Billy Corgan isn’t one to go around throwing out plagiarism accusations, but he knows when something sounds like one of his songs.
In a recent interview with Australia’s Everblack podcast, The Smashing Pumpkins was asked if the band had ever played their 1995 song “Tales Of A Scorched Earth” live. This prompted the grunge icon to point out that the song in question is strikingly similar to Metallica’s tune “Fuel,” which was on the band’s 1997 album, Reload.
“ Well, let me caveat this by saying that I love James Hetfield as a person. I love Metallica; I saw them in 1984 and all that great stuff,” Billy said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “And James is probably the greatest riff writer outside of maybe [Black Sabbath’s] Tony Iommi. James has written some of the greatest, most amazing riffs, and he’s still writing them.”
Corgan then offered: “But if you listen to ‘Tales Of A Scorched Earth’ and you listen to that Metallica song [‘Fuel’], ‘Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.’ See — a little lightbulb went off in your brain… Now, which song came first?”
The interviewer confirmed that “Tales Of A Scorched Earth” was released two years before “Fuel,” to which Corgan replied: “God bless you… Now, I don’t think James would rip anything off from me, but the first time I heard that song, I was, like, ‘That’s awfully close.’ But I love me some James. And I’d love somebody trying to get a troll headline out that, some clickbait out of that.”
Corgan then added: “My father used to say, ‘Look, there’s only 12 notes.’ So, that’s the great thing. We all rip each other off, and if it works, great. I’ve got no problem with that. I mean, I’ve certainly ripped Metallica off plenty, so…”
Originally appearing on The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 album Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness, “Tales Of A Scorched Earth” is a fan-favorite tune that was never released as a single. It has rarely, if ever, been played live.
The post Billy Corgan Thinks This Metallica Song Sounds ‘Awfully Close’ to a Smashing Pumpkins Track appeared first on VICE.
The post Billy Corgan Thinks This Metallica Song Sounds ‘Awfully Close’ to a Smashing Pumpkins Track appeared first on VICE.
