The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently talked about how Pantera was received in the alternative music scene, and called Slayer probably his “favorite all-time super-heavy band”.
Billy Corgan opens up on the matter
The early ’90s brought in a massive shift that dethroned hair metal as the mainstream’s standout and even shook the foundation of heavy metal at large. However, that didn’t stop Pantera from making some massive waves at the same time by staying very close to the archetypal heavy metal formula while peppering it with twists and improvements of its own.
Speaking to Revolver in a new interview, Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan noted that Pantera’s image of a “straight-up metal band” confused a lot of people on the alternative side of things — even though bands like Nirvana openly spoke about being influenced by bands like Black Sabbath (via Blabbermouth):
“Pantera I got to see many times live. I knew the band back in the day. ‘Dimebag’ Darrell even gave me a guitar, which I treasure. Pantera was one of those bands in the early ’90s that not everybody on the alternative side of the equation understood right away because they were seen as just a straight-up metal band.
“But eventually I think a lot of people in alternative music recognized that Pantera was one of those bands that sort of transcended genres. I think thematically and the way they changed metal and the way people played metal ever afterwards, I think it almost puts them in too small a category. And like the great metal bands, they tend to almost create their own category of music.”
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman and spoke about his love for Slayer, which he similarly puts into a category of one:
“[Slayer is] probably my favorite all-time super-heavy band. But, in a way, it’s almost impossible to say that because, as somebody once told me, Slayer makes Slayer music.
“Calling Slayer heavy, hard rock or metal — only Slayer sounds like Slayer. So I think they always need a category unto themselves. I was lucky enough to see Slayer twice on their last, I guess, farewell tour. I think I saw the fifth to last show in Romania.
“And I saw Slayer on the ‘Reign In Blood’ tour. I was by myself with my goth hair; believe it or not, I once had goth hair. It was a little bit scary in there at the Aragon Ballroom during the ‘Reign In Blood’ tour. But what an incredible band. I mean, what do you say?”
Act Three of Smashing Pumpkins’ latest project “Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts” will be released on May 5.
