Billy Corgan wrestles with music industry

Published 5:00 am Sunday, April 4, 2010

CHICAGO — Less than an hour before his first Chicago show since December 2008, Billy Corgan sat in LaSalle Power Co.’s U-shaped green room last week discussing — what else? — professional wrestling.

The Smashing Pumpkins singer, a die-hard wrestling fan, managed to make the conversation sound like a discussion about theater (“If a wrestler can embody a character, you’ll go along for the ride”) and kept the tone serious and analytical.

“Part of my attraction to that world is that I put the same energy into it that I used to put into my music world,” said Corgan, 42, who was performing at a benefit for NorthShore University HealthSystem’s Integrative Medicine Program. “It’s not political for me. In the musical world, it got political. I stopped reading all music press and now just read wrestling press.”

If it sounds as if Corgan is down on the record industry, that’s because he is. One of the reasons he plans to release 44 new Smashing Pumpkins songs for free online is to avoid having to deal with record-industry drama. Corgan has so far released two songs off the “Teargarden By Kaleidyscope” project and said he just completed a sixth song.

“I think a song at a time over the course of three to four years makes sense,” Corgan said. “I figured this was the best way to skip all that drama. All that drama is really boring.”

When asked about his studio collaboration with pop star Jessica Simpson last month, Corgan said it was for her coming VH1reality show, “The Price of Beauty.”

“She asked me to help her out on the theme song for her new TV show,” said Corgan, who has been linked to Simpson in the tabloids. “(The show) has an interesting concept. She goes around the world to show how different people perceive beauty.

“I ended up writing part of (the theme song). It has a little bit of an alternative rock edge, but it’s still very pop-y.”

What’s next for Corgan — besides recording 38 more Pumpkins songs?

“I just signed a deal to write my memoir,” Corgan said. “It’s supposed to come out at the end of next year. It’s a spiritual memoir about life from a spiritual perspective — not from a media or celeb perspective.”