On July 27th, 1993, a band by the name of The Smashing Pumpkins released their second album – Siamese Dream. It had cost over $250,000 to record over a period of four months. Frontman Billy Corgan played nearly every instrument on the album. During recording, he suffered a nervous breakdown and ultimately alienated his bandmates to the point where The Smashing Pumpkins as a group became little more than a live band, while Corgan manned all aspects of writing and recording. Siamese Dream sold over four million copies. David Brown, of Entertainment Weekly, hailed the band as “the next Nirvana.”
On September 13th of the same year, Nirvana themselves released In Utero. It was to be their last album. They recorded the album together, in one room, and worked diligently – it was recorded in just two weeks (from February 13th until the 28th) at Pachyderm Studios in Minnesota. Nobody suffered a nervous breakdown. Cobain later said that the recording process was “the easiest recording process we’ve ever done, hands down.” How expensive was In Utero to make? Studio fees were just $25,000. One tenth of Corgan’s Siamese Dream.
The two bands had never quite seen eye to eye. “Cherub Rock” – the lead single and first song on Siamese Dream – features the lyics “Who wants honey / as long as there’s money,” a dig at other musicians (and Nirvana producer Steve Albini) who compared the band to REO Speedwagon, saying they were “by, of and for the mainstream.” Meanwhile, Nirvana started In Utero with the line “Teenage angst has paid off well / Now I’m bored and old” off of a song called “Serve the Servants” … the rest of the album included song titles such as “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” and “Rape Me” as digs at the recording industry as a whole. In Utero was and is a somewhat difficult album. Siamese Dream‘s hit single “Today” features the lyric “Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known.”
In April of 1994, Kurt Cobain was found dead in his greenhouse, ruled a suicide by an apparent shotgun blast to the head. At the bottom of his suicide note, in arguably the last of his handwriting, he wrote the words “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” – themselves a lyric from “Hey Hey, My My” by Neil Young.
Billy Corgan continued on with the Smashing Pumpkins, and their 1995 double album Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness became a landmark of the 90s, the sort of thing you could expect to find in just about anyone’s record collection in the middle of the decade. A sprawling two hours, it was the high water mark for not just the Pumpkins but Billy Corgan as a songwriter. While his 1999 album Adore, inspired by the death of his mother, is somewhat of a critical masterpiece, nothing Corgan has done since has come close.
Now, Corgan spends much of his time releasing pay-for-access spiritual guidance blog posts featuring his own poetry, working on his second-tier wrestling league, and appearing in wrestling video games. The Smashing Pumpkins as they were in the early 90s have disbanded, leaving Corgan alone as the sole surviving member. The new lineup features a drummer that Corgan hired at the age of 18 after discovering him in a YouTube video. Their last album Zeitgeist featured different pressings for different stores – if you bought the album at Best Buy, you’d get a different album than you would at Target. It was a smack in the face for any remaining Pumpkin fans. If you wanted all of the songs, you’d have to buy the album four separate times, at four separate big-box stores.
Cobain, on the other hand, remained quite dead. In his eternal question of “Is it better to burn out than to fade away” he chose the former – becoming a legend in the process. Cobain’s financial legacy after death is in the realm of $40,000,000 annually… and he hasn’t released a new album in 20 years.
Look at it, if you will, from this angle: James Dean died at 24, after just three movies, yet his face is still as iconic as ever. If you were to wear a t-shirt with Dean’s face on the front and walk down the street just about anywhere, chances are that the overwhelming majority would know who he was. The dead actor. His output was limited because he died young. Such a shame. What a guy, etc.
Cobain’s legacy is pretty similar: three (studio) albums before he abruptly died, leaving a generation of people fetishizing what limited output he had to the point of deification. Cobain’s name (and suicide) is now mentioned alongside the same as Hemingway, Sylvia Plath and Vincent Van Gogh. Billy Corgan’s legacy, however, lingers in the bargain bins at Best Buy and Target.
I’m not saying Billy Corgan should kill himself – although there isn’t a doubt in my mind that if he had died after Mellon Collie we would probably be deifying him, too. He is – or at least was – a very talented songwriter. But he’s a living, breathing answer to Kurt’s question: rather than burn out, he chose to fade away. And he’s currently paying the price of staying in the spotlight for so long.
Kurt Cobain is still held in a pure and almost angelic light because he went out at the perfect time for someone to hold such a legacy – if you add up the length of every Nirvana studio album the total result comes in at just 125 minutes, or a little over two hours. In contrast, one Smashing Pumpkins album – Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness – clocks in at 128 minutes.
At the risk of seeing these words out of context, I’ve decided to bury the thesis of this thing way down here at the bottom: maybe Cobain is better off dead. Nobody would have wanted to see Kurt Cobain become the strange, bitter quasi-sell-out that Corgan became. Billy Corgan hinted at what his legacy would be known for with his dramatic nervous breakdown and insistence on control during the Siamese Dream sessions.
Is it better to burn out or to fade away? For Cobain, the former was the right choice. One shudders to think at an obese Cobain shambling around Hollywood Boulevard with Tila Tequila (another Billy Corgan reality star beau) or Lana Del Ray (who is currently dating similar fade-away-er Axl Rose of the formerly great Guns N’ Roses). In the end, Kurt ended up crystalizing his legacy at the age of 27, before he’d had a chance to fuck it up, his lasting image frozen forever on a rainy April night in 1994, at the height of his fame.
In the meantime, Corgan is doing furniture commercials like this, below (h/t Ellen). Who wants honey as long as there’s some money, eh?
February 21, 2013 at 6:13 pm, Luke Baumgarten said:
Interesting read, but I think the writer's equating quality of work with legend status. There's a third (and probably a fourth, tenth, fiftieth) road: don't kill yourself, don't make shitty music, don't be an asshole.
February 21, 2013 at 7:23 pm, Benji Wade said:
#36: Don't marry Courtney Love.
February 21, 2013 at 7:24 pm, Benji Wade said:
I reckon Corgan will scrape the bottom's bottom and go musically postal at least once more. Maybe an Audioslave cover album?
February 21, 2013 at 7:24 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
I'd have to disagree with more or less all of this. The difference is this- Kurt's head has been fucking blown off for going on 20 years. His rotten , headless corpse is laying in a coffin.
Corgan is still putting music out, doing what he loves, and living one of the highest lives a man can reach- A list rock legend that still maintains current day relevance.
And to be honest, when I was 13 I hated Smashing Pumpkins and loved Nirvana. Now Nirvana bores me to tears and I listen to the Pumpkins regularly.
That more or less answers it all for me. And Oceania was still a great album, even with only him as the original member.
February 21, 2013 at 7:39 pm, Jerry Owens said:
Smashing Pumpkins really? I always thouth
February 21, 2013 at 7:41 pm, Jerry Owens said:
sorry thought there was something wrong with you!!! lol
February 22, 2013 at 3:22 am, Sämånthä Scårlétté said:
Kurt was actually cremated…but yeah. haha
February 23, 2013 at 5:29 pm, Eric Yoder said:
Nirvana was the thread that held Grunge together and everyone knows it.
February 23, 2013 at 10:12 pm, Kelly Krutsinger said:
Kurt should have never done what he did.Kurt was the best…
May 13, 2013 at 5:50 am, Μιλαν Δενις said:
Don Cameron made sure that the gun, the greenhouse, and the guts (body) ALL disappeared. The gun was destroyed, the greenhouse was demolished, and the body was cremated all before outside investigators like P.I's for instance, could privately investigate it. It's not b/c they were afraid anyone would think he killed himself……….. no, why that? But of course, yes, his body was cremated not coffinized. I'm sure some stooge, just like w/ Dean's tombstone would have dug it up.
February 21, 2013 at 8:55 pm, Erika Barbara said:
The world is a better place because Billy is still here with us. He is STILL a brilliant songwriter. Have you listened to the new SP album Oceania? You should. And Kurt didn't commit suicide. Homeboy was murdered.
February 21, 2013 at 6:29 pm, An Interview with Smashing Pumpkins’ bassist Nicole Florentino and drummer Mike Byrne in this exclusive AltarTV Interview. « Sunset Daily said:
[...] Kurt Cobain vs Billy Corgan: Is it better to burn out or to fade away? (deathandtaxesmag.com) [...]
February 22, 2013 at 1:30 am, Smashing Pumpkins Pictures said:
There are many faulty generalizations in this article and many passages conveniently omit important contextual information. Before I address some errors in this article, I would like to say that I find it rather disturbing that you believe that someone is better off being idolized by mass media postmortem than to live a fulfilling life with one's daughter and wife. How can you write such an article and not address all the pain that Kurt left behind? How about how miserable he was when he was alive? Money and fame are not everything, and I can only hope that you will come to realize this one day.
1. "During recording, he suffered a nervous breakdown": Actually, he had a nervous breakdown before the album was recorded. He wrote "Today" and "Disarm" on a day that he was seriously contemplating suicide. He decided that he wanted to live and those songs came out of that decision. Billy did not play all of the guitar and bass parts by choice. He was asked by Butch Vig himself to record those parts. James and D'arcy took a lot longer to record studio quality takes than Billy did. As you noted above, there were serious pressures to finish the record because it was going over-budget.
2. "While his 1999 album Adore, inspired by the death of his mother, is somewhat of a critical masterpiece, nothing Corgan has done since has come close.": Actually, the album was released in 1998 and your opinion of Billy's songwriting is completely subjective. Please do not state your opinion as fact.
3. "Now, Corgan spends much of his time releasing pay-for-access spiritual guidance blog posts featuring his own poetry, working on his second-tier wrestling league, and appearing in wrestling video games.": The first part is completely out of date. He ran a spiritual website with posts around 2005, and I am pretty sure access to his posts were free. His "second-tier wrestling league" is intentional as he wanted to create a stepping ground for indie wrestlers to move on to the big league. He wanted the process to be gradual for the wrestlers as opposed to the usual "sink or swim". What is so wrong with that? Lastly, he has not appeared in wrestling video games, but has written songs for Guitar Hero.
4. "Their last album Zeitgeist featured different pressings for different stores": This was entirely Warner Brothers' decision and Billy had nothing to do with that promotional campaign (or attempt at one). He has publicly stated several times that he did not like the way Zeitgeist was released under his record label at the time. He has since gone independent, and at times uses EMI for distribution.
5. "Billy Corgan’s legacy, however, lingers in the bargain bins at Best Buy and Target": It's completely unfair to reduce a person's legacy to a decision that was not their own and to one particular event. If your legacy as a writer/reporter is going to be this article with poor research, then it's a bad one to leave behind.
I'm in no way defending the Tila Tequila thing and I'm personally not a fan of how much wrestling has taken precedence over Billy's music. It's just simply unfair for you to misrepresent Billy in such a way to make your thesis quasi-viable. He is a talented songwriter and musician at the end of the day. Many of us are thankful for the music that he has composed and for the songs that he continues to.
February 22, 2013 at 1:45 am, Daniel Mosquera said:
agrre with you
February 22, 2013 at 1:55 am, Mark Alan Sparks said:
I've found a few Stones, Cure, Pixies and Floyd albums at Best Buy, too lol
February 22, 2013 at 2:50 am, Bryan Booher said:
Nice work. Lots of liberties taken by this so called journalist/reporter. Mostly rubbish.
February 22, 2013 at 5:34 pm, Smashing Pumpkins Pictures said:
The author admitted on Twitter that he thinks the Smashing Pumpkins suck. So much for professionalism and journalism etiquette.
February 23, 2013 at 5:20 pm, Eric Yoder said:
What wife? Kurt was done with Courtney's ass. Kurt was planning on divorcing Courtney and wanted custody of Frances. It's a prominent fact. I'm also tired of people passing off Kurt as some constantly depressed individual. Please, for the sake of us true fans, please know your facts before shooting off erroneous information, mountebanks.
February 24, 2013 at 12:16 am, Smashing Pumpkins Pictures said:
Yeah that is what I meant – that I personally think Kurt would have preferred to be around to watch his daughter grow up than to be idolized postmortem. I did not state anything as fact related to Kurt – it was purely my opinion. In terms of my comment on misery, I was referring to how much fame was glamorized in this article and it was something that Kurt did not fully enjoy while he was alive. If that is erroneous, then perhaps I have watched the wrong documentaries. I'm in no way well-versed on Kurt, but more so on Billy which was the bulk of my response. Mountebanks? Ok there…
February 24, 2013 at 7:10 am, Danny Klus III said:
And how do you know all of this information, again?
February 22, 2013 at 1:56 am, Juliana Rucchetto said:
This article should be pulled for it's inaccuracies and glorification of suicide.
February 22, 2013 at 3:04 am, Joseph Arbes said:
Delete the link! They want you to link to this article to generate hits. It'll just encourage them more
February 22, 2013 at 2:50 am, Qotita del Sol said:
this is seriously one of the most abhorrent and plain old fucking stupid pieces I have ever read. and billy corgan isn't obese. and mellon collie isn't 128 minutes long. and you're not a journalist.
February 22, 2013 at 2:51 am, Marianne Malanaphy said:
What a terrible perspective. The whole article is written on the idea that Billy Corgan is fading away, which is not accurate. What a slap in the face to both artists- who wants to be remembered for suicide and considered a "fade away" for choosing life. At least BC is still making art and enjoying life, is that worth less than 40 million? Life is priceless. Oh and instead of becoming a suicide statistic, he's still here. How's that for an example fir teens who struggle with the idea of suicide? I'll give credit where it's due- 5 stars for some truly crappy article.
February 22, 2013 at 2:55 am, BookOf Lazy said:
This is one of the worst articles I have ever read. Very one sided and uninformed. I have never heard of this garbage website and for sure will not ever go to this site again. The article seems like something out of a High School newspaper, and that is being generous.
February 22, 2013 at 2:56 am, Matt Sams said:
" if you add up the length of every Nirvana studio album the total result comes in at just 125 minutes, or a little over two hours. In contrast, one Smashing Pumpkins album – Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness – clocks in at 128 minutes." and minute for minute Corgan out-writes and out-performs Kurt at every step of the way….
Also, you should look up what the song "Today" is actually about.
February 22, 2013 at 10:43 am, Kriz Brod said:
Eh… I'm a huge fan of both bands, and I think this article is basically just fluff, but to say that Mellon Collie, minute for minute, was better than all of Nirvana's studio albums… that's insane. Mellon Collie has a lot of filler. I skip probably 35% of that album when I listen to it. I mean.. "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"? That song is 9 minutes long.
February 24, 2013 at 9:03 am, Holly Ross said:
Oh, I like that song…
February 22, 2013 at 3:01 am, Dominic Cavenagh said:
Zeitgeist isn't the Pumpkins most recent record, Oceania was released in 2012 and was featured in Rolling Stones top 50 albums of 2012. Also Billy was not paid for the add in which he appeared with the Walter E Smithe chair, but $50,000 was donated to a local animal shelter in the Boston area. So I pose this question, is it better to burn out or to write a ridiculously inaccurate article full of half truths and inaccuracies?
February 22, 2013 at 3:02 am, Michael Bell said:
That add is horrible though lol
February 22, 2013 at 4:28 am, Andy Cavenagh said:
That ad is better than 90% of 'Adore'.
February 23, 2013 at 4:27 pm, Carlo Charlie Bertone said:
Andy Cavenagh Adore is considered a masterpiece here in europe, is a european work, so i'm not surprised you guys in the US or Australia don't like it. It's just another mood far away from the mainstream rock you like.
February 22, 2013 at 3:04 am, Sean Bonner said:
This is your best article. Kill yourself now, you'll never write anything better!
February 22, 2013 at 3:06 am, Nickolas Macheras said:
Ned Hepburn, eh? What an idiot. I think this article is the best you'll ever write so you should stop now before you "fuck it up". Don't kill yourself, that's a poor decision, but maybe avoid having kids. Thanks
February 22, 2013 at 3:09 am, Nickolas Macheras said:
http://www.facebook.com/nedhepburn?ref=ts&fref=ts
Is this you?
February 22, 2013 at 3:16 am, Sämånthä Scårlétté said:
There are so many problems with this article. I'm a fan of both Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins.. I've got posters of both Corgan & Cobain of opposite sides of the window in my bedroom, so there is no biased in my response.
1. You picked the most trivial sounding line of Corgan's lyrics and took them out of context. Billy wrote "Today" when he was going through his nervous breakdown and suicidal, it was written sarcastically. Even if you analysis the lyrics of that song lines like "Pink ribbon scars that never forget", were an obvious reference to the fact his mother was dying of cancer at the time.
2. You're neglecting the fact that even though Billy is the only remaining original member of the Smashing Pumpkins, he still manages to SELL OUT concerts world wide. I've seen them twice in the last 3 years and both times (Phoenix and New York City) the shows were sold out well in advance to an audience of about 2,000 people each.
3. If you go on any social media web site that caters towards youth, such as Tumblr, Billy Corgan still has a HUGE following among a teen & early 20's audience. Yes Cobain has a bigger following, but it's because he died at 27… Any celebrity that has died young or tragically will always be more popular than their surviving counter parts because there is a certain mystique.. It's not because Cobain is more talented, it's because he's forever a brooding good looking 20 something druggie that teens can worship. Sid Vicious is the most popular member of the Sex Pistols, has t-shirts with his face on them in Hot Topic, a movie about his life, and possibly more young fans than Corgan, he still can't play bass.
4. Zeitgeist is NOT the most recent Pumpkin's cd, Oceania is. Both did quite well on the album chards.
5. Kurt Cobain HAS released albums in the past 20 years. I'm 23, and I can think of at least 3 different Nirvana releases that have come out since the time I was 12. You have the 2002 Greatest Hit's album with "You Know Your Right" on it, which was released as a single and played on MTV (I think it was even played on TRL), then the 2004 Nirvana Boxset that featured a whole back catalogue of unreleased music, etc.. Then there was another Greatest Hits released in 2008… I think there have been other back catalogue albums released.. Then you have to take into account all the t-shirts and other merchandise sold in Hot Topic and other stores of that type with Cobain's face on it, as well as his appearance in one of the Guitar Hero Video Games (Corgan has also appeared in them)… So to say Kurt Cobain is generating 40mil a year off of sale of just the 3 studio albums he released while he was alive is ludicrous.. I'm also quite sure the only year that Kurt's estate made that type of money in a single year was the year, Courtney sold off the rights to his music for $30,000,000…. Which means in reality his album & merch sales are more in the $10,000,000 a year range, quite similar to that of Britney Spears.
I could go on and on all day.. but I'm going to stop here… This article is ridiculously biased and slanted.
February 22, 2013 at 3:24 am, Nickolas Macheras said:
Pink ribbon scars has to do with his birthmark, not his mom. Just sayin'… his mom died way way way after that song
February 22, 2013 at 3:26 am, Sämånthä Scårlétté said:
His mom died in 1996. I would assume she was already sick with Cancer in '93… Either way birth mark or his mother, the song isn't the trivial "I'm having the best day ever!" type song that the song author is making it out to be.
February 22, 2013 at 3:35 am, Chris Ostroski said:
Doesn't matter about any of the lyrics, or how many album sales…..Only relevant fact is one stuck it out and faced life and one chickened out and abandoned a newborn………
February 22, 2013 at 4:18 am, John Gray said:
Del Leppard answered that question when both those dudes were kids
February 24, 2013 at 4:29 am, Chris Howard said:
all i know is kurt cobain and billy corgan will always stick in my mind as great musicians, great singers and very talented. cobain had more all around talent, corgan was a better singer in my opinion.
February 22, 2013 at 3:18 am, Melissa Secore Levis said:
This "journalist" also wrote an "article" about a man molesting a manatee… what can we really expect? He actually used the word "yep" in it too. How credible can he really be? Also, it has been mentioned in previous comments that the author glorifies suicide. Shame on him. Has Ned, this "journalist" ever lost someone due to suicide? Do you know what that does to a family? Taking your life doesn't make you a legend. It doesn't make you a hero. It doesn't make you a better artist.
YEP I've been a fan of Smashing Pumpkins for two decodes. But, more important to me than sticking up for Billy and SP, I have to stick up for the families who have lost loved ones because of suicide. I am personally disgusted that this article infers (even IF slightly) that Kurt's legacy is greater because he's dead, because of a suicide.
Smashing Pumpkins Pictures nailed it on the facts, bravo. Your post was well written and factual.
February 22, 2013 at 4:09 am, Chris Ray said:
This article is stupid. Being a pumpkins fan I thoroughly enjoy both the old and new pumpkins. This whole article is nothing but a dig at billy corgan. Waste of time
February 21, 2013 at 11:15 pm, 98 Degrees To Release First Album in Ten Years and More Links said:
[...] Death+Taxes: Kurt Cobain vs Billy Corgan: Is it better to burn out or to fade away? [...]
February 22, 2013 at 8:41 am, Christophe Severijns said:
Well that's one stupid and shitty article. Shame on you, deathandtaxesmag.com. I don't know how this is even possible, but every single thing being said in it is the exact contrary of the reality.
The list of bullshits is just too long, and people in other comments show it well, so I won't write them down again. I'm just going to add that the author of this article is a real douchebag, who needs to read a lot more about a musician before writing a shitty insulting paper about him. Wanker!
February 22, 2013 at 9:00 am, Chastity Ingram said:
I think that the writer of this is very ignorant and obviously does not know the pumpkins and didn't even bother to do a little research before writing this. I think Billy is incredibly amazing for doing all the things he is now. New albums, wrestling promoter, tea shop. I think it's sad that one would be idolized after killing himself. I'm sure Kurt would have done more great things had he been here today. The author or this article seems to think that his opinions are facts which they are not. I could go on forever but I for one am happy that Billy has continued to do amazing things and will continue to admire, and respect him.
Very well said SP pictures! I love that there are devoted fans left
xoxo
February 22, 2013 at 12:58 pm, Thomas Brown said:
Cobain is overated imo :
February 22, 2013 at 11:58 am, Kristopher Fjeldos said:
I have nervous breakdowns every two years on schedule. I'm diagnosed with non-differential schizophrenia and I'm a musician. I find that when we put a finger on someone we just poke at their flesh, there's no meaning just feeling. Learn how it feels to be a rock star it's different, it's up a few levels from peaceful. Be afraid, always afraid.
February 22, 2013 at 12:25 pm, Jay Casey said:
I can't stand how opinions aren't facts, especially when those opinions differ from my own. Also, I don't like editorials where my sensibilities are called into question. Now excuse me, I have to go edit Small Wonder's Wikipedia page. DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME VICKY ISN'T REAL!!
February 22, 2013 at 5:22 pm, Janko Krumse said:
there asre so many flaws in this article it isn't even funny. maybe you should try suicide.
February 22, 2013 at 3:04 pm, BrightestYoungThings – NYC – Behind the Desk 84: Furniture Is Greater Than Legacy said:
[...] about legacy and Kurt Cobain and Corgan and how it’s better to burn out than to fade away. It’s worth reading. He’s 100% [...]
February 22, 2013 at 8:22 pm, Andy Hughes said:
What an absolute pile of shit article. Did a really stupid 8 year old write it?
February 22, 2013 at 10:59 pm, Chuck Andary said:
I was going to post a lengthy rebuttal to this, but it looks like a few people already have. In any case, it's quite disturbing that the author here seemingly did absolutely no research when writing this piece. I know this isn't the most academic of forums, but at least try to be somewhat accurate.
February 23, 2013 at 3:26 pm, Cari Gerrits said:
I don't know the answer to the question posed in the title of this article but I do know that Cobain left us too soon. And I often wonder how different he, and music in general, would be had been around these last 19 years. My hope is that he found the peace that so eluded him here on the other side.
February 23, 2013 at 8:02 pm, Zakk Weathersby said:
"While his 1999 album Adore, inspired by the death of his mother, is somewhat of a critical masterpiece, nothing Corgan has done since has come close."
Whoever wrote this article has obviously not listened to the Zeitgiest album. this is pretty much where I stopped reading 'cause Billy Corgan is way to good to be compared to an amateur like Kurt Cobain anyway.
and don't even give me that "if Kurt was still around blahblahlblah…" he's only as famous as he is now cause he died young! if he was still around, no one would even care.
February 23, 2013 at 8:17 pm, James M Brooks said:
nirvana had 4 studio albums, get your facts straight. =)
February 23, 2013 at 8:25 pm, James M Brooks said:
I for one have observed the findings of P.I. Tom Grant , which is located on cobaincase.com. This writer assumes that "burn out" means to kill yourself to cement your mark on music. I don't believe Kurt killed himself, his alleged "suicide note" was a retirement letter and mentioned nothing about suicide until the last 4 lines of the letter and most argue Cobain did not write those words, and discrepancies have been found by over a dozen handwriting experts. He said in the not he couldn't stand the thought of Frances becoming a miserable self-destructive death rocker like he had become. This article to me, is absurd.
February 23, 2013 at 9:14 pm, Sharon Gilbert said:
This world is a much better place with Billy Corgan in – wish I could say the same for Cobain. Corgan's success with Oceania is very inspirational to many devoted fans. Mental health is a serious issue and suicide is never the answer. Shame on u….
February 23, 2013 at 10:05 pm, Noling G. Paulin said:
enjoy the music, each has its own expression.
February 24, 2013 at 1:58 am, Jesse Akers said:
well thought out and well written replies already abound to this article- so I m just going to say fuck this guy, he can go to hell….
February 24, 2013 at 2:12 am, Melissa Akers Pohl said:
Dumb article, bad writing.
February 24, 2013 at 2:16 am, Jesse Akers said:
yea- miss-applying a lot of facts- like how the commcerical billy was in was for charity- the today line is obviously much deeper than he is willing to admit- —- this guy must have a some sort of grudge be he s not intelligent enough to mask it w something substantive ….
February 24, 2013 at 5:51 am, Brett Stayt said:
This is the worst piece of shit I have read in a long time. If YOU were to kill yourself now Ned, everyone would remember you as that guy that wrote that piece of shit article. Except that no one would remember you because, once again, this is shit.
February 24, 2013 at 6:03 am, Chris Gardner said:
Having read it, and in this guy's defence, what he said is technically true; Kurt is this untouchable alt-rock god because he killed himself before he put out shit, where as Billy did drop off the deep end a bit.
It's a pile of shit, however, because suicide cases are awful people who did the incredibly selfish and cowardly thing, and pretending that Billy's output would somehow be better if he topped himself is plain old bullshit.
Besides, Siamese Dream>any Nirvana album.
February 24, 2013 at 6:08 am, Chris Page said:
this is surely internet trolling at its finest/worst
February 26, 2013 at 4:12 am, Kate Ferguson said:
Oh wow. I mean really, wow.
February 24, 2013 at 6:30 am, Tyler Thompson said:
that was a horribly depressing article comparing Cobain to corgan, the smashing pumpkins were always a cop out mainstream band. and saying that kurts death was for the better leaving a whole generation screwed out of music that gave people a voice is a joke, all I can say is wow rolling stone you suck.
February 24, 2013 at 8:48 am, Holly Ross said:
First off, the author should not have bothered writing this articles – his/her personal opinion of Billy Corgan has shaped this article into something severely biased! No one can truly say what would have become of Kurt Cobain's musical career. Obviously, anyone who dies (of any cause) at the height of his/her career will be praised and viewed as a martyr for the rest of time. Even though Billy Corgan's music and band have changed over the years, it doesn't make him any more or less valid as a musician/star/human/etc. At the end of the day, he is a musician who continues to pursue and practice his ultimate passion in life:music. He is already had success, and his current musical ventures are obviously not just for revenue – he is continuing his craft and living his dream! If he had sold out as much as you make it sound, wouldn't he have teamed up with Lady Gaga or some half-talent pop "star" by now? PS: the song "Today," is an ironic song about his suicidal thoughts (ever heard of reading between the lines?). Next time, please do some research before pulling a piece of crap fresh out of your ass like this one.
February 24, 2013 at 8:50 am, Holly Ross said:
OH by the way, Mr. Corgan is way more successful and richer than you will ever be.
February 24, 2013 at 1:29 pm, Ivan Malvar said:
I'm just glad Billy Corgan is still with us. There will be no one else like him.
February 24, 2013 at 4:12 pm, Maddi Barbor said:
So, if someone wants to keep a positive light in their legacy, they should kill themselves? Sorry not sorry, but what the hell, dude?
February 24, 2013 at 5:17 pm, Jesse Clegg said:
to say the smashing pumpkins are up there with Nirvana, is an insult to Nirvana…
What a load of rubbish..
February 24, 2013 at 11:08 pm, Christopher McDermott said:
ive always hated the pumpkins.. how can you burn out or fade away if you never really glowed, should be the name of this article
March 15, 2013 at 2:33 pm, Travis Henry said:
shutup douche……Kurt Cobain>Billy Corgan, nuff said.