Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan Lashes Out at Virgin, Promises Rarities Releases

After filing a lawsuit claiming his former record label, Virgin, allowed Pepsi to use his band's name in a promotion without permission, Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan has decided to speak out. "I'm sure they indicated to Pepsi that they had a right to do this, full well knowing they do not have the right," Corgan told Billboard.com, adding that the soda promotion "crosses the Rubicon. You're going to see more of this playing fast and loose with the rules, hoping they don't get caught. At face value, it's not a huge deal. But in terms of precedent, it is, because there will be much more of this coming."

News of the breach of contract lawsuit broke yesterday. Corgan has been sparring with Virgin for years over the Pumpkins' back catalog (Virgin and SP co-own the rights to the music the Pumpkins released for the label). Corgan also said that his frequent attempts to reissue the band's older albums as expanded editions have been met with resistance by the label.

The Pumpkins are currently label-free, having fulfilled their one-album deal with Warner Bros. with Zeitgeist. In the lull between records, Corgan says he plans to release rare early concerts, unreleased studio tracks and outtakes from the Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness sessions. "We may start to release pieces as we go along, and the album comes out over two to three years," he says.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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