Retrovideo Friday: "Believe in me, as I believe in you..."

Brace yourselves! We're about to take a trip back in time to... 1996, though this video may make it feel like something else.

This Week's Pick: "Tonight, Tonight" by The Smashing Pumpkins (Year: 1996)

1996 was the year of The Smashing Pumpkins' double-disc album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a concept album of sorts that wound up featuring a number of notable Pumpkins' singles. "Tonight, Tonight" was actually the fourth single from the album — and arguably, one of the band's biggest singles to date.

The song's video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, was inspired by Georges Méliès' 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon. The resulting imagery — with Billy Corgan and his bandmates performing high up in the clouds, juxtaposed against the otherworldly wacky adventures of a couple in old-timey outfits — was a perfect match for the song's sweeping strings and grandiose nature.

Despite its own retro inspirations, the video has a beautiful timeless quality, and was recognized as an instant classic from the moment it debuted. It went on to win six MTV Video Music Awards including "Best Video" and "Breakthrough Video." And I have a feeling that it could have even won such awards if it had been released today.

I can't embed this one, but without further ado, you can watch the video for "Tonight, Tonight" here. Meanwhile, I'm going to go and dust off my copy of Mellon Collie...