Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is giving fans a unique VIP experience that includes a solo set from the artist as well as a sit-down Q&A with him. At his tour opener in Concord, CA, which featured some reflection on the current state of music in which he complimented Phish, the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, The Who and Foo Fighters as exampled of bands with “lasting power” in the world today. Read the full quote, which was a a part of a greater answer featured in the video below, via AlternativeNation.

“In a world that no longer celebrates musicality, actually being musical is our greatest strength. Being facile is our greatest strength, because literally the generations that are coming up, they can’t move, they cannot move. They are like in one fucking lane, they adhere to their audience, they adhere to social media, they adhere to a trend. Now the audience can celebrate it and pretend like it’s the greatest newest thing, until they discard them and they go on to the next thing. Real lasting power in this world now, generationally speaking, is The Who, is The Grateful Dead. It is Phish, or Dave Matthews, or Foo Fighters. People who can actually play, and actually move with the audience and have a conversation. Now is that everything in the musical world? No. But basically now it’s an immovable force, so you can’t get rid of it.”

Corgan follows up with a discussion on his own catalog, saying, “Seven years ago, it was a negative, ‘why the fuck are you doing 30-minute jams?’ Now, everyday on Twitter, ‘Please play ‘Gossamer,’ all these songs that nobody wanted to hear back then.”

Watch the full video below. The first 10 minutes are fascinating, as Corgan dives into the current state of the band and how they fit into the current music culture today. The quote above comes in around the nine-minute mark.