Credit: Scarlet PageThe Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has long been outspoken about his less-than optimistic view of today's rock scene, and he's expanded on those opinions in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"Guitar isn’t new technology -- there are only so many ways you can warp it around," Corgan says. "Radiohead was probably the last band that really did anything new with the guitar."
"We get our a**** kicked by EDM or some of these artists that are more keyboard and drum machine and reverb," he adds. "They're engaging in new technology."
Corgan also laments the lack of artists who can "invoke a darker spirit on stage and conjure it right in front of you in a mass of power you can’t explain," but he does count Queens of the Stone Age as one of those bands.
"Most of the bands you can point to that have been successful that still do that, like Queens of the Stone Age, they’re coming from an earlier generation of power and an earlier language, even though they’re having contemporary success," Corgan says. He also sees some potential in Royal Blood.
"There are some flashes, like a Royal Blood or something, where they're trying to figure that power out," Corgan explains. "But they're dealing with an audience that is so predisposed to pop."
Corgan and the Pumpkins are currently on tour with Marilyn Manson.
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