -– like, modern rock seems to attract a fickleness –- I mean, you know, what fans like today, you know, for one reason or the next or not into the next day, does that bother you, is that frustrating as an artist?
BC: Uh, it has at times but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate that the audience is basically usually right, at least in the terms of the idea of the immediacy, but the audience is not always right in terms of what is going to survive the test of time, so sometimes, you know, like right now, I think we’re dealing very much in immediacy: this album’s very much about being exciting right now, not tomorrow. But we have created work that we knew at the time no one was going to understand, but we’ve been sitting around going sooner or later they’re going to get it. So, heh, so but I believe the audience is right always in terms of the immediacy. The audience is generally attracted to the most exciting things and as much as people want to browbeat, like, boy bands and Britney Spears, they generally are right now more exciting than most rock and roll bands and until rock and roll bands, basically, wrestle back the excitement--
Barnes: Which they come and go, I mean--
BC: Which has to do with--
Baron: Have you ever sat down and listened to an ‘N Sync CD just to see what the hell’s going on there?
BC: I was kidnapped once and strapped to a chair....
Barnes: Hey, do you have a question? What’s your name?
Guy #1: I’m Bryan Hunter. I wanted to thank Billy, I think he is one of the greatest songwriters of all time and uh...
BC: Thank you, Bryan.
Guy #1: ...um, thank you for providing us a product to soothe our souls for the past 10 years and uh--
BC: It’s kinda like milk, you know, it’s good for the bones.
Guy #1: It is, it’s been great for my bones for the last 10 years and I just wanted to -– back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, the bands were, uh, they seemed to come together and do a lot of things together -– we did Lollapaloozas and things like that, but it doesn’t seem to be quite what it was in the ‘60s and ‘70s, do you have any ideas, like, you know, early bands of the ‘90s, you know, like they’re breaking up, people getting killed and suicidal, things like that, you know--
BC: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, unfortunately I think that a lot of what went on the late ‘60s and the early ‘70s, particularly of rock and roll, was a manifestation of -– a counter-manifestation of what was going on in the country. As, you know, the hippies and the rock and rollers saw in the rest of the country, they sort of formed together because they were the counterculture. Well, alternative music really isn’t the counterculture any more, it’s been bought and sold and it’s really up to the artist to kind of look beyond the egoism of what they can plug into at the moment. And there’s a lot of money, there’s a lot of kind of immediate fame, but I think the saddest legacy of what’s gone on, I’d say, over the past 10 or 12 years, is despite the explosion of alternative music to an acceptable kind of...art form, if you can use that word, it’s basically -– its lost its plot, you know, there’s not a lot of integrity in it anymore and no one seems to even be standing up for the integrity. I know I’m basically beaten down on the whole issue, I’ve just thrown my hands up in the air because, you know, I don’t want to be a single soldier in a war that no one cares to fight. So I agree with you and –- but I think it’s also a product of the times, I mean, we’re living in very comfortable economic times, everybody’s got a computer basically, you know, everyone’s made to feel important. MTV makes you feel like you’re a star, the internet tells you you’re a star, then you’re a star, you know, and that’s it.
Guy #1: Thank you, don’t give up, please.
Guy in crowd: What is a rock opera?
BC: Hahaha, haha.
Baron: By the way, his hair is like that because a select number of people here, to get tickets to today, Billy, shaved their head. Some of the other guys in the--
BC: I’d recommend it for beauty.
Baron: Well, some of the other guys that you see are bald are just that way ‘cause that’s how god made ‘em, so...wanna do another question? Barnes?
BC: I can do another one if you want.
Barnes: Should we do another one? Yeah, he’s ready to play.
BC: Um, yeah, little louder there, T. Okay, this is another new song called Age of Innocence, which was the last song I wrote for the record. Not that it makes it any better, it’s just...was just the last song.
Age of Innocence
Barnes: You’re listening to Live X with Billy Corgan on 99X. Hey, Billy, Barnes over here in the corner, to your left amidst the candlelight, I have a question. How tough has it been -– it sounds weird to say in the late ‘90s -– but in the late ‘90s, all the turbulence you had to deal with: losing Jimmy, getting him back, now D’arcy’s out of the band.... Does that really disrupt your flow, your creativity? It seems like when you guys were all together, it was really clicking -– not that you’re not clicking now, but you have Jimmy back –- does it feel better?
BC: Uh, well...I mean...I like to think I’m a machine, impervious to any change, but I’d be lying to say that what’s gone on in the band hasn’t affected us. But I think if you take it out of the literal context of, you know, there’s the star, watch it go, and you just get into four people’s lives -– now including Melissa, five people’s lives -– I mean, our lives are a little extreme but so is what we’ve tried to do and I think that we’re human beings, you know, and that’s the only way I can explain it.
Barnes: Does losing someone like Jimmy really -– I mean, he’s one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen and I’ve played drums for years and watching him, I mean, I could never even dream of playing that good -– to get him back, did it make you realize, wow, he really was a big piece of it?
BC: I mean, again it’s the same thing, there’s the literal thing of I think he’s the best drummer in the world, but I forgot the contact and the energy that goes between us and the way he inspires me to try to even do better than I thought I could do. And that’s the difference and it’s the same thing, it’s like -– even with D’arcy -– it’s like, we set this super high line of intensity and what we expect from each other and if anybody falls below the line, then it can’t be. So, rather than just like keep taking everybody’s money and smiling politely, if you can’t be above that line, then that’s the way it’s been and that would explain Jimmy leaving and coming back, you know, and same thing with Darce, so....
Fram: Becky has a question.
BC: Hi Becky.
Girl #1: Hi, um, I just wanted to say that it’s a complete pleasure to be in the room with you, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done--
BC: But this isn’t the first time we’ve been in a room together, Becky. (crowd laughs and claps)
Girl #1: Well, I wanted to ask, I keep hearing from my fellow Smashing Pumpkins that the song Today off Siamese Dream -- while you were recording here, that it was inspired by Marietta, Georgia, is that true?
BC: Uh, no. I mean...
Girl #1: Just asking.
BC: ...Cobb County could give a songwriter a lot to be inspired by.
Barnes: He knows our city well.
BC: But I did write the song in Chicago sitting on my bed when I was living with this hippie named Bob.
Baron: Speaking of Chicago, your thoughts on Michael Jordan going to the Washington Wizards in a management position ‘cause, maybe many people don’t know, Billy is to the Bulls what Jack Nicholson is to the Lakers.
BC: No, that’s not true, I’m a total fairweather fan, I’ve totally jumped ship now.
Baron: Did you really, the minute they all left?
BC: I’m rooting for the Hawks now.
Barnes: Yeah! That’ll happen.
BC: Although...
Baron: Listen....
BC: ...although....
Guy in crowd: That makes one of us.
BC: It could be a while, heh heh heh.
Baron: Now, wait, is it -– who was it that you’re close with on the old Bulls team, was it Scottie or was it Rodman?
BC: Well, I knew most of the guys at least, you know, in a “Hello, how you doin’” kind of way. Rodman I hung out a lot with, Brian Williams when he was on the team, um, and uh...mmm, that’s about it. I mean, being in Rodman’s axis is enough to--
Baron: What’s the wildest thing that you can remember doing with Rodman?
(Billy pauses and the audience laughs)
BC: Heh heh, I, heh heh, heh heh...
Baron: And what have you seen in there?
BC: ...I don’t know if the rules are different in the south for the radio, but--
Baron: Oh, there are no rules here. It’s total anarchy.
BC: Well, hmm...I think being in Las Vegas about five a.m. at a craps table and watching him bounce dice off of someone’s head because they can’t actually throw the dice into the...into the thingie, that....
Baron: What kinda money will Dennis Rodman have on a craps table at one time?
BC: Uh, more than most people would make annually or bi-annually. But that’s how he lives, I mean, he’s definitely a live for today kinda person: he plays that way, he is that way and that’s why I respect him.
Baron: You wanna do another song?
BC: Sure, uh, what am I supposed to do...or what did....?
Baron: It’s play that thing and sing a little bit.
BC: Oh, okay. Okay, I’m gonna try this one. This is our new single but uh, if I crash and burn, just everyone yell. Cover up the flames.
Stand Inside Your Love
Barnes: Live X with Billy Corgan on 99X, live across the world. Got another question from a fan, what’s your name, big guy?
Guy #2: My name is Gerald Williams.
Barnes: Joe [sic], what are you, about seven feet tall?
Guy #2: Just six-six.
Barnes: Big dude, six-six.
Guy #2: First of all, I just wanted a chance to say that your song To Forgive from Mellon Collie is like, that’s the best song I’ve ever heard, I mean, the imagery just, it moves me every time I hear it. What I wanted to ask you was when you release a CD or whatever, who determines what’s gonna -– a video’s gonna be made from, what’s gonna be the single, is that you or does someone else do that?
BC: Um, you get a lotta input from a lot of people who supposedly know what they’re doing, but uh, heh heh heh, generally it’s our choice. It’s tough though, because you know, like I remember in ‘95 when we released Mellon Collie, I wanted to release a different first song off of Mellon Collie than Bullet with Butterfly Wings. And the record company president at the time who was a good friend of mine literally begged me: “You’re making a big mistake, you’re making a big mistake, trust me, trust me, trust me,” and it turned out to be a really big song. ‘Cause at that time, I didn’t like the song. I just go through different phases where I don’t like certain of my songs, now I really like it again, but it’s just one of those things, you know? So um, but yeah, generally pretty much I would say 95 percent of what you see from the band is from the band. And, believe me, it’s not easy because everybody thinks there’s a way to sell records or a way to be or a way to play concerts or do interviews and something and I don’t think most people -– you or anybody else here -– wants to see something that’s packaged and perfect and I don’t think that’s what it’s about. You either connect with the band or you don’t. So, it seems to me that whenever we’ve gotten away from just being ourselves, we always get ourselves in trouble.
Fram: Was there a band that you saw maybe in high school or maybe your first concert that just changed your life?
BC: No, I think the impression of rock and roll in my mind –- this is pre-video, that’s how old I am...or at least right around the time that video started to break -– I think it was the impression of what music was, I always imagined everyone was having lots of fun and doing lots of drugs and lots of girls and I was like, “Wow, what a life that must be, it must be so exciting,” so it was the impression of that. I’ve seen some definitely seen some mind-blowing concerts in my life though [sic].
Fram: Was your favorite band though in high school?
BC: It’s a tossup between Black Sabbath and Van Halen. Molly Hatchet was a close third.
Guy #3: Hey Billy, I wanted to personally thank you for coming, I think that the track Mayonaise on Siamese Dream doesn’t even play anymore on my disc, I’ve killed it so much...
BC: Thank you.
Guy #3: ...but um, I was just hoping to ask you given that all the issues and crazy things that happen to rock and roll bands these days, just your reaction, your comments, any feelings that you had on the D’arcy situation when she was arrested?
BC: Uh, well, I mean, we definitely have opinions and feelings and...tears and stuff like that, but if there’s anything we’ve learned in the past four years, it’s just to leave our personal lives as much as we can. I -– it’s pretty hard for me because obviously I imbue my personal life into my music; for the rest of the band members -- D’arcy still being a Pumpkin in an ephemeral sense -– you know, it’s been very difficult for them to kind of deal with what, you know, rock star life brings, so we just try to pretty much avoid all that. If it was up to us in kind of a perfect world, we would tell everybody everything. We would want everyone to feel that they’re our best friend and we have no secrets because we don’t have any secrets, but the -– but you see what, I mean, let’s not even talk about our situation, you see what the media does to people. Remember that poor guy Richard Jewell when they thought, you know, he was responsible for the bombing down here? I mean, they tortured that guy. They ripped that guy apart and when it was all said and done, what did they say, “Sorry”? And that’s what it’s like, I mean, they’ll rip you apart, they’ll -– and there’s nobody there to say sorry in most cases, so unfortunately that’s the way we have to be nowadays.
Guy #3: Thanks.
Guy #4: Hi Billy, thanks for doing this, I’m Rich. Me being a metalhead by the way, Jellybelly off of Mellon Collie is my personal favorite. Um, I wanted–-
BC: See, there you go, that was the song I wanted to be the first single from there.
Guy #4: Alright! I’ve been reading a lot lately about your recent stint with Sharon Osbourne Management, wife of Ozzy Osbourne, and how that ended all awry. What was your take on that situation?
BC: She’s just a pig.
(audience laughs and claps)
Barnes: But how you really feel, Bill?
BC: I mean, what do pigs do but stick their nose in...?
Barnes: What was the final straw for that? What was the final thing that broke the deal?
BC: I would love to go on endlessly about why she’s an idiot but it’s the same thing. I think anybody who’s paid any attention sees what kind of person that she is, you know, and that’s exactly pretty much the root of why the situation didn’t work.
Barnes: How did you end up with her in the first place?
BC: She pretty much presented herself as one kind of person and then we found out that there was another kind of person.
Barnes: Nice facade and inside it was different, huh?
BC: Um...yeah, basically.
Barnes: Had great ideas for you, it’s gonna be peachy and then it turned out to be she was trying to control you or something?
BC: Again, I really don’t wanna talk about it but you’re in the right neighborhood.
Barnes: Good.
BC: You know, put it this way, I mean, before we ever met her, our album was completed, I think our band sold some 22 million records worldwide. I don’t need somebody to tell me how to be and if you saw some of the comments where she was complaining about us wearing a dress, she wasn’t even smart enough to do enough research to know that we’ve been wearing dresses all along. Stuff like that, just trying to argue with Ozzy Osbourne’s wife about wearing a dress...that’s when you enter the surreal and the profane. It’s like, you know, bat head biting: good, dress: bad.
Barnes: And now you know.
Guy #4: Thanks.
Barnes: You wanna play another song, Billy?
BC: No, let’s talk more about Sharon.
Barnes: Haha, now he’s fired up.
BC: Hahaha.
Baron: Aw man, well, you know, I know that you and Courtney Love had some–-
BC: Oh, you just want to know all the dirt now.
Baron: Wait a minute...
Barnes: Wall around the dirt.
Baron: ...this was a couple years ago, last year, has that smoothed over since then or you guys still kind of estranged?
BC: Uh...I don’t know what that word means.
Baron: Do you -- did you iron out any differences that you may have had that came out through the press?
BC: Well, I don’t know if you saw, I’m –- this is not a personal opinion, but immediately after Sharon dismissed herself from our world, there were rumors basically linking Courtney and Sharon. And that was also part of what was going on is Sharon, who had told me she would have nothing to do with Courtney, was basically courting Courtney to be part of her management team, so....
Baron: It’s so ugly.
BC: It’s rock and roll, you know? That’s it, it’s funny, it’s supposed to be funny. Stop glaring at me, Susie. One of my friends is giving me dirty looks ‘cause I’m not supposed to talk about this stuff.
Baron: Seriously, will you do another song for us?
BC: Yeah yeah, please, I’m better at singing than gossiping.
Barnes: Billy Corgan on Live X, this is 99X.
(Billy briefly strums guitar)
BC: I can’t hear this guitar, sorry, sorry, people of radio land.
Rock On
Barnes: Billy Corgan on Live X. The new Smashing Pumpkins album will be in stores on February 29th, another question for Billy, what’s your name?
Guy #5: Hello, I’m Shamim, I’m from Marietta, Georgia. I couldn’t really think of a –- I just wanted to come here and talk to you but I thought of a question while I was standing here. The new album, how do you pronounce that? Mach-ee-na, Ma-chee, what, I -– I don’t know how.
BC: Um, I say Machina (pronounces “Ma-she-na”)...
Guy #5: Machina or--
BC: ...you say Machina (pronounces “Ma-key-na”).
Guy #5: Ma-key-na.
BC: Tomato, tomato, potato, potato (said quickly as “toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe, po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe”).
Guy #5: I see, uh, what does this mean, is this English, Latin, what is it?
BC: Uh, it’s Latin.
Guy #5: Latin, what does it mean, Machines of God?
BC: It means um...(snapping fingers repeatedly)...um...it’s...it’s like, you know, to penetrate the rock but not be the rock.
Guy #5: How did you think of it?
Baron: Did you just make that up?
BC: (immediately) Yes, I did.
(audience laughs and claps)
Baron: Ahahaha. Oh, come on.
Guy #5: How did you think this up, let me know why...(slowly) Machina?
BC: Where does this come from?
Guy #5: Yeah, where, what?
BC: Uh, it’s kinda from the same space that when I was five, like, I just used to make these drawings of, like, big race cars with men with big teeth? It’s from that same spot, you know, the spot that, like, pays the bills and like, gets me on stage.
Guy #5: Thank you.
Barnes: I’m glad you cleared that up because these very people on the air the other day going, “No, it’s Ma-key-na: Machines of Grace.”
Baron: Well, that is how it’s pronounced in the Latin pronunciation is “Ma-key-na.”
Barnes: But when the man that wrote it can call it “Ma-she-na”...?
Baron: Yeah. Well, he wasn’t sure what it meant though, ahahaha.
Barnes: Doesn’t matter.
Girl #2: Hi, Christiana. Going back to the rumor mill, (Billy laughs) there’s a big rumor –- I know –- there’s a rumor saying that this is the last album.
BC: (under Girl #2's question) This is like a.... (question finishes) Huh?
Girl #2: There’s a rumor saying that this is gonna be the last album.
BC: Is it?
Girl #2: It was on the internet.
Baron: The internet, there you go.
Fram: It was on the internet.
BC: Are you -– are you asking me that question?
Girl #2: Yeah.
BC: Oh, okay. Well...see, we’re not really gonna break up ‘cause we’re convinced the world is going to end. So, there’ll be no breaking up because there’ll be no more bands, you know?
Girl #2: (off mic) The answer to that [1-2 unintelligible words].
BC: Heh heh heh.
Fram: Hey, what’s your name?
Baron: That answer will be analyzed for about the next month.
Guy #6: Yeah, uh, my name is Harrison from Lowburn and basically I was just wondering how often you have to shave your head and any special care that goes into that.
Barnes: Hair tips with Billy Corgan! Skull tips.
Guy #6: Yeah, and I had to shave my head yesterday just to get tickets to this thing. It was worth it though.
BC: Was that a question too?
Guy #6: No, that was just a statement.
BC: Oh, okay. Um.... Oh, you want me to answer that! Uh, heh heh. Well, actually I’ve started meditating and I will it not to grow. And right now, I’m willing yours to no longer grow as well.
Guy #6: Thank you, I love your music, by the way.
BC: Thank you, thanks, man.
Guy #7: Hey Billy, my name is Mark, I flew in from Houston this morning to see the show today...
BC: Excellent.
Guy #7: ...I’m so happy to be here. Uh, quick question: You’ve done a lot of work with charity, specifically with the Adore tour, you donated all the money to charity. Are you frustrated by not seeing other bands follow your lead?
BC: Uh, no, I-I-I don’t think that it’s everybody’s gig, you know, it wasn’t the easiest thing for us to do on a lot of different levels, but something we really wanted to do. I just think that Generation X in particular has gotten a pretty bad rap as kind of a selfish generation, most of the people I know aren’t like that, and I just wanted to kind of make a statement that change is about more of a mentality than anything. That’s the way we chose to do it but I meet lots of people all the time who say “I volunteer in a hospital” or, you know, “I would love to do charity work but I’m taking care of my grandma.” It’s the notion, that’s all, that’s all we were trying to get across over and over again. People focused on the money and we kept saying the only reason you’re here is because of the money but, you know, that’s how it goes.
Guy #7: Thanks, man.
Baron: You ever have writer’s block and like what’s the worst case of writer’s block you’ve ever had where you just couldn’t get anything out?
BC: Um, I’ve only had really bad writer’s block one time, that was between the end of the Gish tour and the starting of the recording of Siamese Dream, I had about a eight month block.
Baron: And are you able to say “I know this’ll pass” or at the time do you think “Eh, it’s over, I can’t do it anymore”?
BC: Well, I wanted to kill myself at the time because my whole life was invested in the notion that if I can’t write a good song, that I’m not worth anything. And I’m sad that that’s the kind of person I was at the time, but I know there’s a lot of people who feel that if they’re not something, then they’re not worth anything. When I finally got over that notion and realized that it didn’t matter if I wrote a good song, that’s when I started writing Today, Disarm and--
Barnes: I was gonna say, if Siamese Dream was the result of your writer’s block, maybe you should have another writer’s block, (laughing) I mean, that was a brilliant album.
Guy in crowd: They’re all brilliant.
Baron: There you go.
Barnes: They are, that one was incredible, to come off of writer’s block.
BC: So all you young, you know, heh heh, yeah, for all you young struggling mental brains.... Since you’re all like kind of in my living room...at least that’s how it feels, I thought I’d play you my living room version of Today.
Today (tease)
BC: (banging on piano) Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known! Oh, you don’t like it, heh heh heh. (stops piano) I’m an artist! Anyway. Okay, I’m gonna try this, get up, don’t yell.
Today (abandoned after “I wanted more” comes out wrong) (piano)
BC: C -– fuck! (angrily bangs on piano) See, I knew I was gonna do that. That’s how it goes in the living room though! (more banging) It’s this guy Dale right here. (plays piano and vocalizes “I wanted more”, then stops) Okay, try one more time. Let’s pretend it’s the beginning.
Today (abandoned after first chord)
BC: Heh heh heh.
Today (abandoned after he doesn’t follow “pink ribbon scars” with “that never forget”)
BC: Shit. (bangs on piano) See, when I fuck up in the living room, there’s no one there to tell me (cutting noise). Okay, I give up, I tried, thank you though. I’m too embarrassed to make mistakes in public. Heh heh heh heh.
Baron: By the way, you did Rock On a little while ago, do you do that during your shows now? Are you covering that or are you covering other songs?
BC: Yeah, we’re doing that and we’re doing a Who song called Join Together.
Baron: Oh, yeah.
BC: So um, yeah, Rock On has become a favorite of ours, it seems to sum it all up.
Baron: Were you a big Who fan growin’ up?
BC: Yeah, I’m a big fan of all the kind of classic rock bands and I kind of miss that mentality more than anything because it just seems like that we’ve lost, I don’t know, I don’t know, I mean, there’s a lot of people here who, you know, were probably, you know, running around in diapers when we first started picking up guitars and in that age, there was still the promise that rock and roll could change the world and, you know, being in a band, you could be like the Beatles and, you know, make everybody believe that love is all you need and things like that. Now it’s like...what’s the first week sales and, you know, can you get the video played and it’s sad and it’s like, but there -– it just seems that the era has passed and we’re not bemoaning it, but we just find ourselves in the middle of it, you know?
Baron: Yeah, it’s really easy to imagine that you’d be a Who fan or you mentioned earlier Van Halen or any of those bands, any bands growing up that influenced you that we would be really surprised had a big impact on your music?
BC: Uh...the one that people always seem to be most surprised about would be Black Sabbath. Um, and then like a lot of the prog rock bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Rush and things like that.
Fram: VH1 just did the hundred greatest rock and roll songs of the century and number one was Satisfaction from the Stones. Did you happen to watch that, did you agree, do you have an opinion on like the greatest rock and roll song ever?
BC: Uh, no, sorry, heh heh.
Barnes: What was the first riff you ever learned to play on guitar when you picked up the guitar?
BC: Uh, the first song I ever learned was House of the Rising Sun by the Animals.
Barnes: You mentioned Black Sabbath, I thought maybe Paranoid would’ve been it.
BC: (pause) No.
Barnes: No? That was like the classic cover band song that let everyone learn how to play.
BC: Actually, I still don’t know how to play that one.
Guy #8: Hi Billy, my name is Adam, I know as musicians a lot of times that you’re trying to convey an emotion that you feel at the time off to us and I know you hope that we get that and make that mention connection with you. I felt that, like, sort of like Metallica’s Black Album, your Adore album was like an emotional high for you where you actually come almost to like a plane as a musician and my question is: Is Sheila an actual person, a character of your mind and if you could tell her about her, you know tell us about her or...?
BC: Oh, okay. Yeah, um, stuff like that, it’s like, it’s almost like I take pieces from everybody, you know, like in that sort of case, it’s an idealized form of love. You know, it’s a person we hope to meet or a person that we want to believe in and I think a lot of sadness in life comes from imposing on our loved ones an ideal which we wouldn’t even impose upon ourselves and it’s just that idea that, you know, if you believe enough, something will come true, so...
Guy #8: Awesome.
BC: ...but I take something from everybody. I’m ripping you all off right now, you don’t even know it.
Guy #8: Also had the privilege -– I had the privilege to see you at the Grand Ole Opry at the acoustic session there and I wanna compliment you on that.
BC: Oh, thank you so much, thank you. You vant one more song?
Barnes: Sure!
BC: Okay.
Barnes: This is Billy Corgan on Live X, 99X Atlanta.
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Barnes: You’ve been listening to Live X on 99X. Billy, thank you very much, we really appreciate you doing this. Thanks to Billy Corgan and the rest of Smashing Pumpkins, new album out on the 29th. Thanks to Tree Studio, this has been Live X.