Given that their latest album is a three-part rock opera, it would be hard not to call The Smashing Pumpkins ambitious. During an interview with Apple Music, frontman Billy Corgan shares that his ultimate ambition for the Pumpkins is to be "standing on the top of the heap of our generation."
In achieving that goal, Corgan feels that Kurt Cobain was his "greatest opponent."
"I will go down always as saying Kurt was the most talented guy of our generation," Corgan says of the late Nirvana icon. "Kurt had so much talent, it's, like, frightening. It was like a John Lennon level of talent … or Prince."
"But Kurt's not here, sadly," Corgan continues. "So I looked around, I was, like, 'Alright, well, I could beat the rest of them for sure.'"
Later in the interview, Corgan says, "When Kurt died I cried, because I lost my greatest opponent."
The Smashing Pumpkins' three-act rock opera, ATUM, is out now.
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