As great as the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream was — likewise for Gish — it's hard to escape the fact that Billy Corgan can generally be a jerk.

Which is too bad because the first single off the group's new album, "Tarantula," feels like a return to form for the Pumpkins. But here's where Corgan loses credibility with those independent-minded folks like you and me. The Pumpkins' new album Zeitgeist is being released in four different versions for some reason, with Best Buy and Target getting a version with an exclusive bonus track. And iTunes has one with cover versions of Pumpkins song by the Bravery, Panic at the Disco and a bunch of other crappy bands that turn teens into dithering idiots.

So, if you want all of this booty — and if you're a slavish Pumpkins smasher, you probably will — you'll have to buy them all. If that isn't a big middle finger to the indie record stores, I don't know what is. Um, Billy, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but remember how all of us indie record store shoppers practically made you a millionaire many times over? Thanks for screwing us over.

That said, Zeitgeist has entered the Top 5 in the charts of just about every civilized nation on the planet. It sold almost 150,000 copies in the U.S. alone in its first week of release, and "Tarantula" is #2 on the Billboard hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and #9 on the publication’s Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. When is instant karma going to bite him in the butt? Of course, that doesn't mean that I can't wait to get my hands on Zeitgeist. Still, for once, and this totally goes against my usual philosophy (you need to buy the albums people!), I hope someone can burn me a copy because I really don't want to give this guy any more of my hard-earned cash.

Or maybe I'm just bummed that he turned us down for an interview.

Need more information on what the Pumpkins are up to, visit www.smashingpumpkins.com <http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/> and www.myspace.com/smashingpumpkins <http://www.myspace.com/smashingpumpkins>.