Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan believes he isn't given the credit he is due for being one of the world's greatest guitarists.
In an interview with Guitar World, the 57-year-old complained about his status, saying, “Most people don’t even recognize my contributions as a guitar player. They don’t even assume I’m the one playing a lot of the guitar."
Corgan, who has displayed his guitar-playing prowess on acclaimed, classic albums such as 1993's Siamese Dream and 1995's Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, feels that he is often overlooked when magazines and websites compile their lists of the greatest guitar players of all time.
Case in point is last year's list of The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time published by Rolling Stone, which failed to acknowledge his contribution to the instrument.
“You have these silly lists that come out about the greatest guitar players; I usually don’t even make those lists," Corgan explains. "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.”
While explaining that he's "got no problem acknowledging some of the greatest guitar players ever," citing Zakk Wylde, Dimebag Darrell, Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen as some of the best, he feels there are a lot of pretenders out there that he can outplay.
“There’s a lot of people who pretend to play guitar," he says. "I certainly have no problem believing I’m better than a lot of them.”
As for why he feels he isn't considered one of the best, Corgan thinks it has something to do with him doing most of the work in Smashing Pumpkins. Being a guitar god on top of singing and writing all of the music might be too hard for people to comprehend.
“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,” he adds. “And that I’m capable of doing a solo on top of that. I think that’s hard for people to process.”
Watch Billy Corgan geek out over guitars and show off his skills below.