Billy Corgan Claims Metallica’s “Fuel” Sounds “Awfully Close” To Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tales Of A Scorched Earth”

During a recent appearance on the Everblack podcast, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was asked if the band would ever play their 1995 song, “Tales of a Scorched Earth,” live. Corgan explained how similar his Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness track is to Metallica’s 1997 hit, “Fuel.” “ Well, let me caveat this by saying that I love James Hetfield as a person. I love Metallica,” Corgan admitted, calling the Metallica frontman “probably the greatest riff writer outside of maybe [Black Sabbath’s] Tony Iommi.” But Corgan went on to draw striking similarities between the bands’ two songs. “If you listen to ‘Tales of a Scorched Earth’ and you listen to that Metallica song, ‘Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.’ … Now, which song came first?” Corgan said. “Now, I don’t think James would rip anything off from me, but the first time I heard [“Fuel”], I was, like, ‘That’s awfully close.’ We all rip each other off, and if it works, great. I’ve got no problem with that. I mean, I’ve certainly ripped Metallica off plenty, so…” (Consequence of Sound)