Having now been a recording band for 25 years, The Smashing Pumpkins are eligible for inclusion in the Hall Of Fame, a fate which seems inevitable toBilly Corgan, in a fair world.
“If it’s a meritocracy, I think my band belongs in there because we were one of the prime bands of our era, ” he told Rolling Stone. Less certain is the truth of his following statement: “we continue to be a top band.”
“Next year will be, technically, our 30th year. So the fact that I’ve been in this band, you know, essentially 25 of the last 30 years, I think that says something,” he added.
Corgan continued to reflect on the fickle nature of music fame, saying, “Whole genres of music get overlooked and people don’t get put in because somebody’s mad at somebody from 30 years ago. I’m only speaking as a fan, but it’s hard to trust the institution as a meritocracy when you have people in there who weren’t very influential, didn’t sell a lot of records but because somebody somewhere was a fan, they’re in. And then you have other people who were hugely influential and they go, ‘Well, you know…'”
The Pumpkins are hardly the same band that they were in the ’90s, or even before their hiatus between 2000 and 2007. Corgan is the only remaining member of the original line-up, who have strained relationships with each other, and the Pumpkins have since seen numerous other talent join and leave including bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick.
In true cynical form, when asked about the troubling logistics of it all, Corgan said, “What if I say I will come and then 17 years later, when I’m in a wheelchair, they finally bring me in? I don’t fucking know… I think at the end of the day you hope that it’s fair and you get in on your accomplishment and it’s not a political thing. But I don’t know what to think about any of that anymore.”
See some of the Pumpkins’ music career below, just don’t expect them to play any of their most beloved albums in full any time soon.
Watch: Smashing Pumpkins, Run2me (2015)
Watch: Smashing Pumpkins, Bullet With Butterfly Wings (1995)
