Clandestine Noise Operations

Bill Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) recently pondered the decline in popularity of rock music on his podcast The Magnificent Others. 

“Rock was the greatest single social-changing force of the 20th century,” he said. “And here we are 25 years into the 21st century and rock couldn’t be any less of an influence on the social political order. Does anybody think that that’s kind of strange that somebody decided to push a button somewhere and make sure that people like myself don’t say certain things anymore?”

Corgan goes on to assert that, “some people say the CIA was involved in that.” The some people say bit is a less-than-clever Donald Trump trick for making outlandish false statements while trying to dodge consequences. You didn’t say it, some people did! 

Having just read Blank Space by W. David Marx, I can point to poptimism and the new focus on affluence that at least partially led to the fall of rock in the aughts. 

My brother was a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan for years, starting in high school. He bought all their records and traveled states away to go to their shows. He and I were talking about Corgan’s statements and he confided in me that he rarely listened to any of their music these days, even their older work. He was simply burned out on Corgan’s persona and the times he traveled long distances to see shows that were ultimately cancelled.