Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan recently had an interview with The Aquarian and talked about how his traumatic past shaped his current approach to life and the way he’s perceived. Corgan argued that being abused as a kid gradually turned him into a durable adult in a bittersweet way:
“Where does the grit come from? I think it comes from the abuse as a kid. If you’ve survived getting punched in the face in the middle of the night when you’re five years old, it does something to you – obviously, in a negative way. It traumatizes you. But it also inures you to humiliation. You’re less afraid of being humiliated because you’ve had everything taken from you before you even knew what was being taken from you.”
Billy also mentioned that he wasn’t feeling safe, or accepted in school either, that he was constantly questioned and forced to question himself:
“I’m a fucking nobody. All I ever hear is, ‘You’re a fucking weirdo. What’s wrong with you?’ Teachers pull you aside in the hall: ‘What is your deal? Why do you have to act like this?’ And I respond ‘Act like what? This is me. This is the way that I am.'”
The frontman frequently talked about the abuse he suffered over the past years. In a recent interview, he revealed that even after The Smashing Pumpkins was famous, his father didn’t recognize his success and instead, he undermined him:
“He got really jealous. I was shocked because, in my mind, I watched too many Disney movies, but I thought he would pat me on the head and say, ‘Good job, kid, I’m so proud of you.’ It was the exact opposite. He acted like I played some weird magic trick, and I got lucky. He was using words like ‘lucky’ and ‘save your money because you’re gonna need it,’ and ‘snug a knuckle in the last’ it was all this doomed talk. He put that vibe on me.”
In 2011, he had an interview with the Rolling Stones where he talked about his family in unfiltered details. He mentioned that his relationship with his father effected the relationships he built with others, and caused him to enable his friends’ addictions:
“If I love somebody, I’ll look the other way, and stand there and walk them through their addiction. Maybe because of my father I learned how to do this at a young age.”
The Smashing Pumpkins is still up and going. Their latest album ‘ATUM’ was released in May. You can listen to the whole album below.
