BILLY CORGAN: 'TONY IOMMI Was Such A Pioneering Guitarist And A Visionary'

In a new interview with Australia's Wall Of Sound, SMASHING PUMPKINS frontman Billy Corgan was asked which BLACK SABBATH album he would take with him if the planet was being blown up and we were all boarding a big spaceship and he was only allowed to take one SABBATH LP with him. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. Tony [Iommi, SABBATH guitarist] was such a pioneering guitarist and a visionary musically, and what makes him so interesting is he pioneered the idea of a riff becoming part of the song in a way that was almost atmospheric and cinematic. And I think we really all understand that now, especially those of us who love metal. But then in about '74, '75, Tony starts to take this kind of artistic turn. It's almost alternative SABBATH, if you really look at it. And I think that's why SABBATH has so much street cred with alternative musicians and even rappers and stuff like that. There's this other SABBATH. 'Cause early SABBATH is more bluesy, heavy, doomy, but somewhere in there, it starts to get really out there, and that's the SABBATH I love the most."

Corgan also talked about SABBATH's fourth album, 1972's "Vol. 4", the recording of which was plagued with problems, many due to the SABBATH bandmembers' substance abuse.

"I did ask Tony once — I'm bragging, but I got to work with Tony on his solo record — and I said to Tony, 'Why does 'Vol. 4' sound so weird?'" Billy recalled. "And he goes, 'Well, we were living up in the hills in L.A. And every day the guy with the drugs would show up.' And he said, 'We were just so high. And we were working in a house.' He said, 'I think it's just the way we were living.' 'Cause it is a very unique, strange-sounding record. It doesn't sound, really, like any other SABBATH record.

"The great thing about, obviously, one of the best bands ever — my favorite band ever — is every album is different. And even when it starts to get weird that at the end with Ozzy [Osbourne] and things start to kind of fall apart, they're still trying to kind of be a little punk and a little bit — I don't know what they were going for. There's some good stuff in there."

Back in September 2022, Corgan, considered by some to be an underrated guitarist who deserves much more credit than most of the artists that emerged from the 1990s, spoke to Kerrang! magazine about where he finds the inspiration to come up with new guitar riffs. He said: "It has to be fresh. Tony Iommi from BLACK SABBATH, he's my hero, and Tony wrote those riffs that, when you hear him, it's like a movie. In my mind, I always call it 'Cosmic Sabbath'. When I would listen to SABBATH, I felt like I was peering into the universe. That's the way it made me feel, even as a little kid. So for me, a great riff has to kind of make you feel something bigger. So if I'm not in the mood, it just feels weird. There's the thin line between cartoonish and owning the space. Bands like [JUDAS] PRIEST and SABBATH, and even ACCEPT — which the riff [of the then-new SMASHING PUMPKINS single 'Beguiled'] reminds me a little bit of — [they all have] something about fucking owning the metal. It's like, you've gotta believe it."

Corgan was a guest vocalist on the song "Black Oblivion" which appeared on Iommi's 2000 solo album, "Iommi".

"Beguiled" was the first single from SMASHING PUMPKINS' "Atum: A Rock Opera In Three Acts" collection.