Breakfast with Billy
KROQ radio
Los Angeles, CA
February 2, 1996
(Transcribed by Nikki Christoff)
If you would like a copy of this interview on tape, email Nikki
KROQ: Billy Corgan, how are ya? *clapping in background* Morning sir, step right up here, if you would be so kind. Have a seat. Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins is here with us. Also known as The Grim Reaper. *laughs* Dressed in black from head to toe. *laughs again* Know let me tell ya Billy that hair is not growing back pal.
*Billy laughs*
KROQ: Thats not coming back in at all. I don't know whether you need lotion, or what the deal is. We got a microphone for you here. Some water for you, hot and cold. Depending on what you like.
*Billy mumbles something*
KROQ: Your right in there sir. How are you doing this morning?
Billy: F.I.N.E.
KROQ: Cool. This is...huh...let me first say that this is terrific that you agreed to do this with KROQ. We are very excited to have you do this for us. Here in the historic capital records building.
Billy: Well, I kept hearing a out all these supposed demands that I made about you having ask people about there intelligence and things.
KROQ: That's what we spent the whole week fighting off that image that it was a lot of people between you and us, but not you. As we said on the air Billy, and it's probably best you hear this from us - Your record company people are weird!
*Everyone laughs*
KROQ: I don't know what's going on, but they are afraid of you. Do you like throw temper tantrums that we don't know about? Because they are terrified of you! I felt like the Pope and Bill Clinton were going to be here to see the fear in there eyes. You know Billy is a nice guy, and he is a singer. Ok, he's going to be ok. It was pretty cool. Now, these people in front of you are your fans.
*Audience cheers*
BC: Yeah but, do they know who they are?
KROQ: Well, we don't know that yet. But I guess we will find that out later as we past the mik around. What we tried to do this week since we knew we had the opportunity to do something special in an intimate setting...
BC: I heard some of the grilling
KROQ: Oh did yea?
BC: Yeah.
KROQ: What I asked people was, don't embarrass us when you came down and...
BC: In between those weird Norwegian segments you do.
*KROQ guy laughs*
KROQ: Oh your making fun of his love of Norway. Very good! Have you played Scandinavia?
BC: Yes I have.
KROQ: Let's talk about that instead.
BC: No problem. I mean nothing playing to a blond army that looks the same.
*everyone laughs*
KROQ: We spent the week trying to get the people who were really fans of yours and who had some good questions for yea. So we could have a good hour. And everyone of the out there has convinced us that's them. Now when you walk around on the streets & people come up to yea, I know you don't walk around on the streets much, but do there are there a couple of basic things people that people come up and they just have to know. Are there 1 or 2 questions that people always ask yea?
BC: Um...Is the band breaking up? um...Are those really your teeth?
*audience laughs*
KROQ:Why don't we start with both of those, so we can get them out of the way.
BC: Um...Yeah the band's fine. Everything is cool, groovy. We are going to make another record.
*audience claps*
KROQ: That's good news.
BC: And I think our man Iha is going to make a solo record. It's time for him to bust out.
KROQ: He's got a lot of fans too. I tell yea, we've heard from a lot of James lovers this week. That's for sure. Wait hold on...the teeth?
BC: The teeth? Would you fake these kinds of teeth? I mean...the vampire teeth.
KROQ:Where did the hair go wrong, Billy? Because yea know its like a bad dye job. Some people just say there is nothing I can do with this now, it's just time to cut it off and drag on. Is that what happened with you?
BC: He, I just got tired of trying to look 800 different ways, so by cutting off the hair there is only 1 look.
KROQ: It's a lot simpler. You don't have to spend a lot of time teasing it.
BC: Yeah I just got up about 5 minutes ago. Just came right in.
KROQ: Where you an Uncle Fester fan as a child? *Laughs at his own joke* oh...sorry that was almost a funny question. I reject that, I take it back. No comedy is allowed. Well, listen if you don't mind, Billy, what we would like to do is... Oh by the way let us point out to you, see that guy right there in the glasses? Wave Gene, wave. He's the one that told us we were not allowed to have an comedy here today. That's the kind of person right there that we all hate.
BC: Um...Gene is my father. You better be nice to him.
KROQ: Now those of you at home that are listening, we are doing Breakfast with BIlly Corgan. Billy brought his guitar. Are you going to play?
I'm going to attempt.
KROQ: That's a treat. That is a bonus. Now Kevin, you always wanted to play the Donahue part.
Kevin: Yes, I'll wonder the audience.
KROQ: Your going to go out. Everyone has questions.
BC: Your going to wonder the audience with uodo democratic politics pretending to be PC & even.
Kevin: Well, I don't want to be that much Donahue.
KROQ: Given the oppurtuinity to sleep with Marlo Thomas? Yes.
Kevin: I want to find people who has interesting questions for yea Billy.
KROQ: A good opportunity to let the fans ask questions in person, rather then through us. Why don't you give us your name first and them ask.
Ok, my name is Tyla, hi BIlly,I'm a really big fan. Ok, my friend told me that she heard the Smashing Pumpkins, the name of your band was based on a joke.
BC: um.
I want to know...what is the joke?
*a few people laugh*
BC: Well, I mean thats a slight misrepresentation. The joke was like...I came up with the name, kind of like a, telling some jokes with some friends & I thought oh that would be a stupid band name to have. There was no band, I hadn't even met anybody in the band and people would say, I would say - Oh I'm going to start a band. And they would say - Oh what's the name oh it? I'd say Oh The Smashing Pumpkins, ha ha. There was no band. then when I met the band, they were like what are we going to call it, I was like why don't we just call it this funny name for a while and we'll just figure out a real name eventually. Then people would come up, 6 months later - Hey how is your band, The Smashing Pumpkins? It just...people wouldn't forget it. So that was the #1 thing to happen, which is recognition.
KROQ: Do you plan on changing it to a real one? Or does it suit you just find.
On a interesting side note, there was a women in Chicago who used to be like a booker, and she used to book some of our very first shows, and she pulled me to the side and said- You know I really like you guys, I think you really need to change the name, because your never going to get anywhere with it.
*KROQ guy laughs*
Tyla: Also, the names of your songs, Where do you come up with them. They are kind of off the wall. Like Mayonnaise, I don't know how you get that.
KROQ: And they don't seem to have anything to do with the lyrics of the songs too,
Tyla: Yeah! yeah. How do you think of em, do you just look around the room? or something?
BC: Um...sometimes you just gotta ope up your brain and just see what comes in. Mayonnaise was like one of those. James said what afe we going to call this song. And I just said, kinda went - Mayonnaise! And that was the end of it. I spend more time explaining Mayonnaise then we actually spent writing it, recording it, and playing it.
KROQ: See we all say dumb things, but Billy has to live with his for years after the fact.
*Very few people laugh*
KROQ: It's funny how you talk with it about the band names, cuz so many groups don't know what they are going to call themselves, and they get stuck with it. We had the Goo Goo Dolls on not to long ago and they said it was a joke, we were drunk, were out one night, we said the stupidest thing we can come up with & here we are like 5 albums later.
BC: Yeah, but now everyone knows there name.
KROQ: So to speak. It's Breakfast with Billy Corgan. Your name is:
I'm Mike from Philadelphia.
BC: Hi Mike.
Mike: In your song "A Girl Names Sandoz" I know Sandoz...
BC: I didn't write that song though.
KROQ: Sit down Mike.
BC: That song was written by The Animals, I think about 1966. It's a vague reference to LSD.
KROQ: Mike we are going to have to ask you to leave, I'm sorry. Does that answer your question? Thank you Mike. Frank throw him out on the Hollywood walk of Fame. Good bye Mike! Ok your name is?
My name is Clear.
Kevin: Go ahead Clear.
KROQ: Wait a minute, Clear?
Clear: Yep.
KROQ: Alright go ahead.
CLEAR: Ok, I heard MCIS was originally to be a rock opera, and then it....no?
BC: Ah huh
Clear: No?
BC: No, I mean originally yea know in my rambling dreaming I thought that I would maybe make it more conceptional. But, when I actually started writing the songs I realized I couldn't really write the songs about where the boy hatches his parents to death with an ax. So I just skipped over that part, and just wrote what ever came out, and tried to put the songs that seem to go together.
Clear: Did you do that primarily by yourself? The whole putting it all together and deciding what goes where.
BC: Um...I worked a lot with Flood on that. Um...there's probably about 20 b-sides that were written and there was about 50 songs written or something ridiculous and we are putting the together with the ones that seem to go together. I mean if you ever hear the b-sides, you'll har stuff that you think well I could see where that could've fit it on the album. But, for whatever reason, I mean at some point the album was 3 5 songs long, or something like that, and we were like no one is going to listen to this for sure. So we cut it down to a slim 28, and um...
Clear: Well, we'll listen to the rest.
BC: Thank you.
KROQ: Hey, Billy, was there a lot of pressure from the record company not to do a double album, cause those albums in Rock no Roll are few and far between...
BC: I have...I know you probably won't believe this, but I have to say that I could not believe the amount of support that I got from Virgin Records. Um...it was amazing, I said, I mean your on a second major label, your last one dos really well, ya know traditionally double records don't sell well, and I said I want to do this, and they said as long as it's good we have no problem with it, and that's that. Then when they heard it they were like great. I was amazed by the amount of support.
KROQ: And I gotta tell yea, you passed...we made a big deal that the time when the record came out, that you passed the savings on to the consumers, Because you could charge a lot more than for a double record. You have a real low list price. I know your fans appreciate it.
BC: Um...it was really important to us to have the album focused about music & not about anything else. Obviously, people were concerned about the pricing, and you know your a basic fan not buying the record, so we figured if it was one and a half times the normal, or two albums worth of music, nobody could really complain. Only people in Norway seem to be.
KROQ: Now don't be talking about people like that Billy, cause I'll take you outta here. Ok, your name is?
My name is Owen. I was wondering, I read on Gish that you had trouble getting a group effort as far as getting everybody together to work on the album, and you had done all the instruments...
BC: No, no that's not true at all. I think that we have had more problems on Siamese Dream. People always ask that about...we made the mistake about every telling anybody. Cause if we never have told anybody, no one would have ever known. But, um esentually what happened was, yea know, we were all basically kind of normal, dumb people and suddenly we were cast into this high pressure situation, and economics and yea know perfection problems on my part, it all kind of seemed to feed into all that. It's very hard to explain how the band works, but the bands works so, all I want to say is that I love my band members. They are amazing people. They are all individuals if you ever met them. I mean they are not my pawns. We are a real band. If you ever seen us play live you know that, we are not a bunch of automatons.
Owen: You said that you guys kind thought of yourselves as normal dumb people. Do you still kind of think of yourselves as that way?
KROQ: Can we see a tantrum here today? Is that possible?
*everyone laughs*
KROQ: Can we request one, cause a lot of us have not had the opportunity up close.
BC: Um...I don't think I have tantrums.
KROQ: Hey Billy I don't know what you want to do schedual wise with playing and singing. Do you want to wait? Or do something now.
BC: I'd rather wait a little bit, cause my voice still has the morning cough.
KROQ: You let us know, cuz we want to here you play. How are you digging this tour so far? Your having a good time on stage if the reviews are accurate.
BC: We are having the best time I think we ever had. The band's playing great. The shows are really fun. It's really just about music, we try to have some nice psychedelic lights for you on drugs. But we are just trying to play our songs. Mostly its Mellon Collie stuff, I mean people want to hear demos I put out, like 9 years ago and stuff. But, be on that it's about music. we play a lot of music, and it's not a boring night. If it is, leave. I think it's really cool. I'm having a great time.
KROQ: Why, huh, I know this is a question you get asked a lot, but why are you playing such tiny venues, when you can clearly play to so many more fans in the same amount of time.
BC: Well, huh, because we play two sets and the first part is kind a acoustics, not all acoustic but more quiet. And once you get passed 1,000 people you can forget it. There is just no way, people get bored, people can't feel you or sense what's going on. It just doesn't work. There's just no way. So we won't pretend it's going to work. Obviously we'll get more money and whatever, but we don't care so we just want to play the best show. So we realize we are cutting out one thing at the part of the fans to make this happen. But the fans that are going to get in. They are going to see something that is unique and cool so you just have to make those decisions
KROQ: If you are just joining us, it's Kevin 106.7 KROQ we are live from Historic Capital Records, celebrating its 40th anniversary in the recording studio. We are sitting in with Billy Corgan. It's Breakfast with Billy. And Kevin is playing the part of Phil Donahue in the audience right now with some more questions.
Kevin: What is your name?
My name is Heather. This is sort a a digression from questions about your music, but I've noticed in all your interviews you are very articulant and your very insightful, and obviously your lyrics are pretty much the same. So I was wondering if that had anything to do with what you read, or if you read. And if you read, what it is?
BC: Um...hmm...
KROQ: Can I ask what articulant means? And what does insightful mean? If you can translate for us.
BC: Um...see I don't know how to answer those kind of question.
KROQ: You read books, magazines, news papers, brail, what?
BC: I read a lot when I was young. I don't read much now that I'm busy all the time.
KROQ: What kind of stuff did you read when you were younger?
BC: A lot of stuff like yea know, The Jungle Book and Nechi and huh yea know all sorts of fun stuff. I just read everything I could get my hands on. It's hard to just say with language where you come from. And where everything else comes from it's so cultry tied.
KROQ: Do most of your songs come from real life situations, or from your active imagination you think?
BC: Uh... um...hehe...I don't know. I try to right something that means something to me, yea know. But it's not like, people think that it's all autobiographical, I mean I'm sorry
I really don't have a life to live. So I write about a life I could be living, if I had a life to live.
KROQ: And all that's left is Mayonnaise.
*everyone laughs*
BC: You got it.
KROQ: Alright that was a good question, thank you.
Kevin: Alright what is your name?
My name is Ron. I was just wondering on songs like Soma and Starla, which are two of my favorite ones, the music is very involved. I was wondering do you have it written down or do you just keep them in your head. Cause they are all pretty long, and the mood changes.
BC: Songs like that kind a start out like a very simple idea. Like with Soma it started with a riff that James had and we played the riff for simingly forever then we would add a part here and add a part there and it would just it will evolve lets say two or three months because finding that really delicate balance between form and function and those songs tend to take a long time, and drive everyone nuts, because I change them about 40 times.
Ron: But you don't spend a lot of time writing it down you just do it.
BC: No, because songs like that have to come from the heart. It's not something you can just kind of sit down and write on paper, you know it's the emotional parts of it. It needs to be felt out.
Kevin: Hello your name is?
Susan. Good Morning first of all.
BC: Good Morning.
Susan: Now that you are 'busy' all of the time, when do you most miss being anonymous?
BC: Um...*laughs*
KROQ: Right now.
BC: Um...I think there's...it's shopping. Like when you are shopping for socks and underwear yea know.
*Everyone laughs*
BC: The salesclerk recognizes you and wants an autograph, as you are holding pairs of underwear under your arms.
KROQ: When your buying Winnie the Pooh boxers, it's not when you want to be recognized.
:Susan What's your favorite time of year?
BC: I'm sorry.
Susan: What's your favorite time of year to go out and do things by yourself...
KROQ: I'm sorry you gotta leave, that was a bad question.
*Billy laughs*
KROQ: That was a bad question. See we are trying to weave that out. I'm sorry you had to hear that Billy. Your name is?
My name is David. Hi Billy.
BC: Hi David.
David: Thanks, thanks a lot for being here this morning.
BC: Your welcome.
David: I really appreciate it. Listen a lot of artists when they get famous, or popular or successful, um, tend to sacrifice a lot of there integrity. And you seem to not have. And I respect that quite a bit...
BC: Thank you.
David: How do you do it, with all of these people wanting a piece of you all of the time. How do you do stay focused and centered?
*phone ringing in background*
BC: It's very difficult, I really am trying not to be a complaining whining rock star guy. But, it's verify difficult cause there are a lot of demands and there are certainly a lot of...
KROQ: Um, phone for you Billy
*laughs*
BC: That would be my mom calling. There is a lot of weird dcemensions that people never see. Like yea know if you don't make a video a certain amount of good, especially on your third album your going to be screwed. You know your going to need certainly singles that are going to be played. There are a lot of weird pressures. People don't really see you've came up across artistic decisions verse commercial decisions. And a lot of people can't understand. For example a lot of people are upset because we are playing such small shows. They go, why aren't you playing the Enormo-dome yea know, it's those kind of things you get really caught up in between what people want from you and what you want from yourself. Altimitly you are serving the fans of the band, its not the other way around. But, you have to find that weird kind of combination. It's difficult, and it gets more difficult, but we just made up our mind not matter what, I don't care what anybody thinks, no matter what. We are not going to sell out or embarrass ourselves. I mean the biggest one was when Nirvana became popular seemingly over night everybody was grudge and we would go to Europe and see the big ads - 'From Seattle', bigger then the name of the band. And we never played up the thing. We just tried to be The Smashing Pumpkins, and it hurt us in '91, but it sure makes the difference in '96. We are what we are. So I'm glad we stuck with it and we will continue to do so.
David: That's why I like you.
BC: Thank you.
KROQ: This is a good time to take a quick break. Give Billy a quick break. It's Breakfast with Billy, on the world famous KROQ. And we will be right back.
KROQ: 9:33 on the world famous KROQ 106.7 K.R.O.Q. Once again it's Breakfast with Billy. It is Billy Corgan from "The" Smashing Pumpkins. We are here in Historical Capital Records this morning in a recording studio. Got a chance to ask Billy some questions, his friends are here. Kevin is in the audience. Who's next?
Kevin: He also has his guitar here and he's going to play for us in a little bit.
KROQ: No that's for to beat someone who asks him another dumb question.
*laughs*
BC: Right. *laughs*
Kevin: Your name is?
Melissa.
Kevin: Melissa, what is your question?
Melissa: Well, first of all I just want to say that I admire you a lot. Your a beautiful person and I love you.
BC: I love you too.
Melissa: Thank you. Oh my god. Anyway...
KROQ: If you two would like to go out again, we'll pay for the date.
*some people laugh*
Melissa: Alright! I'm game.
BC: Well let's see what the audience says,
Melissa: My question is if you weren't a musician or didn't pay guitar or anything what do you think you would be doing with your life right now?
BC: Um...
KROQ: What interests you?
BC: Um...*laughs* To be honest, to answer that question. People ask that question. And I usually give the funny answer like selling pot to your brother but...
*audience laughing*
Melissa: YEAH!
BC: But, um, I have no idea. I mean from. I'm 28 years old now, and from the time I was 15 I've thought about literally nothing else.
KROQ: Is there something...
BC: Except jelly beans and girls.
KROQ: Is there something that you don't have time now since your carrier takes so much time...
BC: Well, This is kind a art related, but I think I'm going to try and write a book. I think that would be kind a...
*everyone claps*
KROQ: What are they applauding for?
BC: Huh?
KROQ: What are they applauding for?
BC: I don't know!
KROQ: Cause they would like a book.
BC: They haven't seen it yet, but...
Melissa: Also, I have one more question. I don't want to seem like a ditsy air head, but could I please sit next to you on that couch.
BC: Nope.
KROQ: Ditsy air head we reject you totally.
*everyone laughs*
KROQ: Let me ask you this, Billy, The questioner has the ZERO shirt on.
BC: Yeah, huh, that is the bootleg version
KROQ: That was I was asking. You don't get a piece of that...
BC: No.
KROQ: Do you want us to take it off of her? *laughs*
BC: No, no we are threatening people now with bodily harm.
KROQ: You are pretty fond of your ZERO shirt, aren't you Billy?
BC: It means a lot to me.
*laughing*
KROQ: It seems to be the standard stage attire, your starting to see them pop up on the streets. A couple of different people did call and ask about that. And that's that you haven't been seen outside of a ZERO shirt for how long? awhile.
BC: It's part of that same kind of idea about not really paying much attention. Except, yea know, so, no hair, zero shirt, silver pants.
KROQ: You don't have to think about it when you get up in the morning.
BC: That's it.
KROQ: But you have more than one of them right?
BC: There are four ZERO shirts.
KROQ: Alright that's what we wanted to find out. Just making sure. And your name is?
Um, David. Um, first of all good morning Billy.
BC: Morning.
David: Thanks again for doing this. This is really great. In the Rolling Stone interview you said that your sound would be making a departure from what you call the classic Smashing Pumpkins sound after Mellon Collie. And I'm wondering if that is true, & can you tell us where you see it maybe going.
BC: Yeah, well, a lot of people have been asking about that. I have absoutly no idea about what we are going to do. But, yea know we started the band almost 8 years ago and we've been playing this ridiculous form of pop rock for along time and we just felt, we feel that we have taken it as far as we can go. And certainly things like 1979 are good windows to where the band is headed. I mean, there is just a point to how many times you can beat people over the head with the metal. We've always enjoyed doing it. An we think we do it very well, but there is just a point where, and yea know with all the imitative bands that exist KROQ...
KROQ: You've heard the Rust record.
BC: Not only yours truly, but certainly, I mean if I hear one more Nirvana band I'm going to throw up. It seises to have the impact that it once had, which is yea know life, it happens, but the difference in wat we were doing in say '91 as opposed to '96 it doesn't have the same visual impact that it once had because people can't tell the difference between the real thing and the immatations. The imitators didn't have to spend those years figuring out how to do it. They just learned how to imitate. That's all they do. So your competing with people who basically doing what you do probably better in some ways so we are just tired of that. We are ready to move on and try something that will take people a couple more years to imitate. So we will just keep doing that till we fall dead.
KROQ: When you first started out were there a few bands that you wanted to be like. That you kind a imitated in the very beginning?
BC: When we first started I thought if we could be the literal difference between The Beatles, Jane's Addiction, & Black Sabbath, & Led Zeppelin that's were I wanted to be.
KROQ: Those are some high goals. Billy Corgan on the couch with us at 106.7 KROQ.
BC: I'm sitting on a different couch then you though, so I just wanted people to know that.
KROQ: I sense that's how you like it. Your name is?
Prasela. I have a couple of questions. I heard a rumor that the Smashing Pumpkins were supposed to be doing a tribute type album, and I wonder if that was true.
BC: Not true.
Prasela: Ok. And...
KROQ: How did you like playing with Pink Floyd at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame?
Prasela: Yeah that was my next question.
BC: That was wild, yea know cause when I was 17 my grandmother had cancer, this is a sad story so I'll keep it short, so my grandmother had cancer and there was one Pink Floyd song "Wish You Were Here" was the song that kind a got me through it. Yea know and people tell me that one of my songs gets them through, so I understand and that song really got me through a rough time. And so here I am 11 years later, and I am in my hotel room with David Gilmore playing this song, it was really wild. They were wonderful people. I was most happy to do it. Life has a weird kind of nature to it.
KROQ: People are sometimes surprised at some of the bands songs you play. You covered the Fleetwood Mac song "Landslide", when you covered the Depeche Mode song "Never Let Me Down Again", they are interesting choices...
BC: Well you see the thing of it is if you really think of it is, we ask people to accept us without sense of ??? ok. We all like alternative music. But good music is good music. It doesn't matter if it is Country, Rap, or what ever. So ya know when we were growing up, we listened to bands who were the popular song of the day as you would now. And we never thought that Fleetwood Mac was alternative, we just liked them. That' it. We like band's that are good. Fleetwood Mac is a good band, Depeche Mode is a good band, Pink Floyd is a great and. I don't care what anybody says those bands mean a lot to me and always will. When I needed them, they were always there for. so...
KROQ: I certainly admire that. We talk about that on KROQ from time to time there are some people who has always have to be to hip for the room. They always have to be...
BC: They are lying, they are lying. They are totally lying. Yea know I remember Courtney telling me that Kurt had an Oingo Domingo record that was so worn out it could barely be played. And there yea go.
KROQ: Your name is?
My name is James Brown. Good Morning.
BC: Morning James
James: I was wondering...
KROQ: That was wrong what you did to your wife man.
*laughing*
James: Hey...
KROQ: That ain't right.
James: Hey, if she don't cook Breakfast...
KROQ: Alright, alright
James: I got 2 questions. What album from Jimmy Hendrix had the biggest impact on your life?
BC: Um, um,um, I would say "Band of Gypsies"
James: Really? That's great. And do you still tour with the Frogs, or...
BC: I'm still really close to the Frogs. In fact, they just played a Pumpkins b-side with me. And, um, I just love those guys, I just think they're the best. Not everybody gets them, but they're an amazing band.
KROQ: All right, very cool. You're listening to 106.7 KROQ. Breakfast with Billy, with Kevin and me.
BC: It's so sad....
KROQ: What's that?
BC: It's all so sad. We squeezed the fun out of it.
KROQ: All right, we're going to need somebody to tell a joke, who had the joke? Someone did have one. All right, what's your name?
Um, Fantasia.
BC: Mmm....
KROQ: Now, Fantasia, you told us over the phone...
Fantasia: Yeah.
KROQ: ...but I want you to tell us, in front of all of us, that that's your real name. It's on your driver's licence.
Fantasia: It's on there! It's on there.
BC: Were you conceived at Disneyland or...?
*Everyone laughs*
Fantasia: On the rollercoaster.
KROQ: You're parents are not telling you something. There's something going on.
BC: Yeah, her middle name is Madderhorn.
*Laughing*
KROQ: Exactly. Her last name is Darling, Billy.
Fantasia. Oh, my god......
KROQ: Her name is Fantasia Darling. I would pay $2.99 a minute to talk to you on the phone.
*Laughing*
Fantasia: Cool!
BC: Are you sure you have it?
KROQ: No, I'm not!
Fantasia: Yeah, I'm sure. Um, I was wondering what it was like for you to grow up. Like, were you close to your parents and your friends, what kinds of things did you do....?
BC: We're back to the sad questions now?
Fantasia: I don't want to make you melancholy, but...
BC: I mean, certainly, much ado about nothing, has been made about my seeming childhood. I mean, I had probably had a childhood like most people have had. You know, people have tried to tell me, they like, they lay that whole trip on me like, you know how you would complain when you were little and you were hungry and your mother would be like 'There's people in Cambodia starving', you know. Well, I've gotten that whole vibe "Well there's people that have had worse childhoods than you.' The whole point of me talking what I've talked about was I really feel that a lot of people have the exact same experience. Parents split up, you know, you gotta go though a lot of changes when you're little. Growing up is hard enough with acne, and whatever else you gotta deal with, and so I just try to talk about it because I thought people could relate and say, 'Hey, I understand, that's where I come from, too!'. That's all.
KROQ: Were you kind of a loner, a popular guy, or just in the middle?
BC: I was, like, the guy who had the stoner friend and the athlete friend and the alternative friend. It was like, I just liked anybody if I liked them and I wasn't popular and I wasn't unpopular.
KROQ: Were you in the audio-visual club?
BC: I was in the audio-visual club at one point.
KROQ: Were you in the photography club?
BC: No. I wasn't allowed in.
KROQ: Student council?
BC: Served on the student council. Wrote for the school newspaper.
KROQ: Did you ever toilet paper anyone's house?
BC: No, no, no.
Kevin: Step right up here.
KROQ: Hey, thank you Fantasia. Let's go to breakfast later. Your name is?
Um, David. Why do you think your tour worked not using Ticketmater (ä) and people like Pearl Jam couldn't tour?
KROQ: Oh, good question.
BC: Um, in defense of Pearl Jam they were doing a much larger tour. I mean, out system is only 1,200 tickets a night. I don't think we could do our system at a large scale. You know.
KROQ: Because of time.
BC: Yeah, it takes people a long time for people to get people in. Some people have complained about the hassle of getting the ticket, but the fact of the matter is I've never seen so many fans at a show. It's like, 95% fans, and especially for any of you who got to see these shows in LA, you won't see a lot of people in suits standing around. Its fans, and that's they way we wanted it, and that's why we did it.
KROQ: You eliminated the scalpers virtually 100% on this one, too.
BC: Pretty much. I mean, if you're going to scalp the ticket, you have to go in with the scalper. I mean, that's pretty much it.
KROQ: I got to tell ya, it was like another earthquake going through Southern California. When people who happened to be listening to KROQ a couple of weeks ago at four in the afternoon, the announcement came that tickets would go on sale in two hours. Go! There wasn't a lot advanced warning. Is that part of the strategy, too?
BC: Yeah, because it doesn't give a lot of people time to figure it out. To cheat, to call their friend at the record store and make sure they get a ticket. We're trying to do everything we can to make sure that if you want to get a ticket, you can get a ticket. I know that there's people right now going 'But I didn't' But, the fact of the matter is there were certainly warnings that we were going to put a show on. But it's life, and I'm sorry. The fact of the matter is I've talked to people who have stood out all night and they got a ticket. I did the same thing. I'm interviewing Eddie Van Halen a couple of days for a guitar magazine. I stood out for 14 hours to see Van Halen, and I got a ticket in the balcony. But I wanted a ticket and I got a ticket. So, you know, all we're trying to do is reward people who really want to go. I know its a hassle, you got a job and everything, but if you really want to go, we're trying to so you can go. That's all.
KROQ: We did hear some talk that you're coming back later this year so you can play some bigger venues.
BC: Yeah, yeah. This is just, like this is the fun tour.
KROQ: Right.
BC: Not to say that the later won't be fun, but, as anyone who's been to a big show before knows that its a different kind of show. You know, we're not going to play the 28th song on Siamese or Mellon Collie. We're going to be playing 'Disarm' and 'Today' and all the songs people know and its a different kind of show. There's a lot more arm waving going on.
KROQ: There's about half a dozen people in this room, by the way, who have tickets to see you at the Palace this week.
BC: Yeah, who has tickets, by the way?
KROQ: Raise your hands if you do.
Kevin: Lucky.
BC: I have some tickets, my own tickets, that I want to give away. And also, this is a kind of interesting request and we'll get to this later if you want, but I have plenty, not plenty, but enough tickets, probably, to accommodate most of you in the room.
*Cheering loudly*
BC: If you want to- wait, don't applaud yet- if you want to go to San Francisco.
*Cheering*
KROQ: Well, that's pretty cool.
BC: We'll try and take care of everybody. The best way, I think, to give away the LA tickets, because its obviously less hassle, would be to play the Pumpkins Pop Quiz.
KROQ: Pumpkins Pop Quiz?
BC: Test your Pumpkins knowledge.
KROQ: Okay, that's great. Let's take a break, take a rest...
BC: Good idea, okay.
KROQ: ...when we come back we'll play the Pumpkins pop quiz, give away some tickets. Plus, you're going to perform?
BC: Yeah, I'll play.
KROQ: Billy Corgan, live on the world famous KROQ, we'll be right back.
~Break~
KROQ: Capitol records said we can stay on a little long, so we'll be on after 10:00. So, that's good news.
BC: But I don't want to stay.
*KROQ guy laughs*
BC: No one asked me.
KROQ: No, but we can. That's what's cool. You have the guitar and have offered to sing a song or two, we're delighted.
BC: I wanna sing a Cat Stevens song.
KROQ: (laughing) Cat Stevens is fine. Billy Corgan live on the world famous KROQ.
(Billy plays an acoustic version of "1979")
KROQ: Billy Corgan live on K.R.O.Q. FM in Los Angeles. Kevin and me doing breakfast with Billy. We have time for some more questions from the audience, or do you want to get to the Smashing Pumpkins trivia?
BC: You are in control.
KROQ: We'll do some more questions, then. If you are up for that. Your name is?
Danielle. I'm kind of nervous because this is like, really important to me. I've been waiting years to meet you and, um...
BC: (laughs) I've been waiting years to meet you.
Danielle: I think you are a beautiful person, inside and out. I wanted to know, I saw you in various pictures wearing a flannel coat that looked exactly like Kurt Cobain's?
BC: Yeah, that's an interesting story, actually, if you'd like to hear it.
Danielle: And it said in a magazine that it was his.
BC: It is true. It was his coat.
Danielle: How'd you get it?
BC: Well, it's interesting. One of those crazy Courtney stories. (laughing) Um. We were playing in Seattle and for some reason it was summer but it was cold. And, you know, she goes, 'Here, I brought you this coat'. And it looks awful Seattle-like and I look at her, and she goes 'Don't worry, its mine. It wasn't his'. Fine. So, I'm wearing this coat, da-da-da, I go to New York to do the MTV awards, and people who knew Kurt, and who know me were going 'Oh my god, you're wearing his coat. What the hell is going on?' And I'm like, 'Told the story, off goes the coat'. I do the SPIN interview, and the guy was the one who wrote the Nirvana book, Come As You Are, whatever. So, and he asked me about the coat. It was an innocent like 'I didn't know'. And suddenly its in the thing like I'm wearing it like some kind of badge. And then I'm Kurt Jr. or something, you know? So there's one of those crazy Courtney stories.
KROQ: In reality, you were just cold.
BC: I was just-- I'm always cold!!
KROQ: Don't you have to go out of your way to-- because it seems like everything you do, like if its one step in that direction, people go crazy and then you have to go way out of your way to go 'No, no, no, no! It was just a step.'
BC: Um, I mean, whatever. Its like, if you feel like you did something wrong than you probably did, you know? But I didn't do anything wrong.
KROQ: Well, you spend half your time, it seems, on damage control, you know?
BC: Yeah, well I gave people plenty to hit me over the head with, that's for damn sure.
*KROQ guy laughing*
Kevin: Hey, we heard a few- maybe some of the people from this room, called us this week to say that there was some sort of musical collaboration with Courtney Love, At some point or in the future.
BC: Mmmm....
KROQ: You know anything about that?
Kevin: Wrote a song for, writing a song for?
BC: No comment.
Kevin: Hold on, that's her question. Go ahead.
Yeah, I heard that you wrote a song for Courtney Love, but you didn't want to take credit for it.
KROQ: (in background) Billy doesn't....
BC: Um, I'm not talking about that at all.
KROQ: Okay.
BC: There is a song, let's just say, whether she records it or I record it is yet to be determined. As of this moment, I'm recording it and she's not recording it.
KROQ: Well, that's not too mysterious.
*Laughing*
KROQ: Do you envision doing collaboration with other artists, are there people you'd like to...?
BC: I would absolutely love to, I mean, like the other night, we wanted Dave Navarro from the Chilli Peppers to come down and play the AMA's with us. Um, he couldn't do it, unfortunately, but we don't understand the whole divisiveness between music, and we would like to work and collaborate, and have people play on stage with us.
KROQ: You had a chance to meet with Lionel Richie the other night?
*Billy laughs*
BC: He did give me a back rub.
*Everyone laughs*
KROQ: Actually, by the way, while we were talking about Lionel Richie, Kevin and I have a dollar bet on this question, and I feel that I have to ask you now. Barry Manilow fan, yes or no?
BC: (answers quickly) No.
Kevin: Yes!
KROQ: Kevin wins the dollar, thank you! Here's your dollar you-
Kevin: All right, lets. What's your name?
KROQ: Way to let me down, Billy.
*Laughing*
I'm Cameron.
BC: Hi, Cameron.
Cameron: I wanted to thank you, Billy, Kevin, and everyone else here who made it possible, because I appreciate it.
KROQ: You're not winning an Oscar here, man. Ask the question.
Cameron: All right.
KROQ and BC: Woah.
BC: Love those fans, don't ya?
KROQ: Let me just say-
BC: And he didn't just thank me, he thanked you!
Kevin: Yeah, that's just what I was gonna say. Bean (?) and I had very little to do with this. I didn't even want to host this, but Tammy was busy, so. I'm sorry, go ahead.
BC: I did ask for Tammy.
KROQ: I know you did, everybody does.
Cameron: I wanted to ask how much influence do you have in making your own videos? Well, not your own, but-
BC: Total.
Cameron: Total?
BC: Absolutely.
Cameron: Its not just the director?
BC: No, no.
KROQ: We had the woman call, I guess you used her house for the '1979' video.
BC: Yeah, there's an interesting story.
KROQ: What happened? She gave you a coat, told you it was hers....?
*Laughing*
KROQ: You gave her a song?
BC: She gave me a little more than a coat.
KROQ: Oh, really!
BC: Just kidding.
KROQ: She never told us that on the air.
BC: Valencia. Um, girl. Um, its like, they rented us their house on a nice, shady California street to do the video. And we do the video, and the guys worry that the Jesus paintings are going to fall off the wall. And, as some of you may know, they lost that part of the video and we had to come back out here and re-shoot it in the same house. You know, it was interesting. Imagine me trying to control kids going crazy in somebody's living room. It was strange.
KROQ: We put out the notice that morning that the taped were lost. I guess the guy drove off with them on top of his car. We put out the notice, there was a reward offered. They just never turned up. That's too bad. All right, you're listening to KROQ by the way, K.R.O.Q. FM im Los Angeles. Its 10:00, we're running a little long. We're having breakfast with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. Your name is?
Sabrina. Um, I wanted to tell you- ask you to, um. Well, the thing is, I never know anything that's going on with you.
*Laughing*
Sabrina: Its like the first time they ever say anything about you, how do you keep so out of the press?
BC: At this point, I believe that its the press that wants to keep us out of the press. You know? I mean, for example, the SPIN band of the year. The one with the coat, and Kurt, and the whole bit. I mean, they told us, 'You're band of the year', and we're like 'Fine'.
If you go back and read that article, there's like two paragraphs about music. Literally about two paragraphs about music. The whole article is about me and temper tantrums and money and Kurt. Its not the band that's distilling this kind of information- its the press trying to turn something into something that not even there.
Sabrina: Okay, and one more thing. I wanted to tell you about the Zero shirt you wear all the time with the silver pants- I think you look drop dead sexy.
BC: Um...... thank you. I'll be wearing it when you come over tonight.
*Laughing*
BC: I'll be wearing the special g-string Zero version.
*Laughing*
KROQ: Ooh, baby. How is your wife, Billy? Bad time to ask. Your name is?
Yes, Nina. I have a couple of questions. One is, um, if you have any religious affiliations because you do mention Jesus and God in some of your songs. And I wanted to know is that- you've disappointed, or you don't have any......
BC: Um, I say this with no offense, but the Jesus people keep trying to seek me out, you know? I'm totally fine, me and God are getting along just fine. And, um, personally, what you believe is not really that important, just as long as you believe in some thing and its good and positive. That's all. I mean, I don't- people have agendas as far as what they believe in, and whether or not I believe in those things and that's always really strange to me. The most amazing man I've ever met, religiously, was a monk that was on Lollapalooza as part of the- Adam go the Tibetan monks on Lolla to perform that kind of praise. Tibetan consciousness. And I got to know this one monk, and he said 'Buddhists don't care how you believe, what you believe, how you do it, whatever. We want you to believe in something, and hopefully its good.' And that's the best message anyone has given me spiritually. Anything beyond that, I don't care to hear. If you believe in something, more power to you. But, what I believe in, its really not that important.
KROQ: That monk was the one who shaved your head, isn't he? Be honest.
*Laughing*
BC: Yes, he did.
KROQ: Thank you. Yes, go ahead.
Nina: I also wanted to know if Mellon Collie were the last album, I hope it isn't, but if it were the last album you guys put together, um, would you be able to say you've reached your goal, you've accomplished what you wanted to accomplish?
BC: Yes, I think. Its not going to be the last Smashing Pumpkins album. But If it was, I think we've pretty much did what we wanted to do.
KROQ: Cool, thank you. Step right on up. Your name is?
Luis. Hey, Billy. How ya doing?
BC: Hey Luis.
Luis: I just wanted to ask you one question. Its simple. I was curious to know
--cut off--
Woman: --cut off-- the string instruments, and I notice you use something like a harp on Cupid De Locke --cut off-- Its one of the things I enjoy. How do you decide to incorporate those?
BC: Um, we always just try to think 'what's the best thing for this song?', you know? And, not really, 'cause people are like (takes on some sort of farmer's accent) "Well, I came to hear Disarm and I didn't hear that string part'. And its like, well, you know, if you want to hear the string part, listen to the album. I mean, we try to make the best album, and it's just those kinds of decisions. We sit around and go 'what ridiculous things can we do now?'
KROQ: The more you do in the studio the harder it is to do it on stage.
BC: But to me Disarm is a really good song, and it sounds just as good in other ways. But people fall in love with a version, you know, and as anyone who's seen us live knows we can't even come close to playing anything like that so we don't even try.
KROQ: All right, do you need a minute to get some questions together?
BC: No. Being King of Pumpkinland, I know the trivia.
*Laughing*
KROQ: He doesn't have to go to his book. All right, I don't know to do this, this is unrehearsed.
BC: Well, I promised this girl here that she'd get to ask a question because she was begging for some tickets.
KROQ: No problem, you wanna ask a question?
BC: No, I ask the question and then you get a short period of time to answer. If you get the question right, you get tickets, if not, well...
KROQ: And you're talking about the Palace across the street this weekend?
BC: You got it.
KROQ: All right, what's your name?
Cindy.
KROQ: Pressure's on.
BC: Okay, here's a softball question, so if you can't get this.....
KROQ: The Smashing......... fill in the blank.
BC: 'K, ready? Don't-
KROQ: Nobody yell it out, this is for her.
BC: Okay. What is the name of James' dog?
KROQ: She's bouncing up and down.
Kevin: She just doesn't know it, is the thing.
KROQ: (makes buzzer sound) You want somebody else? No?
BC: The answer is: Bugg Superstar
KROQ: How many people know that? Aww, see that? All right now, you just want to pick someone else at random to ask a question of?
BC: Ummmm....
KROQ: I'll tell you what, why don't you pick someone and ask them a question, and if they get it right, they get the tickets.
BC: Yeah, you pick someone.
Kevin: All right, this person here.
KROQ: You're ready? All right, you're on. Go ahead, Billy.
BC: Okay? Um, what is the name of the first Pumpkins single?
I Am One?
BC: That's it.
Oh, my god!
KROQ: Check it out!
BC: You win... the hibachi!
Thank you, thank you!
KROQ: Very good.
BC: You're welcome. You and a guest to the........
KROQ: You want to pick what's behind the door?
BC: Okay. World famous Aggi will take care of you.
*Billy and KROQ guy are now talking over each other.*
KROQ: Okay, pick someone else Kevin.
*Pause*
KROQ: Stand up. Those of you just tuning in, this is a kind of bonus. Billy is now doing trivia to give away tickets to their show at the Palace which are completely sold out.
Kevin: Your name is?
Diana.
KROQ: And, go ahead.
BC: Okay. What is the correct pronunciation of James' last name?
Diana: (pronounces correctly) Iha.
BC: That's it.
*Guy in background yells "YES!" really loud*
KROQ: Yes, you're going to the show. Boyfriend, look more excited. Oh, you're not taking him! Well, that's quite a little story. All- what should we do with the people winning the tickets? How many more have we got? One or two more?
BC: Maybe.. two or three more is cool.
KROQ: Okay. Pick someone else, Kevin.
Kevin: Um, let's see. Let's go with...
KROQ: By the way, while Kevin is getting over to somebody, let me remind you you're listening to KROQ, starting a noon today we qualify you to win a trip to go see the Pumpkins in Australia on this tour.
Kevin: Back here, in the surf shirt.
BC: Okay, all right. The question is- even though it doesn't have a name, its pretty obvious, there's a song at the end of Gish, that runs after Daydream. What's the name of that song?
KROQ: He brought his CD's and he's looking at it, but its not listed.
(Guy blabbering) Can we shave my head? I'll shave my head for those tickets.
KROQ: Shave my head is not right, I'm sorry. That is not correct. We'll try you, you have a chance.
Crazy?
BC: No, but you can't- the rules are, one person, one question.
KROQ: Oh, I'm sorry.
BC: Sorry.
KROQ You would've had a chance for it.
BC: There are very specific rules in Pumpkinland.
KROQ: All right, what's the answer Billy?
BC: I'm going crazy.
KROQ: I'm going crazy. Ah, so close. Pick someone else, Kevin.
Kevin: All right. Let's go with-
KROQ: We need two more, two more.
Kevin: Right here with the glasses, stand up.
KROQ: All right Billy, next question.
BC: Okay, what's D'Arcy's last name?
Wretsky.
BC: That's correct.
KROQ: There you go. Congratulations, you're going to the show. All right, we got one more. We have one more..
Kevin: Let's go up here to the front. This was the first person here. Stand up.
KROQ She was on line at like, 6:30 this morning. What is you name?
Mary.
KROQ: All right, go ahead.
BC: Name the two videos we did off of Gish.
Mary: Okay, I Am One
KROQ: (makes buzzer sound.)
BC: Incorrect.
Mary: Wait, no, Billy! You rock my world.
BC: Sorry.
KROQ: Nope. All right, one more. One more person, one more question.
Kevin: Let's see. This guy in the jacket, stand up.
KROQ: Billy, do people ask you questions- does he already have tickets? Does he already have tickets? It has to be somebody who does not have tickets. You, in the orange shirt, stand up.
BC: Pandemonium has broken out.
KROQ: What's your name?
Linda.
BC: Okay, this is a toughie, you don't have to say the year, but what is my birthday?
*Screaming*
Linda: Its, uh, March 17.
BC: Very good, congratulations.
KROQ: I can honestly say we have never seen that happen before. That's very cool. Its about 10:10, we're going to clear out of here in just a few minutes. Billy, anything else on your mind?
BC: We'll take care of the San Francisco thing after we're off the air. I mean, I'm in no hurry, so we're cool with that.
*Cheering*
Okay, then let me ask another question, because there's still plenty of people who would like to ask questions. We can stay on with you if you'd like to, or we can do it your way.
BC: I'm totally fine to hang, so if you want to hang a little longer.
KROQ: Okay, let's do some more with Billy Corgan.
BC: I have to go pee first.
KROQ: You have to go pee. Billy's going to go pee, we'll take a quick break.
Kevin: Well, he's been putting away the vodka since the minute he got here.
KROQ: Breakfast with Billy will continue on the world famous KROQ when we continue.
~Commercials~
KROQ: Hey, someone has decided we'd enjoy hearing some Oasis as we sit down with Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins at 106.7 KROQ.
*Phone ringing*
KROQ: What are you looking at there Billy? Have a seat.
BC: I'm looking at the cell phone.
KROQ: Yeah, the cell phone's ringing. You take that, Bob. What do you think of Oasis, by the way, Billy? You like any of the new British invasion that is allegedly sweeping the airways?
BC: (stuttering) I, I like- I like Ov- (exasperated) I like Ovasis. I like Oasis. I just- I don't like the rehearsing of the 'bad rock attitude'.
KROQ: Yeah, them and Blur are trying to make it to the front page headlines that they hate each other, I guess.
BC: (with mouth full) It's 1996, you know. I mean, let's stop pretending that they're different then we are, and all that stuff. You know? They make great music, fine. They don't have to be, you know, whatevers.
KROQ: Its uh, Breakfast with Billy Corgan with uh, Kevin and me. We're going a little bit late. We're going to do one more segment of questions from the audience. We're in overdrive here. You guys, by the way, give yourselves a hand. You've been a terrific audience here this morning.
*Clapping and cheering*
BC: Would it be infringing to have Tammy come up and sit next to me?
KROQ: No, no, have Tammy come on up. Tammy come on up. All right we have a few more people- Tammy, hi to everybody. A few more people with questions.
BC: I love Tammy.
KROQ: You know, we told you that when we started this thing together last week that if possible, everybody will get to ask a question and its working out pretty good so far. All right. They are rearranging the couch so that Tammy could sit down.
Kevin: All right, what is your name?
My name is Alex, and I wanted to ask him, that in the song called Spaceboy, I read in a magazine that you were talking about your brother or something, that it was dedicated to your brother, and I was wondering if you still get a chance to talk to him, or do you bring him along sometimes. I think he's kind of sick or something, I don't know I read it in a magazine or something. Circus magazine, actually.
BC: There's a good magazine.
*Laughing*
BC: High journalism there.
Alex: I just was wondering if you still talk to your brother, take him around or something. You know, bring him along.
BC: I'm still very close to my brothers.
KROQ: He's in the family, you know, he doesn't get out of the family just because Billy's famous.
Alex: I know, but sometimes you forget about the family. You know, like they're never-
BC: No, no, no. I've actually mended a lot of fences with my family and am very close to my family now.
KROQ: How wired is it, by the way, a guy like you, I guess most people in rock bands get into music because they're fans of music, but is it weird when you find yourself on the cover of Rolling Stone and you find yourself on the cover of SPIN? I mean, does that freak you out?
BC: Well, its like last night when I was going to dinner, and um, we had the radio on and 1979 was on, and it was like listening to somebody else or something. Its hard to, its like, it came from this noggin here.
KROQ: (laughs) Ah, you name is?
Kerry. Um, I wanted to know, were you surprised at how many people showed up at the Bullet With Butterfly Wings video and were willing to get covered in mud? Was that neat for you?
BC: I was surprised at how many people showed up, but I wasn't surprised at how many people left. Like about 12 noon the mud rinks started breaking, and down the hill they went.
Kerry: It was gross.
KROQ: Were you one of the people there?
Kerry: Yeah, I was.
KROQ: Can you see yourself in the video or was it all for nothing?
Kerry: Yeah, I'm the bucket one. You guys made fun of me. I'm the one with the bucket.
KROQ: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah! That's right.
Kerry: Oh, yeah.
KROQ: How did you get in? Security!
Kerry: Embarrassed in front of everyone.
BC: Quentin Tarantino called from that, he got her the bucket role. She got the part.
KROQ: Quentin Tarantino got her part just from the bucket role.
BC: You got it.
KROQ: Well done. Ah, your name is?
Bobby Milin. Um, I was wondering if you wanted your own label or maybe in the future start your own label?
BC: I've thought about it, um, but right now I don't feel as if I could devote enough energy to it, and I also feel that I'm just in a point in my life where I would just be to nosy, and tell people what to do. When I grow up a little bit, maybe.
KROQ: Are there up and coming performers that you know that deserve wide spread recognition that you could help at this point?
BC: Well, that's the problem. I'm so busy I can't spend time find new bands. If you're going to start a label you need to find bands at like a very, very early level. I mean, I certainly hear about bands when they start making records, but that's not going to do me any good.
KROQ: Right. Your name is?
Freeda. Um, hi Billy.
BC: Hi.
Freeda: Um, well, I was wondering, you know how the press seeks you out a lot, but doesn't seek the rest of the band out. How do you feel about that?
BC: Um, I understand to the point where people are trying to make connections between the songs and me and whatever. But it gets a little silly after awhile. You know, I mean, certainly we do interviews and interview as a band, and person interviewing us doesn't ask any other band members any questions. They just completely ignore the band members.
KROQ: Some of that goes with the territory of being the frontman and some of goes with being the lyricist, I suppose.
BC: I understand it, but I am endlessly amazed by you know, I imagine if I was a reporter in 1972 and I was talking to you know,
KROQ: The Stones.
BC: Right, you would want to understand what makes the band work the way it works, you would want to know more about how that record was really made. But people just want to talk about 'Remember that time you smashed your guitar over somebody's head?'
you know, and its just all about that. And then people ask questions from other interviews they've read. So it just cycles on like that endlessly.
Freeda: And I was wondering if you could say hi to my sister in Riverside?
BC: No.
*Laughing*
KROQ: You're listening to 196.7 KROQ, and by the way, Tammy Heidi (?) has joined us on the couch here at Capitol records. Have we missed the big question here Tammy? How are we doing?
Tammy: Well, I was just noticing its Groundhog's Day and this is the first of three nights at the Palace, so I'm figuring this is going to keep happening over and over and over until we get it right.
BC: Oh, I thought you were going to make the joke that because I've appeared, winter is going to be shorter.
*Laughing*
Tammy: Well, that too. That was my next comment.
Kevin: There's no shadow in here, so.
KROQ: All right, we weren't missing anything by not having Tammy on.
*Laughing*
KROQ: All right, who's next down there?
Tammy: Blow me.
Daisy. I would like to know how come you don't allow moshing at your concerts?
BC: No, see that's not true at all. I mean, people are going to do whatever they want to do, but publicly we've come out to say that this whole thing with moshing has become a ridiculous, stupid thing. And anyone who's come to a concert late know that's its ceased to be a spontaneous act. It is like standard concert operating procedure. I go to the concert to mosh. And, we were playing in San Diego the other day, and I was looking out, and there were guys there who probably had never heard a Smashing Pumpkins record in their life. They were just there, basically, to knock into other people who look just like them, and, I just think the whole thing's sill, and being an honest person, I'll call the thing silly. If we rock you, we want you to rock, too, but Disarm is not a moshing song and it never will be. And I guarantee you, there will be somebody on top of somebody tonight during Disarm. So, there you go.
*Laughing*
KROQ: I kind of get the impression up on stage that some bands plan on smashing their guitars at the end of a song not because they are so overcome by the music that they're playing it, but because it looks cool to do that.
BC: Well, if you, you know, God rest Kurt's soul, but if you notice he would always switch to another, cheaper guitar. And not smash the one he always played.
Kevin: All right, thank you.
KROQ: I think you got, what, one more?
Kevin: Let's do one more question.
KROQ: All right.
Kevin: Your name is?
Christina. Um, I just have to say I love you and,
*Laughing*
Christina: also..
BC: Does your mother know, though?
Christina: Yes, she does. She almost came here with me. But, um, what's your personal meaning behind the song Soothe because I've noticed that most people kind of like, make up their own meaning. Each song means something differently to me. I was wondering what that song means to you.
BC: Right, uh, its really a deep song about mayonnaise.
*Laughing*
Christina: Seriously! What does it mean to you?
BC: Um, well, I- these are all such depressing questions.
Christina: Well, I always listen to that song when I'm depressed.
BC: There you go.
KROQ: You're the one that wrote the music.
BC: I know! Yeah, I know. Let me tell you, I live with that.
Christina: See, because I can personally relate to having a really bad childhood and like, being really screwed up as a child. And most of your songs have really related to my life.
BC: Actually, that song has really nothing to do with childhood.
Christina: Well, no but everything's that's happened in my life since.
BC: I think that song talks about just, I wrote that song about seven in the morning. I wasn't able to sleep, and I got up and started working like I normally do, and I wrote that song just kind of like how I felt. How you just feel empty sometimes. You don't know why, there's no particular reason, no one's hurt you, you just feel like.. crap, you know. And its kind of about that longing, this human desire to make some sort of connection, and I think that runs life at its very core so, that's really all that its about.
Christina: (high pitched) Thank you.
BC: (high pitched) You're welcome.
*Laughing*
KROQ: Well, Billy, this is terrific that you're here today.
BC: Its so heavy, I just - my head hurts.
KROQ: Your head is exploding now. Well, that's how the music affects your fans, I guess.
Kevin: Want to tell jokes or something, to lighten it up?
BC: I only know dirty jokes.
*Laughing*
KROQ: Well, that's not appropriate.
BC: I not gonna wear blue today.
Kevin: Okay, good.
KROQ: Am I right when I say this folks, that this was a very special morning here at KROQ?
*Cheering*
KROQ: I don't think there are a lot of artists that would come down and do this, and we really do appreciate its its very cool. We hope that you have a terrific stay at the Palace this weekend.
BC: If my voice lasts.
KROQ: If your voice lasts. And I hope you come back through with some bigger places like you were talking about. More of us get a chance to see the show, and you'll come back on KROQ to spend some time with us at the end.
BC: Yeah, and to all of those of you who weren't here, thank you for your support. We've never- we've always had great success here with people and we're really happy to be here.
KROQ: All right, Billy Corgan, folks. How about that? Thank you all for coming, by the way.
*Cheering*
KROQ: Thanks to Virgin records for all their help and the people here at Historic Capitol Records in Hollywood, too, This has been a very special thing. I hate to leave you with a foreigner, but Richard is back at the station ready to take over.
Kevin: By the way, we made some fun of Gene, but he had a lot to do with putting this together too, so..
KROQ: Ahh, whatever.
*Light laughter*
KROQ: All right, lets take a break. We'll be back with more KROQ music in a second.