Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, 58, Shares Thoughts About Decline of Rock Music

Billy Corgan has never been shy about speaking his mind, and his latest theory is exactly the kind of thing that makes people stop scrolling. (Or maybe start?) The Smashing Pumpkins frontman recently went on his podcast, “The Magnificent Others,” and dropped a claim that’s equal parts fascinating and eyebrow-raising: rock music was deliberately suppressed, and MTV and the CIA had something to do with it. Hmm. We should unpack this.

What Billy Corgan Actually Said

During a podcast conversation with writer and cultural commentator Conrad Flynn, Corgan didn’t mince words. “I think that rock has been purposely dialed down in the culture,” he said, pointing to a very specific moment in time — 1997 and 1998 — when he noticed something shift at MTV.

Per NME, according to Corgan, rock was still riding high when the channel suddenly decided it was out. Rap moved in to take its place, and the standards and practices changed almost overnight. Things that weren’t previously allowed — like waving guns on screen — became totally fine. Corgan noticed it happening in real time and he has never forgotten it.

Then came the kicker: “Some people assert that the CIA was involved in all that. Again, above my pay grade. But I saw it happen. I did witness it happen.”

To be fair, Corgan didn’t claim to have a CIA dossier in his back pocket. He was careful to keep some distance from the theory. But he said it, and now it’s definitely out there.

The Beatles Versus the Monkees — A Bigger Point

Before getting into the CIA territory, Corgan and Flynn were discussing something that actually holds up pretty well on its own. They talked about the difference between The Beatles and The Monkees — one being a band that genuinely disrupted culture, the other being a manufactured pop-rock product designed to be palatable and profitable. Corgan observed:

“We don’t have 20 Beatles now. But we have 20 Monkees.”

Flynn one-upped him: “20,000 Monkees.”

It’s a pointed critique of how the music industry gravitates toward artists it can control. That part of the conversation is a lot harder to dismiss, because it describes something that’s been playing out in plain sight for decades.

Where the Argument Gets Complicated

Here’s where things get a little challenging for Corgan’s theory. Rolling Stone pointed out that MTV was still heavily playing rock videos in the late ’90s. Billboard’s charts from late 1998 and 1999 show rock music was very much present. The channel’s shift had more to do with chasing the 12-to-24 demographic and keeping advertisers happy than some shadowy government intervention. Interesting.

Plus there’s the uncomfortable truth that Corgan’s own band was going through a rough patch at exactly that moment. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Adore” landed in 1998 to reviews that were, to put it diplomatically, not great. Spin wrote that the band had “given up being a Rock Band and devoted themselves to being a Pop Project.” Rolling Stone later called it “a dud.” So the idea that rock fell off while the Pumpkins were still at their peak isn’t entirely accurate.

Rock Music’s Strange Position Right Now

Whatever you make of the CIA angle, Corgan’s broader point about rock music today is definitely worth thinking about. He noted that rap’s cultural dominance is showing signs of fatigue, pop is sitting on the throne, and yet rock — which actually still sells out stadiums and arenas at an impressive rate — barely registers in mainstream cultural conversation.

Rock is alive in the ticket sales. It’s just not alive in the cultural conversation the way it once was. That gap is there, and it’s strange.

Shirley Manson of Garbage, speaking with Guardian, touched on something similar, though without the conspiracy framing: “Radio would only really play a certain sound — a very reassuring, unthreatening, fun vibe — and these very fierce women from the Nineties just disappeared.” That’s not a CIA plot. That’s an industry making safe, profitable decisions at the expense of anything challenging or gritty.

So, Was Billy Corgan Right?

There’s a version of what Corgan said that makes complete sense – the industry pushed rock aside because it was harder to package, monetize, and control compared to pop. Record labels and media companies have always preferred artists who color between the lines, as Corgan himself put it. (Taylor?)

The CIA involvement? That’s a much bigger leap, and Corgan himself acknowledged it’s above his pay grade. But the underlying frustration – that rock music lost its cultural voice not organically, but through deliberate industry decisions – is something a lot of people feel deeply.

Anyone remember the MTV VJs? Former VJ Kurt Loder’s response when the rock music theory went viral was a simple, unimpressed “Sure.” Honestly, that might be the most rock-and-roll response of all.