Billy Corgan Says Soundgarden Among Acts 'Back Only to Make Money'

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has called out Nineties contemporaries including Soundgarden for cashing in with their reunion tours, PhilStar.com reports. 

"There are those bands that are essentially coming back only to make money – playing their old albums, and maybe somewhere in the back of their minds they’re thinking there might be a future," the outspoken Corgan said at a press conference before a recent show in the Philippines.

He continued: "I am not in that business, obviously. I condemn anybody who’s in that business but doesn’t admit [he’s] in that business. When Soundgarden came back and they just played their old songs, great. I was a fan of Soundgarden, but call it for what it is. They’re just out there to have one more round at the till; same with Pavement and these other bands."

Corgan noted that it's younger fans who keep Smashing Pumpkins going. "Without the young fans there is no future for Smashing Pumpkins. We can’t run an oldies business. Not only is it boring, it’s actually not a very good business."

The singer also spoke about the changing landscape of music, describing it as one where people prefer fame to the music itself: "They have no respect for the people that came before them," he said. "They have no respect for the tradition of music, they have no respect for the blood and tears that have been spilled by great musicians all over the world – many of whom will never even know their name."

The Pumpkins are currently on tour behind Oceania, the latest installment in their ongoing 44-song cycle Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which started in 2009. "The songs on a ground level are completely different than old Smashing Pumpkins songs," said Corgan in a recent chat with Rolling Stone. "There's almost no comparison. But the effect of listening seems to be registering as familiar, even if it's not constructed the same, which is kind of interesting cause I would not have anticipated that myself."