Closer (song)
| Closer | |
|---|---|
| Nine inch nails | |
| publication | 1994 |
| length | 6:13 minutes (album version) 6:26 minutes (single version) |
| Genre (s) | Industrial rock |
| Author (s) | Trent Reznor |
| album | The Downward Spiral |
Closer (also known as Closer to God ) is a song from the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails . It was released in 1994 on the concept album The Downward Spiral and as a single.
Content and context
The album is about a person's efforts to escape the control of religion and society; the means to achieve this end are sex and violence. In "Closer" the lyrical ego reports on the positive feelings that come over it during unfeeling sexual intercourse ("like an animal"). In "Reptile" the topic of sex is dealt with again, but at this point in time the protagonist was already completely taken over by the machine after his violent trip in "Big Man With A Gun" and the subsequent regret in "A Warm Place" and realizes that he has hit rock bottom, whereupon he commits suicide on the title track.
Video
The video for "Closer", directed by Mark Romanek , pays homage to photographer Joel-Peter Witkin . In terms of content, it represents the climax of the story told on The Downward Spiral ; for example, monkeys tied to a cross and human, living organs are shown. Because of this, and because of the text, especially the line "I wanna fuck you like an animal" in the chorus, the video was only shown in a censored version on music channels.
It was voted the best-placed video of the "20 Greatest Music Videos of All Time" in 2006 by viewers on VH1 Classic .
successes
The single reached the Billboard Top 100, but only landed there at number 41. The single was more successful in Canada , where it rose to number 5 on the singles hit parade in 2000.
Versions
There are three versions of "Closer". The single release is 13 seconds longer than the version on the album, because on the latter the song changes directly to "Ruiner" and the instrumental ending is missing. The video version is almost identical, but the word "fuck" is removed from the chorus.
Trivia
- The piece uses a kick drum - sample from the song "Night Clubbing" by Iggy Pop .
- The NIN-author Meathead published under the pen name Nine Inch Goombas a mashup of Closer and the theme from Super Mario Bros., which he Closer to Mario called
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Allmusic: The Downward Spiral / Nine Inch Nails. Retrieved August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Timothy Smith: Mark Romanek / 54th BFI London Film Festival. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 2, 2011 ; accessed on August 6, 2011 : "Nine Inch Nails' 'Closer' pays homage to photographer Joel-Peter Witkin and Madonna's' Bedtime Story 'nods to female surrealist painters such as Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo." Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Volume: Nine Inch Nails - Biography and Discography at HardHarderHeavy. (No longer available online.) February 13, 2008, archived from the original on September 25, 2011 ; Retrieved on August 6, 2011 : "As singles," March of the Pigs "," Closer "(equipped with another very controversial video: monkeys tied to the cross, female sexual characteristics, nudity or pumping innards are reason enough for extensive censorship) , decoupled. “ Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Greg Rule: Interview with Trent Reznor. April 1994, accessed August 6, 2011 : "Actually for" Closer ", we sampled the kick drum off an old Iggy Pop record," Nightclubbing ", off Idiot ."
- ↑ Closer to Mario (mp3; 7.4 MB) ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
