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Billy Corgan on what he'd do if Kanye West invaded his speech at the Grammys like Beck's: 'I would have knocked him out'

The Smashing Pumpkins nine Grammy awards to their names

Jamie Campbell
Wednesday 25 February 2015 17:19 GMT
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The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan said he would have “knocked out” Kanye West if he had interrupted his awards show speech.

The rapper caused a stir when he stormed the stage at this year’s Grammys as Beck went to collect his Best Album award for Morning Phase. West later said that Beck should “respect artistry” and hand the award to singer Beyoncé.

Appearing on Australia’s The Morning Show, Corgan said: “I’ve stood at that podium too and I’ll tell you what, if somebody got up on my stage, I would knock them out. I don’t care who it is, I would have knocked him out.”

Album of the Year winner Beck jests with Kanye West after the rapper poked fun at the previous controversy over his Taylor Swift interjection by jumping up during Beck's speech (Getty)

He went on to say that it was “inappropriate for any artist to take somebody else’s moment and make it their own”.

“I think he really believes what he’s saying, I just think that’s the inappropriate venue to do it, because in essence that’s Beck’s moment.”

He made light of any claims that he may have an agenda against the rapper however, saying: “Between Kanye and I, it’d probably be a stand-off but Kim (Kardashian, West’s wife), would probably take me down.”

Corgan, who is currently in Australia performing at the Soundwave music festival, also voiced his concerns on the current state of the music industry. In particular, he described what he considers to be the “scourge” of dance music.

“I know it’s a bit early but to me it’s headed basically towards a form of pornography,” he went on. “You have particularly young women sexualising themselves earlier and earlier in really inappropriate ways to get attention.

“Quite frankly if you look at the history of the music business, the biggest stars are individuals; there’s only one Bob Marley, there’s only one Ozzy Osbourne or Madonna. You can try but you can’t recreate them, so the industry has sort of become more about following rather than leading.”

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