Billy Corgan Quotes

Wrestling is one of the last truly rebellious American things left.

- Billy Corgan

Left, Last, Things, Rebellious

People try to make a big deal, like I don't want to play my old songs. That's not it. I don't want to play my old songs if that's my only option. That's a different thing.

- Billy Corgan

Play, Big, Deal, Different Thing

Rock in the mainstream culture has lost a lot of its mojo.

- Billy Corgan

Culture, Rock, Lot, Mojo

Even if you don't believe in God, exploring fully the idea of a god or gods should pose no threat to you.

- Billy Corgan

Pose, Idea, Gods, Threat

There is something mighty suspicious about declaring an emergency for something that has yet to show itself to be a grand pandemic.

- Billy Corgan

About, Itself, Declaring, Pandemic

The desire to hit a big home run is dominating the music business.

- Billy Corgan

Big, Home Run, Hit, Dominating

My pat line about the Cubs and payroll is that the amount of merchandise the Cubs would sell off a world series championship would more than cover for a big payroll.

- Billy Corgan

Big, Pat, Amount, Merchandise

I always thought Kurt Cobain was the perfect embodiment of the great alternative guitar player.

- Billy Corgan

Thought, Perfect, Always, Embodiment

The great thing about rock n' roll is, if you want to fight - like, fight the system, fight the man, fight the government, fight the people in front of you - it's Don Quixote all over again. You're really chasing windmills.

- Billy Corgan

Rock, Roll, About, Quixote

You have to keep adapting to the times. If you kind of go with it, it can kind of fun.

- Billy Corgan

Kind, Keep, Times, Adapting

In a weird kind of way, music has afforded me an idealism and perfectionism that I could never attain as me.

- Billy Corgan

Weird, Never, Afforded, Perfectionism

You've got to be ready to be in a great relationship.

- Billy Corgan

Relationship, Ready, Got, Great Relationship

I lay a lot of blame at the feet of Dusty Baker for not being more strict about fundamentals, which I think would give the team a stronger day-to-day identity.

- Billy Corgan

Feet, Fundamentals, Which, Baker

You know Americans are obsessed with life and death and rebirth, that's the American Cycle. You know, awakening, tragic, horrible death and then Phoenix rising from the ashes. That's the American story, again and again.

- Billy Corgan

Death, Rising, Obsessed, Tragic

We've turned into a whining society.

- Billy Corgan

Society, Turned, Whining

In the beginning, though, I have to admit that I did have a chip on my shoulder. I did want to prove everyone wrong. But after I went through the process and came out the other side, it wasn't about anyone else.

- Billy Corgan

Through, Prove, Other, Shoulder

I mean my point as an artist is I'm on my own little weird journey across the sky here and whether or not anybody's listening, or listening to the degree I would like them to, at the end of the day has to be an inconsequential thing because I can't chase this culture.

- Billy Corgan

Artist, Here, Anybody, Inconsequential

I did 13-something years of talking to wrestlers and promoters about why they did certain things and why they booked matches a certain way and what they were thinking and whether they were satisfied with the draw. And I got a lot of insight in the business.

- Billy Corgan

Certain Way, About, Booked, Promoters

James, that's a bad situation. I'm not saying it's not repairable, but it's pretty far. When you go from being in one of the best bands in the world to some cover band... as far as I'm concerned, he was playing down at the pub.

- Billy Corgan

Bad, Some, Concerned, Pub

You have to be willing to deal with the ups and downs of the music, the ups and downs of the audience.

- Billy Corgan

Music, Audience, Deal, Ups

The things I'm guided to do are really strange to me.

- Billy Corgan

Me, Things, Really, Guided

Indie world won't have me, and mainstream world treats me like an alien, but here I am still floating between these two worlds.

- Billy Corgan

Here, Indie, Still, Floating

My mother and I parting company at four years old is a recurring theme; although it's not symbolically necessarily present, it's present in all my relationships.

- Billy Corgan

Old, Years, Necessarily, Recurring

My father was a guitar player, and I was raised with a super high standard of what good guitar playing was.

- Billy Corgan

Father, Raised, Standard, Guitar Playing

I started thinking that if post modernism is about people opening up all their skeletons, I'm going the other way. I don't want anyone knowing anything about me anymore.

- Billy Corgan

Other, Going, Skeletons, Modernism

I don't have any sentimental notion about how people are going to remember me.

- Billy Corgan

Going, About, Any, Sentimental

I was brought up Roman Catholic. I'm not even baptized.

- Billy Corgan

Roman, Brought, Even, Baptized

As a citizen of the great city of Chicago, I find it impossible to root against the White Sox. The White Sox organization has been much more consistent, in my lifetime at least, at putting a winning ballclub on the field.

- Billy Corgan

Citizen, Been, Putting, Great City

More than any audience in the world, Americans will cross their arms, stare at you and say, 'OK, whaddya got?' - no matter how many times you've proven it to them.

- Billy Corgan

Audience, Will, More, OK

I don't have a problem with 'Idol' or 'X Factor,' I have a problem with when those things are not given the proper contextual hue.

- Billy Corgan

Idol, Given, X Factor, Factor

People think I take some sort of masochistic pleasure out of putting out music that's gonna be unpopular.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Some, Putting, Unpopular

You will never see the four original Pumpkins on stage ever again, unless it's a Hall of Fame thing. But you would never see a tour. There's so much damage, there's no way.

- Billy Corgan

Will, Original, Damage, Fame Thing

I didn't grow up with my mother, and so losing her for real was like, some sort of latent childhood, some sort of unresolved issue. When she left for real, it was sort of like, I was done.

- Billy Corgan

Childhood, Grow, Some, Latent

I just don't want to live in the past. I'm really disappointed by so many people of my generation who - in order to promote their new work, they have to constantly lean on their past. I don't want to be that type of artist... I see a lot of people out here doing really marginal music.

- Billy Corgan

Doing, Artist, Here, Marginal

If I worried about appearances, I wouldn't be at Cubs games.

- Billy Corgan

Games, Appearances, About, Cubs

Hey, Christian rock, if you want to be good, stop copying U2. U2 already did it. You know what I mean? There's a lot of U2-esque Christian rock.

- Billy Corgan

Good, Rock, Want, Hey

I'm viewed as this weird, crippled character. But you got to take your lumps.

- Billy Corgan

Character, Weird, Take, Crippled

It's important for people to talk and get beyond the wall of Facebook and social media.

- Billy Corgan

Important, Get, Social, Social Media

You could have a zillion Facebook followers. Those people don't buy records. It's about a hundred to one...Record companies, they don't have any money, so they see social media as the free marketing... So... 'Billy, light yourself on fire and stand upside down, and that'll market the record.'

- Billy Corgan

Records, Hundred, Billy, Social Media

One thing I've learned to appreciate as I've gotten a little older is direct forms of communication.

- Billy Corgan

Appreciate, Gotten, Learned, Forms

My version, of course, is not this flag-waving, let's all get on the Jesus train and ride out of hell. I'm not that kind of guy. It's an embrace that life is good, worth living and yeah, it's not easy, but there are more pluses than minuses.

- Billy Corgan

Ride, Guy, Yeah, Train

When I've tried to reinvent the wheel, I get bashed for not doing the familiar things.

- Billy Corgan

Doing, Wheel, Reinvent, Familiar Things

I was part of a generation that changed the world, and it was taken over by posers.

- Billy Corgan

Generation, World, Over, Changed

Most people are living lives of sort of survival. And constantly posing an existential crisis, either through fantasy or oblivion, really has been pretty much explored in rock and roll. At least in the western version of rock n' roll.

- Billy Corgan

Rock And Roll, Through, Been, Posing

In my case I don't mind playing a character that irritates people or makes people question my sanity.

- Billy Corgan

Character, Mind, Question, Irritates

I think when I listen to old records, it puts me back in the atmosphere of what it felt like to make the record and who was there and what the room looked like. It's more a sensory memory.

- Billy Corgan

Think, I Think, Atmosphere, Sensory

Somewhere between the intellectual idea of why we're attracted to certain things and the pragmatic reality is some form of ever-evolving truth.

- Billy Corgan

Some, Idea, Certain Things, Pragmatic

Calm, open debate, and logical thought drive strength to its maximum effectiveness.

- Billy Corgan

Calm, Debate, Effectiveness, Open

Do I belong in the conversation about the best artists in the world? My answer is yes, I do.

- Billy Corgan

World, Answer, Belong, Conversation

I'm from a lower middle class background; all my family were immigrants.

- Billy Corgan

Middle, Background, Were, Middle Class

I'm not interested in pop art.

- Billy Corgan

Art, Not Interested, Pop, Pop Art

Sometimes people just like being around each other, and good things come out of that.

- Billy Corgan

Sometimes, Other, Like, Good Things

I was trying to be this person who is cool, eternally rocking.

- Billy Corgan

Cool, Trying, Person, Eternally

I've always been spiritual but I've never had a proper context, and it took me awhile to find the proper context. It's hard to realize you can have any kind of relationship with God you want... and so I now have a punk rock relationship with God.

- Billy Corgan

Been, Proper, Had, Context

I do not trust those who make the vaccines, or the apparatus behind it all to push it on us through fear.

- Billy Corgan

Trust, Behind, Through, Push

I'll come in with a string of riffs and direct the musical ideas. But you still need a band and their input to make the ideas come alive. You can't underestimate band chemistry.

- Billy Corgan

Chemistry, String, Still, Riffs

Music is your guide.

- Billy Corgan

Music, Your, Guide

Well, all rock and roll is based in artifice.

- Billy Corgan

Rock And Roll, Rock, Based, Artifice

I'd reached a point where there was a direct conflict between what I was trying to be and who I really was.

- Billy Corgan

Trying, Reached, Direct, Conflict

I think I'm an artistic radical, and I think I'll be recognized as one. I'm a really good musician and a songwriter, but I think my real legacy will be as a radical.

- Billy Corgan

Legacy, Think, I Think, Songwriter

I grew up in a house of no love or emotion - it kind of sticks with you.

- Billy Corgan

Love, Emotion, No Love, Sticks

Saturn Return is just the return of your planets to their original position.

- Billy Corgan

Original, Saturn, Your, Planets

In our lives in a lot of ways it's all about fake. You've got people wanting things for fake reasons.

- Billy Corgan

Wanting, Reasons, Lives, Fake

I had such a big mouth for so long that it doesn't faze anybody anymore.

- Billy Corgan

Mouth, Big, Anybody, Big Mouth

I'm attacking the pomposity that says this is more valuable than that. I'm sick of that.

- Billy Corgan

Sick, More, Than, Attacking

I'm definitely responsible for coming in with some basic chord changes, or ideas. Everybody in the band looks to me to come up with the basic seed, so it's not very productive to come in with nothing.

- Billy Corgan

Some, Everybody, Very, Chord

You're in a band 24 hours a day.

- Billy Corgan

Day, Band, Hours, 24 Hours

For someone who's had the level of success I've had, there's been very little critical review of my work, which is pretty fascinating.

- Billy Corgan

Been, Very, Which, Review

I look at other members of my generation who have basically done one thing, and one thing well, and have been handsomely rewarded for it.

- Billy Corgan

Generation, Other, Been, Members

If you don't fit into this kind of like gossipy, trendy, Web-hit thingy, you're relegated to sort of second-class celebrity status.

- Billy Corgan

Celebrity, Kind, Like, Status

Radiohead and Our Lady Peace are doing the seven layers of guitar, and I kind of jumped on that before anyone else did.

- Billy Corgan

Doing, Kind, Before, Radiohead

I think the days of working with producers in the conventional sense are over for me.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Over, I Think, Producers

I realize I'm a mirror.

- Billy Corgan

Mirror, Realize

I mean there's certainly a lot of progressive rock and metal that exists at the underground level, which has its own vitality, as it should. But it seems to have lost its ability to really charge up the hill.

- Billy Corgan

Charge, Which, Certainly, Vitality

I believe that if the Tribune company ever tries to close down Wrigley Field that you will have a protest from every corner of the globe.

- Billy Corgan

Will, Tries, Wrigley, Close

Where is this great love for rock and roll that existed for 50 or 60 years?

- Billy Corgan

Love, Rock And Roll, Rock, Great Love

I've never had coffee. I've always hated the smell. It was always tea. I was a pretty typical kid, though. I grew up drinking Lipton. I didn't know there was other tea to drink.

- Billy Corgan

Pretty, Always, Other, Hated

What most people do is try to find a comfortable persona that they're in alignment with and the public likes and appreciates them for.

- Billy Corgan

Most, Appreciates, Persona, Alignment

I'm prepared to spend the rest of my life playing clubs, if that means I'm playing music that I believe in.

- Billy Corgan

Rest, My Life, Means, I Believe In

I think God is the most unexplored territory in rock and roll music.

- Billy Corgan

Rock, Think, Most, Territory

I'm very disappointed in my country right now, because I think we've kind of lost our moral compass.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Country, Very, Disappointed

I was raised a Christian, but I wouldn't call myself a Christian now. I think when I was younger it was easier to focus on the negative, nihilist vision... this is sort of picking up on the other half of the body, which is God and white light.

- Billy Corgan

Other, I Think, Half, Picking

Your basic person wants to talk about material culture, internet culture. I think about God, cats, nature.

- Billy Corgan

Nature, Think, I Think, Basic

I went to see a shaman. He put his hands on me, and I cried like a baby for an hour.

- Billy Corgan

Hands, Like, Put, Cried

I don't have to play by these rules or do these things... I can actually have my own kind of version.

- Billy Corgan

Play, Kind, My Own, Version

The deeper I get into my life as a musician, I'm discovering that it becomes less and less about other people, and more about what I want to do. And that's a good place to be.

- Billy Corgan

My Life, Other, Discovering, Deeper

I think long and hard about what it is I'm actually trying to do, and then I kind of have to narrow my focus into that. If I don't, I'm too all over the place.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Over, I Think, Narrow

My step-mom would tell me that she would get complaints from adults that I stared too much at them.

- Billy Corgan

Too Much, Tell, Them, Complaints

I grew up in the suburbs and basically associate the suburbs with cultural death.

- Billy Corgan

Death, Cultural, Suburbs, Associate

I've been too productive for too long, and despite what anybody wants to strip away from me, I am influential. I am.

- Billy Corgan

Away, Been, Influential, Productive

In my particular instance, I came from a family that didn't have anything. Everything I earned in life I made. Myself. With songs that I wrote.

- Billy Corgan

Myself, Made, Instance, Particular

There are people out there who are older who are cool. I want that.

- Billy Corgan

Cool, People, Want, Older

I was fantasising about my own death, I started thinking what my funeral would be like and what music would be played, I was at that level of insanity.

- Billy Corgan

Death, Insanity, Like, Funeral

I don't think people are fans of me because I wrote hit songs. I think they're fans because I'm a lunatic or a weirdo. The hit songs came out of my idiosyncratic personality, not the other way around.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Other, I Think, Weirdo

I have a saying, which is, 'Crazy is good for business.' I think rock and roll really is about being a bit crazy.

- Billy Corgan

Think, I Think, Which, Saying

Ultimately, running a band is about the relationships you have with people.

- Billy Corgan

Relationships, Running, Band

All I can go on is my own value system.

- Billy Corgan

Own, System, My Own, Value System

There's a lot of days where you feel forgotten.

- Billy Corgan

Days, Feel, Lot, Forgotten

The ideology of the Smashing Pumpkins was ultimately more valuable than the music of the Smashing Pumpkins. That's what critics can't put their finger on.

- Billy Corgan

More, Finger, Ideology, Valuable

I walked away from going to church when I was 8. I didn't set foot in another church until I was 28.

- Billy Corgan

Away, Going, Set, Walked

I don't wanna play this kind of cartoon character anymore.

- Billy Corgan

Character, Play, Cartoon, Wanna

Most great records really start with the drums.

- Billy Corgan

Start, Records, Most, Drums

There's a difference between being a poseur and being someone who's so emotionally challenged they're kind of just doing their best to show you what they've got.

- Billy Corgan

Doing, Kind, Show, Emotionally

Most people don't know that wrestling came out of the circus.

- Billy Corgan

Know, Most, Came, Wrestling

I do not think wrestling is going to save the world.

- Billy Corgan

World, Think, Going, Wrestling

I think a spiritual journey is not so much a journey of discovery. It's a journey of recovery. It's a journey of uncovering your own inner nature. It's already there.

- Billy Corgan

Moving On, Think, I Think, Inner

I feel like I'm always fighting not to repeat myself.

- Billy Corgan

Myself, Always, Like, Repeat

I had concussions as a kid playing football and basketball, and know what it feels like and to have someone say 'Just rub some dirt on it, and get back in there.'

- Billy Corgan

Some, Like, Feels, Dirt

The funny thing about me that most people never really understand is that, at heart, I'm really a jock.

- Billy Corgan

People, Funny Thing, About, Jock

I tend to be reactionary.

- Billy Corgan

Tend, Reactionary

I don't think people buy records because of anything that happens on Facebook. They buy records cause they're friends say 'I bought this record and I love it.'

- Billy Corgan

Love, Think, Records, Bought

Well, I'm known as a guitar-rock guy, you know? You're not supposed to play with synthesizers. This is not in the rulebook.

- Billy Corgan

Play, Well, Known, Supposed

I often have deer on my property and there's a fox and owls. You're not going to see that in the city.

- Billy Corgan

Deer, See, Going, Fox

Personally, I think Jesus would like better bands.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Better, I Think, Bands

Compliments and criticism are all ultimately based on some form of projection.

- Billy Corgan

Compliments, Some, Based, Criticism

To be able to put your arms around 24 years of music, it's really fun.

- Billy Corgan

Music, Able, Your, Arms

I'm sort of like a lame, single guy in a red sports car.

- Billy Corgan

Sports, Red, Single, Sort

Like any good tree that one would hope to grow, we must set our roots deep into the ground so that what is real will prosper in the Light of Love.

- Billy Corgan

Love, Deep, Grow, Tree

Soon you won't even have the choice to live or die as you wish!

- Billy Corgan

Wish, Die, Even, Choice

I've seen foreigners really shift on their view of America, and that's hard for me to take.

- Billy Corgan

View, Shift, Take, Foreigners

We need to get back to a level of social responsibility that we haven't seen for a long time.

- Billy Corgan

Need, Level, Social, Long Time

A good artist is willing to die many times over. What's funny is, I've died so many times.

- Billy Corgan

Die, Over, Times, Died

I never wanted to leave the Smashing Pumpkins. That was never the plan.

- Billy Corgan

Never, Leave, Wanted, Plan

To re-embrace what I once loved about music has been a warming process for me, because it's a good, earned feeling now.

- Billy Corgan

Process, Been, About, Earned

Most of my arguments with musicians through the years have had more to do with their attitude about music, or their attitude about their own lives, or their personal responsibility. Music has never really been the big centerpiece of the fight.

- Billy Corgan

Big, Through, Been, Musicians

It's a simple formula for me now, I don't play any song I don't want to play.

- Billy Corgan

Song, Play, Now, Formula

I didn't find Jesus. He's been there the whole time.

- Billy Corgan

Find, Been, Whole, Jesus

Jesus teaches us to forgive and I've got to trust him on that one.

- Billy Corgan

Trust, Forgive, Teaches, Jesus

I'm a really honest person.

- Billy Corgan

Person, Honest Person, Honest

Injuries are nothing to be ashamed about.

- Billy Corgan

Injuries, Nothing, About, Ashamed

I think rock & roll has prepared me for a lot of flexibility.

- Billy Corgan

Think, Flexibility, Lot, Rock

Rock and Roll is still asking people like me to live up to the old guard's concept of what success is but it doesn't mean anything.

- Billy Corgan

Rock And Roll, Asking, Still, Rock

Rock & roll is not about what you play, it's about how you play it.

- Billy Corgan

Play, How, Roll, Rock

These days you're not just competing with the tedium, you're competing with the cellphone.

- Billy Corgan

You, Days, Just, Competing

I work differently than most people.

- Billy Corgan

Work, Most, Than, Differently

We were in Japan once where they had 30 kinds of green tea. I thought there was one.

- Billy Corgan

Green, Thought, Japan, Tea

I'm a bit weird.

- Billy Corgan

Bit, Weird

If I have resistance to something, it means there's something wrong. The resistance to me is a sign of fear.

- Billy Corgan

Me, Resistance, Means, Sign

I mean, I'm certainly not a 'teaophyte,' or whatever the word would be.

- Billy Corgan

Mean, Word, Would, Certainly

I don't want to be a dead hero.

- Billy Corgan

Hero, Want, Dead

You just reach a point sometimes with somebody where it just doesn't work.

- Billy Corgan

Work, Sometimes, Where, Reach

To me, it's the folly of man to make God human.

- Billy Corgan

Man, Me, Make, Folly

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