Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan says former bassist D’arcy Wretzky “had a lot to do with” the band’s success.
The pair have been embroiled in a public war of words in recent years but the 58-year-old guitarist has now praised Wretzky, who left the group in 1999, for her work on the band’s early albums.
In a Substack video, Billy – who features in the group alongside guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin – said: “You know, I don’t often speak on D’arcy’s contribution, because obviously what went down a few years ago didn’t leave either of us in the best light.
“But, I’ve said before, and I have no problem saying it again. D’arcy had a way of kind of letting it be known – stuff that she thought was moving the band forward, or moving the band laterally, or moving the band backwards. And probably, of the four of us, her opinion about those types of things carried more weight.”
He continued: “So her contribution, kind of spiritually, emotionally. I think I had a lot to do with the success of the band. So again, I would never take that away from her, because I really did respect her musical opinion.
“We managed to disagree about everything else, but in music, when we would align, it was powerful. And I think that’s what makes a great band, when the four contributing factors of a band can come together.
“And at least for that line-up – the OG line-up – the three records we made, I mean, two of the three records turned out to be very important records. So that’s something I always hold (dear). It’s a shame there wasn’t more of it, and we certainly did try again in ’99, but I mean, I guess in a musician’s life, nothing is truly linear.”
Wretzky, 57, previously suggested that Billy “can’t sing for s***” as she blasted his temper and attitude towards fellow members of the band.
The musician said back in 2018: “He can’t sing for s***, and he knows it, so he makes sure that everybody else in the band is going to play perfectly to make up for it. It doesn’t matter if his singing is terrible, but if you play a f****** wrong note or anything, there is hell to pay. That’s some big time insecurity.”