Billy Corgan Feels Something Mysterious Caused a Decline in Rock’s Influence on Pop Culture

It’s been reported recently that back in December, Billy Corgan on his Magnificent Others podcast stated that rock music, a major influence on the arts and pop culture of the United States in the 20^th century, was purposely hindered by those in power in the late 1990s.  Many say during this period there was a severe decline in rock music coverage on television, radio, and in print due to a change to pop music like Backstreet Boys, NSync, The Spice Girls since they provided happier, more party-oriented music for folks that felt inundated with tougher serious subjects in rock. Rap was also up in popularity with acts like Jay-Z and Eminem gaining acclaim.

Corgan thinks there was a purposeful effort to thwart rock’s voice.

“Rock was the greatest single social-changing force of the 20th century, and here we are 25 years into the 21st century and rock couldn't be any less of an influence on the social political order. Does anybody think that that's kind of strange that somebody decided to push a button somewhere and make sure that people like myself don't say certain things anymore?  I think rock has been purposefully dialed down in the culture. I saw the gravity shift. If you were at MTV or around MTV, 1997, '98, suddenly they decided rock was out when rock was still very, very high up in the thing. And it was replaced by rap. They immediately changed — their standards and practices immediately shifted. So now the things that weren't allowed were suddenly allowed.”

Corgan saw the philosophy through the 21^st century.

“And then now, rap seems to be waning in terms of its cultural influence. Pop is completely dominant. Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the western world, and yet there's almost no representation of rock in culture. So why do we have that schism? I think they purposefully dialed down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture.”

At times during the late 1990s, as Total Request Live on MTV and other major programs begun showing more pop, rap begun selling a lot more, and post-grunge was losing a bit of popularity, it felt like overall media coverage began tiring of guitars and loud, aggressive music.  The rise of nu-metal and alt. metal was not as appealing to several demographics as grunge and post-grunge were, and with it being trashed constantly by media, sometimes it felt like a concerted effort to demolish rock. 

It was a quick change and even when post-grunge had a second wave of popularity that easily competed with pop and rap, rock felt like it’s position on the totem pole of music was sliding.  By 2010, rock was clearly no longer a major influence on pop culture, and people wanted something more fun and bouncy.  Who knows if rock will see a real resurgence – it’s true, rock still does well in concert but falters in streaming compared to pop music.