Billy Corgan Reveals Why Show With Nirvana Was Terrible

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Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins both performed at the Reading Festival in 1992, and while Nirvana’s performance was hailed as one of the best of their career, Billy Corgan doesn’t think himself and The Smashing Pumpkins turned in their best performance. He wrote on Instagram:

“Two things: I believe this shot was taken at one of the worst SP shows ever (Reading ’92) and if that’s true, I’m moments away from smashing this guitar to bits; which was just my reaction to how poorly we’d played. If there’s a spiritual hook there, it could be don’t do things impulsively, but disregarding that I’d also argue that my whole life has just been a series of irrational impulses. And that’s worked out just fine. Think: what’s more important? To live with the regret of what you didn’t do, or with the regret of what you have? The guitar pictured was the same year/model as the ‘Bat Strat’ and it’s sister, the black one with glow stars that I’d recently offered for sale (and withdrew despite very credible bids, including one from an A-level star deluxe).

So why did this no6 guitar have to go? For one, I didn’t like the color, and something was off in the sound. And that added up in my feverish mind to ‘it’s the guitar or me!’ So splinter-away I did, throwing the pieces into the crowd, with the fractured body hitting a man in the head and bloodying him. Who just happened to be the executive who’d picked our record off the dust heap (Virgin UK having decided it was worthless and passing on promoting a record that was theirs technically, and since we were U.S.A. couldn’t give a f) and had re-released it on his own label (which has something to do with why we are still able to play Wembley in a few mouths). And let me spin off that for a second. Over and over European fans keep asking: ‘why is SP not coming to Barcelona or Berlin or Paris..?.’

The answer is simple: because like that ol’ record company, someone in an office far, far-away decides we’re just not worth the trouble. And they may be right! But it won’t stop me from smashing things up, or us doing us things like playing ‘Baby Mine’ for an encore.. When it’s time we’ll hopefully be together again. Where failure is an option, as is victory. ‘Cause over here on this side of the pound we tend to just get on with it. American grit, they once called it. Dumb or as star-crazy as it may be. And as inconvenient as it appears.”

The Smashing Pumpkins have released a new “Solara” live video that you can view below.

Two things: I believe this shot was taken at one of the worst SP shows ever (Reading '92) and if that's true, I'm moments away from smashing this guitar to bits; which was just my reaction to how poorly we'd played. If there's a spiritual hook there, it could be don't do things impulsively, but disregarding that I'd also argue that my whole life has just been a series of irrational impulses. And that's worked out just fine. Think: what's more important? To live with the regret of what you didn't do, or with the regret of what you have? The guitar pictured was the same year/model as the 'Bat Strat' and it's sister, the black one with glow stars that I'd recently offered for sale (and withdrew despite very credible bids, including one from an A-level star deluxe). So why did this no6 guitar have to go? For one, I didn't like the color, and something was off in the sound. And that added up in my feverish mind to 'it's the guitar or me!' So splinter-away I did, throwing the pieces into the crowd, with the fractured body hitting a man in the head and bloodying him. Who just happened to be the executive who'd picked our record off the dust heap (Virgin UK having decided it was worthless and passing on promoting a record that was theirs technically, and since we were U.S.A. couldn't give a f) and had re-released it on his own label (which has something to do with why we are still able to play Wembley in a few mouths). And let me spin off that for a second. Over and over European fans keep asking: 'why is SP not coming to Barcelona or Berlin or Paris..?.' The answer is simple: because like that ol' record company, someone in an office far, far-away decides we're just not worth the trouble. And they may be right! But it won't stop me from smashing things up, or us doing us things like playing 'Baby Mine' for an encore.. When it's time we'll hopefully be together again. Where failure is an option, as is victory. 'Cause over here on this side of the pound we tend to just get on with it. American grit, they once called it. Dumb or as star-crazy as it may be. And as inconvenient as it appears.

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