"Today" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, 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 guitars.
"Today" was released in September 1993 as the second single from the band's second album and major label debut, Siamese Dream. "Today" and its follow-up "Disarm" are credited in AllMusic for popularizing the band and "sen[ding] [Siamese Dream] into the stratosphere". "Today" has been generally well received by critics; a Blender article described it 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".
Background and recording
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.
Composition and lyrics
"Today" is written in the key of E-flat major (E) and its guitar parts are played in standard tuning. While Corgan briefly considered tuning the guitar down a half-step and playing the song with the fingerings and positions of E major, he said, "There was something about the E voicing that I liked. So it's absolutely, intentionally in E, not E." "Today" is one of the Siamese Dream songs on which Corgan took over Iha and Wretzky's duties on guitar and bass to ensure quality; Wretzky later stated that Corgan "can do something in three takes where it would maybe take me 20".