First, I think that was a great interview with Corgan - Mitchum writes well. And I don't think you can argue with his point that Billy Corgan is just going to do whatever the hell he wants, and doesn't really care what anybody else thinks of him. And I think that's always what has made me a fan - whether or not you like the music, I think that's respectable.
And the new album is pretty good - I'd say five very strong tracks - Mina Loy, The Camera Eye, A100, Walking Shade, Now (And Then) - and some okay stuff - DIA, All Things Change, To Love Somebody. Then I'd say the rest of fairly worthless. But I'd say check it out.
Then again, I'm a devotee.
Didn't Ryan Adams do the same thing when asked to play BRIAN Adams songs?
Actually, there was an interview in Pitchfork this week about this:
http://pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/a/adams_ryan-05/ "Pitchfork: Do you ever wonder if people go to Bryan Adams shows and yell out the names of your songs?
Adams: I don't know! I think the only reason that they do that-- I mean, they don't really do it much anymore, I hear it once in a very long while-- is because they think that it actually makes me mad. They think that the song name is what makes me mad, which is absurd. I don't care what they were yelling. The problem is that the guy who was yelling that song title out, the time I got really mad, was yelling it over and over again. And Gillian Welch and David Rawlings were on stage with me, and we were singing a three-part harmony to "Bartering Lines", with no musical accompaniment, except a banjo and his Archtop guitar.
So when the breakdown happens, it's just three voices, and the guy yells it out. And I'm so honored to be onstage with those guys, you know? And this guy screaming over them? "Summer of '69"? It's like, you know what, it wasn't fucking funny the first time you did it, which is why nobody laughed. But after eight or nine times? At the Ryman? I was just like, this sucks. These are my friends. Just stop. So when I kicked that guy out, everybody thought it was because he was confusing me with Bryan Adams. But it was more a matter of respect. I mean, come on, there are these bluegrass musicians up here, the best out there that I know of."
I apparently like musicians that throw fits, because I love Ryan Adams as well. And you know, I don't think he (or Corgan) is totally out of line for being insulted and reacting this way.