{"id":514408,"date":"2026-03-04T20:07:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514408\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T20:07:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T20:07:20","slug":"mtv-in-1997-or-1998-suddenly-they-decided-rock-was-out-it-was-replaced-by-rap-people-were-waving-guns-some-people-assert-the-cia-was-involved-above-my-pay-grade-but-i-saw-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/514408\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMTV in 1997 or 1998, suddenly they decided rock was out – it was replaced by rap\u2026 People were waving guns. Some people assert the CIA was involved… above my pay grade, but I saw it happen\u201d: Billy Corgan says rock was \u201cdialled down\u201d in the late \u201990s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even the most diehard rock fan would admit that the music doesn\u2019t occupy as central a place in popular culture as it did during the 20th Century. The reasons for that are numerous \u2013 the rise of hip hop, technological change and just the simple fact that tastes and fashions move on all play a part in its relative decline. Nothing stays the same forever (otherwise we\u2019d all be listening to each other banging sticks, after all).<\/p>\n

But Billy Corgan seems to think rock\u2019s decline is a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the latest edition of his The Magnificent Others podcast, the lead Smashing Pumpkin said it was \u201cpurposely dialled down\u201d from the late 90s onwards. And the CIA might have been involved. Really.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

He was chatting with his guest, cultural commentator Conrad Flynn, when Corgan came out with it: \u201cI think, and I will say it overtly, I think that rock has been purposely dialled down in the culture. Again, this gets \u2018wizard behind the curtain,\u2019 right? Somebody\u2019s gonna say, \u2018Well, how do you know who was the wizard behind the curtain?\u2019 All I know is I saw the gravity shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube<\/a>.com\/watch?v=sltcaKC_L4g<\/p>\n

They Didn’t Let Rock Die It Was Pushed Out Billy Corgan #rockmusic #theory – YouTube
\n\"They<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIf you were at MTV or around MTV in 1997 or 1998, suddenly they decided rock was out when rock was still very, very high up in the thing. And it was replaced by rap\u2026<\/p>\n

“Their standards and practices immediately shifted, so now that things that weren\u2019t allowed were suddenly allowed. People were waving guns. Some people assert that the CIA was involved in all that. Again, above my pay grade, but I saw it happen. I did witness it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, great music came out of it,\u201d he argued. \u201cQualitative things and great artists came in, but there was this overt shift. I saw it happen. And then now, rap \u2026 seems to be waning in terms of its cultural influence.<\/p>\n

“Pop is completely dominant. Rock is probably the most dominant ticket-selling thing in the Western world, and yet there\u2019s almost no representation of rock in culture. So, why do we have that schism? I think they purposely dialled down the ability of rock stars to have a voice in the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s an opinion. It does sound, though, like it\u2019s passed him by that \u2018they\u2019 \u2013 MTV, the CIA or whoever \u2013 haven\u2019t entirely succeeded in their dastardly plot. Billy, after all, is one of many rock stars who currently has a \u2018voice in the culture\u2019 via a very successful podcast…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even the most diehard rock fan would admit that the music doesn\u2019t occupy as central a place in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-514408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}