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Billy Corgan has a theory as to why rock music hasn’t been as prevalent in mainstream culture in the 21st century as it was in the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s. The Smashing Pumpkins frontman believes that rock was “purposely dialed down” beginning in the late ’90s.
On the latest episode of his own podcast, The Magnificent Others, Corgan discussed the state of rock music with his guest, writer and cultural commentator Conrad Flynn.
“I think, and I will say it overtly, I think that rock has been purposely dialed down in the culture,” began Corgan. “Again, this gets ‘wizard behind the curtain,’ right? Somebody’s gonna say, ‘Well, how do you know who was the wizard behind the curtain?’ All I know is I saw the gravity shift.”
He continued, “If you were at MTV or around MTV in 1997 or 1998, suddenly they decided rock was out when rock was still very, very high up in the thing. And it was replaced by rap… Their standards and practices immediately shifted, so now that things that weren’t allowed were suddenly allowed. People were waving guns. Some people assert that the CIA was involved in all that. Again, above my pay grade, but I saw it happen. I did witness it happen.”
Corgan went on to say, “Of course, great music came out of it, so it’s not a barren wasteland where something was pushed in that replaced something. Qualitative things and great artists came in, but there was this overt shift. I saw it happen. And then now, rap … seems to be waning in terms of its cultural influence. Pop is completely dominant. Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the Western world, and yet there’s almost no representation of rock in culture. So, why do we have that schism? I think they purposely dialed down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture.”
Watch Corgan discuss his theory on the dialing down of rock music in the video below.
English (US) · 