Billy Corgan thinks he's underrated as a guitarist. And he complains, talking to Guitar Worldof not being included «in those stupid lists of the best guitarists» or of being there, but in positions too low compared to his talent.
«People», he says, «don't know my contribution as a guitarist, they don't even imagine that it's me who plays most of the guitars».
As for the “stupid lists” of the greatest guitarists of all time, “they don't even include me or they put me behind someone I could outclass. I don't mean to denigrate the musicians who came before me, but you know what? I'm a good enough guitarist to understand who is and isn't a great guitarist.”
He doesn't name names, but adds that «once you remove the various Zakk Wyldes, the Dimebag Darrells, the great Randy Rhoads of this world, in those lists there are a lot of people who only pretend to play the guitar. I certainly have no problem believing that I'm better than many of them.”
In the interview, Corgan puts forward a hypothesis as to why this happens. «If I have to be honest – and maybe this isn't the best way to be honest – people struggle to understand that in Smashing Pumpkins I'm the one who writes the songs, the lyrics, the melodies, the arrangements and plays most of the complicated parts of guitar. And that I can also do solos. It's something that people struggle to accept.”
