Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

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“Closer”
Cover artwork for the "Closer to God" U.S. CD single
Single by Nine Inch Nails from the album The Downward Spiral
Released	May 30, 1994
Format	CD, 12", Cassette
Recorded	1993-1994 Le Pig Beverly Hills, California, USA The Record Plant Los Angeles, California, USA A&M Studios Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	6 minutes 13 seconds (album version) 6 minutes 26 seconds (full-length single version)
Label	nothing/TVT/Interscope (USA) nothing/Island ((UK)
Writer(s)	Trent Reznor
Producer	Flood and Trent Reznor mixing engineer: Alan Moulder
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"March of the Pigs" (1994) "Closer" (1994) "Burn" (1994)
Cover artwork for disc one of the U.K. "Further Away" CD single
Cover artwork for disc two of the U.K. "Closer to God" CD single

"Closer" is a song written by Trent Reznor and featured on the 1994 Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral. In mid-1994, the song was released as the second single from the album. Most versions of the single are titled "Closer to God," a rare example in music of a single's title differing from the title of its A-Side. ("Closer to God" is also the title of an alternate version of "Closer" featured on the single). This single is numbered as halo nine under Nine Inch Nails' system of halo numbers. In spite of the blunt and profane sexual content contained in the song's lyrics, (the chorus infamously begins with the couplet "I wanna fuck you like an animal/ I wanna feel you from the inside") "Closer" became Nine Inch Nails' biggest hit up to that time, cemented Reznor's status as an alternative rock superstar, and remains arguably his best-known song. Heavily censored versions of the song and its equally explicit and controversial music video (directed by Mark Romanek) received substantial airplay on radio and MTV.

Contents 1 The song 2 The single 2.1 U.S. CD 2.1.1 Track listing 2.2 U.K. CD - Disc 1: Further Away 2.2.1 Track listing 2.3 U.K. CD - Disc 2: Closer to God 2.3.1 Track listing 2.4 U.S. cassette 2.4.1 Track listing 2.4.1.1 Side A 2.4.1.2 Side B 2.5 U.K. 12" vinyl - Part 1: Further Away 2.5.1 Track listing 2.5.1.1 Side A 2.5.1.2 Side B 2.6 U.K. 12" vinyl - Part 2: Closer to God 2.6.1 Track listing 2.6.1.1 Side A 2.6.1.2 Side B 3 The video 4 Live performance 5 Cover versions 6 In popular culture 7 References 8 External links

[edit] The song

"Closer's" drum track features a heavily modified kick drum sample from the Iggy Pop song "Nightclubbing" from his album The Idiot.^[1] The snare drum sound heard throughout the song is actually randomly sampled white noise on which Trent Reznor put a noise gate and then triggered with a MIDI controller.

Radio edits of "Closer" were created by muting the vocal track for the duration of each deleted obscenity, an early prominent example of this now-common censorship technique.^{[citation needed]} This technique is considered less distracting than the earlier common censorship method, overlaying an electronic tone or "bleep" over each instance of profanity.^{[citation needed]} The song was one of the first to feature censored profanity this prominently and still become a hit.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, VH1 ranked the song at number 93 in its countdown of the "100 Greatest Songs Of The Past 25 Years." The song was ranked at the number 2 position on AOL's "69 Sexiest Songs of All Time," mostly due to the explicit frankness of its chorus.

[edit] The single

The version of "Closer" on the single is 13 seconds longer than the album version; on the album, the piano tune at the end of the song is abruptly cut off in order to segue into the next track, "Ruiner". On the single, "Closer's" piano and background sounds are allowed to play out longer.

In addition, the U.S. CD single contains five remixes of "Closer", a remix of its fellow The Downward Spiral track "Heresy", a non-album instrumental track ("March of the Fuckheads"), and a cover version of Soft Cell's song "Memorabilia", from their 1982 album Non-stop Ecstatic Dancing. The UK single releases contain the same tracks split between two discs (each sold separately). A cassette single was issued in the U.S. and Australia, pairing "Closer" with a live-performance version of NIN's previous single, "March of the Pigs."

[edit] U.S. CD

• TVT Records / Interscope Records / Atlantic Records 95905–2
• TVT Records / Interscope Records 0694959052 (Reissue)

[edit] Track listing

1. "Closer to God" (Remixed by Trent Reznor, Sean Beavan, Brian Pollack) – 5:05
2. "Closer (Precursor)" (Remixed by Coil, Danny Hyde) – 7:16
3. "Closer (Deviation)" (Remixed by Jack Dangers, Craig Silvey) – 6:15
4. "Heresy (Blind)" (Remixed by Dave Ogilvie, Anthony Valcic, Joe Bisara) – 5:32
5. "Memorabilia" – 7:21
6. "Closer (Internal)" (Remixed by Bill Kennedy, Scott Humphrey, John "Geetus" Aguto, Paul Decarli, Eric Claudiex) – 4:15
7. "March of the Fuckheads" (Remixed by Adrian Sherwood) – 4:43
8. "Closer (Further Away)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 5:45
9. "Closer" – 6:26

[edit] U.K. CD - Disc 1: Further Away

• Island Records CID 596 854 059–2

[edit] Track listing

1. "Closer" – 6:26
2. "Closer (Deviation)" (Remixed by Dangers, Silvey) – 6:15
3. "Closer (Further Away)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 5:45
4. "Closer (Precursor)" (Remixed by Coil, Hyde) – 7:16
5. "Closer (Internal)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 4:15

[edit] U.K. CD - Disc 2: Closer to God

• Island Records CIDX 596 854 061–2 – UK CD 2

[edit] Track listing

1. "Closer to God" (Remixed by Reznor, Beavan, Pollack) – 5:05
2. "Heresy (Blind)" (Remixed by Ogilvie, Valcic, Bisara) – 5:32
3. "Memorabilia" – 7:21
4. "March of the Fuckheads" (Remixed by Sherwood) – 4:43

[edit] U.S. cassette

• Nothing Records / TVT Records / Interscope Records / Atlantic Records 98263-4

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

1. "Closer" – 6:25

[edit] Side B

1. "March of the Pigs (Live)" – 3:12 (appears to be the live rerecording from the music video)

[edit] U.K. 12" vinyl - Part 1: Further Away

• Island Records 12IS 596 854 059–1 – UK 12" Vinyl 1

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

1. "Closer (Deviation)"
2. "Closer (Further Away)"
3. "Closer"

[edit] Side B

1. "Closer (Precursor)"
2. "Closer (Internal)"

[edit] U.K. 12" vinyl - Part 2: Closer to God

• Island Records 12ISX 596 854 061–1 – UK 12" Vinyl 2

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Side A

1. "Closer to God"
2. "March of the Fuckheads"

[edit] Side B

1. "Heresy (Blind)"
2. "Memorabilia"

Other versions in other formats and countries have the same track listing as the U.S. CD release.

[edit] The video

The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and first aired on May 12, 1994, and was filmed in April of that year. It was cut down from its original length to 4:36. The video was popular and helped bolster the success of the band. The video shows events in what appears to be a 19th century-style mad-scientist's laboratory that deal with religion, sexuality, animal cruelty, politics, and terror. It was somewhat controversial due to its imagery, which included a nude woman with a crucifix mask, a monkey tied to a cross, a pig's head spinning on some type of machine, a diagram of a vulva, and Reznor wearing an S/M mask while swinging in shackles. These images seem to be inspired by the art of Joel-Peter Witkin. For the television version, certain removed scenes were replaced with a title card that read "Scene Missing," and the instances of the word "fuck" being edited out were accompanied by a stop in the video motion, making it appear as if the stop was a result of defective film (this was done to make sure the flow of the song was not affected). The video has a stylized, old-film look. It is also one of two videos directed by Romanek that the Museum of Modern Art has added to its permanent collection. The other is Madonna's "Bedtime Story".

The unedited version of this video was shown on Playboy TV's uncensored music video show Hot Rocks in 1994. In mid-2002, the unedited version of this video was aired on MTV2 as part of a special countdown showcasing the most controversial videos ever to air on MTV. This countdown was only shown late at night due to the graphic imagery of "Closer" and several other videos.

In 2006, "Closer" was voted number one in a VH1 Classic poll titled "20 Greatest Music Videos of All Time."

The unedited video is included in Closure, The Downward Spiral (DualDisc) and Directors Label Volume 4: The Work Of Director Mark Romanek, and it is even available for download from iTunes under the band's page. Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Romanek is included in Closure (DVD) and Directors Label.

The keyboard Reznor is seen playing toward the end of the video is a piece of Reznor's own Mellotron^{[citation needed]}, which was once owned by John Lennon, and it is believed that it may have been used on The Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Live performance

During the Woodstock 1994 performance of "Closer", bassist Danny Lohner and guitarist Robin Finck joined Reznor on keyboards for the song, with Reznor performing an extended synth solo.

There are performance videos of "Closer" on And All that Could Have Been and Beside You in Time.

In the tours following the release of With Teeth, Nine Inch Nails has been performing "Closer" with a new breakdown that cuts the track length by about a minute and a half. Instead of playing a prerecorded clip of Trent Reznor saying "all through every forest, above the trees / within my stomach, scraped off my knees / I drink the honey, inside your hive / you are the reason, I stay alive", Reznor screams these lyrics live to the backdrop of "The Only Time", a track from Pretty Hate Machine. Two versions of this appear on Beside You in Time.

Another new feature is the keyboard solo that follows the chorus is now a guitar solo, with it being played using heavy distortion effects. This is seen on Beside You in Time.

[edit] Cover versions

• "Closer" has been covered by many musical acts, including Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, Eric Gorfain, Maroon 5, Maxwell, and Rosetta Stone.
• Weird Al Yankovic has paid tribute to "Closer" more than once: with "The Alternative Polka" on his album Bad Hair Day, a section of the song was used in which the word "fuck" is censored with a squeaky sound effect, and with a style parody of several Nine Inch Nails songs: "Germs" on his album Running with Scissors.^[2][3]
• The Asylum Street Spankers occasionally perform a bluegrass version, available at the Live Music Archive.^[4]
• Maroon 5 perform a live cover, a recording of which appears on The Limited Set EP.
• 30 Seconds to Mars has performed numerous live covers of Closer.

[edit] In popular culture

• An uncredited edit of the remix "Closer (precursor)" is featured in the opening credits of the movie Se7en. The same version was also used in The Fan.
• Limp Bizkit parodied^[5] "Closer" (as well "The Perfect Drug" and "Burn") in their song "Hot Dog". The chorus goes, "You wanna fuck me like an animal, You'd like to burn me on the inside, You like to think that I'm a perfect drug, Just know that nothing you do will bring you closer to me." The use of the lyrics was actually meant as a tribute to Trent Reznor, whom Durst admires,^{[citation needed]} though it is often misinterpreted as negative.^[6][7] Reznor cleared the use of his lyrics and received credit in the liner notes for the song.
• The 2007 remake of The Hitcher uses the song in the background of a car chase scene.
• Santino Rice sang the song in season 2 of Project Runway as Tim Gunn.
• The first few seconds were used as the intro to Extreme Championship Wrestling's show Hardcore TV. The beats would match each of the letters to the word "Extreme", before the main music kicked in ("Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie).
• The song was used in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Lady Heather's Box".
• Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra have played it a number of times on the Late Show with David Letterman.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Closer to God at NinWiki
• Halo 9 at NINCollector
• discogs.com: Closer to God (US CD5")
• discogs.com: Closer to God (US CD5" Re-release)
• discogs.com: Closer to God (US 2x12")
• discogs.com: Closer to God (disc 1) (UK CD5")
• discogs.com: Closer to God (disc 2) (UK CD5")
• discogs.com: Closer to God (disc 1) (UK 12")
• discogs.com: Closer to God (disc 2) (UK 12")
• discogs.com: Closer (UK 2x12")

v • d • e Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor Alessandro Cortini · Josh Freese · Robin Finck · Justin Meldal-Johnsen Jeff Ward · Richard Patrick · James Woolley · Chris Vrenna · Danny Lohner · Charlie Clouser · Jerome Dillon · Alex Carapetis · Aaron North · Jeordie White Major studio releases Pretty Hate Machine · Broken · The Downward Spiral · The Fragile · With Teeth · Year Zero · Ghosts I–IV · The Slip Major remix releases Fixed · Further Down the Spiral · Things Falling Apart · Year Zero Remixed Live releases Closure · And All That Could Have Been · Beside You in Time Singles "Down in It" · "Head Like a Hole" · "Sin" · "Happiness in Slavery" · "Wish" · "March of the Pigs" · "Closer" · "Burn" · "Hurt" · "The Perfect Drug" · "The Day the World Went Away" · "We're in This Together" · "Into the Void" · "Starfuckers, Inc." · "Deep" · "The Hand That Feeds" · "Only" · "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" · "Survivalism" · "Capital G" · "Discipline" Halo numbers 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 Related articles Discography · Live performances · Tours · Purest Feeling · Broken Movie · "I'm Afraid of Americans" · Collected · Year Zero ARG · Nothing Records · Option 30 · The Innocent · Exotic Birds · Lucky Pierre · Tapeworm  · Lost Highway OST · Natural Born Killers OST · Quake · Sean Beavan · John Malm Jr. · Rob Sheridan · Atticus Ross · The Null Corporation · Gary Talpas