Smashing Pumpkins honored in L.A.

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan reluctantly accepted a low-grade honor in Hollywood on Wednesday, after revealing that he had spent a lot of time wondering whether it was "a silly thing."

Corgan and bandmate Jimmy Chamberlin placed their hands in wet cement for the Rockwalk, a shrine of sorts outside a music instrument shop. A hundred or so fans turned up, outnumbered by the media and assorted band hangers-on.

"I'm so used to bad vibes, people hating our band and throwing things at us. So it's strange to be honored," Corgan told the crowd.

"I had to think about it. I had to really lay in bed and think, 'Is this a good thing? Is this a silly thing?' I'm really honored. I'm really touched."

He expressed similarly mixed emotions about being in one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s, saying membership in '70s rock gods Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath might have been preferable.

Clearly in a philosophical mood, Corgan said Smashing Pumpkins represented "an existential extension" of himself. The only problem is that he does not always know who he really is.

"So thank you for understanding that part of me that I don't understand."

Corgan and Chamberlin, the band's drummer, are the sole original members of the Chicago band, which enjoyed such modern-rock hits as "Today" and "1979." Internal dissension led to the band's break-up in 2000. Corgan resurrected the Pumpkins in 2005, but without guitarist James Iha and bassist D'Arcy Wretzky.