Post by IhateMana on Oct 13, 2019 2:06:41 GMT
William Patrick Corgan
Also Known As: Billy Burke
Member Of: The Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan
Vocal Range: E2 - C6
{Vocal Summary}
I don't know how many of you were around in the 90s. I sure the fuck wasn't, I was very much only just born at the ass end of them. So I'm only guessing here, but it would seem that in the 90s you could sing pretty much however the fuck you wanted.
It's pretty safe to say The Smashing Pumpkins would have never existed without Billy Corgan (sorry, William Patrick Corgan*), but unfortunately his obsession for complete control meant his voice came part and parcel with them. Corgan's grating twang and rasp (which is 1% on purpose and 99% awful technique) adulterates rock radio stations the world over like that little bit of wasabi you did not ask for, but always comes packed into those awful cafeteria sushi packs that i'm positive are responsible for 15% of anthropogenic climate change. If you're looking for an in depth technique analysis of Corgan's dusty ass voice, you're not gonna find it here. Corgan is a relatively high-placed vocalist, yet his complete lack of competency means this asset is never put to good use but still comes with that high-placement trade off of having absolutely fuck-all tone below G♯2. So if you're a big fan of all of the gaudy musical atrocities people got away with in the 90s, then Billy Corgan is the man for you.
I don't know how many of you were around in the 90s. I sure the fuck wasn't, I was very much only just born at the ass end of them. So I'm only guessing here, but it would seem that in the 90s you could sing pretty much however the fuck you wanted.
It's pretty safe to say The Smashing Pumpkins would have never existed without Billy Corgan (sorry, William Patrick Corgan*), but unfortunately his obsession for complete control meant his voice came part and parcel with them. Corgan's grating twang and rasp (which is 1% on purpose and 99% awful technique) adulterates rock radio stations the world over like that little bit of wasabi you did not ask for, but always comes packed into those awful cafeteria sushi packs that i'm positive are responsible for 15% of anthropogenic climate change. If you're looking for an in depth technique analysis of Corgan's dusty ass voice, you're not gonna find it here. Corgan is a relatively high-placed vocalist, yet his complete lack of competency means this asset is never put to good use but still comes with that high-placement trade off of having absolutely fuck-all tone below G♯2. So if you're a big fan of all of the gaudy musical atrocities people got away with in the 90s, then Billy Corgan is the man for you.
Significant High Notes
C6 ("Heavy Metal Machine" Live @ the Budokan)
B5 ("Zero" Live @ Glastonbury 1997)
B♭5 ("X.Y.U.")
G♯5 ("Soul Power", "Zero" Live @ Glastonbury 1997)
G5 ("The Beautiful People" Live @ Shoreline Ampitheatre 18/10/97)
F♯5 ("Fuck You (An Ode to No One)" Live @ Rockpalast Dusseldorf 1993, "Glynis")
E♭5 ("7 Shades of Black", "God", "Marquis in Spades", "Money (That's What I Want)" Live @ Los Angeles Dodger Stadium, "Siamese Dream" Broadway Rehearsal demo)
D5 ("Astral Planes", "X.Y.U.")
C♯5 ("Frail and Bedazzled", "The Imploding Voice", "Pissant", "Pug")
C5 ("By Starlight", "Tiberius")
B4 ("French Movie Theme", "United States")
B♭4 ("Antichrist Superstar" Live @ Nashville 2015, "Isolation", "Set the Ray to Jerry" Rough vocal, "Soul Power", "Tales of a Scorched Earth", "Thirty-Three", "Today", "X.Y.U." live with Jane's Addiction 2022)
A4 ("Blissed and Gone", "Christmastime", "(Come On) Let's Go!", "Destination Unknown", "Glynis", "Jesus is the Sun", "Marquis in Spades", "Monuments", "Owata", "Pissant" Rough Mix, "Pomp and Circumstances", "Siva" Peel Session, "Soma", "Starz", "Zowie")
G♯4 ("7 Shades of Black", "Being Beige", "Bodies", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "(Come On) Let's Go!", "Doomsday Clock", "Endless Summer", "The Fellowship", "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)", "Girl Named Sandoz" Peel Session, "God", "Jellybelly", "Knights of Malta", "The Last Song", "Lily (My One and Only)", "Methusela", Sadlands Demo, "Money (That's What I Want)" Live @ Los Angeles Dodger Stadium, "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans", "Pulseczar", "Quiet", "Run2me", "Seek and You Shall Destroy", "Siamese Dream" Broadway Rehearsal demo, "Siva", "STP" Rehearsal Demo, "Tristessa", "United States", "Where Boys Fear to Tread", "Window Paine")
G4 ("Anaise!", "Being Beige", "Blue" Studio demo, "Daphne Descends", "DIA", "Disarm", "Drown", "Geek U.S.A.", "Girl Named Sandoz" Peel Session, "God", "Half-Life of an Autodidact", "Here is No Why", "Hummer", "I of the Mourning", "Inkless", "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea", "Lightning Strikes", "Love", "Marquis in Spades", "Mayonnaise", "Mouths of Babes", "One and All", "Pissant" Rough Mix, "Pomp and Circumstances", "Rocket", "Rock On", "Set the Ray to Jerry" Rough vocal, "Silverfuck", "Solara", "Soma", "Spaceboy", "Starla", "Sweet Sweet", "Tales of a Scorched Earth", "Tiberius", "Today", "We Only Come Out at Night", "We Three Kings" Live on the WGN 2004, "Zero")
F♯4 ("Again, Again, Again", "Alienation", "All Things Change", "Baby Let's Rock", "Bleeding the Orchid", "Bring the Light", "Bury Me", "The Celestials", "Cherry", "Cherub Rock", "The Chicago Code Theme", "The Chimera", "Come With Me", "Cottonwood Symphony", "Declarations of Faith", "Doomsday Clock", "The End is the Beginning is the End", "FOL", "For Martha", "Frail and Bedazzled", "Galapogos", "Geek U.S.A.", "G.L.O.W.", "Glynis", "Hello Kitty Kat", "Home", "Hummer", "I Am One", "Inkless", "Luna", "Ma Belle", "Marquis in Spades", "Moleasskiss" Soundworks demo, "Money (That's What I Want)" Live @ Los Angeles Dodger Stadium, "Oceania", "Panopticon", "Pretty, Pretty Star", "Processional", "Quasar", "Quiet", "Run2me", "Settle Down", "Shiloh", "Siamese Dream" Broadway Rehearsal demo, "Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)", "Snail", "Solara", "Stellar", "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete", "Tarantula", "Tear", "That's the Way (My Love is)", "Thirty-Three" Sadlands Demo, "To Forgive", "ToLoveSomebody", "United States", "Wishing You Were Real" Home demo, "With Sympathy", "Wound")
F4 ("A100", "Antichrist Superstar" Live @ Nashville 2015, "Anti-Hero", "Ava Adore", "Blue Skies Bring Tears", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "The CameraEye", "Christmastime", "Crestfallen", "Dorian", "Drum + Fife", "The Fellowship", "For God and Country", "Freak", "Fuck You (An Ode to No One)", "Geek U.S.A.", "Glass' Theme", "G.L.O.W.", "Here is No Why", "In the Arms of Sleep", "Indecision" Sadlands demo, "Jellybelly", "Knights of Malta", "Landslide", "The Last Song", "Love", "Ma Belle", "Marchin' On", "Mayonnaise", "Monuments", "Muzzle", "Obscured", "Pomp and Circumstances", "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans", "The Rose March", "The Sacred and Profane", "Seek and You Shall Destroy", "Set the Ray to Jerry", "Shame", "Slow Down", "Soothe", "The Spaniards", "Stand Inside Your Love", "Starz", "A Stitch in Time", "Stumbleine", "Superchrist", "Thirty-Three", "Thru the Eyes of Ruby", "Tiberius", "To Sheila", "Today", "Transformer", "Violet Rays", "Walking Shade", "White Spider", "Widow Wake My Mind", "Wildflower", "You're All I've Got Tonight", "Zowie")
E4 ("7 Shades of Black", "99 Floors" Live If All Goes Wrong, "All Things Change", "Amarinthe", "Anaise!", "Apathy's Last Kiss" "Archer", "Astral Planes", "Beautiful", "Behold! The Night Mare", "Black Oblivion", "Blank Page", "Bleeding the Orchid", "Blue", "Blue Skies Bring Tears", "Bodies", "By Starlight", "Christmastime", "Clones (We're All)", "(Come On) Let's Go!", "Dancing in the Moonlight", "Death From Above", "Desire", "DIA", "Disarm", "Drown", "Endless Summer", "The Everlasting Gaze", "Eye", "For God and Country", "For Martha", "Gossamer" Live If All Goes Wrong, "Glissandra", "Glynis", "I of the Mourning", "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea", "Jesus is the Sun", "Kooks" live @ Raymond Revue Bar, London 04/07/1993, "The Long Goodbye", "Luna", "Medellia of the Gray Skies" Take 1, "Monuments", "My Love is Winter", "Neverlost", "Once Upon a Time", "One and All", "One Diamond, One Heart", "Pale Horse", "Pennies", "People We Know", "Plume", "Pug", "Pulseczar", "Purr Snickety", "Real Love", "Ride a Black Swan", "Rocket", "Saturnine", "Siva", "Snail", "Soma", "A Song for a Son", "Soot and Stars", "Sorrows (In Blue)", "Spaceboy", "Spangled", "The Spaniards", "Starla", "A Stitch in Time", "Suffer", "That's the Way (My Love is)", "ToLoveSomebody", "Tom Tom", "Travels", "Tristessa", "Try, Try, Try", "We Only Come Out at Night", "Where Boys Fear to Tread", "Whir", "Wishing You Were Real" Home demo, "Wound", "Yeah")
Significant Low Notes
D3 ("99 Floors" Live If All Goes Wrong, "Aeronaut", "All Things Change", "Archer", "Autumn Nocturne" Sadlands Demo, "Baby Let's Rock", "Behold! The Night Mare", "Blissed and Gone", "The Chimera", "Come With Me", "Dancing in the Moonlight", "Death From Above", "Dorian", "El Sol", "For God and Country", "Freak", "Glissandra", "G.L.O.W.", "Glynis", "Here's to the Atom Bomb", "Honestly", "Lyric", "Mandarynne", "Marchin' On", "Meladori Magpie", "Never Let Me Down Again", "Now and Then", "Hummer", "La Dolly Vita", "Love", "My Love is Winter", "Once in a While", "Owata", "Pale Horse", "Pinwheels", "Pretty, Pretty Star", "Processional", "Pulseczar", "Real Love", "Sad Peter Pan", "Settle Down", "Silverfuck", "Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)", "Siva", "Soot and Stars", "Spangled", "A Stitch in Time", "Sweet Sweet", "Tales of a Scorched Earth", "This Time", "Tiberius", Travels", "Tristessa", "Try, Try, Try", "Vanity", "Violet Rays", "With Sympathy", "Widow Wake My Mind", "Window Paine", "Wrecking Ball" Live on The Tonight Show 2017, "Zowie")
C♯3 ("A100", "The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)", "Again, Again, Again", "Antietam", "Baby Let's Rock", "Black Oblivion", "Blank", "Bleeding the Orchid", "Bodies", "Bye June" Demo, "The Celestials", "Cherry", "(Come On) Let's Go!", "Cross", "Czarina", "Destination Unknown", "Doomsday Clock", "Dreaming", "Endless Summer", "FOL", "Galapogos", "Glass and the Ghost Children", "Glissandra", "Hello Kitty Kat" Soundworks demo, "Home", "If There is a God", "Isolation", "Jersey Shore" Sadlands demo, "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea", "Jupiter's Lament", "The Long Goodbye", "Ma Belle", "Marquis in Spades", "Methusela" Sadlands Demo, "Moleasskiss" Soundworks demo, "Muzzle", "Neverlost", "Of a Broken Heart", "One Diamond, One Heart", "Pretty, Pretty Star", "Pug", "Quiet", "Ride a Black Swan", "The Rose March" "Rotten Apples", "Shame", "Siamese Dream" Broadway Rehearsal demo, "Stand Inside Your Love", "Starz", "Sunkissed", "Superchrist", "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete", "That's the Way (My Love is)", "Thirty-Three", "To Sheila", "Tonight, Tonight", "United States", "Wishing You Were Real" Home demo, "Yeah", "Zeitgeist", "Zero")
C3 ("1979", "99 Floors" Live If It All Goes Wrong, "Ava Adore", "Because You Are", "Blank Page", "Bleeding the Orchid", "Bury Me" Reel Time demo, "Crashland Consequence", "Christmastime", "Crestfallen", "Crush", "Cupid de Locke", "The Everlasting Gaze", "For God and Country", "God", "Here's to the Atom Bomb", "Hippy Trippy", "Honeyspider", "I of the Mourning", "Jellybelly", "Jesus is the Sun", "The Last Song", "Let Me Give the World to You", "Loki Cat", "Mina Loy (M.O.H.)", "My Blue Heaven", "Obscured", "Oceania", "Owata", "Rock On", "Sad Peter Pan", "A Song for a Son", "Suffer", "Today", "Tom Tom", "Transformer", "Valentine" Sadlands demo, "We Only Come Out at Night", "Wildflower", "Winterlong", "With Every Light", "Wrecking Ball" Live on The Tonight Show 2017)
B2 ("Alienation", "Amarinthe", "Annie-Dog", "Archer", "Astral Planes", "Autumn Nocturne" Sadlands Demo, "Blissed and Gone", "Bodies", "Bring the Light", "By Starlight", "Cherub Rock", "Come With Me", "Daydream" Old House demo, "Declarations of Faith", "DIA", "Doomsday Clock", "El Sol", "Farewell and Goodnight", "Gossamer" Live If All Goes Wrong, "Heartsong", "Honestly", "My Mistake", "Now and Then", "Of a Broken Heart", "Once Upon a Time", "People We Know", "Pox", "Real Love", "Saturnine", "Situation", "Smiley" Studio demo, "Soma", "A Song for a Son", "Sparrow", "Stellar", "Strays", "The Tale of Dusty and Pistol Pete", "That's the Way (My Love is)", "Tristessa", "Where Boys Fear to Tread")
B♭2 ("1979", "Because You Are", "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "Cherry", "Chewing Gum" CRC demo, "Cupid de Locke", "Czarina", "Daphne Descends", "Do You Close Your Eyes?", "Dreaming", "The End is the Beginning is the End", "Eye", "Galapogos", "Girl Named Sandoz" Peel Session, "Half-Life of an Autodidact", "I'm Ready", "In the Arms of Sleep", "Isolation", "Jersey Shore" Sadlands demo, "Knights of Malta", "Let Me Give the World to You", "Mouths of Babes", "My Blue Heaven", "Obscured", "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans", "Rotten Apples", "Slow Dawn", "Starz", "Tear", "Thirty-Three" Sadlands Demo, "Thru the Eyes of Ruby", "To Forgive", "To Sheila", "You're All I've Got Tonight")
A2 ("Appels + Oranjes", "Beautiful", "The Beginning is the End is the Beginning", "Behold! The Night Mare", "Christmastime", "Crestfallen", "Do You Close Your Eyes?", "For Martha", "Glynis", "I of the Mourning", "Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea", "La Dolly Vita", "Pennies", "Perfect", "Pulseczar", "Rhinoceros", "Silverfuck", "A Song for a Son")
G♯2 ("Cherub Rock", "Chewing Gum" CRC demo, "God", "Shame", "Thru the Eyes of Ruby", "To Forgive", "To Sheila")
G2 ("Christmastime")
F♯2 ("Beautiful")
E2 ("My Mistake")
.......................................................................................
Blue indicates falsetto
Green indicates harsh or distorted notes
Italics indicates non-melodic notes
Underlines indicate notes obscured in backing vocals or harmonies
Boldface indicates notes that aren't embarrassing to show people
Special thanks to Starman, whose research I wouldn't have found a good chunk of Billy's range without
{Questionable Notes}
There's an anecdote floating around somewhere where in an interview, Corgan admitted to not being able to hit "that male note" (he "thinks it's an A or something" and uses Bono as an example, so I assume he means A4). As it turns out, he wasn't lying, I could not find a single belted A4 anywhere in his discography. The closest he gets to a "belted" A4 would be in the Peel Session of "Siva" or the screamed A4s in "Marquis in Spades".
A5 ("United States" Exclamation)
E♭5 ("Dross" Exclamation, "Pissant" Rough Mix, Dogshit, "Rock On" Nah m8)
A4 ("Snail" Live Radio performance. Basically complete garbage)
G♯4 ("Zero" Yucky)
E♭2 ("In the Arms of Sleep" Anacrusis)
B1? ("Pulseczar" Very Bad)
There's an anecdote floating around somewhere where in an interview, Corgan admitted to not being able to hit "that male note" (he "thinks it's an A or something" and uses Bono as an example, so I assume he means A4). As it turns out, he wasn't lying, I could not find a single belted A4 anywhere in his discography. The closest he gets to a "belted" A4 would be in the Peel Session of "Siva" or the screamed A4s in "Marquis in Spades".
A5 ("United States" Exclamation)
E♭5 ("Dross" Exclamation, "Pissant" Rough Mix, Dogshit, "Rock On" Nah m8)
A4 ("Snail" Live Radio performance. Basically complete garbage)
G♯4 ("Zero" Yucky)
E♭2 ("In the Arms of Sleep" Anacrusis)
B1? ("Pulseczar" Very Bad)
{Discography}The Smashing Pumpkins
Gish - (COMPLETED) A2 - G♯4
Siamese Dream - (COMPLETED) G♯2 - B♭4
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - (COMPLETED) F♯2 - B♭5
Adore (COMPLETED) G♯2 - C♯5
Machina/The Machines of God - (COMPLETED) A2 - C♯5
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music - (COMPLETED) B2 - F♯4
Zeitgeist - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - E♭5
Teargarden by Kaleidyscope
-- Songs for a Sailor - (COMPLETED) A2 - D5
-- The Solstice Bare - (COMPLETED) C3 - G♯4
-- Oceania - (COMPLETED) C3 - G4 (wow ok wtf)
-- Monuments to an Elegy - (COMPLETED) D3 - C5
Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - G♯4
Pisces Iscariot - (COMPLETED)
The Aeroplane Flies High - (COMPLETED)
Judas O - (COMPLETED)
Rarities & B-Sides - (COMPLETED)
Zwan
Mary Star of the Sea - (COMPLETED) A2 - G♯4
Solo
TheFutureEmbrace - (COMPLETED) B2 - G4
Ogilala - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - A4
Gish - (COMPLETED) A2 - G♯4
Siamese Dream - (COMPLETED) G♯2 - B♭4
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - (COMPLETED) F♯2 - B♭5
Adore (COMPLETED) G♯2 - C♯5
Machina/The Machines of God - (COMPLETED) A2 - C♯5
Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music - (COMPLETED) B2 - F♯4
Zeitgeist - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - E♭5
Teargarden by Kaleidyscope
-- Songs for a Sailor - (COMPLETED) A2 - D5
-- The Solstice Bare - (COMPLETED) C3 - G♯4
-- Oceania - (COMPLETED) C3 - G4 (wow ok wtf)
-- Monuments to an Elegy - (COMPLETED) D3 - C5
Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - G♯4
Pisces Iscariot - (COMPLETED)
The Aeroplane Flies High - (COMPLETED)
Judas O - (COMPLETED)
Rarities & B-Sides - (COMPLETED)
Zwan
Mary Star of the Sea - (COMPLETED) A2 - G♯4
Solo
TheFutureEmbrace - (COMPLETED) B2 - G4
Ogilala - (COMPLETED) B♭2 - A4
