Happiness in Slavery

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"Happiness in Slavery"
Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album Broken
Released	November 1992
Format	Promotional 12"
Recorded	???
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	5 min 21 s
Label	TVT Records/Interscope
Producer(s)	Trent Reznor, Flood
Chart positions
#13 (US Modern Rock)
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"Sin" (1990)	"Happiness in Slavery" (1992)	"Wish" (1993)

"Happiness in Slavery" is a song by the American musical group Nine Inch Nails. It is available on the Broken EP and was also released as a 12" promotional single in November 1992.

Nine Inch Nails' performance of "Happiness in Slavery" at Woodstock '94, from the Woodstock '94 album, won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1996.

[edit] The video

The video for Happiness In Slavery features performance artist Bob Flanagan ritualistically washing himself and removing all of his clothing before strapping himself into a machine that subsequently tortures, rapes and kills him. Meanwhile, Trent Reznor watches and screams the lyrics from behind a metal gate, which opens at the end of the video, leaving Trent to enter the room himself. The video was widely banned. An infamous urban legend exists that the torture footage is real, except for the final killing of Flanagan. In truth, Flanagan often fought the pain of cystic fibrosis by inflicting extensive damage on his own body. The video was also featured in the home video Closure and the unreleased Broken Movie.

[edit] Track listing for promotional single

• A1 · "Happiness In Slavery" (Fixed version) (6:09)
• A2 · "Happiness In Slavery" (Sherwood Slave remix) (2:17)
• B1 · "Happiness In Slavery" (PK Slavery remix) (5:41)
• B2 · "Happiness In Slavery" (Broken version) (5:21)

A promotional CD containing only the track as it appears on the Broken EP was also released during this same timeframe.