The Hand That Feeds

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“The Hand That Feeds”
“The Hand That Feeds” cover
Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
Released April 18, 2005
Format CD, DVD, 7", 9", 10", 12"
Genre Industrial rock
Length 3 min 38 sec
Label Interscope – HALO 18
Producer Trent Reznor
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 song by Nine Inch Nails, released as the lead single for the album With Teeth (2005). It is the highest charting song by Nine Inch Nails on all charts except for U.S. Modern Rock Tracks, because the single that followed, "Only", stayed at number one for three more weeks.

Contents

[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. Upon its release, it topped the iTunes Top 100 songs list.

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 passively complaining about a powerful organization but has not acted upon those complaints yet. They may concern the American public, and possibly all the world, regarding their inaction against George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq.

NIN was 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 was 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".

The song is included as a master track in Rock Band for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles along with Midnight Club 3 Dub edition for the Playstation 2, PSP, and Xbox.

In recent tours, Trent has been using the song to "punish" fans when they interrupt him while playing quieter songs (most notably Hurt). Generally, he will play the song starting from the chorus (the fans are "biting the hand that feeds"-Reznor, by offending him) when he does this, so that the crowd understands the irony of them yelling at him to play another song while he attempts to play a crowd favourite.

[edit] Music video

Trent Reznor in the "The Hand that Feeds" music video.
Trent Reznor in the "The Hand that Feeds" music video.

The music video for the song was directed by Rob Sheridan and debuted on the official Nine Inch Nails website. The video features the live-band, featuring Aaron North, Jeordie White, Jerome Dillon, and Alessandro Cortini, performing the song. The video features the use of pan and scan, resulting in video distortion such as pixelization and interlacing.

[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.

[edit] Releases

  • Island Records CID888 - CD
  • Island Records CIDV888 - DVD
  • Island Records 9IS888 - 9" vinyl
  • Interscope Records HALO_18 V2 - 10" picture disc (limited edition)
  • Interscope Records INTR-11401-7 - 7" vinyl (promo)
  • Interscope Records B0005127-11 - 12" vinyl, Photek remixes
  • Interscope Records B0005129-11 - 12" vinyl, DFA remixes

[edit] Track listing

[edit] CD

Available as 2-track standard release and 3-track limited edition digipack

  1. "The Hand That Feeds" (3:38)
  2. "The Hand That Feeds" [Straight mix] (7:46)
  3. "The Hand That Feeds" [Dub mix] (7:52) limited edition only

[edit] DVD

Includes poster

  1. "The Hand That Feeds" [video]
  2. "The Hand That Feeds"
  3. "The Hand That Feeds" [Straight mix]

[edit] 9" vinyl

  1. "The Hand That Feeds"
  2. "The Hand That Feeds" [Dub Mix]

[edit] 10" picture disc and 7" promotional vinyl

  1. "The Hand That Feeds"
  2. "Home" (3:12)

[edit] 12" Photek remixes

  1. "The Hand That Feeds" [Straight Mix]
  2. "The Hand That Feeds" [Ruff Mix] (3:58)
  3. "The Hand That Feeds" [Dub Instrumental] (7:51)
  4. "The Hand That Feeds"

[edit] 12" DFA remixes

  1. "The Hand That Feeds" [DFA Remix] (9:02)
  2. "The Hand That Feeds" [DFA Remix Instrumental] (9:01)
  3. "The Hand That Feeds" [DFA Version I] (14:12)

[edit] Chart positions

Chart Peak
position
Billboard Hot 100[2] 31
Modern Rock Tracks[2] 1
Mainstream Rock Tracks[2] 2
Pop 100[2] 31
Hot Dance Club Play[2] 30
US DS[3] 10
UK Singles Chart[4] 7
Finland[5] 15

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Complete List of Grammy Nominations. New York Times (2005-12-08). Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
  2. ^ a b c d e Billboard Music Charts - Search Results - Nine Inch Nails. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  3. ^ Artist Chart History - Nine Inch Nails. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  4. ^ Chart Stats - Nine Inch Nails. Chart Stats. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  5. ^ Search results for: Nine Inch Nails. FinnishCharts.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.

[edit] External links


Preceded by
"Holiday" by Green Day		 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
May 28, 2005		 Succeeded by
"Beverly Hills" by Weezer
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
Major remix releases
Live releases
Singles
Halo numbers
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