Here’s How Billy Corgan Would Handle A Kanye West Stage Invasion

While in the country for Soundwave, ol’ mate Billy Corgan is dropping a whole lot of opinions, including stating on Australian breakfast television that if Kanye West had tried to storm a stage he was on, he would “knock him out”.

While appearing on Channel 7’s The Morning Show, Corgan weighed into the Kanye West/Beck Grammys kerfuffle, labelling Kanye’s actions as “inappropriate” and something he, as an artist, wouldn’t have allowed.

“I don’t know Kanye, but I think he’s speaking from his heart. He believes what he’s saying,” said Corgan. “I just think that’s an inappropriate venue to do it because in essence that’s Beck’s moment.

“I’ve stood at that podium too and if someone got up on my stage I’d knock them out. I don’t care who it is I would have knocked them out. That’s my stage. I earned the right to be on the stage at that moment. That was Beck’s moment.”

Kanye, of course, actually stopped short of storming the stage at this year’s Grammy awards after Beck won the award for album of the year, but famously remarked afterwards that Beck should “respect artistry” and give his award to its rightful owner, Beyoncé. Beck took it all in his stride, but Corgan says he feels more strongly about the incident.

“In that particular moment you’re basically saying that everything that Beck’s done to be in that position is negated because in your own mind it’s not relevant to you, or your own thing. I didn’t think that’s the moment to do it.

“Maybe afterwards you can say that, you can put it in your own blog. But to jump on stage and steal that moment, to re-appropriate it in your own way I think is inappropriate. It really should be a celebration of accomplishment and it becomes another version of high school.”

Whilst on the Channel 7 couch, Corgan also spoke about his ongoing concern about the current state of music. He criticised the industry’s lack of innovation and individuality and remarking that pop music is on the brink of being pornography.

“Rock’n’roll will be fine,” he said. “I just think it needs to be more aggressive in taking on pop music.” Corgan also astutely foretold the headlines his Kanye comments would generate.

“I can see the headline, ‘If Kanye got on stage I would knock him out.’ And of course Kanye is going to see that headline and be like, ‘Bring it’. I love Kanye, he’s a great artist, but 90 percent of people will just read that headline and I will start getting hate-tweets from Kanye fans saying ‘How dare you’, ‘I’ll knock you out’, blah blah blah. It’s a dumb world.”

Well, we can’t do that now, can we? You’ve already said it, Billy! Watch the whole interview below.

Photos: Smashing Pumpkins – Soundwave 2015, Melbourne 21/02/15. Photographed by Alesha Martyn