Billy Corgan Quotes & Sayings

I don't know if God would agree with me, but believing in God is kind of unimportant when compared to believing in yourself. Because if you go with the idea that God gave you a mind and an ability to judge things, then he would want you to believe in yourself and not worry about believing in him. By believing in yourself you will come to the conclusion that will point to something. — Billy Corgan

As long as you have faith, you're willing to try to take another chance. God wants you to amble toward the right spot on the horizon. The idea is that you're willing to get up and keep moving toward that light. — Billy Corgan

Everybody can close their eyes, picture a dream house or a perfect place [where] they'd like to have a picnic. But actually creating it - how do you create something from nothing? Anyone who's creative understands that that's the magic, that's the alchemy. — Billy Corgan

Well, we have brought certain things upon ourselves. I've certainly brought things upon us with my mouth. — Billy Corgan

For a 6-foot-3 guy with no hair and a whiny voice, I've done all right. — Billy Corgan

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

I put up with the music business because I understand that I'm in the tradition, I'm in a tradition that's of far greater importance than the business I seem to be in. Everywhere I go in the world, people ask me about the business that I seem to be in, but I'm not really in that business. — Billy Corgan

I've thought many times, 'I can't write this,' but on my own little planet I found the courage to write it because it was true. I put aside fear of Father being angry with me. It's hard though; the world pales in comparison with the stature of a parent. In some small-consolation way, my parents feel I'm helping people by giving them something to identify with. They feel proud in a sort of reverse way. My mom's proud of the fact that lots of kids look up to me. — Billy Corgan

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

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

What has gone on in my childhood, and the personal problems that we've had in the band, have given a lot of people hope. (It shows) if you keep your nose pointed straight you can actually get somewhere
to a happy place. — Billy Corgan

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

I've become a guy who's like a complaining, whining neurotic. — Billy Corgan

If you've sold over a million records, you are not punk rock, you are milking the system for everything that it's worth. — Billy Corgan

Beware of those angels with their wings glued on. — Billy Corgan

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

That's the real endeavor: to try to create that direct conduit from the pure consciousness of your creative voice to the person who's a craftsman who can go into the world and consistently deliver new things worth paying attention to. — Billy Corgan

It's what the mainstream does - they absorb things and they blunt the power of it. And so the next generation and the next generation has to become more shocking and more provocative in order to get any rise out of anybody. — Billy Corgan

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

I hate how in magazine pictures, they always stick me somewhere in the back. It means they don't think I'm the cute one. — Billy Corgan

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

I wanted more than life could ever grant — Billy Corgan

All humans are part male and part female. The other side must be explored to gain complete understanding ofourselves and the world we live in. Forme, the idea of having a feminine perspective is a willingness to be vulnerable. — Billy Corgan

I'm an experimental artist in a field that doesn't celebrate experimentation. It celebrates self-destruction, which I guess you could say is a creative endeavor. — Billy Corgan

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

It just doesn't work without the others. — Billy Corgan

Pink ribbon scars
That never forget
I've tried so hard
To cleanse these regrets
My angel wings
Were bruised and restrained
My belly stings — Billy Corgan

That's the great thing about rock n' roll: the myth is ultimately more important than the reality. And that's what you learn - you just learn to go with the mythology. — Billy Corgan

A missive to all you metal bands, the world is totally over the rock thing. Rock is deader than it's ever been. — Billy Corgan

In 1992, with the weight of a perceived world on our shoulders, we disappeared into a parking garage to write the songs that would change the course of our lives forever. 'Siamese Dream' represents all of our dreams coming true, while the dreams of a happy band fell apart. — Billy Corgan

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

I use music as some kind of weird salvation to get away from life — Billy Corgan

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

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

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

We had a wonderful time with this kind of grunge awareness, where suddenly rock was cool again. People wanted to head loud guitars. It was a great time, and I'm glad we were there. But the gimmick part has worn off. — Billy Corgan

Music is 99% of my life. But I know I need a break. Besides, if you give people too much, they start to not want it. We need to restrain ourselves. — Billy Corgan

I'm just an artist. I can only do so much. I can only say so much. — Billy Corgan

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in the cage. — Billy Corgan

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

We have a problem with any labels that people try to hang on us, because all it does is drag you down. — Billy Corgan

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

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

If you don't have some sort of belief system by which to center your life, it's hard sometimes to understand why you would put up with your family. — Billy Corgan

I think humankind is going to have to evolve into systems that are more transparent. Then people will be able to make more integral choices about the food they eat. — Billy Corgan

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

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

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

I have a hard time thinking of men trying to sing my songs, because I think my perspective is definitely feminine. — Billy Corgan

I don't want to be 25 again. — Billy Corgan

I've rarely done anything that's overtly self-destructive without consciously knowing what I'm doing. And then of course, the astute journalist jumps forward and says, "Why are you being calculated?" Calculated seems to assume a sinister intent. My intent is always for artistic effect. — Billy Corgan

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

Thinking about the future and thinking about the past is really only a way of ignoring the present. — Billy Corgan

It was shocking to see Nirvana play, because it was like, "Here's this little guy with a monster-guitar sound." And it was heavier than Black Sabbath. That was shocking. — Billy Corgan

Shave your head, wear a 'ZERO' shirt. Take away your identity. What do you have? You still have yourself. — Billy Corgan

The closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets. — Billy Corgan

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

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

There's nothing wrong with technology. It's when technology is the story and not the artist, that's the problem. — Billy Corgan

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

If the next record is no better than Gish, then we've failed. — Billy Corgan

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

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

We can look you in the eye and talk to you about life, heart, love rock'n'roll, whatever, but we do not have the moral authority to tell people how to vote or what to do with their bodies. We are just a rock band. — Billy Corgan

Gish was the best representation of where we were at the time. — Billy Corgan

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

I'm a bit weird. — Billy Corgan

I work differently than most people. — Billy Corgan

About six months ago, I listened to Siamese Dream. That was the first time I'd ever really heard my own album, because I had separated from the experience of making the record. And it really moved me. It made me cry, it's so beautiful. — Billy Corgan

I still believe in my country. — Billy Corgan

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

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

I tend to be reactionary. — Billy Corgan

The Killer in me is the Killer in you. — Billy Corgan

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

People act like Nirvana invented grunge; they just took it and personified it. — Billy Corgan

The Pumpkins love rock-and-roll, we absolutely love it, but we also think it's a flatulent, ego-serving kiddie playground. You can have your cake and eat it too. — Billy Corgan

Say you write a song about a chandelier, and the chandelier gives off light. And the light is the color red and red reminds you of the color your not supposed to wear around a bull. So you name the song 'Cow.' — Billy Corgan

I know how stupid people can be. I've played in front of 5,000 people that bought a ticket to my concert, and some guy who's bought a ticket decides he's going to throw a bottle at my head. That's a simple act of stupidity. That's not even defiance. — Billy Corgan

As a 28 year old who's lived long enough to know the difference, I know now that the feelings I felt an 16 were not necessarily correct. But however overly dramatic, the desperation and hopelessness I felt at 16 was my reality. — Billy Corgan

Not let the child run the circus, just have that child be the source of the creative voice. — Billy Corgan

Every year that goes by, I lose that much more motivation to play rock. — Billy Corgan

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

We are the most beloved and hated band in the world. — Billy Corgan

I was playing heavy metal when I was 18. I had to evolve out of that into an alternative consciousness about what it meant to change the way I played guitar, and the kind of songs, and the subject matter, and singing about child abuse, and all this stuff. I had to come from somewhere, and I had to take chances to do that. — Billy Corgan

We weren't like mates who decided to form a band. The other three met me because they were interested in being in the band that I was starting. — Billy Corgan

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

I want people to see me happy. — Billy Corgan

The music business - and I guess you could say any artistic endeavor - usually rewards those who are on the leading edge of where everything is going, but you can't be too far. — Billy Corgan

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

Usually the intention of the artistic effect is too sophisticated for most people to understand, sort of like a joke that they don't get so they don't think it's funny. — Billy Corgan

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

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

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

Life is everything and nothing all at once. — Billy Corgan

This is not a reaction against a negative world. It's a response to a negative world. — Billy Corgan

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

That's at the root of the human interaction: fair trade. — Billy Corgan

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

I want to be able to look back and think that as long as I was going this, I did the best that I could. — Billy Corgan