Billy Corgan on his new podcast ‘The Magnificent Others’: “I’d like to celebrate people in the culture who are misunderstood”
Billy Corgan has spoken to NME about his new podcast The Magnificent Others, being part of Black Sabbath’s final gig and the 30th anniversary of The Smashing Pumpkins‘ seminal album ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’.
The legendary frontman recently launched his latest venture – The Magnificent Others – which sees Corgan sit down with carefully selected guests such as KISS‘ Gene Simmons, former Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello for an in-depth and candid conversation about the triumphs, challenges, and pivotal moments that shaped their journeys and defined their paths.
Produced by Bill Maher’s Club Random Studios, The Magnificent Others episodes are released every Wednesday. Corgan had already dabbled in podcasting but revealed that he lost previously lost interest when most companies wanted him to only share his past stories.
“When I was recruited by the Bill Maher world to do my own podcast, I was like, ‘Well, you’re probably not going to want to do what I want to do’ and they said, ‘Well, tell us’,” Corgan told NME. “I said I’d like to celebrate people in the culture that I feel either are misunderstood, overlooked or maybe don’t have the proper perspective from my position about what they’ve actually accomplished. And they said, ‘Great, we love it’.”
Check out our full interview below where the iconic musician discusses his process for “cherry picking” his interviewees, trading in the rockstar spotlight for the journalist’s seat, his appearance and collaboration with Morello and Tool‘s Adam Jones at Black Sabbath’s final gig, what’s in store for the Smashing Pumpkins next, and the band’s 30th anniversary of the classic ‘Mellon Collie’.
NME: Hi Billy, with there being so many podcasts out there, what was it about your idea that felt unique?
Billy Corgan: “I’d like to celebrate [those acts that have been misunderstood, overlooked] because I feel particularly in American culture, things are so tilted towards influencers and people who are famous but not necessarily for doing anything particularly noteworthy.
“I only want to talk to people that I am passionately interested in talking to. I don’t see it as a series where publicists throw whoever at us to promote something. It’s really cherry-picked who I’m talking to.”
Fans have praised your interviewing skills and asking questions that haven’t been asked before. What was your reaction to that feedback?
“I made the mistake of reading about 10 comments when it first dropped. I don’t read comments on myself but was curious because I was interviewing someone else. I was thinking, ‘Well, how did the interview come across?’ I was about 10 comments in when I saw somebody complaining that I was talking over the guest in a clip. What struck me then is, yes, it’s an interview, but it’s really a conversation.
“What you see in [the first episode] is that I’ve known Gene for 30 years – I feel like he respects where I’m coming from, even if he disagrees with me. You can see the nature of that type of conversation. I’m not an interrogator, I’m not being a fanboy. Even though I’m a fan, I really want to understand, from a musical perspective, how they arrived at certain decisions and his own perspective.
“If you look at Gene’s journey, starting as an immigrant coming from Israel – something he’s talked a lot about – it’s an incredible American story. It usually gets wrapped up in the glitz and Gene’s proclamations about cash and stuff like that, whereas I feel and think many other fans of the band feel it’s really a musical triumph what they accomplished.”
You mentioned that you were cherry-picking the guests that you wanted to interview. What’s that process like?
“I don’t have any simple answer. It’s just a feel. It’s a 90-minute show. That’s a lot of time to talk. So if you’re really not interested, and you don’t want to dive into one particular area or two of their life, then you’re going to end up asking them questions that they’ve been asked 1000 times. So, it’s a sense that maybe there’s an unexplored area or something that’s been misunderstood or overlooked.”
As a journalist, it was inspiring to see you handle the interview and create that conversation …
“That’s a wonderful compliment. I have no training in this. I just threw myself into the deep water of sitting in front of someone like Gene who’s been interviewed 10,000 times, and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to have a 90-minute conversation’. We live in a world where, if people are disinterested, they’re just going to click it off so that pressure was interesting.
“I just found I could kind of do it and I don’t know why. Hopefully, people will see that in the other episodes that we have. They’ll see some sort of consistent voice there that I’m trying to bring. I think people assume that I’m going to be playing the character that I play as me in the rock and roll world, but I have no interest in that.”
Has becoming a podcast host made you reflect on past interviews you have done as a musician, and maybe sympathise with journalists?
“No. I’m very critical of journalists and have been for a very long time. I feel most journalists fall into a trap, and it’s pretty obvious. It’s like, ‘What do I have to do or say to get this person to give me the headline that I’m looking for?’ I get it, especially empathetically in a clickbait economy where if you don’t get that pull quote that’s going to go viral, no one’s going to care.
“I get it empathetically, but as somebody who’s been on the other side of it 1000 times, you can feel when somebody’s being kind of scummy and I’m sensitive to that now in the role of somebody that’s interviewing.”
Simmons has been very vocal about rock being dead, due to things like the difficulty of musicians earning a living and the lack of generation-defying bands. Do you agree?
“No, I don’t at all. I’ve said similar silly things in the past. It sounds like a cool headline. I mean, Lenny Kravitz wrote a song ‘Rock Is Dead’. I was on Howard Stern around ‘98 saying rock is dead and Gene said it too.
“I don’t think it’s real, because what happens and what gets overlooked is that the spirit of rock’n’roll is always going to be what kids decide to do in a sort of form of hatred or disgust with what they’re seeing.
“For example, we have had 10-plus years now of just complete pop overload. I know that right now all over the world, there are kids figuring out ways to voice what they’re feeling against this pop hegemonic thing that just won’t stop. I know it’s there. I see it and I feel it.”
Are there any bands keeping that spirit alive for you?
“We played all summer with The Linda Lindas. They’re all heart and spirit and the music’s great. I’m sorry, I don’t know how you listen to that and think that those ‘kids’ don’t have anything to say.
“The reaction of the crowds to them, and certainly the respect that they’ve earned from the bands on the tour shows that they’re on to something. Here’s the thing: I don’t need to understand it. It’s not for me, or even Gene, to understand. It’s really for the next generation of kids to feel like someone is speaking for them.”
What was the craziest moment or story you heard from one of your guests on The Magnificent Others?
“I don’t want to give it away but I was interviewing Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons and I asked her a question about the band, and she said something and said, ‘Oh, I’ve never said that in public before’. So you’re in that position, like, ‘OK, well, you said it, and I didn’t ask’. You have those moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe you just said that’, but that was on you because I wasn’t fishing.”
Who is your ultimate dream interviewee for the podcast?
“I would certainly love to interview Paul McCartney. If you saw the series that Rick Rubin did with Paul [McCartney 3, 2, 1] where they listened to Beatles tracks and talked about it, you see that there’s so much incredible information that’s still there in this great history of 50-60 years of making music.
“But people tend to go towards all the low-hanging fruit and talk about his relationship with John [Lennon] or something, and I just think there’s so much that still hasn’t been covered. I would be happy to talk, even if we just talked about the last 20 years of music instead of the first 40. There’s a lot there to be discussed there.”
You’re performing at Black Sabbath’s final gig. How are you feeling about saying goodbye to Ozzy and this monumental band?
“Black Sabbath are my favourite all-time band in my heart. I’ve loved Sabbath since I was a kid. I’ve gotten to work with Tony [Iommi] on a solo album, and I’ve been around Ozzy many times. I’m just in total awe to be involved. When that line-up came out, I couldn’t help but be like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m a part of this, this is so cool’.
“It’s going to be magical. There’s so much love out there for Ozzy. It all comes together on this one magical night. It’s what rock’n’roll is supposed to be about. That’s kinda what I was harping about: it’s ultimately a celebration rather than, ‘Let’s talk about what happened in 1972’.”
Sharon [Osbourne] shared that you would be joining Tom Morello and Danny Carey from Tool on stage…
“I think it’s actually Adam [Jones] from Tool, not Danny. See, Adam, Tom and I all grew up in the same sort of general vicinity. Tom had this idea – what he calls ‘The Illinois Boys’ – that The Illinois Boys would get together and play, so that’s cool. I love it. I’m very fond and love Adam’s music and playing and I’ve known Tom for 30 years or so, so it’s a cool thing.”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Smashing Pumpkins’ classic ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’. Is there anything in the works for that massive milestone?
“We are working with the parent label to possibly put out some kind of special edition. I am announcing that I’m doing some solo dates and hope to honour the album as part of that. There’s some other stuff but I can’t talk about just yet.
“It’s weird because I can’t believe it’s been 30 years. I’m really excited, but at the same time, I’m like ‘What happened over these last 30 years?'”
There has been a lot of grunge revivalism as of late. How do you feel about ’90s nostalgia?
“I think it’s great. I think anything that involves the guitar and playing loud is always going to work. If they’re citing our contemporaries or us, or even bands that followed, I think it’s great. There’s nothing wrong with it. I mean, we did the same, and that’s just the way it works.”
The Smashing Pumpkins just announced a massive show at Gunnersbury Park with Skunk Anansie and White Lies as special guests. What can fans expect from that?
“It’s a good bill. When we first went to England and played at Reading Festival we were overwhelmed by the scope of the crowd, but also the pressure that this gig was important. You felt this extra pressure. We had a show in ’92 where we completely melted down and I smashed my guitar, and I think I stood on my head in a dress. I don’t know. It’s some faint memory there.
“The nice thing about playing all these years, especially together, is you now know how to handle those bigger moments. I’m really proud that this particular line-up of the band knows how to rise to those occasions. Whereas when I was young, I would look at those gigs and almost feel intimidated.
“Now, I look at those gigs and I want to rub my hands together because it’s so exciting. It’s a chance to create a one-of-a-kind moment in your life and the audience wants it. They want to see you at your peak and that pressure and feeling is magical when it works.”
New episodes of The Magnificent Others are released every Wednesday. Visit here for Black Sabbath tickets and here for tickets and information for Smashing Pumpkins’ Gunnersbury Park gig and 2025 UK shows.
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Anagricel Duran
NME
