Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
I’m not the biggest fan of the grunge era. But when it was happening, it seemed fitting for the times. The genre became so big that it was practically impossible to prevent it from defining our life soundtrack no matter how much we detested it. The band that I liked most of that period was The Smashing Pumpkins. First, the music rocked as hard as the band name did. Second, as much of a control freak Billy Corgan was, I always appreciated his respect and admiration for all the great bands that came before them. And any Rush fan is a fan of mine. Siamese Dream was on heavy rotation in our dorms at college. So many great bangers on that album, but “Today” was the standout.
I’ve written previously about my affinity for songs that employ quiet-loud-quiet dynamics. And The Smashing Pumpkins did it as well as anyone. “Today” is a tale of two cities in rock form, going from quiet, dreamy verses to absolute nightmare fits of distortion in the chorus. At one point in the song, the guitar riff sounds like a siren coming from a fire truck. Then moments later, it sounds like it lit itself in scorching flames. “Today” is not a song for the faint of heart. It’s explosive, and at times sounds more like metal than alt rock. There will never be another rock song quite like it again.
“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.”