Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan on the importance of Radiohead in the ’90s

nme.com:

Billy Corgan has openly praised Radiohead in a new interview, and hailed them as one of the first bands to harness a new way of making music in the 1990s.The Smashing Pumpkins frontman discussed the impact the band had on the decade in a recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, and shared the respect he developed for Thom Yorke and co in 1997 – the same year they released ‘OK Computer’.The topic arose when Corgan explained how some artists have “a certain type of affirmational faith” instilled into them, where they believe that if they follow a certain process, things will start to work out.

It was here that the host agreed, and claimed that one person he sees as having that quality is Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke.Corgan agreed, and explained how he initially had “very little respect for the band”, however, came to appreciate Yorke once he became more experimental, and released the band’s iconic third album.“I want to praise him here.

When Radiohead made the shift from [sounding] like every other UK alternative band …we had very little respect for what they were doing,” he said, joking that they were an “enemy band”.“[However,] when he made his pivot, wisely so, with his band to what they became — which is the great band — I found myself thinking: ‘He figured something out before you,’” Corgan continued. “And at that moment, when they started doing it … I found myself flatfooted because I didn’t see that coming.