The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently appeared on SiriusXM’s “Metal Ambassador” podcast hosted by Jose Mangin. During the interview, Corgan shared a previously unheard story about Pantera.
Pumpkins’ new album, “Atum”, was released on May 5 and is the sequel to 1995’s “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” and 2000’s “Machina/Machine Of God”. Featuring 33 tracks in three acts, “Atum” was written and produced by Corgan over the past four years.
Billy Corgan recalls the incident
During the interview, Billy Corgan said:
“Let me tell you a story since we’re talking Pantera. So, they were having a big moment, obviously, during those [first] three [major label] albums. And I was backstage with them one day, and one of those mid-nineties [Metallica albums] — might have been ‘Reload’ or something — Metallica had come out [with a new album]. And there was a lot of controversy about where Metallica was trying to go, and what happened to Metallica, and are they still metal, and they’re wearing makeup now or whatever. And [the Pantera guys] were just going on and on about Metallica. Not in a negative way — more like a confused, like, ‘I love Metallica, but I don’t get it. And they’re not metal. And what’s going on?’ And I literally said — and this is a true story; I don’t think I’ve ever told this story in public — I raised my hands… And I knew them well enough that they would sort of listen to me.
I mean, that’s saying something. And I would say, ‘You know what? Shut the f**k up.’ And they looked at me, like, ‘Did you just tell us to shut the f*** up?’ And I said, ‘Shut the f**k up.’ Okay, so the room goes silent. And I go, ‘Listen, set aside Metallica for a second. Okay? You guys right now are the best metal band on the fucking planet, okay? Shut the f**k up. Worry about Pantera. Just worry about Pantera. Metallica will work it out.’ And they did, right? And I said, ‘You just focus on Pantera. You just focus on being the greatest metal band on the f***ing planet.’ And they all kind of looked at each other like, and they were like, ‘Okay, he’s complimenting us.’ And then it was like, ‘Okay, drink this horrible poison, you f***ing alternative weirdo.'”
Corgan previously praised Pantera this past April in an interview with Revolver magazine. He said at the time: “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.”
