Charlie: “How long can you do this?” WPC: “Maybe four or 5 more years” ....22 years later... selling out stadiums.

Charlie rose is a great interviewer here

Adore is a great album. Shame has so much emotion in it and it's absolutely beautiful. Behold !The nightmare and Pug are also incredible songs. They are one of the greatest bands of all time.

What a brilliant interview. I began to cry when he speaks of feeling isolated. That's the #1 reason I connect so much to his music. I've felt the same most of my life. People really don't understand him who say he's a douche or arrogant. He's incredibly smart and down to earth.

Say all you may want about Billy but he is a musical genius. He was the driving force behind SP. Not to discount, James, Jimmy & D’Arcy but it was his vision and direction that spurred the band to success.

I hear and read so many negative comments about Corgan. I’m sure quite a bit of it stems from him not toeing the ideological progressive line. But whatever you think of his personal worldview, you cannot watch an interview like this and listen to him discuss this myriad of subjects without concluding that he is an intensively passionate, intelligent and reasoned person.

Billy Corgan Has left a Legacy on this World, will inspire people beyond His generation.

This is one of the best interviews with an artist I've ever seen

He looks and sounds so beautiful

I was born in 1998 and my mother used this album for basically the soundtrack of my life along with all the others. She followed the tour bus around and bombarded him while leaving the bus and asked him to hold her baby. This band has had a major impact on me and my life, since i can remember. Such a smart man.

He was totally right about alternative rock becoming conservative and safe and general rock coming to an end as a social phenomenon. Awesome to see how accurate his position was.

Adore would be more accepted nowdays

"The culture we're in we have no hero's."

I was forever changed by the song "Disarm."

Billy Corgan absolute humble Legend and Charlie Rose expert level interviewer

I would be very interested in knowing billy Corgans IQ. When you listen to him speak , he is extraordinarily intelligent. He’s fascinating to listen to. He’s also very introspective, and that paired up with his exceedingly high ability to articulate himself just makes him , probably the most interesting person to listen to I’ve come across. He’s also very honest. Charlie Rose is a master interviewer too.

I miss the 90's

I was going to keep my mouth shut and just move on, but I know some people of the time or younger might miss the point of what Billy Corgan is saying. Having been a young music enthusiast at about 12 years old when I pick up my first smashing pumpkins CD, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness emblem. I can say they were without a doubt hated and love at the same time , in the none cliche meaning. They were intricate and poetic to the point of overcomplicated for the general public that wanted easier catch choruses to sing along to. You had to live a life of actual struggle and not some fake rebellion of the 90s to understand and appreciate the Smashing Pumpkins. My parents got divorced in the 90s and the Smashing Pumpkins helped me through it and I understood Billy's songs more deeply for it. I still tear up when I hear tonight tonight song. Final Note: The Smashing Pumpkins, the most underappreciated band of the 90's. Thanks, Billy and the Smashing Pumpkins.........

This is a classic interview

Rose is so versatile. He is toe tipping around interviewer to get the conversation deeper.

Billy doesn't have to be "nice". He is smart and good.

Man, great questions Charlie. I love how he would follow the conversation and let that dictate the next question instead of a preset list like most interviewers.

I love the album Adore

In 1998....Billy says you can't be an alternative rock artist but for more than 4-5 years, and in 2023 here he and the Pumpkins present Atum, A Rock Opera in Three Parts, that rivals, to me, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. I am so glad his genius kept churning.....long may his artistry and contemplation continue....

Adore was ahead of its time, it would done better in the early/mid 2000s. When adore came, everybody was still expecting loud riffs from rock alternative bands, its one of the reasons why nu metal got so popular by the end of the 90s. Billy was so right about alternative grunge bands or rock music in general, i loved the analogy “they basically threw away the keys of the car” .Today, in 2020, we know what happened in the industry in the last 20 years, rap, hip hop and pop didn’t feel guilty of being successful and took the opportunity to define the industry. I love the new album CYR it will be looked at in the future with a different perspective by their detractors just like adore. Its time for rock music to grow and stop living in the past. Its time for a new rock revolution in the next decade.

Nice interview, haven't seen this before. Still, it's funny to hear Billy talk like this in 1998. Because omg was the worst yet to come. He couldn't tell, but he sat right there in the middle of THE best decade of music there has been, and ever will be. Oh man, take me back. The cowboy hat looks good on Billy, yet he does send out a handsome serial killer vibe in this clip xD

He needs to bring that hat back. I always thought it was a sophisticated yet flashy look for a rocker

Amazing interview, good ol Charlie Rose. Just wish it was like an hour longer.

Adore billy x

He was right on in this interview and putting out Adore when they did was an epic statement. Ahead of it's time.

The new 33 podcast related to "Atum" shows Billy's positivity that was present back then and has continued to evolve to this day. There were a lot of critics and fans back then and now who don't agree about his or the band's direction always. As a superfan, I had no idea about his attitudes and was always led to believe that he was a very negative person. I've been lucky enough to say hey and get an autograph. He was always nice. The band members have mostly reunited and continues to thrive and change because they were never afraid to. Thank you for posting this! Very cool

Thanks for posting this. I remember watching this back when it aired.

Billy has always been a hero to me for some reason. He’s such a pure soul and one of my favorite people ever. Rock on, my friend 🤘🏻

Billy, just off of safari, came in to do a nice interview here.

Seems so intelligent, and pretty interesting guy.

Lookie there🙌♥️🙌 A musical genius & wonderful soul in a cowboy hat🙌🐴♥️🦋🙌

Oh wow my son was born on 1995 and grew up listening to smashing pumpkins. So anything billy says should never ever be deleted. I want 2 protect him

His argument about the alternative bands squandering their opportunity to change the game is interesting, and makes me realize that the figures in hip hop did not squander that same opportunity. They created their own labels, they built up other artists, they took control of their own careers, and shaped their own images and the culture as a whole, and now a quarter century later it is still the dominant form in popular music. It’s probably time for the next revolution, but they’ve gotten a lot more right than wrong. The major figures of hip hop in the 90s are millionaires and billionaires now with tremendous respect and power in the industry, and meanwhile “alternative” is basically meaningless, and the bands left from that era are nostalgia acts struggling to make a living. Billy Corgan recognized way back then that apathy isn’t cool and it certainly isn’t beneficial, but not many others in rock music felt the same way, and still to this day. It’s not cool to care, and cool is the name of the game, so aloof hipsters rule the game, but in the end they’re just ineffectual. Radiohead never feared sincerity (and also used their success to set their own rules) and they continue to have success. That old rock and roll attitude of not giving a shit is tired, postmodernism is dull, and eventually the rock and rollers will wake up to that.

Love this so much.

I was so in love with billy corgan then Wow

This is what a good journalist looks like.

Love Billy, very intelligent and interesting guy and brilliant musician to boot 🖤

Just discovered you today! I love your videos, and these might sound weird, but I like the shape of your teeth. They’re very aesthetically pleasing!

Have to appreciate his honesty, and critique.

OK Computer came out in 1997, one year before this interview, and is the album that Billy is trying to describe that would end up changing the landscape of pop music, artistically and structurally. Radiohead took what grunge had started, what Billy finished, and took the music biz into the 21st C with their next 4 records. In 1998, Radiohead were the heroes that Billy talks about at the end.

Great interview

This is so great.

One of the best attempts to describe “Rock N’ Roll”.

Looking back on this interview, he was 100% right on rock music becoming finite and reaching a creative conclusion around 1995, 1996. I often said the time era from the LATE 1990's through 2010 created some of the worst rock music in history. I won't bother naming the bands here because they don't deserve more recognition.

charlie rose showing why he's a great interviewer

He makes some solid points.

I love the interview. Btw. I am a Pisces too and sure, very moody as well. I wish the 90ies came back. It was the best time of my life as a teenager.

Ive seen a lot of BC interviews. Never thought Id see him here.

i love this one

great interview

He's right when he says that him and his peers didn't take the chance to change the business to the artists benefit. I think the business works really hard to contain the talent. Either with lawyers, narcotics, fame, or with silicon valley having more innovation distributing it than the musicians creating it.

He's a strange and fascinating man. Best songwriter since Roger Waters. Mellon Collie is probably the best and deepest album since The Wall. A lot of similarities in these albums and their creators. Both men were troubled and unhappy when they came up with their masterpieces, both value and emphasize personal integrity, and their themes of isolation and loss are quite similar as well.

I love what he says about death. So true.

Billy Corgan if you see this I would like to apologize to you profusely. Thank you for helping others.

"Positivity, money, compassion" - Billy Corgan 1998.

really authentic

It seemed like they were not on the same page during this interview. Mainly, Ross didn’t understand the direction Billy was going. However, it was nice to hear Billy express himself like that.

Rock wasn't dead. Even "alternative" didn't die. It evolved. "Alternative" was transformed by Radiohead in ways no one could possibly imagine.

Inlove bill Madison

I agree about the media not taking the music seriously anymore, and being more concerned about who you are dating. That might be a reflection of why the music has stagnated.

Not really a fan of Smashing Pumpkins but am definitely a fan of Billy Corgan. Love his honesty.

I care about politics. I care about humanity and the environment. I don't worship Billy but I respect him and I love his messages

I don't know what I am doing commenting on this you tube video of billy back in 1998. Nobody notices! Ha ha

General state of negativity.......... I believe this feeling goes through all the generations, feeling the last generation had it better. Every generation is going to go through difficulties, as time goes on, the problems seem to be more frivolous.

His ego is wounded here. I love him

Be looks like he can get the vows and all the horses in the trailer wearing that cowboy hat. I'm from ft worth tx so yes boy. Looks very good.

Billy Corgan looks like the robot killer from Westworld.

Billy Corgan 1998: This hat is a good look. 2020: Noooooooooooooo!

Perfect. You know it had 2 B

Bill.. I was a extra in West world!!! 😂

He looks like a young Yul Brynner from the Bizarro World.

It interesting he thinks “pure rock” is often corralling energy with no great purpose - and sees authentic emotional territory as the goal which he has achieved at times - how he shifts from the easy way to the deep way...

A coincidence for me that he mentioned John Lennon cause a couple of weeks prior I stumble upon Julian Lennon and find out he is one of two sons of John Lennon which obviously I'm not a Beatles fan since the only song at the time I knew was " Hey Jude " but I did go through an Paul McCartney/Beatles binge . Although Oasis which came much later than the Beatles sounds familiar to the Beatles and roughly about that time Third Eye Blind , Oasis , a little more cleaned up Goo Goo Dolls , The Smashing Pumpkins , and etc . Although I don't remember SP being around when The Goo Goo Dolls were grunge like Nirvana , and maybe Marilyn Manson but apparently SP in the earlier years were grungy . I'm glad they somewhat changed I was not a big fan of the Goo Goo Dolls in there earlier years or maybe in the future I'll learn to appreciate the music I don't like now .

He seems sad when asked ab9 asked about adores success

So sad that he said he's waited years to have Billy Corgan on, yet he's oblivious as a host to give him some more damn water!

'How long can you DO this?' Whoa. This was perhaps the most savage interview I've ever seen. Billy spends 20 minutes hawking a made up version of the rock star he wishes he could be meanwhile Charlie tries to crack him like a nut. Charlie sounded truly angry at times just trying to get something real out of him. And notice Billy sipping that water and giggling every odd minute? He was scared to death. I mean look at that freaking hat! (I wish we had interviewers this good today. I think you may have to be off be that interested in getting to the root of people.)

That interview must’ve been when they did their country record.

Shit, I just saw him talking about EHX OP Amp and ordered it... now he he is talking about HX effects... Was the re-issue not that good than? ;)

That cowboy hat noooooo

Adore would have been accepted if it wasn't SP. BC himself said it was purposely different.

koooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Well I like him

6:15 and 6:58 Billy releasing his inner Betty la fea

country roaaaaaaaaaaad take me hoooooooome to the plaaaaaaaaace i belooooooooooooon oh west virginiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa country mamaaaaaaa take me hoooooooooome courney looooooooooooove

I wonder how he started.

Intelligence is shining through here

He was basically right about the whole institution of rock music dying. There have been a handful of revivals since then, but rock music as a genre really peaked at around 1996. It had gone from a serious and increasingly sophisticated art form to easy listening party music by the end of the 90’s. Much more downtempo and one dimensional. Of course we saw the rise of the heavier nu-metal bands, but I really put them in their own category and personally suspect that Nu-metal was predominantly a fabrication of the music industry, where they wanted to try and create an updated form of grunge music for the new millennium, which they basically did. I don’t want to shit on individual bands and their achievements, but all of a sudden you had these bands exploding onto the mainstream, all wearing the same stuff, all collaborating with the same producers, and basically all sounding the same. A completely different approach, clearly driven by commercial interests, and in many ways the opposite of what Rock music was supposed to be about.

The 90s gets a bad rep for the music not being Van Halen white snake good. You realize there is more than one way to show guitar talent than be malmsteen. The 90s proved that. Don’t get me wrong I love the 80s but the 90s had good hits too.

Yeehaw

I liked adore but after that I took a break

He never knew how to handle the death of grunge/alternative and the rise of nu-metal/rap-rock. He thought he was owed things that no-one is.

Some might consider Gemini the ultimate expression of duality, but sure Billy, go with Pisces.

Worked in that studio in 1998. Just saying.

Alvin 🐿

Lol he was totally ducking with him about the signs stuff 😂