Billy Corgan Covers Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ On ‘Howard Stern Show’
By Scott Bernstein Dec 3, 2020 • 9:42 am PST
On Tuesday, The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan appeared on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show. Corgan discussed a variety of topics with Howard and treated listeners to a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”
Billy’s visit came just days after the release of Cyr, the latest Smashing Pumpkins album. Corgan spoke of his admiration for Soundgarden and recalled watching Chris Cornell perform up close. Sadly, Billy and Chris had a falling out before Cornell’s death and didn’t get a chance to make up.
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Another topic hit upon was Corgan’s interview with Eddie Van Halen for a Guitar World feature. “It was only supposed to be an hour – he was great, I was with him for like four and a half hours,” Billy explained. “Played guitar, we talked shit about everything, he showed me all the unreleased Van Halen music – it was like the grand tour of all time. I mean, you talk about like 10 out of 10 experience in my life … he was so awesome.”
Corgan went on to talk about parenthood, his love of Black Sabbath, a 1997 appearance on Live! With Regis And Kathie Lee, the influence of Metallica on his music and the future of Smashing Pumpkins.
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Billy performed a handful of songs on The Howard Stern Show. He played Cyr track “Birch Grove,” Smashing Pumpkins classic “Disarm” and the aforementioned cover of “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd. “I think this is the first song that ever really landed me personally,” Billy said of the title track from Pink Floyd’s 1975 studio album. “This was the first song that was like wow, this person is singing for me.”
Watch highlights from Corgan’s appearance on Stern below:
