Smashing Pumpkins rocker Billy Corgan has “no desire” to fight for the band’s image.
The 58-year-old star is best known as a founding member of The Smashing Pumpkins – who have achieved huge success with hits such as ‘Tonight, Tonight’ and ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ since hitting the music scene in 1988 – and insisted that he has “accepted” the way the public view them, even if it does not necessarily align with the way they see themselves.
He told The Guitarist: “Most people perceive the Pumpkins as a loud alternative rock band, even though that’s not the way we perceive ourselves. That alone is kind of strange to me, right? Like, how is it that you’re in a band that you think is different from the band the public thinks you’re in? That perception at that level is an interesting loud that follows you.
“It doesn’t mean it’s always raining all the time, but it follows you around whether you want it to or not. So, when it gets to issues of the mind to let other people make judgements on that; I’m just on the mind that I can accept that other people’s perception aren’t mine – and I don’t feel the need to fight for mine maybe like I’m used to.”
The ‘1979’ hitmaker also explained that he enjoys being “held to a high standard” regardless of what exactly what standard that is and insisted that he and the band do “notice” how their fans see them but it’s still “okay” that they are perceived differently in the end.
He said: “First of all, I don’t mind being held to a high standard, you know? It that standard is somebody’s perception of a standard that we create, that’s even better.
“Certainly, we notice at times where it doesn’t seem that people are held to the same aesthetic and musical standard that we are, but that’s okay.”