Why Billy Corgan Was A 'Pandering Slut'

Billy Corgan has been a reject all his life, and to some members of the music industry a "pandering slut",according to the new book from Craig Schuftan, Entertain Us!.

In an exclusive extract provided to theMusic.com.au, Schuftan claims that rejection, right from his parents through to acceptance in musical genres, drove Corgan from the early stages of his career.

"He had been rejected by his biological parents, who'd left him in the care of his stepmother," Schuftan writes, "rejected in high school for being a too-tall geek with an ugly birthmark, and rejected in Guyville for being a pop careerist in an indie world."

But this drive also led to a hunger for commercial success, which irked other members of the 'alternative' scene that The Smashing Pumpkins helped create. One such person was Big Black and later Shellac (and now producing credtis) veteran Steve Albini.

"Albini, who had frequently described Corgan in the past as a careerist, now added the singer to his list of 1993's 'pandering sluts' — artists without principles, who served the service industry and left their integrity to rot. There seemed to be some truth to this. Corgan had, by his own admission, sacked the band while recording Siamese Dream because they couldn't play up to the standard he needed, and this standard was at least partially determined by what he thought would get played on the radio."

Entertain Us! is out Friday 1 June through Harper Collins/ABC. Read the full extract here.

To win a copy of the book and/or tickets to the launch shows, head here!