The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Says Rock Was “Purposely Dialed Down In The Culture”

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has shared his latest thoughts on the shifting cultural relevance of rock music, suggesting the genre’s decline in mainstream visibility may not have happened naturally.

Speaking on a recent episode of his ‘The Magnificent Others’ podcast alongside guest Conrad Flynn, Corgan explored a wide-ranging discussion about the music industry’s evolution, eventually turning toward what he views as a deliberate reduction of rock’s cultural influence beginning in the late 1990s.

The conversation stemmed from a comparison between The Beatles and The Monkees, with Corgan arguing that while The Beatles are widely viewed as the artistic benchmark of rock music, the industry ultimately adopted a more controlled, commercially driven model closer to that of The Monkees.

“If you stop the clock in 1966 and say, ‘take your pick, The Beatles or The Monkees’, you’d say The Beatles win every time. But The Monkees end up being the model that comes in. We don’t have 20 Beatles now. But we have 20 Monkees.”

As the discussion continued, Flynn joked that modern music culture may now have “20,000 Monkees,” prompting a broader conversation about industry control, artist autonomy, and shifting commercial priorities. That led Corgan to outline his belief that rock music’s diminished presence in mainstream media was intentional.

“I think, and I will say it overtly, I think that rock has been purposely dialed down in the culture. [It began in the] late ’90s. I think the first — and again this gets wizard behind the curtain, right? Somebody’s going to say, ‘Well, how do you know who was the wizard behind the curtain?’ All I know is I saw the gravity shift, okay?”

Corgan pointed specifically to changes he witnessed around MTV in the late ’90s, claiming programming priorities shifted away from rock despite the genre’s continued commercial success at the time.

“If you were at MTV, or around MTV in 1997–98, suddenly they decided rock was out, when rock was very, very high up in the thing. And it was replaced by rap… I saw it happen. I did witness it happen.”

While acknowledging that influential and innovative artists emerged during that era, Corgan questioned why rock remains one of the strongest live-ticket draws globally while receiving comparatively little cultural spotlight today.

“Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the western world, and yet there’s almost no representation of rock in culture. So why do we have that schism? I think they purposely dialed down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture.”

Corgan’s comments add to an ongoing industry debate surrounding rock’s modern place in popular music — particularly as streaming trends, pop dominance, and shifting media ecosystems continue reshaping how genres reach mainstream audiences.

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