Billy Corgan: Growing Up 'Around Drug Addicts and Freaks' Makes You 'Lean Left'

Appearing as a guest on the Wednesday, June 20, Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, when asked about his political views, musician Billy Corgan - founder of the Smashing Pumpkins group - declared that he does not have a preference for either party.

When host Morgan asked if he was an "Obama man," Corgan took a jab at liberals as he explained his exposure to liberalism as a child:

No, no, I was basically raised a Democrat, in essence, in a somewhat liberal family. When you grow up around drug addicts and freaks, you know, you tend to lean left, you know. And I remember, as a kid, you know, there was a lot of anti-Nixon stuff. In essence, in my family's  mind, the '50s archetype of the shutdown alcoholic male sort of worked with the Republican party for a while.

He continued:

But I also remember my grandmother Connie sitting in front of the TV when Reagan was nominated, before he was President, nominated for the candidacy and crying and saying he's going to bring this country back. So I had that experience, you know. My grandmother was an immigrant from Italy, and I saw real tears in her eyes because she thought Reagan was going to restore this country to whatever she thought.

But Corgan ended up concluding that he lacks faith in either party:

So I've lived in both paradigms. I'm at the point now where I don't trust either political party. I don't see a reasonable third party independent run from anybody who's rational and  going to get there. But the choices we have are so compromised, I just don't get it. But again, that seems, everybody wants the theater more than they want the reality.