Today (1993) – The Smashing Pumpkins

Today by The Smashing Pumpkins sounds on the surface – uplifting and effervescent for a grunge-leaning alternative rock band that broke through during the mainstream embrace of alternative music in the early 1990s. However, the song comes in waves, capturing fleeting moments of exhilaration and sadness – the feeling of fully engaging with the present and soaking it up for all it’s worth, a sentiment that later reveals its irony, while knowing that tomorrow will arrive too, even if “tomorrow’s much too long” to get to.

From the gentle, chiming opening guitar riff, the song suddenly surges forward as a wall of distorted guitars crashes in. This shift sets up the song’s defining dynamic: the contrast between the delicate, almost siren-like lead guitar and the thick, bursting grunge sound that follows. Somehow, that tension lifts you up rather than drags you down. It certainly did for me the first time I heard it.

Lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter Billy Corgan – who also appears as the central figure in the video – once explained the song’s transformation: “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.”

It surprised me to learn, while researching this article, that Billy Corgan wrote Today during a period when he was experiencing suicidal thoughts. Given the song’s ironic lines – such as “Today is the greatest day” – and its soft, gentle verses, many listeners, myself included, were likely unaware that the song reflects a deeper sense of depression and desperation tied closely to the narrator’s state of mind.

Corgan said, ‘I just thought it was funny to write a song that said today is the greatest day of your life because it can’t get any worse‘. Corgan later compared writing the lyrics of Today and “Disarm” to “ripping [his] guts out“.

I remember buying and listening to The Smashing Pumpkins’ second album, Siamese Dream, repeatedly when it was released in 1993. Today was issued as the album’s second single and achieved moderate success beyond the alternative charts, reaching No. 28 on the US Billboard chart and No. 44 in the UK. It has now recognized as one of the first songs that brought the Pumpkins into the mainstream.

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.” A Blender article described Today as having “achieved a remarkable status as one of the defining songs of its generation, perfectly mirroring the fractured alienation of American youth in the 1990s“.
The song ranked No. 63 in a 2006 poll at WOXY.com of the 500 Best Modern Rock Songs of all time.

Apart from today’s featured track, the record had some other fantastic songs which I listened to often, like Mayonaise, Tonight, Tonight & Disarm. The album received widespread acclaim and is often regarded as one of the best records of the genre. More broadly, my friends and I in Canberra were swept up in the alternative music wave coming out of Seattle, which was taking the music world by storm at the time. The Smashing Pumpkins were just one of many pioneering alternative rock bands helping to shape this new musical landscape. Our fascination with the scene ran deep – we even frequented obscure, grungy venues showcasing garage-style alternative bands that were only just starting out.

The accompanying music video below is pretty animated and sweet and contrasts with some of the dynamic shifts in the instrumentation. The description states: Corgan said that the plot of the video for “Today” was inspired by a memory he had of an ice cream truck driver who, upon quitting his job, gave out his remaining stock of ice cream to the neighborhood children.

The video 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.

Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t live for tomorrow
Tomorrow’s much too long
I’ll burn my eyes out
Before I get out

I wanted more
Than life could ever grant me
Bored by the chore
Of saving face

Today is the greatest
Day I’ve ever known
Can’t wait for tomorrow
I might not have that long
I’ll tear my heart out
Before I get out

Pink ribbon scars
That never forget
I tried so hard
To cleanse these regrets
My angel wings
Were bruised and restrained
My belly stings

Today is
Today is
Today is
The greatest day, ooh
Ooh, oh, oh, ooh

[Bridge]
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you on
I want to turn you

[Outro]
Today is the greatest
Today is the greatest day
Today is the greatest day
That I have ever really known

References:
1. Today (The Smashing Pumpkins song) – Wikipedia