My brother and I co-purchased “MCIS” 50/50 on the night it came out, from The Wherehouse down the street from where he lived with my dad and stepmom at the time. I ended up taking the “Twilight to Starlight” (“the blue one”) home while he kept “Dawn to Dusk” (“the pink one”), which always makes the former feel like the “first” disk to me – even though that’s out of order and makes it so the title track and “Farewell and Goodnight” don’t sync up as ‘bookends’ to the album, as intended.

The band’s crowning achievement, “Mellon Collie” was the Pumpkins at the top of their game, and how Billy could write so many incredible songs and lyrics in such short period of time I still don’t understand. The uninitiated call Kurt Cobain the voice of our generation, but with all due respect and love for him, it’s ultimately Billy who spoke for us and to us through the Pumpkins’ music.

Paul and I saw SP tour “Mellon Collie” twice in 1996, at a small club and at a big arena. Years later he gave away our MCIS copy without my knowing – he backed up the files for me first – sure wish I still had our OG physical copy bought that night at the La Mesa Wherehouse.