Throughout his two decade career in rock music, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has wrestled with spirituality in his lyrics. In the past few years, his focus on his faith has become even more pronounced. He recently launched a Web site called Everything From Here To There, which contains Corgan's thoughts on God, philosophy and how they relate to current events. He also just signed a deal to write a book that he called a "spiritual memoir," a project he'll be undertaking while also recording and releasing songs for his huge, all-free album Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.
This is no accident. As Corgan told MTV News last week when he stopped in to talk about his new track "A Song for a Son," spirituality has always been a part of his life, and he has taken great pains to actively engage it in an honest way. "That's the great undiscovered part of rock and roll," Corgan said. "Rock and roll tackled drugs and sex and gender and race relations, but here we are in 2009, and God is still a 'Whoa! Don't go there!' kind of thing."
That's not to say that Smashing Pumpkins are morphing into Casting Crowns, but it does open Corgan up for an interesting type of scrutiny. "I had a fan come up to me and say, 'Is this God stuff for real?'" he said. "He thought it was one of my crazy art projects. But it is for real, and it's honest. I really think that if I'm not making people uncomfortable, then I'm not doing my job. And with my Chicago mentality, I have to be doing my job. It's not easy, but it's honest."