Chris Isaak recently launched a talk/music show on the Biography Channel and despite my initial reservations, it's become quite intoxicating. If you're looking for something biting or edgy, this isn't it, but it is insightful. Isaak is very laid back and puts the guest at ease. This was apparent during his episode with the Smashing Pumpkins. Despite all of Isaak's ease, this was an odd episode.For a full recap of he show, I would check this link out. The writer basically gives you a blow by blow account of the interview. However, what makes this interview so unique is that is has Jimmy Chamberlin was still in the band for the interview but by the time it aired, he had left.
The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most fascinating bands in the last twenty-years, if for no other reason that they reached staggering heights and yet seemed perfectly OK with throwing it away. Being from Chicago, it was easy to get tired of these guys in the 1990's as the local press felt they were descendants of Jesus. However, that time has passed and now they love sticking Billy up on a cross. With all of that being said, I find him fascinating because while most artists are concerned with record sales, airplay and ticket sales Corgan doesn't give a rats ass. I think it's too easy to say that he's an a-hole for not playing his hits. Heck, look at Bob Dylan. He gives an interview where he feels the Stones aren't really the Stones without Bill Wyman and you can barely understand his lyrics in concert, but he's a legend. Corgan tells it like it is, is brutally truthful and he's peggaed as a first rate jerk. Granted, Billy Corgan isn't Bob Dylan (no one is), but still, we bitch and moan about rock stars who hide behind a fake image and who smiles for the cameras but when we get one rock star who is brutally truthful, we call him an "asshole".
I didn't see the Smashing Pumpkins on their last tour (I miss Iha and Darcy), but as difficult as Corgan may be, I find him endlessly entertaining and wildly fascinating to watch and will continue to do so, hopefully for a long time.
