Billy Corgan claims the music industry "operates on a dumbing down principle."

The Smashing Pumpkins singer and guitarist feels only a few bands, such as Radiohead, get to keep their integrity and "intelligence" on the records they make. "It's incredible to me how sophisticated people really are when you give them the opportunity to be sophisticated. The music business essentially operates on a dumbing down principle. How dumb do we have to go to sell this record to the most amount of people? There are very few bands who are able to keep their intelligence on record, Radiohead are a good example. They have a very high message and are still very popular. But for the most part the charts are dominated by music that's essentially dumbed down in melody, style, tone, texture, and message because it reaches the most amount of people," he said.

Billy, 45, also urged people to look toward the older members of their communities to see "real wisdom," and thinks young bands can learn much from their elders. "I grew up around a lot of Filipinos, in the outskirts of Chicago, and there's always that uncle, that grandma, who knows what the hell's going on. That's where the real wisdom is, you have to listen to that. You can't dumb your family down, you can't dumb your community down, you can't dumb your country down, you can't dumb your bands down. I think with where I am now I don't want to be dumbed down. I just think that's the worst thing for rock and roll," he added.

Smashing Pumpkins latest album, Oceania, is out now.