Below is the third and final segment of the Smashing Pumpkins’ interview (part one, part two) last Monday on the syndicated radio program “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse”.

Mancow Muller: Hey, fellas, let me ask you something. I mean, ’80s music, the stuff that we grew up with, is so huge again. And when we were kids, it was ’60s music, right?

Billy Corgan: Mhm, Sha Na Na.

MM: At some point this stuff will go full cycle and the ’90s music will hit again. Do you guys envision yourself, you know, at 50 years old, 60 years old, singing “Today”?

BC: That’s a bridge you cross when you get there.

MM: Billy, when you go see these bands that you like and that I like, do you think, “Ah, it’s just nostalgia?” Should they quit, or do you admire them for keeping it going?

BC: It depends on the artist. I think if the artist is still creative…like, look at Neil Diamond: he’s still releasing new songs, he’s a great songwriter, you know? Somebody like that, then I think it’s about the present and the past. Neil Young, the present and the past. With us, it’s about the present and the past. When it turns into just a past thing, that’s where you lose me.

MM: I saw Neil [Diamond] two Saturdays ago.

BC: Was it good?

MM: Yeah. I mean, sure. He did “Sweet Caroline” three times.

BC: That’s weird.

MM: Three times.

BC: Wow.

MM: And what is it about that song that white people have to sing along?

Jimmy Chamberlin: [laughs]

MM: [singing] So good, so good, so good! …Billy, he did do the song I want played at my funeral.

BC: Which is?

MM: “Hell Yeah”.

BC: I don’t know that one.

MM: Well, buddy, you better have someone download it for you.

BC: Okay.

MM: Because it’s his masterpiece.

BC: All right.

MM: “Hell Yeah”, him and Rick Rubin, you’ve got to hear it.

BC: [laughs]

MM: I mean, you guys could have done it better, I hope I haven’t gone into dangerous territory here. But he does pretty well.

BC: God bless. …Are you out of controversial subjects? There must be another one, right?

MM: No! No, I’m just having a conversation with my buddies. So the Smashing Pumpkins continue. The last CD was a smash.

BC: Yeah, we did good.

MM: The concerts are selling.

BC: Yeah.

MM: You guys are all getting along.

BC: Yeah.

MM: Jimmy, you’re off the drugs.

JC: I’m completely clean and sober now for over four years.

BC: It might have something to do with the drumming.

JC: [laughs] Yeah, right.

MM: What do you mean?

BC: Well, that’s why he’s playing so great, I mean…can you imagine, he played…he was out of his mind all those years, with how good he played, and he plays even better when he’s clean and sober.

MM: Jimmy, is there any aspect of that guy that you miss?

JC: Um, no. No, because I gotta say that all those things were filling up empty holes, and those holes have been subsequently filled by my family and my music. I’ve been completely lucky to have kind of lived by fire and kind of survived. And now I’m living by love and water and surviving even better. So, I’m completely happy where I’m at, I’ve never been happier. I have two beautiful kids, a beautiful wife, you know, a beautiful partner, I mean, things are great.

MM: I have two daughters now. My life has changed. I don’t really want to fight Billy as much as I used to want to fight him.

BC: [laughs]

MM: Billy, I’m sure Jimmy’s told you, I told you in Toronto: Kids? When? When are you gonna do it?

BC: I’m…believe me, I’m waiting. It just hasn’t worked out. I really must be miserable to be around, because…

MM: Do you want to have kids?

BC: I do. I’ve wanted to have kids since my late twenties. It’s really probably one of the great tragedies of my life that I don’t have kids.

MM: Is it possible that, just, you don’t have any swimmers?

BC: Uhm… [laughs]

MM: Billy, I would run into you occasionally, and Chris Farley lived in my building where we broadcast, and we would run into you, you know, with your floppy hat, and you’re a very shy guy and everything, but we would see each other every once in a while. When you’re clicking through cable and you see a Farley movie, does that…I still feel kind of sick to my stomach when I see him.

BC: What a great tragedy. He was so talented, and he was such a sweetheart, such a sweetheart. He really was.

MM: Do you feel anything?

BC: In terms of?

MM: Yeah, if just, if “Tommy Boy” is on TV, do you go, “Ohh, man”, because you ran into him a lot.

BC: He — and I think Jimmy can vouch for this — when you talk to him behind the scenes, you realize what a sweetheart he was. And he had that great gift like Belushi, where he could just make you laugh just by the way he moved his body, which is such an amazing talent. He was such a great, gifted person.

MM: All right. Well, guys. Thank you very much.

BC: Thank you!

JC: Thank you.

MM: And, uh…you’re going to be in the area. Are you actually going to come in sometime and see my, uh, my new empire?

BC: We will.

JC: Yeah, of course.

MM: Jimmy, anything else you want to say?

JC: No. All good, man. Good to talk to you.

MM: Thanks guys. Billy, thank you.

BC: Thank you, Mancow, nice to talk to you.

And in case you wanted to read the full interview Billboard had with Matt Sweeney, check it out here. If you want to check out the album, it’s available on Amazon.com for Pepsi Points. Oh, the irony.

The Highlights: Matt on Neil.

I’ve been a fan of Neil Diamond since before I could talk; my mom still always plays his music. In high school my friends and I would freak out to [Diamond’s famed 1973 live album] “Hot August Night” — my friend Lee Hetfield could lip-synch the entire album. I am a giant fan.

Here’s the mindblower: Neil Diamond is so funny, low key and open. He sees every song as a chance to, in his words, “make a great record.” He’d encourage all of us to come up with cool parts and feed us delicious food. He was so encouraging and excited about making music. Every day was awesome.

And what’s up next for Matt?:

I’m also working on new Superwolf (that’s Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s and my collaboration team) songs to follow up the album Drag City put out in 2005. We’ll have a song on a Kenneth Anger tribute album that’s coming out on Dutro Records. I think maybe another new song of ours is gonna be in a movie. I hope to do Chavez stuff as well.

At least there are no “Dead Child”-ren in his future.

So, in what I hope is the first and last appearance of Neil Diamond on this blog, this article from The Week Daily discusses Diamond’s crowning achievement - reaching #1 on the Billboard charts with his new album, Home Before Dark.

Apparently, his “improvisationally leaning band” consists of one familiar face — Matt Sweeney. The Week Daily continues:

And one of those band members was Matt Sweeney, said Brock Thiessen in the blog Exclaim, who has quite a reputation in the indie rock world. In addition to being the former front-man of Chavez, Sweeney has also played with “Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan in the ‘super group’ Zwan,” as well as with “bearded folkster Will Oldham,” and he also “spent some time with lo-fi pop kings Guided by Voices.” And now “Sweeney has played a major role on Home Before Dark.”

The speculation runs rampant that Diamond’s self-publicity on a recent episode of American Idol is what vaulted him to success, but… did anyone actually watch that mess of a show?! It’s so awkward to watch those poor 16-year-old kids trying to even understand the aging delusions of artists like Diamond or Barry Manilow.