“You have these silly lists that come out about the greatest guitar players; I usually don’t even make them... or they’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around”: Billy Corgan feels he’s underrated as a guitarist

Billy Corgan has never been one for hiding his light under a bushel, has he? And he’s been at it again recently. In this case, he’s told Guitar World magazine about how under-appreciated he is as a guitarist.

In a new interview with the mag, the Smashing Pumpkins’ leader has complained that “Most people don’t even recognize my contributions as a guitar player,” Corgan tells the mag. “They don’t even assume I’m the one playing a lot of the guitar.”

He continued: “You have these silly lists that come out about the greatest guitar players; I usually don’t even make those lists. Or they’ll put me behind somebody who I could play circles around. I don’t mean to denigrate the person in front of me or the people in front of me, but come on, you know? I’m enough of a guitar player to know who’s a great guitar player.”

“Once you go beyond, let’s call it the Zakk Wyldes and Dimebag Darrells and the truly great Randy Rhoadses, there’s a lot of people who pretend to play guitar. I certainly have no problem believing I’m better than a lot of them.”

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It’s a fair point that he tends to be under-represented in those sort of lists. But who really pays attention to them anyway? After all, what criteria are they based on – simple technical ability? Creativity? Innovation? Songwriting? And does it really matter?

Evidently, it does to Billy.

He also touched on what is obviously another sore point: “If I’m being frank about it – and maybe this isn’t the best way to do it – but if I’m being frank, people have a hard time understanding that as it pertains to the Smashing Pumpkins, I’m writing the songs, lyrics, melodies, arrangements and playing most of the complicated guitar. And that I’m capable of doing a solo on top of that. I think that’s hard for people to process.”

Smashing Pumpkins released their thirteenth album, Aghori Mhori Mei in August. It’s finally getting its physical release in a couple of weeks time, along with a new double A side single, Formosa/ Our Lady Of Sorrows.