Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, his girlfriend Chloe Mendel, their daughter Philomena Clementine, Chris Cornell’s daughter Toni Cornell, Johnny Ramone’s widow Linda Ramone, and Linda’s boyfriend JD King were photographed having breakfast in the Los Angeles area on Wednesday morning. Chris Cornell’s mother-in-law Toni Karayiannis wrote about the photo, “Happy to be w friends having breakfast! #lindaramone #jdking #billycorgan #tonicornell #chloemendel.”
Billy Corgan and Chris Cornell traded barbs in the press during the Soundgarden reunion era earlier in the 2010’s, with Corgan saying that Soundgarden were back for money.
Corgan said in August 2012, “There are those bands that are essentially coming back only to make money – playing their old albums, and maybe somewhere in the back of their minds they’re thinking there might be a future.”
“I am not in that business, obviously. I condemn anybody who’s in that business but doesn’t admit [he’s] in that business. When Soundgarden came back and they just played their old songs, great. I was a fan of Soundgarden, but call it for what it is. They’re just out there to have one more round at the till; same with Pavement and these other bands.”
Corgan also mocked Cornell’s album with Timbaland, Scream, in August 2012, where Corgan claimed that Cornell had taken a shot at him in 2007 for bringing back The Smashing Pumpkins name without James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky, “I want all of my generation to raise the bar, and I don’t appreciate when somebody from my generation, who I once considered a friend, decides to piss on my little spot in the corner for whatever reason at the same time he’s making the Timbaland album, you know what I mean?”
Cornell responded in November 2012, claiming Corgan owed him 40 grand. “When Billy Corgan was completely broke,” Cornell told ABC News Radio, “I got him a movie deal with Cameron Crowe where he made $40,000. He was very happy about that, and he was specifically happy about the $40,000. So next time you see him, tell him he owes me my $40,000 back.”
Since Chris Cornell’s death, Corgan has spoken very positively about Cornell and Soundgarden (though he did follow Soundgarden on Twitter in 2016 before Cornell’s death), recently voicing his support for the idea of Soundgarden finishing the new album they were working on at the time of Cornell’s death.
