There’s plenty of focus on workplace hazards and how they affect workers physically, but it’s important to also consider the psychological ramifications of safety incidents. EHS Daily Advisor wrote this week about secondary trauma, which occurs when an individual is indirectly affected by exposure to another person’s pain or emotional struggle. The Song of the Week also looks at mental struggles; it’s “Today,” the breakthrough 1993 hit from the Smashing Pumpkins.
The song is on Siamese Dream, the Chicago band’s second album. The Pumpkins were starting to gain traction in the alternative rock world as acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were getting huge. Although “Today” sounded upbeat, singer-songwriter Billy Corgan wrote it about dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts after the band’s first album came out.
Musically, the song is almost pretty, featuring quiet/loud/quiet sections, and the chorus of “Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known” belies the dark place from which Corgan was writing the lyrics. Although he wrote the lines almost sarcastically at the time, he later said it was a positive song about survival.
Whatever the case, “Today” became a big hit thanks to heavy play on MTV and rock radio. It definitely struck a nerve with the Gen X kids who were embracing grunge and other alternative music. The song and its followup “Disarm” became huge for the band, and Siamese Dream hit #10 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 4 million copies in the U.S.
The Pumpkins have had their ups and downs over the subsequent 30 years, but this year, they were touring stadiums with Green Day, which isn’t so bad.