the confessions of billy corgan

If there are any Billy Corgan fans in the audience, they might be interested in some text he has been posting the last few days over at his website. These aren't the little "here's what I'm up to" snippets that were posted in the past - excluding of course his calling out of D'Arcy as a spiteful, vindictive bitch - these are stream of consciousness ramblings that take us inside particluar periods of his life. In his own words, this is to be "a story of rags to riches to expensive rags".

Now, as I've discussed with others, Billy starting up these weblog "confessions" in earnest could be viewed cynically as an attempt to garner interest in preparation for the release of his new album this June. Furthermore, why publish them on the web at all? Even though I got his book of poetry as a gift I would have gladly paid money for it. As a fan that's been with him since I saw the "Rhinoceros" video on MuchMusic in grade 8, I could easily sit here and argue the legitimacy of these writings as those handed down in the purest form. Though all you have to do is read it yourself to realize their sincerity. I don't think he wants sympathy or your money; rather, I think the fallout of Zwan and this new record has spawned some introspective phase that he wants to share with the fans and hardly works as a marketing concept. We're probably the only ones that would care enough to read them all anyway.

Not many people understand Billy Corgan the musician, and he says himself it's a result of pushing everyone away - including his bandmates. The tour for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and the subsequent recording of Adore was probably the band's toughest time, and despite knowing the story more or less it was an interesting read. Many critics say that the Pumpkins "quitting" the music industry because they couldn't compete with the current singles-driven artists was a cop-out; I used to agree. Now I realize that was the only thing he could do, because the relationship with his bandmates was strained at best. Thinking Billy might shape Zwan into what the Pumpkins might of been had they continued was foolish of me - it would have never worked, Billy was too driven and controlling at that point, having all but eliminated the other members from the creative process. So again they had no choice. Releasing an album of his own material is just a natural progression.

Consider this a brief detour from the site's regular content, but to say that I am not fascinated with Billy Corgan the musician, the artist, the anti-hero of rock would be lying. Look at the god damned name of this place. It's a given that I'll be first in line to buy his new album, but in the interim I'm curious to see what else he decides to reveal.

I declare myself of faith