Today sees the release of an exciting new collaboration between The Smashing Pumpkins and YUNGBLUD.
YUNGBLUD first came into contact with Billy Corgan in Birmingham last July during the Black Sabbath farewell concert, Back To The Beginning, where both artists performed in honour of Ozzy Osbourne.
In a 2023 interview with Allison Hagendorf, Corgan spoke openly about YUNGBLUD’s career trajectory, noting, “I can tell where he’s going, and if I’m right, we’ll be talking about him for the next 50 years.” That belief — echoed more recently on Corgan’s podcast The Magnificent Ones (LISTEN), where he likened YUNGBLUD’s evolution to that of Elton John, citing his rare ability to move from pop- and piano-driven beginnings into rock – deeply resonated with YUNGBLUD, giving him the confidence to fully commit to the rock album he had long envisioned. The two artists’ meeting in Birmingham led to the idea of a collaboration — giving rise to this new version of YUNGBLUD’s Zombie, with The Smashing Pumpkins now featuring on a song that Corgan had indirectly inspired years earlier.
Billy Corgan said, “Yungblud’s star shines bright, so it’s been great fun to lend our zig-zag voice to his Zombie, which he’s said was inspired by one of our own. Hence the encouragement that we make this rendition as personal as possible and I’m proud to say we’ve done that; if only to honour him in return.”
YUNGBLUD expanded, “Siamese Dream was an album that was there for me more than I could ever explain when I was growing so to be making music with the band that created it is really quite hard to comprehend. Billy has always been such a massive inspiration to me but more recently a huge mentor of mine. His outlook on the importance of truth in art is something that I’ve always held close to my heart. Zombie is the most important song of IDOLS to me. It’s deeply personal and it was heavily influenced by The Smashing Pumpkins’ ability to mix emotion, cinema and heavy guitars. I sent Billy an email, asking if he would re-imagine this song with me and when he agreed to it, it was a dream come true. To watch one of my idols work on something that I had written was one of the greatest honours of my life. I love that this new version of ‘Zombie’ is heavier, it has Billy Corgan’s iconic guitar sound, it has more urgency and it rips my heart out. I’m so proud of it.”
You can find the track here
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