Music history is full of rivalries, both the fan-created, petty kind and the kind that genuinely pushes artists to their greatest creative heights. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan discussed one of the latter kind between his band and Nirvana, resulting in a truly wild quote about Kurt Cobain‘s importance to Corgan. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Corgan compared the two bands’ respective legacies.
Corgan said, “I want the Pumpkins standing on the top of the heap of our generation. If that means I got to write 800 songs to do it, I’ll do it. I ain’t shy about that. I will go down always as saying, Kurt was the most talented guy of our generation. Kurt had so much talent. It’s like frightening. It was like a John Lennon level of talent, where you’re like, ‘how can you have all this talent?’ Or Prince, right? But Kurt’s not here, sadly. So I looked around, I was like, ‘All right, well, I could beat the rest of them for sure.’”
He continued, “When Kurt died, I cried because I lost my greatest opponent. I want to beat the best. I don’t want to win the championship because it’s just me and a bunch of jabronis, to use a wrestling term.”
While plenty of musicians avoid talking about the competitive aspects of their creative output, it’s refreshing — if a little off-putting — to hear Corgan admitting as much. You can watch Corgan’s interview with Apple Music above.