Billy Corgan Thinks That Metal Music Is “Disrespected”

Smashing Pumpkins‘ frontman Billy Corgan has spoken out in defence of metal music and fans.

Speaking with Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich on his Beats 1 show, Corgan said the the genre of music is largely “disrespected”.

Corgan believes that “better backgrounds” think that they’re above metal.

“For years I would take shit about being a fan of metal – it should be beneath you. It gets into weird class politics – most of the people who criticise people like us, for being who we are, what we are, or what we represent, had better backgrounds than we had,” he said.

“We didn’t necessarily go to the nice school, we didn’t get to read the cool newspaper. For me, bands like [Metallica] told me that there is this other world that is more closely aligned with the experience that you’re having, than the one you’re being told about.”

He continued, “for all the money that metal moves, it’s amazing how disrespected it is.”

Corgan believes that it’s hipsters who are to blame for all the disrespect thrown at the genre.

“You can’t get that through to a hipster’s brain,” he said.

“If you sat around and drew up who you wanted to be on paper, you wouldn’t be in Metallica or The Smashing Pumpkins. Those type of bands grow out of almost like a personality conflict.”

Corgan is gearing up to go on tour with Smashing Pumpkins’ original lineup (minus D’Arcy Wretzky). They are also going to release new music via a set of EPs.

You can watch his full interview with Ulrich below.

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