FUSE TV - Billy Corgan Thinks Western Culture Can't Produce the Next Rock Revolutionary

"The last 10 years in rock n' roll has been very, very difficult to watch because it's basically turned into a bunch of McDonald's commercials," Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan tells Fuse. "That’s why I get very argumentative with the indie class, because if you don't let [indie] bands rise up to the mainstream, that's what you get... [when] you get precocious and keep it in New York or Seattle." 

Aside from deriding the exclusivity of indie culture, Corgan believes the music of the 2000s lacks the power to actually change the world in the way previous eras of rock music could.

"What is it producing in the way of great world-changing music? It's not. Because it's not designed to do that, hence the biggest advancements in rock n' roll are electronic music. Because it's existing off most people's radar, in clubs and underground situations. It's not with guys and girls with guitars."

Corgan says you can't even point to one example of a genre-crossing musical genius in 2012. "It should be easy to identify a twentysomething right now who's getting it done. And there isn't a single one of them. At that level—at the level of a Kurt Cobain, John Lennon or Bob Marley. [The next one is] going to show up somewhere where no one anticipates. The next one is going to be in India, Africa, or China and it's going to blow us out of the water, because it's going to be a real movement with real power behind it."

What do you think? Is he too harsh of the music of the new millennium, or does he have a point about rock music's revolutionary stature paling in comparison to previous eras? Watch the video above for his full thoughts on the subject. 

Also, head here to watch Corgan gush over Rush, and listen to him weigh in on today's music video "gimmicks."