Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan calls Blink-182’s Travis Barker the “most influential” drummer of the last 30 years

Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan has hailed Blink-182‘s Travis Barker as the most influential drummer of the last 30 years.

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Barker was the latest guest on Corgan’s podcast The Magnificent Others on Wednesday (October 14), with the pair discussing their musical backgrounds, drumming techniques and Barker’s recovery from his near-fatal plane crash in 2008.

During the conversation, Corgan told his guest: “I think you are probably the most influential drummer of the last 30 years.”

“You have influenced more popular drummers in the last thirty years than any drummer I can think of,” he continued. “When we talk about rock/alternative, something about the way you played kind of unleashed this different way of playing.

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“I guess power pop or rock drums, that comes directly from you because before you people didn’t play like that, and after you, almost everybody plays like you.”

Barker appeared taken aback by the praise, replying: “That means so much. Yeah, I mean, I don’t even know what to say.”

He went on to explain how his distinctive style had developed from a wide range of influences, describing it as “just this weird kind of mixture of everything that I was raised on”.

He cited jazz drummer Buddy Rich, the funk grooves of The Meters and Mötley Crüe‘s Tommy Lee, as well as Corgan’s own bandmate Jimmy Chamberlin and Dennis Chambers.

“Even Tommy Lee, like seeing a drummer in the forefront of the band was… There was just so many great drummers,” he said, adding: “Animal from the Muppets was my biggest influence as a child.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Barker reflected on the aftermath of the 2008 plane crash that killed four people and left him with severe burns. The drummer revealed that playing music again had been a crucial part of his recovery, even while his injuries were still healing.

“It was the first thing I did when I got out of the burns centre,” he recalled. “I actually didn’t tell Dr Grossman, my burns doctor… He was a straight shooter and he was like ‘I don’t know if you’re going to play drums again’.”

The drummer’s experiences were explored in the documentary Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear, which was released in August and examined his life, career and recovery from the crash.

Barker returned to flying in 2021, 13 years after the accident, having previously avoided air travel because of the trauma.

Earlier this year, he revealed that Blink-182 were working on a new album, following their 2023 comeback record ‘One More Time…’.

The band also played an intimate private show in California earlier this month, and have announced a string of European performances for 2027.

Corgan, meanwhile, recently completed a run of UK and European shows celebrating Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 album ‘Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness’, reimagining the record with a 60-piece orchestra.

He launched The Magnificent Others in February 2025, and has since welcomed guests including Courtney Love, Melissa Auf der Maur and Chelsea Wolfe.