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Billy Corgan is a guitar god, he’ll have you know. In a recent interview with Guitar World, the Smashing Pumpkins mastermind complains that he doesn’t get nearly enough recognition when listicles of history’s greatest guitarists are assembled.
“Most people don’t even recognize my contributions as a guitar player,” Corgan tells the mag. “They don’t even assume I’m the one playing a lot of the guitar.” He continues:
You have these silly lists that come out about the greatest guitar players; I usually don’t even make those lists. Or they’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around. I don’t mean to denigrate the person in front of me or the people in front of me, but come on, you know? I’m enough of a guitar player to know who’s a great guitar player.
He further elaborates:
Once you go beyond, let’s call it the Zakk Wyldes and Dimebag Darrells and the truly great Randy Rhoadses, there’s a lot of people who pretend to play guitar. I certainly have no problem believing I’m better than a lot of them.
Corgan speculates that he doesn’t get credit because he does everything on Smashing Pumpkins records and people don’t believe he can do it all:
If I’m being frank about it – and maybe this isn’t the best way to do it – but if I’m being frank, people have a hard time understanding that as it pertains to the Smashing Pumpkins, I’m writing the songs, lyrics, melodies, arrangements and playing most of the complicated guitar. And that I’m capable of doing a solo on top of that. I think that’s hard for people to process.
Chalk this up as more contentious Corgan behavior in a lifetime full of it, but after playing air guitar to the “Cherub Rock” solo for the past several decades, I can’t dispute anything he’s saying here.