Today is a song by the Smashing Pumpkins, released in September 13, 1993 as the second single from the band’s second album and major label debut, Siamese Dream. Written by lead vocalist and guitarist Billy Corgan. The song, though seemingly upbeat, contains dark lyrics; Corgan wrote the song about a day in which he was having suicidal thoughts.
The contrast between the grim subject matter of the song and the soft instrumental part during the verses, coupled with use of irony in the lyrics, left many listeners unaware of the song’s tale of depression and desperation.
The song alternates between quiet, dreamy verses and loud choruses with layered, distorted guitar. After the release and minor success of the band’s debut album, Gish, the Smashing Pumpkins were being hyped as “the next Nirvana“. However, the band was experiencing several difficulties at the time.
Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was undergoing an increasingly severe addiction to heroin; James Iha and D’arcy Wretzky had recently broken up their romantic relationship; and Billy Corgan had become depressed to the point of contemplating suicide and plagued by writer’s block.
Corgan recalled that:
“After the first album, I became completely suicidal. It was an eight-month depression, give or take a month, and I was pretty suicidal for about two or three months.”
Under the pressure and other complications, the Pumpkins entered the Triclops Sound Studios in Atlanta to record the follow-up to Gish.
Today was the first song Corgan wrote for Siamese Dream. Corgan said:
“The day after I wrote ‘Today’, my manager heard it and said, ‘It’s a hit’, and I guess in a way, it was.”
Corgan played the self-recorded demo to producer Butch Vig and to the rest of his band, all of whom responded positively. Today already had a chord progression and a melody, but Corgan felt there needed to be an opening riff to the song.
One day, “out of the blue, I heard the opening lick note for note in my head”, Corgan said:
“When I added the opening riff, it completely changed the character of the song. Suddenly, I had a song that was starting out quiet and then got very loud.”
Soon afterwards, Virgin Records executives were sent to check up on the band after hearing about their problems, but were pleased with the demo. The reaction from the executives only served to put more stress on Corgan; as a result, he recorded most of the guitar and bass guitar parts himself, including on the finished version of Today.
Siamese Dream was completed after running four months after the deadline and considerably exceeding its budget. Virgin Records executives saw Today as the ideal lead single, but Corgan wanted Cherub Rock, one of the last songs written for the album, as the lead single. Ultimately, Cherub Rock was released first, but it was only a modest success. Today brought the band popularity through wide radio airplay and a successful music video.
Tracklist:
- Today
- Hello Kitty Kat
- Obscured
The Today‘s music video, directed by Stéphane Sednaoui, brought even more mainstream success to the band through repeated airplay on MTV. Debuting in September 1993, it was shot with low quality photographic equipment, which, like several other early Pumpkins videos, was an intentional stylistic decision.
Corgan said that the video’s plot was inspired by a memory he had of an ice cream truck driver who, upon quitting his job, gave out the rest of his ice cream to the neighborhood children. This image was then melded with Sednaoui’s own sensibilities inspired by the film Zabriskie Point. The video is available on The Smashing Pumpkins – Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991–2000) DVD, released in 2001.
The video begins with Corgan reading a comic book dressed in an ice cream man uniform. A clip of the intro to the song is played and stopped repeatedly before the song begins. Groups of two or more people are kissing each other around him as he drives in an ice cream van through a desert. Corgan picks up a dress-wearing Iha and the two drive for a while before stopping at a gas station, where Chamberlin and Wretzky appear as gas attendants. After Iha changes into a yellow and white cowboy outfit, the band paints the van in various colors.
More people are shown kissing in the hills as the band drives away from the gas station in the van. However, Corgan is ultimately kicked out, and the video ends with him walking off the road wearing a cowboy hat as the van drives away. The video was filmed on August 29, 1993. The opening shots were filmed outside the Taft Hardware • Wilsons building located at 331 Center Street, Taft, CA, 93268, on the 4th street side of the building.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Billy Corgan: lead vocals, guitars, arrangements, production, mixing
James Iha: guitars, backing vocals
D’arcy Wretzky: bass guitar, backing vocals
Jimmy Chamberlin: drums
