Smashing Pumpkins Frontman Billy Corgan Slams Radiohead

Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan has never been one to sugar coat anything he says. That trend continues as he criticized revered British rockers Radiohead, saying he'll "p___" on the band.

Corgan seems to be in a venting mood in a new interview with NME. The Pumpkins frontman shared his opinion on the state of rock music and how it's viewed in today's world.

"I can't think of any people outside of Weird Al Yankovic who have both embraced and p___ed on rock more than I have," he says. "Obviously there's a level of reverence, but there's also a level of intelligence to even know what to p___ on. Because I'm not p___ing on Rainbow. I'm not p___ing on Deep Purple. But I'll p___ on f___in' Radiohead, because of all this pomposity. This value system that says [Radiohead guitarist] Jonny Greenwood is more valuable than Ritchie Blackmore. Not in the world I grew up in."

Corgan continued his unexpected tirade against Radiohead and Greenwood but also showed a bit of humility. He said Blackmore's talent exceeded those of Greenwood and his own, and the Deep Purple and Rainbow veteran deserves more credit than he gets.

"So I find myself defending things," continues Corgan. "Is Ritchie Blackmore a better guitar player than me and Jonny Greenwood? Yes. Have we all made contributions? Yes. I'm not attacking that. I'm attacking the pomposity that says this is more valuable than that. I'm sick of that. I'm so ****ing sick of it, and nobody seems to tire of it."

The Smashing Pumpkins are ready to release their seventh studio album, Oceania, on June 19. Fans can stream the album on iTunes here. The record is part of Corgan's 44-song Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, which he describes Oceania as "an album within an album." A reissue of the Pumpkins' 1995 classic Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is also in the works, which will reportedly contain three extra discs of unreleased songs.