of the blue, I heard the opening lick note for note in my head", Corgan said. "When I added the opening riff, it completely changed the character of the song. Suddenly, I had a song that was starting out quiet and then got very loud." Soon afterwards, Virgin Records executives were sent to check up on the band after hearing about their problems, but were pleased with the demo. The reaction from the executives only served to put more stress on Corgan; as a result, he recorded most of the guitar and bass guitar parts himself, including on the finished version of "Today". Siamese Dream was completed after running four months after the deadline and considerably exceeding its budget. Virgin Records executives saw "Today" as the ideal lead single, but Corgan wanted "Cherub Rock", one of the last songs written for the album, as the lead single. Ultimately, "Cherub Rock" was released first, but it was only a modest success. "Today" brought the band popularity through wide radio airplay and a successful music video. 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 in the key 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". The song, spanning three minutes and 21 seconds, begins with a one-measure opening guitar riff that alludes to the E major-pentatonic scale. Corgan uses this riff (along with variations on it) to emphasize certain parts and to indicate shifts in the song. After the riff is played four times, the rest of the band enters backed with feedback-driven guitars. Ned Raggett of Allmusic commented on the song's ability to "alternate between calmer, almost Cure-like sections and the louder crunches, [and Corgan's] soon-to-be-trademark guitar style taking My Bloody Valentine's own hypnotic riffing to more accessible results". The chorus, consisting of multiple guitar tracks playing barre chords, is an example of the band's tendency to overdub several rhythm guitar tracks. While the song does