Synopsis

Billy Corgan appears as an ice cream truck driver who abandons his routine and sets off through a stark desert landscape. Along the way, he picks up unusual passengers, including bandmate James Iha in drag, while the group paints, wanders, embraces, and turns the truck into a moving work of art. The surreal journey ends with the truck arriving in town, where its remaining ice cream is handed out to neighborhood children.

Factoids & Trivia

• Billy Corgan said the video's central idea came from a memory of an ice cream truck driver who quit his job and gave away his remaining stock to local children.

• The video deliberately avoids a literal interpretation of the song's dark lyrics. Its bright colors, playful behavior, and desert imagery create a striking contrast with the song's underlying despair.

• Its visual concept combined Corgan's ice cream truck story with influences associated with the film "Zabriskie Point" and stark documentary-style photography.

• The video was filmed in and around Taft, California, giving the desert scenes an isolated, small-town setting.

• The intentionally rough, low-quality photographic look became part of the video's identity and matched the experimental visual approach of the band's early-1990s clips.

• Heavy MTV rotation helped turn "Today" into the band's mainstream breakthrough and significantly increased attention for "Siamese Dream."

• The video was included on "The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991-2000)," released in 2001.