Billy Corgan is still the ultimate '90s alternative-rock god, according to Billy Corgan.
During a new interview on "The Howard Stern Show," the Smashing Pumpkins frontman blasted musical counterparts Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters. In Corgan's eyes, both are inferior to Nirvana and his own band.
"I know [Pearl Jam] have a tremendous fan base, and they should," Corgan said of the group, whom he called "derivative." "They're a great band, but I'm a Beatles guy, I'm a Stones guy, I'm a Kinks guy. To me a lot of other bands don't have the work. [...] I think if you stack my songs up, Cobain's songs up, and that band's songs, they just don’t have the songs. They're a great band. They're still an arena act. They've gotten it done for a long time; I have to bow to that. That's a mystery to me, because I don't get it."
It seems like Corgan's biggest beef with the Foo Fighters is that they aren't Nirvana. (Nirvana's drummer, Dave Grohl, is founder and frontman of the Foo Fighters.)
"Dave is a great musician, a great songwriter and has done the work, but to me, my criticism of the Foo Fighters, if I’m being a music critic, is that they just haven’t evolved and that’s sort of the recent rap on them is, you know, making the same music," Corgan said. "Obviously, I’ve put my whole life on the line for making different types music as I’ve gone along. We’ve talked last time I was here about playing old songs, evolving and it’s just my mentality. I know it’s not for everybody. Listen, [Dave’s] getting it done, so it’s like, if you want to be competitive, my philosophy against his, he’s the one winning."
Watch Corgan's full interview with "The Howard Stern Show":