Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

Last updated

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. [41]

These images were inspired by the work of Joel-Peter Witkin, [38] as well as by the Brothers Quay's animated short film Street of Crocodiles . [42] Other artworks visually referenced in the video include Man Ray's Object to Be Destroyed, Francis Bacon's Figure with Meat , and photos by James Van Der Zee. 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). [43] According to Romanek, the video was filmed using "a slightly out of date film stock but it was still a contemporary film stock."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. [44]

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, "20 Greatest Music Videos of All Time." [45]

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." [46]

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 and full-time keyboardists James Woolley (during the first half of the Self Destruct Tour) and Charlie Clouser (during the remaining tours) on keyboards for the song, with Reznor performing an extended synth solo. Nine Inch Nails performed the "Closer to God" rendition of the song live during their 1995 tour on numerous occasions, omitting the original song from the setlist when done so.

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. [8]

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 the music video version of Nine Inch Nails' previous single, "March of the Pigs" (which was recorded live in the studio by the then-current lineup of the band).

The single's cover artwork was done by photographer Joseph Cultice. [47]

US CD

"Closer"
Closer to god US.jpg
US CD single cover
Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album The Downward Spiral
B-side
ReleasedMay 1994
Studio
Genre
Length
  • 6:13(album version)
  • 6:26 (single version)
  • 4:25 (radio edit)
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)
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 Sherwood 4:43
8."Closer (Further Away)"
  • Kennedy
  • Humphrey
  • Aguto
  • Decarli
  • Claudiex
5:45
9."Closer"
6:26

US cassette

Side A
No.TitleContributorsLength
1."Closer"
  • Reznor
  • Flood
6:25
Side B
No.TitleContributorsLength
2."March of the Pigs (Live)"
3:12

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

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

Certifications

Certifications and sales for "Closer"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [55] Gold35,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [56] Silver200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for "Closer"
RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref.
United StatesMay 30, 1994
  • CD
  • cassette
[ citation needed ]
United KingdomJune 6, 1994
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
 [57]

Cover versions

Related Research Articles

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Bibliography

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