“I have this memory of throwing the guitar at the amp over and over to get the perfect cataclysmic ending”: Billy Corgan on the making of his classic Smashing Pumpkins hit
Smashing Pumpkins weren’t messing around when they recorded Fuck You (An Ode To No One) for their 1995 album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Rumour has it that frontman Billy Corgan even drew blood when he recorded the guitar solo, and while he’s not so sure if that really happened, he does remember throwing his guitar at his amp to achieve a “cataclysmic ending”. Very rock ‘n’ roll.
READ MORE: “A Line 6 Spider III got me where I am today!”: Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong thinks it’s more important to have an expensive guitar than a pricey amp
In an interview in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine – which first appeared in the October issue of Guitar World – Corgan says, “I remember that we had a B-room, this very small production room. I had my cabinet in this really, really small room, about the size of a closet. Even when I would sit and play in the control room, the sound from the cabinet was so loud because it was right there.
“Somehow I got the idea that not only did I want to play the solo in front of the cabinet to get the right kind of feedback and resonant things looping through the guitar, but at the end of the solo I wanted to throw the guitar at the amp to make some sort of statement.”
He explains: “I would throw the guitar at the cabinet, which would knock it completely out of tune. Then I would go back and listen to the take and think: ‘Oh, that sucks. Do it again.’ I’d tune the guitar, go back in and blast it out. I have this memory of killing myself, blasting my head off, and then throwing the guitar at the amp over and over to get the perfect kind of cataclysmic ending. Whether or not my fingers bled, I don’t remember.”
In other exciting news for fans of Corgan, Laney recently unveiled the Supergrace Loudpedal – a floor-based dual-amplifier platform that puts his live rig within reach of any guitarist.
Developed in close collaboration with Corgan, Supergrace captures the core of Corgan’s touring sound, without the towering backline or $100k price tag. At its heart are two of Corgan’s essential amplifier voices: the high-gain Carstens Grace, and the iconic Laney Supergroup.
A 30th anniversary edition of Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness was released on 9 January. Find out more via the Smashing Pumpkins website.
The post “I have this memory of throwing the guitar at the amp over and over to get the perfect cataclysmic ending”: Billy Corgan on the making of his classic Smashing Pumpkins hit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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