Tonight, Tonight

:"Tonight Tonight" is also the name of a song by Finnish band The Rasmus from the album "Hell of a Tester."Infobox Single
Name = Tonight, Tonight

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Caption = The single cover of "Tonight, Tonight" is credited to Billy Corgan.cite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:azfixqujld0e~T2
title=Tonight, Tonight: Credits
publisher=allmusic.com
accessdate=2007-04-16]
Artist = The Smashing Pumpkins
from Album = Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
B-side =
Released = April 15 1996
Format = CD
Recorded = 1995
Genre = Alternative rock
Length = 4:16
Label = Virgin Records
Writer = Billy Corgan
Producer = Flood, Alan Moulder and Billy Corgan
Certification =
Last single = "Zero"
(1996)
This single = "Tonight, Tonight"
(1996)
Next single = "Muzzle"
(1996)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Type = studio
prev_track = Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
prev_no = 1
this_track = "Tonight, Tonight"
track_no = 2
next_track = "Jellybelly"
next_no = 3

"Tonight, Tonight" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins written by the band's frontman, Billy Corgan. It was the fourth single and second track from their third album, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness", and was released in April 1996. "Tonight, Tonight" was critically acclaimed and commercially well-received upon its release. Additionally, the music video accompanying the song was successful, and has won several awards.

A shorter acoustic version of the song, titled "Tonite Reprise," was included as a b-side to the single and on the triple LP version of "Mellon Collie". This single also later appeared in an extended form on the box set "The Aeroplane Flies High".cite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jxfuxqehld6e
title=The Aeroplane Flies High
author=Erlewine, Stephen Thomas
publisher=allmusic.com
accessdate=2007-04-16] Additionally, the song appears on the band's greatest hits release, "Rotten Apples". [cite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ajftxqeald0e
title=Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits
publisher=allmusic.com
accessdate=2007-04-20]

ong history

Billy Corgan began writing for the follow-up to "Siamese Dream" after the tour in support of that album;cite news
last = Kot
first = Greg
title = Double Take: Smashing Pumpkins raises the stakes with 'Mellon Collie'
publisher = Chicago Tribune
date = 1995-10-22] however, the recording of "Tonight, Tonight" first began while the Pumpkins were still on the "Siamese Dream" tour when Corgan booked the band into a local Chicago studio to record all of their song ideas on tape.cite news
last = Corgan
first = Billy
title = King B's
publisher = Guitar World
date = January 1997]

Composition and lyrics

"Tonight, Tonight" is written in the key of G, performed on instruments tuned down a half-step so the actual pitch is Gmusic|flat. In the original recording sessions, "Tonight, Tonight" was initially written in the key of C instead of G. However, Corgan was not able to sing the song in C, so he wrote a version during the "Mellon Collie" recording sessions to suit his range. The strings for the song were recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. [cite news | last = Spevak | first = Jeff | title =Super Angst Sunday | publisher = Rochester Democrat & Chronicle | date = 01/23/97] Billy Corgan said that recording with a 30-piece string-section for the song "was probably one of the most exciting recording experiences I have ever had."

Lyrically, "Tonight, Tonight" hangs together with the rest of the "Mellon Collie", which is a concept album, as a symbol for the cycle of life and death. [cite news | last = Kelly | first = Christina | title = Smashing Pumpkins-The Multi-Platinum Band is over the infighting but can the harmony last? | publisher = US Magazine| date = 1995-12-01] The lyrics of the song have been called a "story of urgency and longing" and were compared to Robert Herrick's poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time."cite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:d9fqxztjldhe
title=Tonight, Tonight: Song Review
author=Hanson, Amy
publisher=allmusic.com
accessdate=2007-04-16]

Reception

"Tonight, Tonight" was met with positive critical acclaim. Allmusic reviewer Amy Hanson stated that the song "packs an emotional punch." Jim Alexander of "NME" regarded the song as "swirling [and] grand." [cite web
url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/smashing-pumpkins/5854
title=Smashing Pumpkins : Rotten Apples
author=Alexander, Jim
publisher=NME.com
accessdate=2007-04-17] "Time"'s reviewer Christopher John Farley called the song "an expansive rock anthem, complete with soaring guitars and a 30-piece string section." [cite web
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983707,00.html
title=A JOURNEY, NOT A JOYRIDE
author=Farley, Christopher John
publisher=Time.com
date=1995-11-13
accessdate=2007-04-18] "Entertainment Weekly"'s reviewer David Browne praised the use of strings in the song, saying that it was "whipped into a frenzy by hurricane-like strings." [cite web
url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299271,00.html
title=PUMPKIN BATCH: Smashing Pumpkins
author=Browne, David
publisher=EW.com
date=1995-10-27
accessdate=2007-04-18] On "Mellon Collie"'s entry on "Rolling Stone"'s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", "Tonight, Tonight" was praised as "the Pumpkins at their finest." [cite web
url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6627652/487_mellon_collie_and_the_infinite_sadness
title=487) Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
publisher=Rolling Stone
month=November | year=2003
accessdate=2007-04-16]

While "Tonight, Tonight" never approached the chart success of "1979," it was among the most successful singles from "Mellon Collie". Its highest position was at number four on "Billboard" Mainstream Rock Tracks.cite web
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=5700&model.vnuAlbumId=177262
title = The Smashing Pumpkins Artist Chart History
publisher = Billboard.com
accessdate = 2007-02-10] It also achieved a number five on the Modern Rock Tracks and a number 36 on The "Billboard" Hot 100. The song also charted in other countries, peaking at number seven on the UK Singles Chart on May 18, 1996 [cite web
url=http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_S3.HTM
title=Chart Log UK: SL2 - Sox
date=1997-02-06
accessdate=2007-04-17] and peaking at number 21 on the Australian Singles Chart on June 9, 1996. [cite web
url=http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Smashing+Pumpkins&titel=Tonight%2C+Tonight&cat=s
title=THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - TONIGHT, TONIGHT (SINGLE)
publisher=Australian-Charts.com
accessdate=2007-04-17]

Music video

The music video was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and starred Tom Kenny and Jill Talley. The original idea for the music video was for a Busby Berkeley-style video, complete with "people diving into champagne glasses."cite interview |last= Corgan |first= Billy |program= "Smashing Pumpkins Videography" |callsign= MTV |year= 1996] The band was set to begin production on the video, when they discovered that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had done a similarly styled video for their song "Aeroplane," which was almost identical to what they had wanted to do. The second idea for the video was that as the band played on a surreal stage, the camera would go into audience members' eyes and the viewer would see that person's vision of the song. [cite web
url=http://www.spfc.org/online/qualityposts.html?content_id=542
title= Listessa Interviews Billy Corgan
author=Daher, Karl
publisher=Listessa
date=1998-05-29
accessdate=2007-04-18] The third and final concept, inspired by Georges Méliès's silent film "A Trip to the Moon", came from directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who got the idea for the video because the album cover for "Mellon Collie" reminded them of early silent films.Commentary for "Tonight, Tonight" music video. "The Smashing Pumpkins 1991–2000: Greatest Hits Video Collection" (Virgin Records, 2001).] Hence, the video was filmed in the style of a turn-of-the-century silent film using theater-style backdrops and primitive special effects.

Dayton and the production crew initially had problems locating costumes for the video because the movie "Titanic" was being shot at the same time in Los Angeles.cite web | author=Haring, Bruce| date=1997-09-12| title=A 'Smashing' Wardrobe Run| format=http | work=Yahoo! Music| url=http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/12037752 | accessdate=2007-03-04] "Titanic" director James Cameron rented nearly every turn-of-the-century prop and costume in the city, leaving the "Tonight, Tonight" production crew little to work with. Directors Dayton and Faris compromised by renting the leftover costumes and hiring designers to remake them into the elaborate period clothing seen in the video. The video took three days to shoot. [cite web| url=http://www.scene360.com/EDITINGroom_article_melies.html| title=Smashing Pumpkins vs. George Méliès| author=de Barros, Adriana| publisher=Scene360.com| accessdate=2007-08-06]

The video, which debuted in May 1996, begins with a group of people celebrating the launch of a zeppelin to the moon. Tom Kenny's character kisses Jill Talley's character's hand as the two enter the zeppelin, which is lifted off the ground by people dressed as sailors using rope and a pulley. The zeppelin approaches the Moon, which has a face like the Moon's face in "A Trip to the Moon". Shots of the band performing in similar, turn-of-the-century attire using older, acoustic instruments are interspersed. The two characters jump off the zeppelin and fall on the Moon's surface. Suddenly, several hostile humanoid aliens appear, surrounding the couple. Jill Talley's character defends herself by hitting a few of creatures with her umbrella, which vaporizes them, but the two are trapped and tied. The two form a plan, and then break free of the ropes and attack the aliens with their umbrellas. The couple escapes on a rocket similar to the one in "A Trip to the Moon" and land in the sea, where a merman sends them back to the surface in a bubble.

The music video received positive reactions, and even won several awards. Corgan remarked that "I don't think we've ever had people react [like this] ...it just seemed to touch a nerve." It won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996: Best Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Breakthrough Video.cite web
url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/1996/1996mtvv.htm
title=1996 13th MTV Video Music Awards
publisher=latimes.com
accessdate=2007-04-16] "Tonight, Tonight" was nominated for Viewer's Choice and Best Editing, and was also nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 1997 Grammy Awards. [cite web
url=http://www.rockonthenet.com/grammy/videos.htm
title=Rock On The Net: Grammy Awards: Best Music Video
publisher=rockonthenet.com
accessdate=2007-04-16] It is still considered one of the greatest music videos of all time, ranking number 40 on "Stylus Magazine"'s list of the top 100 music videos of all time. [cite web
url=http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/stylus-magazines-top-100-music-videos-of-all-time1.htm
title=Stylus Magazine's Top 100 Music Videos of All Time
author=Stylus Staff
publisher=StylusMagazine.com
date=2006-07-20
accessdate=2007-04-16]

ingle track listings

The "Tonight, Tonight" single was released with two different versions containing different b-sides, one as a standard single and the other as a CD included in the singles box set, "The Aeroplane Flies High". All songs written by Billy Corgan.

*US single release [cite web
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:azfixqujld0e
title=Tonight, Tonight [US]
publisher=allmusic.com
accessdate=2007-04-16]
#"Tonight, Tonight" - 4:15
#"Meladori Magpie" - 2:41
#"Rotten Apples" - 3:02
#"Medellia of the Gray Skies" - 3:11

*"The Aeroplane Flies High" track listing
#"Tonight, Tonight" - 4:15
#"Meladori Magpie" - 2:41
#"Rotten Apples" - 3:02
#"Jupiter's Lament" - 2:30
#"Medellia of the Gray Skies" - 3:11
#"Blank" - 2:54
#"Tonite Reprise" - 2:40

Personnel

All information taken from "Allmusic".
*Billy Corgan – vocals, guitar, producer, drawing
*James Iha - guitar on "Tonight, Tonight" and "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
*D'arcy Wretzky - bass on "Tonight, Tonight" and "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
*Jimmy Chamberlin - drums on "Tonight, Tonight"
*Dennis and Jimmy Flemion – instrumentation on "Medellia of the Gray Skies"
*Jeff Moleski – engineer
*Flood - producer of "Tonight, Tonight"
*Alan Moulder – producer of "Tonight, Tonight"
*Howie Weinberg – mastering

Footnotes