The Hand That Feeds

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"The Hand That Feeds"

Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
Released	April 18, 2005
Format	CD, DVD, 7", 9", 10", 12"
Recorded	??
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	3 min 38 sec
Label	Interscope Records
Producer(s)	Trent Reznor
Chart positions
#31 (US Hot 100) #1 (US Modern Rock) (Five weeks) #2 (US Mainstream Rock) #7 (UK)
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"Deep" (2001)	"The Hand that Feeds" (2005)	"Only" (2005)

"The Hand That Feeds" (also known as Halo 18) is a single by Nine Inch Nails for the song of the same name. The Hand That Feeds is the eighteenth official Nine Inch Nails release and was a teaser single for the album With Teeth.

1 The song
2 The single
- 2.1 Releases
- 2.2 Track listing
3 External links

[edit] The song

A few stations played a leaked copy of "The Hand That Feeds" in February. Official radio play of the song began on March 14, 2005. "The Hand That Feeds" was released for sale on both iTunes and Napster on March 22, 2005.

A music video was made for this song. It was directed by Rob Sheridan and was released on March 17, 2005 on the NIN official website. A second video for this song was directed by Ian Inaba, but was shelved and was never completed.

The April 15, 2005 update to the current section of nin.com included a link to a multi-track Garageband file of the song. This file allows anyone with the Macintosh program Garageband to remix the song.

The lyrics are a biting satirical picture of anyone who is trying to stand up against a powerful organization but has not done so yet. They may concern the American public, and possibly all the world, regarding their inaction against George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.

"What if this whole crusade's

A charade?

And behind it all there's a price to be paid

For the blood

On which we dine

Justified in the name of the holy and the divine"

NIN were due to play this song at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, but dropped out due to conflicts between Trent Reznor and MTV concerning the band's plan to incorporate an image of George W. Bush into the performance. An announcement made by Trent Reznor on the NIN website on May 26 stated:

"Nine Inch Nails will not be performing at the MTV Movie Awards as previously announced. We were set to perform 'The Hand That Feeds' with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me. See you on tour this fall when we return to play in America."

The following day, MTV stated,

"While we respect Nine Inch Nails' point of view, we were uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement. When we discussed our discomfort with the band, their choice was to unfortunately pull out of the Movie Awards."

Nine Inch Nails were eventually replaced by Foo Fighters at the ceremony on June 9.

The song was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance for the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in 2006 ([1]).

One of the blog entries on the NIN website made during the early recording phase of the new record (working title was Bleedthrough, now known as With Teeth) stated that Trent always loved The Kinks. Their influence can be felt strongly in this song. The song's riff is a modified version of the one from the Kinks' classic "You Really Got Me".

[edit] The single

The single for "The Hand That Feeds" was only given a wide release in Europe. The European releases include a 3-track limited edition CD, a 2-track standard CD, a 9" vinyl and a DVD single.

In the United States, "The Hand That Feeds" was released on various vinyl formats. A limited edition 10" picture disc and a 7" promotional disc (the latter available at With Teeth listening parties) contained the title track and the b-side "Home." Additional 12" remix records, containing mixes by Photek and DFA were also available.