Billy Corgan doesn’t agree with criticism against the length of Smashing Pumpkins’ latest album, ‘Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts.’
The frontman recently joined a conversation with The Irish Times and explained why he understands Taylor Swift released a two-hour, 31-track version of her latest LP, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’:
“Let’s go back to Sinéad for a second. Now that Sinéad’s gone, would it be a bad thing if somebody turned up tomorrow and said, ‘Hey, I just found this tape, and there’s enough for 20’ – or 30 or 50 – ‘Sinéad songs.’ Would that be a bad thing? Taylor Swift is one of the most gifted pop artists of all time. How is it a bad thing that she’s releasing more music? I can’t follow that … You can go on Spotify and just skip it.”
Then, Corgan referred to the backlash against their album:
“People complained about the length of my last album, ‘Atum.’ I thought, Well, just go make your own playlist. Just listen to the record one time – rag over the six or 10 songs you like and make your own record. Why is this such a strange concept? Have some sense of proportionality. This hyperbolic thing – ‘They ruined Star Wars. My God, this is all too much for me to process’ – it’s all a bit childish.”
Corgan Speaks On Album Process
Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Atum’ album consisted of three separate parts, ‘Atum: Act One,’ ‘Atum: Act Two’ and ‘Atum: Act Three.’ It included 33 songs in total. There were also 10 additional exclusive songs. Billy detailed the album process in June 2023, explaining:
“When you’re making 33 songs like that, you know you have good days and bad days, and the bad days are like, ‘Oh my God, not only am I making something that’s totally insane and too much work, but who’s gonna listen to this thing when it’s done?’”
He again talked about the reactions against the record:
“Even when I handed in the record to the people we were in business with at the time, those entities said, ‘This is a terrible idea, don’t release it, it’s career suicide.’ They said all the same things they told me about ‘Mellon Collie’ [And The Infinite Sadness]. We ended up separating our business relationships with those people and somehow it’s all worked out.”
The album’s first part arrived on November 15, 2022, the second on January 31, 2023, and the third was released on May 5, 2023. It was also their final studio record with Jeff Schroeder.