Billy Corgan Defends Friendship With Marilyn Manson, Compares Himself To Kanye West, And Explains Resentment Toward “The Hipster Writer Class”

It's combative Billy Corgan interview time! Right now, Corgan's band the Smashing Pumpkins — the the in the name seems to be important to Corgan — are experiencing a bit of a resurgence. Their '90s hits are all over TikTok. They're touring arenas to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. They reunited with their Siamese Dream/Gish producer Butch Vig to record "Black Stars," a soundtrack song for the upcoming Hunger Games movie. Olivia Rodrigo performed with them at Lollapalooza. And now, Corgan is the latest guest on the New York Times Popcast. He's got some things that he'd like to say.Corgan seems to relish the chance to go toe-to-toe with a coastal music critic like my friend Jon Caramanica and to ask him whether, in his own words, "Has my work been fairly assessed by your critical class?" Along the way, he veers into digressions about other divisive stars, including his '90s alt-rock peer Marilyn Manson. Corgan remains close to Manson years after many women accused Manson of sexual assault. Last year, Manson appeared at Corgan's birthday party, and the two of them posed for photos together. When Caramanica asked Corgan about that, Corgan said:...