Here at Flavorpill, we love an elegant infographic. We are also kind of obsessed with ’90s alt-rock, to an altogether unhealthy extent. So, when it came out that Courtney Love has copped to sleeping with not only Gavin Rossdale but also Kate Moss, we went into nostalgia overdrive, reminiscing about who dated or hooked up with who 15 years ago. In the spirit of all things grunge, we opted for a chart we’re calling a “lo-fi infographic” (due to our lamentable lack of artistic ability). While Love is no slouch in the liaison department, we’d also like to draw your attention to Winona Ryder, who has slept with enough guitar gods to fill a mixtape. Click here for a larger version.
What a tangled web they weave. After over fifteen years of on-again, off-again, romantic, platonic, and catastrophic relationship strife between Billy Corgan and Courtney Love, Corgan exploded earlier today on his Twitter feed, spewing pure vitriol in Love’s direction. In a quickfire series of tweets that started approximately two hours ago, Corgan fired shots at Love’s artistic ability, her facilities as a parent and decent human being, and musical credibility without him or Kurt Cobain to latch onto. It’s pretty vicious, and surprising after a month-long silence following Love’s attempts to reconcile after Corgan blasted Love as an “abyss” in a self-congratulatory Rolling Stone interview. Follow the twisted tale and tell us: whose side are you on?
Tom Scott’s Stupid Fight compares the last 100 @replies between two Twitter users against one another and analyzes them based on several “stupid indicators.” Points are deducted for multiple exclamation marks and extreme fondness of abbreviations; irony is strictly frowned upon. To test it out, we decided to pit @flavorpill‘s followers against everyone from Lady Gaga’s fans to Team Coco. Be warned: It was not a fair fight.
The Village Voice’s Sound of the City blog recently published an article with the provocative headline, “Michael Musto to LCD Soundsystem: ‘Suck it, James Murphy!’” Now, what in the world could have happened to provoke that? It seems LCD’s new track “Pow Pow” contains the fighting words, “Eat it Michael Musto; you’re no Bruce Vilanch!” And while the Voice’s Zach Baron had to explain who the band was to Musto, we think his retort to a somewhat nonsensical jab sounds about right.
The Musto-Murphy beef appears to be all in good fun, but it still reminds us of some great moments in more serious (not to mention more seriously entertaining) musician-journalist feuds. After the jump, peruse some of our favorite battles, from Lou Reed vs. Lester Bangs to Pitchfork vs… well, you’ll see.
1. So this is fun: After they were introduced by mutual friend Alicia Keys, Jack White and Jay-Z have recorded a song together! [via TwentyFourBit]
2. Not at the SXSW Festival? IFC.com is live streaming a ton of panels, interviews, and live performances. [via Pop Candy]
3. Have you read Courtney Love‘s crazy Facebook apology to Billy Corgan? An excerpt: “We have again created beauty from the agony between us, all the buried and unburied anguish, all that is true, that is gold, that is meant to be is within this endless and somehow eternal cycle of Billy & Courtney.” [via Billboard]
4. We’d watch that: Conan O’Brien‘s upcoming 30-city tour, “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour,” could be the focus of a documentary film. [via Deadline]
5. For reasons that are unclear, Sigourney Weaver is joining the cast of that Amy Heckerling/Alicia Silverstone vampire romantic comedy. Do you think vampire queens get to chainsmoke? [via THR]
Billy Corgan is not sane. For as long as the world has been exposed to his brilliant musicianship, they have also been subjected to his outspoken antics. Last week, he launched an as-yet-unnamed record label with the likes of The Germs, the Electric Prunes, and the Strawberry Alarm Clock, just to name a few. Never heard of those last two? We hadn’t either. Starchildren, Corgan’s side project from the early ’90s, will also be working on something new.
And did we mention that he’s really dating Jessica Simpson? With that, here’s a list of his weirdest publicity stunts (so far).
So, what do you think of “A Song for a Son“? The newly-debuted track is the first of the 44 songs that will make up the band’s new album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope. All 44 will eventually be available for free download on the Smashing Pumpkins’ website, and released as a series of EPs.
No offense to Mike Byrne, but listening to it makes us miss Jimmy.
“It’s got something to do about not having any kids and thinking about why I don’t have any kids,” Corgan told Spinner, who debuted premiered the song earlier today. “And then also kind of thinking about my relationship with my father — there’s some kind of connection there, but it’s not overt. I didn’t set out to write that. It just rolled out of me.”
Look for more new material to roll out in the coming months.
Our friends at David Lynch Foundation Television paid a studio visit to Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, and we’ve got first dibs on the interview. In it, Corgan discusses his creative process and there’s footage of him working on new Smashing Pumpkins material/holding auditions for their new drummer. He also gives the back story on how “Eye” ended up on the Lost Highway soundtrack. Here’s what Lynch has to say about Corgan: “Billy Corgan is a magical musician — a singer/songwriter with his own unique voice and way… a deep honest coolness emerges every time and his music has a big lasting power.”
Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins held reign over ’90s alt-rock. Grunge has fallen back into fashion, but Corgan seems to be moving on, with much help from the internet. And an Amanda Palmer puppet.
Drastic changes first came with the launch of Everything From Here to There, a website that is “a collective of thoughts about spirituality and the greater good of life in general.” These spiritual explorations include questions of “Who is God if not Us?” and “Who am I to love myself so? I am me.”
Paul Heyman, former Extreme Champion Wrestling boss, has accused Rihanna of album art theft. In his own words, “It’s pretty obvious [Rihanna's Russian Roulette] was copied from, or at least EXTREMELY inspired by the ECW album cover.” We’re not sure Rihanna even knows who this man is, let alone watches sweaty dudes duke it out with barbed wire. We do know, however, that this is not the first case of “copied from” or “EXTREMELY inspired by” album art. We take a look at some of our favorite album art scandals after the jump.
