The Smashing Pumpkins

Early years: 1988–1991

After the breakup of his gothic rock and metal band The Marked, singer and guitarist Billy Corgan left St. Petersburg, Florida, and returned to his native city of Chicago, where he took a job in a record store and had the idea to start a band called the Smashing Pumpkins. While working at the store he met guitarist James Iha. Adorning themselves with paisley and other psychedelic trappings, the two began writing songs (with the aid of a drum machine) which were heavily influenced by the Cure and New Order. The duo performed live for the first time on July 9, 1988, at the Polish bar Chicago 21. This performance included only Corgan on bass and Iha on guitar with a drum machine. Shortly thereafter, Corgan met D'arcy Wretzky after a show by...

Reformation and Zeitgeist: 2005–2008

On June 21, 2005, the day of the release of his first solo album, TheFutureEmbrace, Corgan took out full-page advertisements in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times to announce that he planned to reunite the band. "For a year now", Corgan wrote, "I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep. But now I want you to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive the Smashing Pumpkins. I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams". Corgan and Chamberlin were verified as participants in the reunion, but there was question as to whether other former members of the band would participate.

Musical style, influences, and legacy

The Smashing Pumpkins' music has explored alternative rock, grunge, psychedelic rock, heavy metal, shoegaze, synth-pop, art rock, electronic rock, gothic rock, dream pop, psychedelia, college rock, punk rock, and progressive rock. According to drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, when the Smashing Pumpkins first formed, each member had their own set of influences, few of which were shared by the whole band:At the beginning, [there were few common influences]. I came from a jazz background, my influences were Tony Williams, Jeff Beck, Return to Forever, Weather Report. Billy was very much into Joy Division, New Order, Bauhaus, but also was a closet Mahavishnu fan, and really liked that Yngwie Malmsteen stuff, progressive rock. James Iha was really...

Eye

"Eye" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1997 on the soundtrack to the David Lynch film Lost Highway. Along with the song "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" from Batman & Robin and "Christmastime" from A Very Special Christmas 3, "Eye" represented a period of work on compilations done by the Pumpkins in between the release of the two albums Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Adore.

It also appeared on their greatest hits collection Rotten Apples.

Reception

The song reached number eight on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1997. Corgan later said the surprise success of "Eye" as a single inspired the band to continue with the new electronica-tinged direction as they began work on Adore.

Covers

Meg Myers covered the song for 2026's Sending Hearts To All My Dearies: A Tribute To The Smashing Pumpkins.

Today

"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.

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 was plagued by writer's block and had become depressed to the point of contemplating suicide. He 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 this pressure and with other complications, the Pumpkins entered the Triclops...

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".

Music video

The 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.

Reception

"Today" has received positive reviews. Ned Raggett of AllMusic called the song an "at-once storming but catchy smash single". Johnny Black of Blender noted that the song "has achieved a remarkable status as one of the defining songs of its generation". Robert Christgau cited "Today" as one of the highlights of Siamese Dream. However, Stylus Magazine's Brett Hickman said "nothing can make 'Today' sound fresh again [on the live album Earphoria, which this particular review is of]. This is a prime example of the power that radio and MTV have in ruining a great song." "Today" topped Eye Weekly magazine's year-end list of best singles, and also appeared at number 32 on NME's year-end list of best singles.