The recording studio is a breeding ground for madcap creativity, and Billy Corgan made full use of that while tracking the charmingly titled Fuck You (an Ode to No One).
It was one of the angrier cuts from Smashing Pumpkins’ sprawling 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Now, speaking to Guitar World, Corgan downplays the rumour that, for its guitar solo, he played until his fingers bled.
However, he did try some rather novel production techniques that Pete Townshend would be proud of.
“I remember I had my cabinet in this really, really small room, it was about the size of a closet,” he remembers in the new issue of Guitar World. “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.”
Those kinds of antics are typically reserved for the stage. Pete Townshend used to glue his guitars back together so he could destroy them night after night. To do it in the studio is a wildly different tactic.
“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,’” Corgan says.
“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.”
Corgan was interviewed alongside new Smashing Pumpkins recruit Kiki Wong, who beat 10,000 other players to the gig. During the conversation, Corgan revealed the one technique Wong has that he’s never possessed.
Read Corgan’s new interview in full – alongside chats with Carlos Santana, Zakk Wylde, and more – in the latest issue of Guitar World. Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.
