Formed in 1988 in Chicago, Illinois, The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most influential and successful bands to achieve fame in the ’90s. Led by guitarist and singer Billy Corgan, the group had multiple hits and became an inspiration for countless bands that would emerge later on.
Like most bands from the ’90s, they are known more for their albums and songs than for their individual members. In an interview with Guitar World, Corgan complained about not often appearing on “best guitar players” lists, saying he is better than many who do.
What Billy Corgan said about being underrated as a guitar player
“Most people don’t even recognize my contributions as a guitar player. They don’t even assume I’m the one playing a lot of the guitar. You have these silly lists that come out about the greatest guitar players; I usually don’t even make those lists. Or they’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around. I don’t mean to denigrate the person in front of me or the people in front of me, but come on, you know? I’m enough of a guitar player to know who’s a great guitar player.”
“Once you go beyond, let’s call it ‘The Zakk Wyldes and Dimebag Darrells and the truly great Randy Rhoadses,’ there’s a lot of people who pretend to play guitar. I certainly have no problem believing I’m better than a lot of them.
“If I’m being frank about it – and maybe this isn’t the best way to do it – but if I’m being frank, people have a hard time understanding that as it pertains to the Smashing Pumpkins, I’m writing the songs, lyrics, melodies, arrangements and playing most of the complicated guitar. And that I’m capable of doing a solo on top of that. I think that’s hard for people to process,” Billy Corgan said.
The Smashing Pumpkins sold an estimated amount of more than 30 million records worldwide. Their two most famous albums are “Siamese Dream” (1993) and “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” (1995).