He is best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, singer, and only constant member of alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins.

Corgan formed the Smashing Pumpkins in Chicago in 1988 alongside guitarist James Iha, with bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joining soon after.

Despite grant and scholarship offers from a number of schools, and a tuition fund left by his grandmother,[17] Corgan decided to pursue music full-time.

From 1987 to 1988, he played guitar in Chicago band Deep Blue Dream, which also featured future Static-X frontman Wayne Static.

To secure a show at the Metro in Chicago, the band recruited drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and played for the first time as a quartet on October 5, 1988.

The band's 1995 follow-up effort, the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, was even more successful, spawning a string of hit singles.

[25] On July 12, 1996, touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died in a Manhattan hotel room of a heroin overdose after he and Chamberlin used the drug together.

Featuring a darker, more subdued and heavily electronic sound at a time when alternative rock was declining in mainstream cachet, Adore divided both critics and fans, resulting in a significant decrease in album sales (it sold 1.3 million in the US).

[30] During the recording for Machina, Wretzky quit the band and was replaced for the upcoming tour by former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur.

In 2000 the band released Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music free over the Internet and broke up at the end of the year, playing their last show on December 2, 2000, at the Cabaret Metro.

[45] The tour was also controversial in Australia, with Corgan antagonising the audience and storming off the stage when Smashing Pumpkins songs were yelled out as requests.

[49] The re-formed Smashing Pumpkins went into studio for much of 2006 and early 2007, and performed its first show in seven years on May 22, 2007, with new members Ginger Pooley (bass) and Jeff Schroeder (guitar) replacing Wretzky and Iha.

He toured with the band, composed of ex-Catherine member and "Superchrist" producer Kerry Brown, the Electric Prunes bassist Mark Tulin, Strawberry Alarm Clock keyboardist Mark Weitz, frequent Corgan collaborator Linda Strawberry, flautist Kevin Dippold, "Superchrist" violinist Ysanne Spevack, saxist Justin Norman, new Pumpkins drummer Mike Byrne, and Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, playing covers and new Pumpkins material at several clubs in California.

[51][52] At the end of the tour, Corgan, Byrne, Tulin, and Brown headed back to Chicago to begin work on the new Smashing Pumpkins album, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.

[58] During the summer 2014, he recorded The Smashing Pumpkins's ninth studio album, Monuments to an Elegy, with Tommy Lee and Jeff Schroeder.

[68] In March 2014, it was reported that Corgan was in discussions with American television channel AMC to develop an unscripted reality series about Resistance Pro.

[citation needed] Newly appointed TNA/Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm credits the invention of and the vision behind the Matt Hardy Broken gimmick to Jeremy Borash, David Lagana and Billy Corgan.

[93][94][95] An analysis of the symbolism of Corgan's lyrics considered the blend of beliefs he has cited in various interviews, which include ideas about religion, multiple dimensions, and psychic phenomena.

A picture of Martha as a young girl sitting on a fake moon at Riverview Park is featured on the flipside of the Siamese Dream booklet.

[99][100] In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Corgan confessed that he arranged for Love's band to stay in his Chicago apartment in order to meet her, an encounter he had longed for after seeing her photograph on the back of Hole's new single.

[107] In late 1995,[13] Corgan started dating Ukrainian photographer Yelena Yemchuk, who later contributed to several Smashing Pumpkins videos and album art.

The pair collaborated on multiple occasions during this time, with Autumn providing vocals and violin on his solo album and costume for a supporting music video.

[125] In an interview with radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2016, Corgan voiced discontent with "social justice warriors", comparing them to Maoists, cult members, and the Ku Klux Klan, and calling their actions a threat to freedom of speech.

When asked in a 1994 Rolling Stone interview about his influences, Corgan replied: Eight years old, I put on the Black Sabbath record, and my life is forever changed.

AllMusic said "Starla" "proves that Corgan was one of the finest (and most underrated) rock guitarists of the '90s",[140] while Rolling Stone called him and his Smashing Pumpkins bandmates "ruthless virtuosos".

Other guitarists Corgan rates highly include Uli Jon Roth,[142] Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, Leslie West, Dimebag Darrell and Robin Trower.

[143] His bass playing, which has featured on nearly every Smashing Pumpkins album, was influenced by post-punk figures like Peter Hook and Simon Gallup.

[145] Other favorites include Depeche Mode,[146] Siouxsie and the Banshees,[147] Rush, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Cure, Metallica, Slayer, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra, Dinosaur Jr., My Bloody Valentine,[148] and Spiritualized.

That guitar was used on the recordings for "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" and also "Muzzle", because the heavier wood gave it the basic Strat sound with a bit more bottom.

[155] The Reverend Billy Corgan Signature Terz was launched at the 2018 NAMM Show—an electric version of a 19th-century instrument that is played as if the guitar is capoed at the third fret, and tuned G-g standard.