The Smashing Pumpkins Quotes
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People just expect you to show up, be a cartoon character of yourself, take your money and go home. But don't screw up to the point where you're gonna be out of the picture.
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If you put the right things out there the right things will happen.
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I've learned that you can call it a band, but unless everyone is contributing, it's not, really. It's pretending that it's a band.
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At some point, I had to make a decision: I could practice more and become a really great guitar player or I could work on writing better songs. There are only so many hours in the day, and I found writing songs more fulfilling than working on becoming this virtuoso guitar player.
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And they kind of left to find a guitar player at the very end, so you know, I don't really take it as any slight that I wasn't able to play on the record. It's flattering just to play with them period.
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I was known for throwing knives.
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All he wants to do is practice and that's all he does, all day long. That's what it takes if you want to change the face of music. You've gotta be committed to it.
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For a 6-foot-3 guy with no hair and a whiny voice, I've done all right.
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It's much easier to work on other people's music and play in other people's bands as a guitar player instead of being the main songwriter and singer. That's a really big job to do that.
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Legacy above finances; artistry above fame.
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I always wanted to be in this role, as a songwriter. In the Pumpkins, it was always impossible because Corgan would wake up and write five songs. He was so prolific, there wasn't a lot of room for anyone else.
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It's hard enough to make a good song and a good recording of that song. But to try to tailor it to some outside force is just like - It's never been a factor in what I've done or what the band's done.
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I think the original, 'They're the next Jane's Addiction' things that people said about us in the beginning have been pretty much wiped out.
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This is not a reaction against a negative world. It's a response to a negative world.
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I don't necessarily believe that the sting of failure is a bad thing. It gives you a certain amount of freedom to just say fuck it!
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So there was something of a learning curve with doing your own thing and people seeing you outside of the band. I mean, people have never really heard my voice before - or heard a whole record of mine before. So it was a completely new experience.
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To me, music was about being accepted and escaping from this crummy existence.
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I want to be 'Jimmy Chamberlin, the drummer, the musician who's done many things,' not just 'that guy from the Smashing Pumpkins.'
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I think if you're able to make the music you want and you can do it in the right kind of context, you don't have to be a circus ringleader to be successful.
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The closer I get back to being who I really am, the stronger the music gets.
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My mother came to a Smashing Pumpkins gig once, and I was wearing a dress. She was very upset. She said, 'Everyone's gonna think you're a fag.' I said,'Well, they already think I'm an asshole.'
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People always called The Cure gloomy, but listening to The Cure made me happy. There was something about the gloominess that gave me comfort, and I think we're the same way.
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Actually, I was having dinner with Michael (Stipe, of R.E.M.) when our second album went platinum, which up until that point was the highest success we'd ever had. And he turned to me during dinner and said, 'Welcome to the deep waters, kid.' I'll never forget that.
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I think that the jazzy approach that I have is based on the way that I hear music and in the way I play a supporting role to the other people in the band.