The Resurgence of Rock Music? Is Billy Corgan Not An Asshole?

Just this very morning YouTube blessed my algorithm with a Track Star* street interview of Billy Corgan. In typical Track Star fashion - host Jack Coyne played a number of songs for the interviewee - who then has to guess who the artist is (sometimes for cash?). I have watched plenty such interviews across a number of different channels - but this one to me was particularly brilliant, because of Billy Corgan.

I have been told time and time again that Billy Corgan is an asshole. I've seen many a video where folks intentionally make it seem like he's an asshole. All things considered - if I wrote the songs for The Smashing Pumpkins - I'd probably be an asshole too. In this interview, however, Billy Corgan is brilliant. It is crystal clear that he is not only a Rock and Roll legend, but a deeply knowledgable and articulate music historian.

Not only does Billy peel off the artists' names to all the songs played within seconds, he delivers an in-depth analysis of the producers, collaborators and historical impact of each and every record. From performing with David Bowie on his 50th birthday - to producing Rick Ocasek of The Car's - to the societal and musical impact of bands spanning from The Beatles to The Small Faces to Joy Division to Smokestack Lightening and back again - Billy's takes are informative and compelling.

But the best part comes when Coyne asks Billy "Do you think there's going to be a Rock resurgence?" which brings me to the crux of this much-unnecessary piece of writing. Corgan immediately reponds "Oh ... it's happening," and cites the fact that over the last two years, 60-70% of The Smashing Pumpkins' audience has been under the age of 25, which "came out of nowhere".

As a top .3% listener (thanks Spotify) of Twin Peaks and a long-time lover of all things rock music - I believe this very much did not come out of nowhere. Over the last ten-or-so years, bands and individuals like Dope Lemon, Ducks Ltd., Mo Lowda & the Humble, Hether, Broncho, The Slingers, Skegss (to name a few of my favorites) and countless others have been keeping the various strands of Rock music alive - and even more recently, Geese - whose song was the only one that Billy Corgan did not know - has exploded onto the scene, blasting through the charts, playing on Jimmy Kimmel - and positioning our beloved Rock music in the spotlight once again.

And so that leads me to pose a few unanswered questions:

Is Geese the band to Crack Open the Sky?

Perhaps more importantly - is Billy Corgan not an asshole?

Time, oh Time, will tell.