Billy Corgan and Melissa Auf der Maur have a relationship that spans decades, and it all started with a $1 Tuesday night show – July 23, 1991 – at a dingy venue in Montréal.
It was precisely that night that their friendship and collaborative connection took flight, snatching Auf der Maur away from her DIY band in Canada to international stages with Courtney Love's Hole and, later, Corgan's Smashing Pumpkins.
Looking back on the time she first met Corgan during one his early gigs, Auf der Maur says on The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan podcast, “You were playing for $1 on a Tuesday. I was a ticket girl at that venue [Les Foufounes Électriques in Montréal], and got in for free.
“There was a Sub Pop logo on the flyer. No one had heard of your band. You had that 12-inch, and it was my night off, but I said to my roommates, ‘Some Sub Pop band is playing. Let's go see them.’ I was one of 20 people.”
Corgan, from his end, explains how that show in Montréal would not only lead to his encounter with Auf der Maur, but teach him a lesson in stagecraft – and dealing with hecklers.
“I was playing this solo in one of our songs, so I was intently looking at my guitar, and as I was playing, a beer bottle smashed against my guitar,” he recalls.
“I don't think it broke, but the beer kind of splattered, and I immediately kind of whirled up to see who threw the bottle. There's only 20 people out there – and usually when that happens, people aren't in a big hurry to let you know who threw the bottle.
“But for whatever reason, when I gave the death glare, the people around your roommate – Bruce – seemed to kind of almost say, ‘Not me.’”
He continues, “And as soon as I saw the body language of people going away from Bruce, I threw my guitar off mid-strum, dove into the crowd, and began strangling him to the ground.” Corgan vividly remembers the “look of terror” in Bruce’s eyes, because, despite heckling him, Auf der Maur’s roommate didn’t “seem to want to fight.”
The ordeal aside, the band continued playing because of a rule imposed by Corgan, even in those early days.
“We also had a rule, which you might remember, in the band, which is, no matter what happens, keep playing. So even though I'm in the crowd choking Bruce to the ground, I got back on stage, picked up a guitar, and finished the song.”
As for Auf der Maur, that was the moment that changed everything, as she explains: “That is when you captured my heart. With every song, [it's] as if I've never heard music. It was so much more realized and magnificent than a lot of the other bands.”
However, Bruce wasn’t so impressed. “Halfway through the show, Bruce, who's watching next to me, was like, ‘What the fuck is wrong with these guys?' I looked, [and] I'm like, ‘What?’ He's like, ‘They're so full [of shit]. They're not playing an arena, they're playing a punk club. Why are they acting like this?’”
Auf der Maur recalls that, right after Corgan pinned Bruce to the ground and promptly went back on stage, he played one song that remains one of her favorites.
“You said, ‘Montréal, we have one more for you.’ And you played, I Am One [the band's debut single], and it changed every cell in my body.’”
Auf der Maur's first band, Tinker, would eventually open for the Smashing Pumpkins at a show in 1993 – after which Corgan famously said, “One day, maybe you'll play in my band.”
In an upcoming interview with Bass Player, Auf der Maur also reveals the key lesson she learned from touring with the Pumpkins.
