The career of Billy Corgan, and by extension The Smashing Pumpkins, did not exactly take a turn for the better in 2008. Whether it was a feeling of post-malaise from 2007’s disastrous Zeitgeist album, or the fact that their absurdly-named Black Sunshine & White Crosses tour was roundly condemned by anyone outside the Cult of Corgan. However, with hubris formerly in tact, Corgan sold (the-somehow-even-worse-than-most-songs-on-Zeitgeist) “G.L.O.W.” and all was well in the capitalist world.
Now, he’s taken the legendary “Today” and stamped a Visa brand on it. This becomes particularly suspicious when considering the following quote from a Newsweek interview from 2004: “Last year, I was offered heavy, heavy money to license ["Today"]. I actually turned down two huge, huge, seven-figure-plus deals last year for two songs… At this point in my life, I don’t feel comfortable. Those songs are the reason I’m alive. If your music is not sacred to the point where it’s a really, really, really heavy decision about whether or not you would allow somebody else to exploit it, then what’s not for sale?”
But as one YouTube user said: “It’s not that he sold out, it’s that he has condemned others for doing what he has just done with the Hyundai and Visa Commercials. I guess his so called principles had a sudden change, which had nothing to do with his MISERABLE RECORD SALES.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
