Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

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"Closer"
Closer to god US.jpg
US CD single cover
Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album The Downward Spiral
B-side
  • "March of the Fuckheads"
  • "Memorabilia"
ReleasedMay 30, 1994 (1994-05-30)
Studio
Genre
Length6:15
Label
Songwriter(s)Trent Reznor
Producer(s)
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"March of the Pigs"
(1994) 		"Closer"
(1994) 		"The Perfect Drug"
(1997)
Halo numbers chronology
Halo 8
(1994) 		Halo 9
(1994) 		Halo 10
(1995)
Audio sample
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0:00
"Closer"
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Music video
"Closer" (Director's Cut) on YouTube

"Closer" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single on their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). Released on May 30, 1994, it is considered one of Nine Inch Nails' signature songs and remains their most popular song. 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). The single is the ninth official Nine Inch Nails release, making it "Halo 9" in the band's official Halo numbering system.

A promotional single provided by the label to radio stations included both long and short vocal-censored (i.e. silenced profanity) versions.[1] Although the song addresses themes such as self-hatred and obsession, its sexually aggressive chorus led to widespread misinterpretation of the song as an anthem of lust, which helped it become Nine Inch Nails' most successful single up to that time and cemented Trent Reznor's status as an industrial rock icon. Commercially, "Closer" reached No. 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 3 on the Australian Singles Chart. Censored versions of the song and its Mark Romanek-directed music video received substantial airplay on radio and MTV.

Composition[]

"Closer" has been described as industrial rock[2][3][4][5][6] and alternative rock.[7][8][9] "Closer" uses elements of funk,[10] avant-garde,[11] and electronic music.[12] The drum track of "Closer" is built around a heavily modified sample of the bass drum from the 1977 Iggy Pop song "Nightclubbing", which was performed by a Roland drum machine. The samples were produced using two Akai S1100 samplers, each with an expander, essentially making up four samplers. The samples were then combined with beats produced by a Roland R-70 drum machine.[13] The production features sound effects such as a bass squelch, synth echo, and feedback growl.[14] Radio edits of "Closer" were created by muting the vocal track for the duration of each deleted obscenity.[5]

Lyrically, "Closer" is a song about self-hatred and obsession; to Reznor's dismay, the song was widely misinterpreted as a lust anthem due to its chorus, which famously includes the lines "I wanna fuck you like an animal / I wanna feel you from the inside".[15] In 2003, VH1 ranked the song at No. 93 in its countdown of the "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years." The song was ranked at No. 2 on AOL's "69 Sexiest Songs of All Time" due to the explicit frankness of the chorus.[16] Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, said of the song, "Come on dude: 'I wanna fuck you like an animal'? That's the all-time fuck song. Those are pure fuck beats—Trent Reznor knew what he was doing. You can fuck to it, you can dance to it and you can break shit to it."[17]

The song was voted in at No. 62 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of all time in 2009, and ranked No. 42 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s" in 2010.[18]

Chart performance[]

"Closer" had some radio airplay before it was released as a single. This factor increased within weeks, leading Interscope to release the song as a single in May 1994. When it premiered, the single charted on several US Billboard magazine music listings. Debuting near the bottom spot of the Billboard Hot 100, it barely missed the top 40, peaking at No. 41.[19] It climbed to No. 11 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart,[20] and went on to reach No. 35 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart,[21] No. 29 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart,[22] and No. 29 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.[23] "Closer" was the band's first crossover hit and remains their most popular song to date.

The single was successful in several other countries as well. It charted the highest in Australia, where it rose to No. 3 on the week of November 13, 1994,[24] and was the country's 87th most successful single of 1994.[25] Although "Closer" did not initially appear on Canada's official music chart during its original release, it reached a peak of No. 5 on the Canadian Singles Chart in February 2002.[26] It also did not chart in Denmark until 2007, when it reached No. 12 in July.[27] In the United Kingdom, the single reached No. 25.[28]

Music video[]

One of the many controversial images from the "Closer" music video.

The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and first aired on May 12, 1994, having been 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. Set in what appears to be a 19th-century mad scientist's laboratory, the video's imagery involves religion, sexuality, animal cruelty, politics, and terror, including:

  • A heart connected to some sort of device; the beat of the heart corresponds to the beat of the song[29]
  • A little girl lounging on a chair
  • A nude, bald woman with a crucifix mask.
  • A monkey, scared, panicked, tied to a cross.[30]
  • A severed pig's head spinning on some type of machine.[31]
  • A diagram of the vulva/vagina.
  • Reznor wearing various fetish gear, such as an S&M mask, ball gag, and long leather gloves while swinging in shackles.

Several times, Reznor, wearing leather pants, floats and rotates through the air, suspended by invisible wires. There are also scenes of Reznor being blown back by a wind machine while wearing aviator goggles. Mark has stated:

We made prints, and I personally spent a couple of days dragging them around the parking lot and spraying aerosol shellac and holding lighters under them. We were just making it for art's sake, and YouTube didn't exist then, so it was a pretty ballsy and extravagant thing for Trent to do. But MTV liked it, so that started a long negotiation of how we can get it on the air. I want to go on record about the monkey: That monkey was not in any danger even though he appears to be in distress. The monkey was just munching on bits of banana and enjoying himself. We had an ASPCA person on the set. It wasn't harmed, and actually got paid more than some of the crew.[32]

These images were inspired by the work of Joel-Peter Witkin,[30] as well as by the Brothers Quay's animated short film Street of Crocodiles.[33] 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 supposedly done to make sure the flow of the song was not affected).[34] According to Romanek, the video was filmed using "a slightly out of date film stock but it was still a contemporary film stock."

They had stopped making it three years before and we found some of it. All the new color film stocks have this T-Grain, like little Ts that are interlocking. The film stock we used had the original old granular grain. The new stocks are just really modern looking, really sharp, really contrasty, very fine grain. We didn't want that. Normally you don't want to use that kind of stock because the colors will be off. It does have a shelf life but in this case we didn't care, the more fucked up it was the happier we were.[35]

The unedited version of the video was shown on Playboy TV's music video show Hot Rocks in 1994. In mid-2002, the unedited version 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 sexually explicit imagery of "Closer" and several other videos.

In 2006, "Closer" was voted No. 1 in a VH1 Classic poll titled "20 Greatest Music Videos of All Time."[36]

In retrospect, Reznor said of the video that "The rarest of things occurred: where the song sounded better to me, seeing it with the video. And it's my song."[37]

The unedited video is included in Closure, The Downward Spiral (DualDisc), Directors Label Volume 4: The Work Of Director Mark Romanek and VEVO, and it is available for download from the United States iTunes Store under the band's page. Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Romanek is included in Closure (DVD) and Directors Label. It is also available on YouTube, and was previously flagged there before this restriction was lifted.

Live performances[]

During the Self Destruct and Fragility tours, 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 performed a shorter version of "Closer" with the keyboard solo played as a guitar solo and a breakdown incorporating a portion of "The Only Time," a track from Pretty Hate Machine. Two performances of this version of the song appear on Beside You in Time.

Formats and track listings[]

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, the piano and background sounds of "Closer" are allowed to play out longer.[5]

In addition, the U.S. CD single contains five guest remixes of "Closer", a remix of its fellow The Downward Spiral track "Heresy", an instrumental track "March of the Fuckheads" (unrelated to "March of the Pigs"), and a cover version of Soft Cell's song "Memorabilia", from their 1982 EP 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".

The single's cover artwork was done by photographer Joseph Cultice.[38]

US CD

No.TitleRemixers / contributorsLength
1."Closer to God"
5:05
2."Closer (Precursor)"
7:16
3."Closer (Deviation)"
6:15
4."Heresy (Blind)"
5:32
5."Memorabilia"
7:21
6."Closer (Internal)"
  • Bill Kennedy
  • Scott Humphrey
  • John "Geetus" Aguto
  • Paul Decarli
  • Eric Claudiex
4:15
7."March of the Fuckheads"Adrian Sherwood4:43
8."Closer (Further Away)"
  • Kennedy
  • Humphrey
  • Aguto
  • Decarli
  • Claudiex
5:45
9."Closer" 6:26

UK CD

Disc 1: Further Away
No.TitleLength
1."Closer"6:26
2."Closer (Deviation)"6:15
3."Closer (Further Away)"5:45
4."Closer (Precursor)"7:16
5."Closer (Internal)"4:15
Disc 2: Closer to God
No.TitleLength
1."Closer to God"5:05
2."Heresy (Blind)"5:32
3."Memorabilia"7:21
4."March of the Fuckheads"4:43

US cassette

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Closer"6:25
Side B
No.TitleLength
2."March of the Pigs (Live)" (appears to be the live rerecording from the music video)3:12

U.K. 12-inch vinyl – Part 1: Further Away

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Closer (Deviation)" 
2."Closer (Further Away)" 
3."Closer" 
Side B
No.TitleLength
4."Closer (Precursor)" 
5."Closer (Internal)" 

UK 12-inch vinyl – Part 2: Closer to God

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Closer to God" 
2."March of the Fuckheads" 
Side B
No.TitleLength
3."Heresy (Blind)" 
4."Memorabilia" 

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

Personnel[]

Charts[]

Cover versions[]

  • "Closer" has been covered by many musical acts, including MGMT, Blood on the Dance Floor, Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, Eric Gorfain, Maroon 5, Maxwell, The Asylum Street Spankers, Asking Alexandria, Rosetta Stone, In This Moment and Japanese Voyeurs.
  • Thirty Seconds to Mars uses samples from "Closer" when they perform "The Fantasy."
  • Toronto-based Alternative R&B act The Weeknd samples "Closer" in the song "House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls."
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic has paid tribute to "Closer" twice: in "The Alternative Polka" on his album Bad Hair Day, a section of the song was used in which the word "fuck" is replaced with a cartoon sound effects.[40][41] "Germs" on his Running with Scissors album is a style parody of several Nine Inch Nails songs.[42][43]
  • The Asylum Street Spankers occasionally perform a bluegrass version, available at the Live Music Archive.[44]
  • In 1995, the Australian novelty act Nine Inch Richards covered the song under the title "Closer To Hogs". Sung in a southern drawl, it combined Trent Reznor's sexually charged lyrics with barnyard animal samples, humorously implying that the song is about bestiality. A video clip of the parody[45] was taken at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. This single peaked at No. 51 in Australia.[46]
  • In 2008, Sy Smith performed the song as part of her "Conflict Tour". In August 2010, Smith performed the song again at "Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Heights Plaza".
  • In 2014, from the compilation album in the Punk Goes 90's 2 has been covered by British rock Asking Alexandria.
  • In 2016, singer-songwriter Father John Misty covered the song live in Chicago during two separate performances.[47]
  • Fellow Interscope act Limp Bizkit parodied[48] "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." Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst said he was a big fan of Nine Inch Nails, who has additionally inspired his music.[49]

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Dyer, Richard (1999). Seven – BFI Modern Classics. British Film Institute. p. 12. ISBN 0-85170-723-8. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  3. ^ May 6, 1995. "Song Of The Week: Filter's "Hey Man Nice Shot"". MTV. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  4. ^ Grierson, Tim. "Top 10 Essential Rock Songs". About.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Richard Buskin (September 2012). "CLASSIC TRACKS: Nine Inch Nails 'Closer'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  6. ^ Pettigrew, Jason (July 28, 2020). "10 Industrial-Rock Classics That Completely Defined the '90s". Alternative Press. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  7. ^ McGovern, Kyle. "The 100 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1994: #1 (Nine Inch Nails – Closer)". Spin. Retrieved September 12, 2014.
  8. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (May 21, 2007). "The Ultimate Nineties Alt-Rock Playlist". The Atlantic. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  9. ^ Roberts, Christopher (October 31, 2019). "Listen to This Mashup of Nine Inch Nails's "Closer" and Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters"". Under the Radar. Retrieved June 26, 2021. Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” was a big alternative rock single 10 years later and was featured on the band’s 1994 album The Downward Spiral.
  10. ^ Childers, Chad. "23 Years Ago: Nine Inch Nails Unleash 'The Downward Spiral'". Loudwire. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  11. ^ "Nine Inch Nails and Coil: Recoiled". PopMatters. April 11, 2014.
  12. ^ Dan, Jen (September 24, 2007). "Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero". Delusions of Adequacy. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
  13. ^ Greg Rule (April 1994). "Trent Reznor". Keyboard.
  14. ^ McGovern, Kyle (August 14, 2014). "The 100 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1994". Spin Magazine. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  15. ^ Huxley 1997, p. 179.
  16. ^ "69 Sexiest Songs Ever". aol.com. AOL. Archived from the original on April 21, 2007. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  17. ^ Blender, November 2002
  18. ^ "Pitchfork Top 200 Tracks of the 90s". Pitchfork.com. September 2, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b "Australian-charts.com – Nine Inch Nails – Closer". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b "Nine Inch Nails Chart History (Canadian Digital Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b "Danishcharts.com – Nine Inch Nails – Closer". Tracklisten. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  29. ^ Vernallis 2004, pp. 99, 169.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b Dery, Mark (1999). The Pyrotechnic Insanitarium: American Culture on the Brink. New York: Grove Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-8021-3670-2 – via Internet Archive. nine inch nails.
  31. ^ Vernallis 2004, p. 99.
  32. ^ Anderson, Kyle (August 7, 2013). "Mark Romanek: Inside Stories on 8 Classic Videos". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  33. ^ Jef with one F (June 14, 2012). "Phantom Museums: The Short Films of the Quay Brothers". Houston Press. Retrieved May 15, 2018. No less than director Terry Gilliam has called Crocodiles the greatest animated film of all time, and it served as a direct inspiration for the music video for “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails.
  34. ^ Huxley 1997, p. 133.
  35. ^ Daniel Robert Epstein (September 6, 2005). "Mark Romanek". SuicideGirls.com. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  36. ^ "70's, 80's & 90's Classic Rock, Soul & Pop Music Videos | VH1". VH1 Classic. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  37. ^ The Work of Director Mark Romanek DVD
  38. ^ "Closer to God album art". Pop Is Personal. 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  39. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  40. ^ "WebCite query". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  41. ^ http://www.morganic.com/Sounds/Cartoons/Bonk.aif
  42. ^ "Music Review: Running With Scissors, by Weird Al Yankovic". Entertainment Weekly.
  43. ^ "Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine Review". sputnikmusic. January 14, 2005. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  44. ^ "Internet Archive: Details: Asylum Street Spankers Live at Milestones, on 2005-05-14". Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  45. ^ "Nine Inch Richards "Closer To Hogs"". YouTube. June 29, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  46. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 21 May 1995". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  47. ^ Renshaw, David (April 15, 2016). "Father John Misty covers Nine Inch Nails' 'Closer'". NME. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
  48. ^ Alona Wartofsky (October 18, 2000). "Limp Bizkit, Stuck in Orbit Around Its Star". The Washington Post. Archived from the original (fee required) on May 17, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2008. "Hot Dog"... takes on Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor in what Durst has described as a parody of NIN...
  49. ^ Interview with Fred Durst by K-Rock New York. 2000.

Bibliography[]

  • Huxley, Martin (September 1997). Nine Inch Nails: Self Destruct. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-15612-X – via the Internet Archive.
  • Vernallis, Carol (2004). Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11798-1.

External links[]

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