The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by Cliff Hicks a.k.a. @Devinoch for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!

While they may have made some major missteps along their long career, there's no denying that Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins knew what they wanted to do with their first album, Gish. They wanted to play like they might never get another shot at the limelight, and they wanted to get the dreams loose from band leader Billy Corgan's head. The band had a clearly defined sound from the get go, a heady mix of psychedelic rock, heavy metal crunch, art rock pretension and arena ready choruses. And above all else, they had a guitar tone that was utterly distinct and unique, fuzzy and layered and thick in the warmest possible way. From the opening drum and bass start of "I Am One" to the shock lightning guitar blast start of "Siva," the Pumpkins wanted to hit you hard and fast, right from the onset.

Gish is in no way the band's best album (I mean, c'mon, Siamese Dream is the biggest fuck you to the idea of a "sophomore slump" ever, and a contender for best album of the 90s as a decade), but it still established the band as a killer force to be reckoned with. Over the years, the band's made a number of unforced errors, but most recently, by bringing co-founder James Iha and original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin back into the band, they've recently gotten closer back to this pure bloom of sound they made with Gish. And to me, that's a good start.