Smashing Pumpkins released their classic record Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness in 1995, which featured the song "Tales From A Scorched Earth". Metallica released Load one year later in 1996, which contained the classic "Fuel". In a recent interview with the Everblack podcast, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan noted that he feels Metallica might've taken some inspiration from "Tales From A Scorched Earth" for "Fuel".
"Well, let me caveat this by saying that I love James Hetfield as a person. I love Metallica; I saw them in 1984 and all that great stuff. And James is probably the greatest riff writer outside of maybe Tony Iommi. James has written some of the greatest, most amazing riffs and he's still writing them. But if you listen to 'Tales Of A Scorched Earth' and you listen to [Metallica's Fuel'], 'Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire.' See — a little lightbulb went off in your brain… Now, which song came first?"
It's an odd comparison considering "Tales From A Scorched Earth" doesn't have any lyrics that closely match the iconic lines from "Fuel", and the riffs aren't exactly similar either. But hey – Corgan seems to think there's something there.
On Smashing Pumpkins' track coming out one year before "Fuel", Corgan added: "God bless you… Now, I don't think James would rip anything off from me, but the first time I heard that song, I was, like, 'That's awfully close.' But I love me some James. And I'd love somebody trying to get a troll headline out that, some clickbait out of that."
"My father used to say, 'Look, there's only 12 notes.' So, that's the great thing. 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…"
Check out both tracks below and make up your own mind. Personally, I'm not really hearing it.
