It was the fourth single and second track on their third album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, and was released in May 1996 in Europe.

Billy Corgan began writing for the follow-up to Siamese Dream after the tour in support of that album;[7] 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.

[8] The strings for the song were arranged by Billy Corgan and Audrey Riley, and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

[13] Music Week rated it four out of five, adding, "A powerful vocals-led single with ferocious driving guitars.

"[14] Time's reviewer Christopher John Farley called the song "an expansive rock anthem, complete with soaring guitars and a 30-piece string section.

The music video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, starred Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, a married couple who were, at the time, cast members on the sketch comedy program Mr. Show with Bob and David.

[21] 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.

[24] 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.

[25] Dayton and Faris compromised by renting the leftover costumes and hiring designers to remake them into the elaborate period clothing seen in the video,[25] which took three days to shoot.

Shots of the band performing in similar, turn-of-the-century attire using older, acoustic instruments are interspersed.

The couple escapes on a rocket similar to the one in A Trip to the Moon and land in the sea, where a merman resembling the sea-god Poseidon puts on a performance for them, including an octopus, singing mermaids, and starfish, before sending them back to the surface in a bubble.

In addition to being heavily aired on MTV, the video received positive reviews and won several awards.

at the Disco bassist] was born", and The Voice U.S contestant Katrina Parker, who covered this song on the show's first live round.