Billy Corgan ...Music has been played ...Artists no longer exist

Most music that bears a message is either underground or in genres that never reaches the commercial radio stations. This may be due to restrictions on what kind of music radio stations are allowed to play.

At least in my "liberal" home country this rings true. I was in a student radio programme for a year or so, and if I remember correctly, we were required to play at least one or maybe two songs that was ranked on a national pop chart that specific week, every time our programme was on the air. This was a radio show that lasted 30 minutes once a week! Anyway, we said screw those stupid rules, and we played everything from ranging from Faith No More to Megadeth to Frank Zappa. This may be the reason why we only had about ten listeners each week, which was an all time low. But we didn't compromise, and we stood for what we believed in.

Anyway, from the rebellious 70s, 80s and 90s, we've now reached a stage where everything played on MTV, VH1 and also radio in general, where the music's main focus lies not with questioning the status quo, not even supporting it, but to something else entirely. Music that just ignores it altogether. Where the focus is on drugs, bitches, umbrellas, poker faces, a girl who kisses a girl and liked it, and god knows what, the messages is subtly hidden under a thinly veiled innuendo that moves your attention to what ultimately ends up as consumerism. Much like product placement on TV and in movies. I don't doubt for a second that this is coincidence, because you're not supposed to think for yourself, you're supposed to think what "they" think.

I consider pop music today to be a trend. Real music are for those that appreciate it, and find that it provides an opportunity to gain some insight about themselves. I think in essence, that is what music, the art form, truly is about.

reply to post by Droogie

Yes , I knew a radio DJ who told me that requests were faked . Everything thing was already programmed , and sometimes they would play the voice of the person making the request to make you think that was what was going on. Of course My requests never got played because they weren't popular at the time .

It's really easy to find music that has a jingle that "sticks in your head " but very difficult to find music that is actually different and resonates.

I can't stand Billy Corgan. Really believe that no one is making inspirational or meaningful music anymore? I lost all respect for this man back in the 90's when he said his Melencholly album was a 90's version of "The Wall" only better. The nerve of the pompous douche

reply to post by KeylessChuck


I remember , I was there . It was around this time that he started getting A _LOT of bad press . Wasn't it around this time also ...soon after Kurt Cobain died ..Gerry Garcia died ..and music pretty much changed forever ...after the mid-1990's music changed into Brittany Spears and that kind of stuff ....I'm not an old folgie stuck in my musical ways ..I've seen popular music turned into this bubblegum pop into stuff that is ridiculous .

reply to post by paleorchid13


I can tell you when the take over occured.. it was 1997 when the Pumpkins lost to Celine Dion and Puff Daddy on the Grammy's. Within a year, Puffy was the new king of pop, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Eminem, Kid Rock, Brittany Spears, Back Street Boys, In Sync, all that crap was shoved down everyone's throats for years. Billy knew there was no use any more, so he disbanded the Pumpkins. There was a brief period between 2002-2005 that there was some good stuff getting a little recognition, then it all fizzled out. The problem today is that music is completely segregated. I remember in the 90's most music was in competition. A local station would play Dr. Dre, Soundgarden, Flaming Lips, Ace Of Base, Smashing Pumpkins, Whitney Houston all back to back... you had to hear a lot of pop crap, but there was something for everybody. I guess I'm saying if you landed a single on the radio, you had a chance to make an impact and get exposure to everybody. Most of the good stuff these days is only getting exposure to an exclusive audience who have to be "in the know".

I don't listen to the radio and haven't since the Internet was invented, because I hate commercials. And music has been going down hill for a long time, but always there are great songs and great entertainers.

And I even have one of Miley's songs on my playlist. It's a kick ass tune.

I play Tonight by Smashing Pumpkins all the time. With Youtube, you have millions of songs to choose from.

Already today I played a country music song from 1956, Silver Threads, incredible old fashioned twang voice, great old classic tune by Wanda Jackson. And Have I the Right, another oldie, great classic, get to see a live performance even.

But I have Gaga Bad Romance on my playlist, and Jessie J Price Tag, and you know a great song, is Empire State of Mind by JayZ and Alicia Keys. There are lots of good songs still but mostly I play oldies. I mean late 60's rock like Led Zep, is great. But I think that I even love music right back to the 50's.

I can't seem to get into the 40's unless its big band swing beat or something. But with millions and millions of songs to choose from, I can see the way people listening to music changing.

Not for everyone though. Most people still listen to the radio in the car.

Here is Miley's Song, She surprised me when she did this song.

"in the know"

Well I have to agree with you there that you have to be in the loop to really appreciate some music. You need to be connected to it in some way.
And I remember when the take over occurred too. I remember when Britney was made as a star. Take the machinery with a lot of bucks and make a star. Simple as that. But even so eventually she came into her own, and maintained a fan base, and even put out one or two decent songs. But her fan base is incredible. Since misery loves company and they love all her drama and you know locking yourself in the bathroom and chopping off your hair, putting your lipstick on with it in your fist, and all the rest

Good music needs inspiration hence why the 60's had such great immortal music. Those were inspirational times.

But so much of music is a personal thing too, so unless you have a popular movement, of some kind, people cannot attune themselves to it, and as such, the majority will not feel part of a great movement, and the music will not be there to bind them together.

Something cool these days is the flash mob. On a lot of different musical themes.

Here is one from our mall downtown... Usher, with a cool hip modern dance tune...

I don't listen to Justin Bieber,but millions of young girls do, and he was discovered on youtube.

There are songs on youtube with hundreds of millions of hits. Gaga and whoever but obviously some of the music today is hitting a large audience. Much larger than ever before. The world has changed.
People have mp3 players and thousands of songs in their personal collections.

They are spoiled now. They listen to all the great music then turn on the radio, and as you know, except for 1963 where almost every song was a hit, usually there are only one or two good songs per year these days and the rest just same o same o.

But it all depends on the kind of music you like. There is for sure music for everyone's tastes these days.

There are stations on cable as well don't forget, and some are so specific they play all Elvis, or all show tunes etc.

The last few years Taylor Swift has been getting most of the awards in popular music. Her and Rihanna have sold a lot of albums. Almost the same number of albums and almost the same number of on-line songs.

The numbers are staggering.

But Miley her franchise was worth a billion dollars when she hit 16.
And mostly just through exposure through Disney productions.

Smashing Pumpkins were icons in the 90's like Alanis Morriset, they helped to show the masses what their generation looks like, and what they have to say.

I won't kid you though. If you want to tune into the masses, you need more than just talent, you need a spiritual connection to the undercurrent of the modern world.

Like Dylan confessed that he was inspired by angels on his shoulder, just like in the paintings of old.
Angel prompters. And angels have a better view. They are in touch with the collective unconscious.

And as such they can prompt a writer, so that the music and the lyrics is in tune with the masses.
All they need is a common theme or common view.

I remember in the 90's I was feeling like I just wasn't getting it. I just could not identify with the music they were playing at all.But then one day the lights came on, and I was like Ohhhh is that it? There is this secret hidden theme that everyone is singing about and around.

At that point it all made sense and I could then enjoy the music.

At present most of the real popular music, that I like is by female entertainers.

I will give you an example.

Great song by Pink...

Yeah don't get me started or I will end up showing you all the songs that are in the loop and explaining why they are in the loop, and why they are such great hits, and that would be too much explaining.
I am a muse. I know a lot of today's entertainers.
Better than most people do.

I will show you two songs. One with Billy, playing Tonight, not the official video, with First Man on the moon kind of theme which I play all the time. The moon is a common theme for a lot of people. Maybe Billy's best performance.



But I will also play a song by Rihanna, and Eminem, that features Megan, and the guy from Lost who does the acting job of his career right here. And Megan is an incredible actress.
And this was after Rihanna got beat down by Chris Brown, who beat her down in a fit of jealousy.

And she is singing to the guy who made him jealous.
So it helps if you know Megan, and you know Eminem, and you know Rihanna, (I don't know the guy from Lost) and you were there at the time and its you she is singing to. But even if you weren't, you can still feel the emotion in this song and the message and the tune and the vocals, and the artistic quality of the video, you gotta be able to appreciate this music.

I should give you a star for a nice cast.

I don't want to leave you on a downer note like that last video, although artistically speaking, it is one of the greatest musical theatrical works of all time bar none, and as such its difficult to say that music is not as alive today as it ever was. And its rap fusion pop hip hop youtube MTV and its still the now generation.

But its been a time of leading ladies, and not leading men as such because the muses like girls what can I say.



But Coldplay did nice tribute to Zeus. Chris is married to Gwyneth Paltrow thats the connection.

And so the painting from 1600 Glorification of the Eucharist, the moon as space ship, Olympians, fighting the Titans even on the ground, as Greeks and Romans.

And Zeus trapped on earth by a mutiny in the moonship, and he reincarnating life after life, showing up here and there as one great man after another, but often un-sung. So here he is as a young man, on earth. But not just him, Xerxes king of the Titans also trapped on earth and going through the same trials and tribulations.

All insider spiritual in the loop stuff.

Great tune...

So I looked it up...

Lady Gaga Bad Romance, 462 million hits. One video.

The Superbowl gets a 113 million viewers by comparison.

SO whats the story morning glory? Well I was helping do some consulting for a TV awards and was hitting on Victoria Justice who was there and knowing I was there to do some fashion consulting, some models (Victoria Justice is also a model,) set me up with a girl I went out with once, a model, and they knew I would not be able to remember her name, and they had her looking like Victoria and did a switcheroo and left me there not knowing this girls name. So Gaga was there wearing a painting of some sort from The Louvre, and I said to her, I just want to be friends. That was enough to inspire her to write this little tune. And when I saw it I was blown away. I had no idea that she was that talented.

I inspired Cee Lo Green as well. So some men follow along our little clique, but its mostly girls.

But Cee Lo came in with Crazy. Great tune.

But when I always played the version done on the Theramin, a weird moog like alien instrument, he made up this story about me stealing his girlfriend (I know, he had a girlfriend???) and the radio version of the song is Forget You.

But its all in good fun, but a second great hit for Cee Lo.

When I turn the dial, on the radio, right away I realize there is just no way that the radio can keep up with the Internet. But they sometimes have the radio on at work, and that is where people might get some exposure to a song. But usually only if it is a big hit and is being played a lot. A lot of the people I talk to are into music by bands I have never even heard of. The majority when they post a song I have never even heard of the band nor the song.
People tend to zero in on bands and songs they are in tune with. My friends in the biz are all huge talents making unbelievable amounts of money. But I don't know if they get much airplay on the radio. They are doing acting, music, appearances, awards TV, everything concert tours releasing singles, and albums, its a full time job.
They win awards and they break record sales. Taylor her stats are the same as Rihanna...
en.wikipedia.org...

And she just sings about bad romances. But I don't know how much airplay she gets on the radio. I am sure its important to her sales but its just a small part of what she does. They have twitter and Facebook, and they do candids almost every week, they stay in touch with their fans, and do charity everything.
Is her music formulaic? It is the kind of music people wanted to hear and that can be shown by the number of sales.
Obviously they enjoy her music.
But they like being in the loop. Her fan base they follow her life and know what she is up to and basically what is going on so they can understand and appreciate her music.

One last song, by Caleb Followill, front man for Kings of Leon, he married a model friend of mine Lily Aldridge who I used to party with. Somehow I inspired this tune which I thought was pretty good even if maybe almost no one ever heard of it. Well 51 million people have heard of it I guess.



Maybe Billy was just asking why did the muses go on strike? And you know I remember we did, in the nineties, but I can't remember why now. I've been a musing for about 5 or 6 years now since we came off strike. But just hanging out with the girls. For the most part.

OK 2 more.

Christina Perry. I don't know how much radio airplay she got, but 64 million hits, for this insider video.



And this one by Fe Fe Dobson and if the theme has not hit home yet, then you may never figure out, that I am a womanizer, and girls love to hate it when I do that.



The earth is one big match making machine after all. So that is something everyone has in common.

So I was acting as the fashion police at that awards ceremony since I know most of the famous people, and if they wear a logo on their outfit or shoes, its in bad taste at an awards, where designers spend a lot of effort in dressing everyone. So Gaga breaks through the lines wearing a painting from the Louvre.
But there is so much in that video, in terms of symbolism, and insider references of all sorts, that are targeted at the so called cool group, and Gaga herself was an outsider at that time, that made it interesting. I am not sure how much that affected the number of hits she got though.

But after that came Born this way, and that too was a kindof sidebar to us in our little clique. But only 93 million hits. I think I look at the number of hits a song gets and gage its popularity that way, since radio is controlled as you say and not a legitimate gage.

The Bieb got a 100 million hits for a Christmas tune but most of his videos are not that popular and by that I mean 30 million hits or more.

Elvis has got 30 million hits for a few of his songs and I always say about the Bieb, well he is no Elvis Presley.

But when I think about how much music there is out there, I have such a tiny viewport. I know just a handful of artists, they just happen to be very successful and at the top in the mainstream. But even so, just beside them are tons of Latin artists and hip hop with huge followings.

Katy Perry, I met one time when she was on the beach, and she was dressed and acting like she knew me and was trying not to attract me, since she knew I was a womanizer. And then she just kept it up and kept teasing me, on stage at her concerts and thats how she got in through the front door.
Then she married Russel and then got divorced as people often do.

John Mayer, I inspired the song Gravity, since gravity is one of my pet subjects.
I like that song. He was part of our little clique for a while, and he went out with Jessica Simpson.

But you see no one knows the connections we have together its all kept secret so its not that which gives our little group dynamism, enough to inspire them. Its our spiritual connection that does it.
And I don't mean we are part of a secret cult, we are just connected spiritually. But if the songs themselves were not great, and the talent not superb, none of the rest would matter at all. But having something there that matters to you, helps to bring out that talent, and that creativity. Having something you really want to say about something. And maybe you want everyone to hear it too.

But Kayne though? Known him for a long time and my magic don't work on him.
www.nydailynews.com...

But at least he is in the loop and people can call him when they can't get anyone else on the phone.

Here is a song by Jon Bon Jovi and once in a while he will come out and say hi, because he knows I like his music.Its inspirational. So you see it works both ways.

reply to post by ItCameFromOuterSpace

The problem today is that music is completely segregated. I remember in the 90's most music was in competition. A local station would play Dr. Dre, Soundgarden, Flaming Lips, Ace Of Base, Smashing Pumpkins, Whitney Houston all back to back... you had to hear a lot of pop crap, but there was something for everybody. I guess I'm saying if you landed a single on the radio, you had a chance to make an impact and get exposure to everybody. Most of the good stuff these days is only getting exposure to an exclusive audience who have to be "in the know".

That makes a lot of sense . think it goes back to popular music (music that is all over the press , media , airwaves ..advertised) really has a manufactured kind of message and feel ....I can definitely see how music has been "confined" .

reply to post by Rocketman7


HOLY wow sir ! I have been away, but definitely need to go through your responses ! The song you posted wasn't bad ... but I'll tell you the honest truth:

The alternative music scene /rock is where my heart is . I can't stand girls and women who have to have this manufactured porn star image to make their music sell. I hate the idea that woman all look the same , act the same , have the same message ...I really feel as though women sell themselves out ...BIGTIME like drones. Like a previous poster said ...there isn't much diversity in what you are surrounded with media wise ...and I'm particularly tired of girls who have no individuality ...people can say "oh this girl LOOKS different" (like Lady Gaga wearing a meat costume) but the lyrical content and general sound is the same as everybody else.

Here is one I like that I feel is unique.

I will show you two songs. One with Billy, playing Tonight, not the official video, with First Man on the moon kind of theme which I play all the time. The moon is a common theme for a lot of people. Maybe Billy's best performance.

reply to post by Rocketman7


The moon may be a common theme , but In Tonight Tonight ..Corgan's inspiration came from old filmaker Georges Méliès ...so it had a deeper meaning. (As a side note the movie Hugo did a beautiful movie on his works)

I like Rhianna ....I'm not saying today's music is horrible ...but I must say most of Rhianna's music has the same old drab message and sexually explicit content that I find doesn't mean really anything to me. Its fun ...but at the end of the day ..there's no connection.

Certainly not like Alanis, Cranberries, Mclachlan.......and my favorite Mazzy ..