Chatting for almost an hour, the Smashing Pumpkins lead singer didn't hold back in critiquing his rock 'n' roll contemporaries.

Pearl Jam, the Foo Fighters and ex-girlfriend Courtney Love were all caught in the firing line.

Agreeing with Stern when he said that Pearl Jam were "derivative", Corgan pinned himself and Kurt Cobain as the top rock acts of the '90s. According to Corgan, Pearl Jam "didn't come close".

"If you listen to the band's work, and I know they have a tremendous fanbase and they should, they're a great band," says Corgan. "I just don't think Pearl Jam have the songs."

"If you stack my songs up, Cobain's songs up and that band's songs up, they don't have the songs."

Corgan then exclaimed that he had written the band's hit single 1979 in 20 minutes.

Later addressing the Foo Fighters, Corgan was quick to claim that Dave Grohl had barely evolved  as an artist.

"Dave [Grohl] is a great musician, a great songwriter and has done the work. But to me, my criticism of the Foo Fighters, if I'm being a music critic, is that they just haven't evolved and ... , [are] making the same music," he said.

Stern also quizzed Corgan about ex-girlfriend Courtney Love. In response Corgan stated "back in the day she was smokin' hot", their sex life was "mythical" and that she is the "least loyal person I've ever known in my life."

Addressing the fallout following the interview, Corgan  posted on Twitter that he was simply answering "honestly".

If @HowardStern asks me a question I answer it honestly out of respect to him because: he is a music fan first, and has always encouraged me — Billy Corgan (@Billy) December 10, 2014

No stranger to controversy, Corgan drummed up criticism when he said in 2012 that he would "piss on f--king radiohead" and made transphobic threats over Twitter in 2011.

Listen to the full interview below (language warning):

 

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