Billy Corgan Clarifies His Comments on His Rivalry with Kurt Cobain

Billy Corgan is clarifying comments he made about his rivalry with Kurt Cobain.

Corgan’s initial remarks to Zane Lowe had the Smashing Pumpkins frontman saying, “When Kurt died, I cried because I lost my greatest opponent. I want to beat the best. I don’t want to win the championship because it’s just me and a bunch of jabronis, to use a wrestling term.”

Now, after his initial remarks made numerous headlines, Corgan said in a new interview, “I’ve been doing these interviews saying Kurt was by far the most talented person of our generation. So, I’m waving the white flag and saying he won in the talent pool. But I dare put myself in the conversation. So, then people get mad about that, like I don’t have any right. But my band was one of the biggest bands of the era, and still a big band.

He added, “It’s this weird thing where people wanna play this weird game with what you have a right to say and not say. I think I have every right, knowing everybody involved, having played with Nirvana, knowing Kurt a little bit personally. I’ve been very transparent about what it was and what it wasn’t. And somehow it gets turned into this thing that it’s like a rivalry. There’s no rivalry; it’s just all love and respect.”

What’s your favorite rivalry in rock history and why?