NEW YORK (AP) - At 24, Billy Corgan was drawing inspiration from the streets and hooking up with the mind-set of young people. ``Knowing what they were thinking, what drugs they were doing ...that's easy,'' he says.

Seven years later, the towering lead singer of The Smashing Pumpkins isn't pretending to be in touch with his baggy-clothed, baseball cap-wearing fans. Instead, he's pushing their buttons, aiming to hit different feelings - from aggressiveness to beauty and spontaneity.

To promote ``Adore,'' the band's latest record, Corgan, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'arcy launched a 14-city charity tour earlier this summer. The tour has raised more than $2.5 million, according to the band's publicist.

Organizations benefiting from the tour include the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Illinois; HAVEN, a domestic and sexual abuse counseling and referral center based in Pontiac, Mich.; the Boston Medical Center's Children's AIDS Program; and The Hale House in the Harlem section of New York.

After performing before a capacity audience at Radio City Music Hall Aug. 2, the band returned to the stage and presented Dr. Lorraine E. Hale, co-founder of Hale House, with a check for slightly more than $419,000, one of the largest donations in the center's 29-year history.

Corgan hopes the idea catches on, in an industry where art and business are in ``a healthy imbalance.''

``There's always going to be the Mariah Careys, the Spice Girls, the Celine Dions, that's a part of it," says Corgan, his shaven head radiating in the lobby of the trendy Mercer Hotel in SoHo. "But there also has to be a lot of Radioheads and Smashing Pumpkins."

"There has to be integrity at some level or the whole thing just spins out of control," he says.

For Corgan, there is no middle ground in music. "You either do it or you don't. But if you don't, you can't really expect much because the process is geared completely to those who do.''

1. What do you find most challenging?

Corgan: Reinvention. I think that's part of what we do that doesn't get enough credit. We've attempted to reinvent ourselves on every album. ... If you have a widely accepted album, the album that follows it is the album that you really capitalize upon ...because now you have an audience waiting for more of the same. We refuse to do that.

2. If ``Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness'' was grunge music's swan song, what is "Adore" the beginning of?

Corgan: A transition into greater songwriting and more experimentation. It's attempting to synthesize traditional songwriting and futuristic production. If you really get down to it, it's a roots album from a band who grew up listening to folk records and The Cure.

3. What's key to achieving success in this industry?

Corgan: It's about energy, and if you can't generate the maximum amount of energy then you don't belong in the game.

4. You've accomplished most everything you set out to do. What's next?

Corgan: There's a line in the song, 'To Sheila,' that a lot of people miss where I sing, 'It meant the world to hold a bruising faith but now it's just a matter of grace.' ... If you have the confidence to get what you want out of life with grace, I think you walk away a little cleaner and a little happier.

5. Is there anything that remains unfulfilled for you?

Corgan: I wouldn't mind having a top 10 single. I think I've written some, I just wrote them in the wrong year. ... As much as I talk about integrity, I'm just as much a sucker for a Boston hit as anybody. ... In music, big songs are like immortality. It's like trying to get a star from the heavens. Seriously, I think I've achieved every other goal.