"Kurt Cobain and I were the top two scribes in the nineties"

[McParadigm]

Yeah, well....I'd wager that 90% of the reason there isn't more outrage at Ed's "CEO with a sailboat," live-to-love-the-system complacency is that his rebellion against those things often brought him to almost Corgan levels of cranial-rectal.

[McParadigm]

And then they put him on the fuckin' cover anyway.

[Heathen]

I wonder if Corgan has a firepole in his house.

[epilogue]

Nah, he and his band to a formal stand against firepoles in the late 90s.

[pnjguy]

I mean, if he wants to say that he doesn't like PJ's style of songs, that one thing, but to say they're inferior in an objective way is just a battle you're never going to win.

[McParadigm]

He knows his songs are better. Knowing is half the battle

(warning: the other half of the battle is battle. Do not attempt)

[@SkitchP]

I really dont see a problem with what Corgan said, I dont even like the Smashing Pumpkins.

[Mine]

How did signing with mainstream oriented labels go with all these people's ethos? Because that never seemed an issue to them.

[Leatherhead]

I doubt Corgan knows any more Pearl Jam than the average rock radio listener.

[McParadigm]

Yeah, they never really got to enjoy the acrimonious stench of a good label fight. In fact, by and large, labels were really forgiving of most of those 90's bands.

A lot of that comes from the way all the boomer acts fucked the labels over with ridiculously expensive contracts and poor returns in the 80's (see: David Geffen). The 90's was such an opportunity to create new warhorses...it wasn't really as "out there" as 80's synth or as potentially-embarassing as metal. So bands got coddled in the hopes that they'd replace what were then seen as increasingly valueless cash cows.

That's part of why you saw such a push to romanticize the event even as it was happening, and why every new chance for a platinum award audit was utilized throughout the 90's. We're legacy building here, people. Prove that our bands are THE bands to remember. Make sure they stay "our" bands. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.

[Mine]

I suppose those contracts were financially very generous to those bands.
I mean they sold out by their own definition of selling out at the 1st given occasion.

[LoathedVermin72]

Can we retire the phrase "selling out" yet?

[Mine]

can we retire the whole concept?

[LoathedVermin72]

can we retire the whole concept?

Right, that's kinda what I meant.

[McParadigm]

More coke for everybody

[Mine]

[Rangi Guy]

From Billy's AMA on Reddit

I'm blessed in that when it comes to music, i don't have to try too hard.

[Jessica Fletcher]

One of the most important revelations of my adult life is that your average rockstar has the emotional maturity of a 22 year old.

[malice]

loved that show

[mastaflatch]

Although Corgan tries to minimize Radiohead's output of the 90s, there's an awful lot of people who consider Ok Computer to be the defining album of the 90s (and maybe the most important album since Nevermind). SP had a nice 5 year slot in the limelight (if I'm being generous) but then, they became way less important. Another thing that bothers me is the supposedly implicit statement that Corgan makes about SP being influential because, let's be honest, a band can have hits after hits can easily go on not changing a damn thing around it and I have a hard time figuring who or what SP paved the way for. In my opinion, they were just as derivative as PJ or FF. More musically varied, yes, but Corgan didn't invent a new musical style. As far as leaving a stamp on an era and yielding a shitload of copycats, PJ certainly succeeded.

Speaking as someone who's paid good attention to PJ during the 90s, they sure had songs - they just didn't try as hard as Corgan to get them to the public.

One last thing - someone correct me if I'm wrong - Vedder never used this kind of desperately pathetic promo stunt i.e. shitting on his peers to make him look better.