Billy Corgan Sells Remaining Fans' Memories to Visa (Video)

March 6, 2009 12:07 p.m. by Andrew Winistorfer

Billy Corgan has been on something of a legacy destroying mission since the release of the latest Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. Lately he's been yelling at fans on stage, whining about fans on Chris Isaak, and licensing exclusive songs to alt-companies like Hyundai. But here's Billy's coup de gras-- he has licensed "Today," arguably his band's defining song, for use in a Visa ad.

Sure, "Today" is on Rock Band, but that's more of fan-friendly move. Letting Visa take the song and put it underneath Morgan Freeman's vocal narration (which always sounds vaguely like he's always in Shawshank Redemption talking about Andy Dufresne) about taking a chance by using your Visa card to accrue more and more debt on things you can't afford, further digging our nation a deeper financial hole. Beautiful stuff, really.

I can understand licensing songs no one's interested in into ads for cars that no one's interested, but licensing "Today?" Corgan had better hope that this ad doesn't stay around for a long time, otherwise it'll make people think of Visa every time "Today" comes on the radio, just like Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" no longer makes me think of riding on Pterodactyls and partying with Led Zeppelin any more--it makes me think of Cadillacs. [Stereogum]

6 Responses

March 6, 2009 at 12:26 p.m.

B/|NGER

Corgan = Sellout

You SELLOUT!
YOU STINK!!!
SELLL
OUT

March 6, 2009 at 12:44 p.m.

Daba

I remember liking "Today" then hating it after I heard for the millionth time.

March 6, 2009 at 6:27 p.m.

mburr

This song was the sell out to MTV when it first came out. "Cherub Rock" was a much better song.

March 10, 2009 at 2:44 p.m.

christian

perfect title. maybe it was because i was a teenager at the time, but this band used to be so magical...in an alternative-rock sort of way...now they are a joke...

March 18, 2009 at 8:14 p.m.

zerokipper

magical doesnt even begin to describe what this band meant to me, now i feel sick everytime i hear billys voice. i never heard the thing about the fans hating them, i've been faithful from gish to zeitgeist, now im just crushed....

May 6, 2009 at 6:13 p.m.

Gregor

Take the whole "sell out" crap and put it aside for a sec. How many musicians have written the amount of music that Billy has? You can argue all you want about whether or not it's any good, but that all subjective. I love it and I know there are millions of other people that love it. I could care less about what he does to make money, why does that even matter? I don’t care about who he hangs out with. I don’t care about what kind of toothpaste he buys and uses. I only care about the music that he makes. I might not connect with him on any other level, but I connect with him there. Did any of the songs magically change when he committed the sin of "selling out"? No! The only thing that changed was the perception of those songs. If your view of music can be swayed so easily, maybe you don’t like actual music as much as this “ideal” of what music should be.

Bring it back to the basics. Bring it back to Music, the thing that is supposed to matter. Billy is one of the greatest musicians of our time. You don't have to like him or his music to appreciate that fact. Billy can be a hypocrite, a liar, a sellout or whatever, but you can’t undo the fact that he’s created more music than almost any other artist of our age.

Go here for a discography and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.spfc.org/songs-releases/song.html?song_type=-1&song_display=