Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has layed into the way the music industry works, saying it "operates on a dumbing down principle". The singer, whose band released their new studio album Oceania in June, has said that he believes few bands get to keep their intelligence if they want to be s...
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has layed into the way the music industry works, saying it “operates on a dumbing down principle”.
The singer, whose band released their new studio album Oceania in June, has said that he believes few bands get to keep their intelligence if they want to be successful, but did name Radiohead as a notable exception.
Speaking to GMA News, Corgan said: “It’s incredible to me how sophisticated people really are when you give them the opportunity to be sophisticated. The music business essentially operates on a dumbing down principle. How dumb do we have to go to sell this record to the most amount of people?”
Then asked if he knew of any exceptions to this, Corgan added: “There are very few bands who are able to keep their intelligence on record, Radiohead are a good example. They have a very high message and are still very popular. But for the most part the charts are dominated by music that’s essentially dumbed down in melody, style, tone, texture, and message because it reaches the most amount of people.”
He then added: “‘I think with where I am now I don’t want to be dumbed down. I just think that’s the worst thing for rock’n’roll.”
Oceania is the seventh album of the Smashing Pumpkins career and was released on June 18.
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