"It's not us against them, it's us against us."
"I've always been the type of person that people either hated or liked."
"It's like my dad says: 'There are only 12 notes and there are only so many ways of playing them.' That pretty much sums it up."
"You just get a dominant front person and you don't ever hear about the band or the records. It's like, what did people talk about Nirvana? They talked about Kurt, they talked about Courtney Love, heroin abuse, and smashing guitars and punk rock. They never talked about how good the songs were, how good the lyrics were."
"I think we could come up with a totally different album just about once a year, if we really wanted to."
"...instead of taking the 'I'm cool, I hope you adore me' path [with our music], I chose the path of how to connect. I think that's the reason a lot of people feel a deeper connection with our band than other bands, and I also feel that's why people polarize on us. If you don't get it, it seems preposterous; if you do get it, it's really heavy-it has a weight to it."
[On coping with his mother's death through songs] "This kind of 'work is catharsis' is a bunch of bulls**t. The songs don't help at all. It's a romanticized idea, because you go in your own little garden and turn up stones and you have to live with the worms."
"I feel like I keep getting into these situations and the press rolls in front of me, people read the Q article, and then I spend the rest of my life going, 'But that's not really how it is.' You have to keep untangling the wires. I'm just trying to give you my truth. I have no agenda, that's the only thing I can say in my defense."
[On magazine negativity] "I had this idea that I wanted to start a magazine. Of course I would never do it 'cos I would get crucified-but I'd call the magazine 'The Things We Like'. And the credo of the magazine would be: 'We don't put stuff in here unless we really like it, so don't pick up this magazine expecting to read any dirt, any bulls**t, this is nothing but total support and intrest in the things that we like."
[On other bands] ".....I wrote this article when I was at school in 1984, when I was 17 years old, and I said: 'The three biggest bands of the future are Metallica, U2, and REM.'"
[On the origin of the band's name] "It's supposed to be like 'The Fantastic Pumpkins'! Instead of an act of petulance and agression, it's praise and loveliness!"
"I've never snorted coke....actually, I've never snorted anything."
[From the Jim Stapleton interview (JS)] "I want our music to come across like someone whispering into your ear and going right inside your brain."
[On playing live] "I think it's because we didn't do dumb things like 'Wave your hands in the air' that was suffered a little, but I would rather suffer and not be a fool." (JS)
"We weren't like mates who decided to form a band. The other three met me because they were interested in being in the band that I was starting." (JS)
"Smashing Pumpkins was never meant to be a small band-it was either going to be a big band or a no-band." (JS)
"My view of the world is always tempered by the fact that there are people who are less fortunate than I am." (JS)
[On his appreciation of his fellow bandmates] "In my mid-twenties confusion I felt the need to point arrows at myself and distinguish myself from the band in a way that was kind of childish."
[ On the Death of former Beatle George Harrison] "George was a good and humble man who believed in the power of love to overcome all adversity. He lived his life without asking anything for himself, and his courage to quietly remind us that God created a world for peace and compassion has had a profound effect on all of our lives."
"The arduous monkey knows many secrets."
[On Mellon Collie] "I think basically everyone's happy with the record, and it's probably the best record we've worked on....so we did live recordings like the song 'XYU'- everything's live on it, including the vocals." (1995)
"I have horrible stage fright. I have to be literally out of my body in order to do it. In a trance. Afterwards, Billy'll be like 'Why did you f**k up back there?' and I'll be like, 'I cant' remember, I wasn't there.' Onstage, if I 'come back' for a second I'm s**t-scared. Vomit scared. But if you guys are scared of me onstage remember: I'm smiling inside."
"We have a problem with any labels that people try to hand on us, because all it does is drag you down." (JS)
[On Shirley Manson of Garbage] "I love her. She's a little spitfire. She refuses to play the game."
"I hope it's not like last year's New Year's Eve bash at my place. I remember waking up on the stairs, and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, who had one whiskey the whole time, was doing the washing up. It was a nice way to start the year." -Bono from U2 on New Year's Resolutions.
[In response to Bono's remark] "He's in the neighborhood of truth. As he's wont to do, he's probably dramatized a little bit, but....close. He was celebrating all the New Years of all time at one time!" -Billy Corgan
