Mark Laita - Soft White Underbelly | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan

Music, Arts, Performing Arts

4.6 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Billy Corgan sits down with Soft White Underbelly creator Mark Laita for a probing, in‑depth talk about why Laita documents society’s “invisible” people. Laita traces the project back to his Chicago‑area upbringing, teen fascination with street life, and long career as an ad and music photographer. He describes approaching subjects without judgment, the adrenaline of gaining their trust, and the hard lesson that most don’t want help. The pair dig into systemic roots of homelessness and addiction, the fentanyl surge, why real reform must start with kids’ self‑worth, and the limits of charity. They also touch on ethics, Studs Terkel’s influence, and Laita’s plan to broaden his lens beyond Skid Row. The conversation ends on lighter ground with shared memories of Chicago rock shows, cheap‑ticket discoveries like Cheap Trick, and a jaw‑dropping early Van Halen set—underscoring how music and storytelling intertwine in both of their lives. https://www.youtube.com/@BillyCorganTMO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So if your work didn't exist, what happens? Are these people in a better situation? Does the world
0:06.5	get better without your work? At least to me, your work is one step in the right direction.
0:12.1	They act like they want help or you think they need help, but at the end of the day, they
0:15.5	really don't. What is the default there? Is it a lack of self-worth? That's really why I'm doing
0:20.6	this. That's really why I'm doing this.
0:21.0	That's really the core of it.
0:23.8	The solution is not going to be fixing all these people that are already broken.
0:30.5	Thank you so much for being here.
0:32.6	I've been obsessed with your channel.
0:35.2	I found it on YouTube, which is softweight underbelly, but you also have
0:37.8	softweight underbelly.com. I do. Which is the subscription portal. For those that don't know, and I'm obsessed with your channel, and everybody I've talked to, because I said I was going to interview you, that knows your channel, is obsessed with it too. So I don't know what it is about your channel.
0:54.2	It's pretty funny.
0:54.7	It's like once you go in,
0:55.6	you can't get out.
0:56.5	I try to keep myself off. knows your channel, is obsessed with it too. So I don't know what it is about your channel, but it's pretty funny.
0:54.7	It's like once you go in, you can't get out. I try to keep myself off camera as much as possible. Yeah. And I don't really let anybody know who I am, but I still get recognized now. Yeah, well, your voice is very distinctive. So I was in getting ready, and I heard your voice in the hallway, and I knew you were here because I know that voice.
1:13.2	But for those that don't know, your channel, and I'm going to give you my characterization, but I want you to correct me. Sure. You basically talk to people who don't get paid any attention to. I mean, we know there are people who are homeless. We know there are people who are drug addicts. We know there are pimps. Heck, the cops in every city know where the,
1:31.7	where the prostitutes and the pimps hang out. It's not a secret. And you give them a voice.
1:37.7	And to me, a very warm, open way to tell their story, which is sort of surprising. There's no judgment. It's just to share your
1:47.3	story. And I was taken by that because there was nothing to me that felt exploitative. It's like,
1:56.1	this is the real world that operates on the edge of the other world that we all pretend that we're in.
2:00.6	Is that a fair? Yeah, that's one of the best assessments of what I do. Oh, thank you.
	...

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