BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
My exploration into my own personal fandom of Nine Inch Nails continues. It’s my favorite band. Yours most likely is someone else, but that’s fine. We all have our own “favorite band”. For whatever reason, we just connect to one specific band or artist and enter into various levels of obsession. Some people get all crazy fan-girl on a band and some just have a casual “favorite”. Regardless, it’s interesting to really think of WHY a certain art is what you have connected with. What about it draws you personally to it? That’s a pretty interesting area to explore, but maybe shouldn’t be. The more I explore why I was so into Nine Inch Nails, the more I realize I might be less than enthralled as I once was. These series of columns are letting me to get to the nitty gritty of this situation.
Nine Inch Nails is known for many things, but the visual production has become a key aspect of the NIN experience. The concerts are incredible productions and the music videos are precise pieces of art. Today I’m going to take a look at my own personal top 20 nine inch nails music videos.
I’m going to break it up into two parts, so here’s the first ten…
20. ”Came Back Haunted”
Album: Hesitation Marks
Directed by: David Lynch
(2013) - The most recent video as of writing made the cut. It’s David Lynch so that’s always good for some credibility. I’ve not had enough time with this video for it to fully engage my interests. The song is not my favorite from the album and the video is sorta hard to absorb. It’s flashy and quick. There’s jerky glimpses of Trent mixed in with tons of awesome David Lynch style shots. It’s interesting as hell and there is TONS to take in. This is a video I hope to watch more and become more familiar with in the future. I know it’s good and I know it’ll go up this list with ease. I just need the time with it.
19. ”The Hand That Feeds”
Album: With Teeth
Directed by: Rob Sheridan
(2005) - This one is simple, but I still think it’s cool. It’s the band performing in a rehearsal space. There is a blueish tint and there is some digital gltiches to compliment the theme and subtle style of the album at the time. There is fast movements, interesting angles, and it keeps my attention throughout. I think it’s a bit underrated because it’s so simple and casual, but it’s still worth mentioning. Good stuff.
18. ”Burn”
Album: Natural Born Killers(soundtrack)
Directed by: Hank Corwin, Trent Reznor
(1994) - The movie, “National Born Killers” is one of the coolest violent movies ever. It’s glimpse at the celebration of celebrity is beautiful. It’s not about the violence and actions, it’s about the love between the two main characters and the love the media has for “big stories”. The sad part is that it’s just as true today as it was in the mid 90s. People are sick and crave more sickness. The song “Burn” reflects some of that. The video features Trent, dressed a bit like Micky, signing at the camera as projections go over him. It’s just various shots of chaos and bad stuff. It’s a good call back to the movie without being TOO specific. A lot of soundtrack songs with videos just use clips from the movie to fill in the gaps. Not this one.
17. ”Deep”
Album: Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (soundtrack)
Directed by: Enda McCallion
(2001) - This video always confused me until I finally realized it was shot in reverse. Reznor robs a bank, hooks up with is girlfriend and goes on the run. They’re being chased, the stolen money explodes with security ink, they crash, and Trent crawls out of the wreckage. She does not. Meanwhile a newscaster explains what’s going on. It’s a perfectly fine video. It’s out of the normal NIN element which is why I think I appreciate it, but also why I think it’s harder to latch onto.
16. ”Hurt”
Album: The Downward Spiral
Directed by: Simon Maxwell
(1995) - The video here is a live one. It’s the band rocking out during the Downward Spiral era tour. They perform behind a HUGE curtain as a collage montage is projected over it. It’s shots of decaying animals, violence, war, famine, and destruction. It’s really cool and well done. Watching this on the old “Closure” VHS tapes was always a good, introspective time. For my liking, I appreciated the version of the song with Bowie that’s leaked out somewhere. As a video front, I dug the more recent “Right Where It Belongs” video better. It’s the same concept, just ten years later with better and more impactful imagery. I know “Hurt” is one of the band’s most loved songs, but I just never got as hooked by as others. Don’t get me wrong, I love the song, but it doesn’t jab at the soul like the next song does.
15. ”Something I Can Never Have”
Album: Still(live performance)
Directed by: Trent Reznor
(2001) - I was tempted to not include this because it’s not really an “official video”. It’s a live performance for a remix/release album that came out over ten years after the original release. During “The Fragile” era, Trent started stepping out and doing more stripped down performances. In this one, he sits at a piano and just opens up the wounds. He bellows the lyrics in a heart destroying way. I have trouble pin-pointing my favorite song, but more times than not I’ll go with THIS one. It’s just a heart breaking and honest song. Growing up an emotional broken and confused teenager, like 90% of the world, I was dealing with the world around me. I just connected with this song because I spent too long being miserable. You tend to get comfortable in the misery and start to look for the beauty in it. I think that’s why I love this song. It’s honest, but it’s also a celebration of depression. There IS beauty in that. The song is great. The video is simple, well done, but simple.
14. ”Sin”
Album: Pretty Hate Machine
Directed by: Brett Turnbull
(1990) - This video is “naughty”. For 1989, this video crosses the lines that most videos today would get attention for crossing. The video features women dancing together for a bit before getting into some serious kink and bondage fun. We see straps, lamps, gear, ball gags, harnesses, and tons of toys. This is all cut in with shots of two men getting frisky, a man and woman doing some kind of weird ritual, and tight shots of loose genitalia. It’s worth noting, at least to me, that I was in kindergarten when this was released. Fun fact!
13. “Into the Void”
Album: The Fragile
Directed by: Walter Stern, Jeff Richter
(2000) - I always thought this single should have been a bigger hit, but looking back to what were the big hits of 2000 makes it clear that it’s merely too good for this world. The melody and beat are contagious because of the bounce to them, but the video is engaging because of its weird ulta-voyeuristic nature shots of the textures and detail of the humans, which are actually NIN. It’s nothing too flashy because it’s all in the presentation. The close-up shots are really interesting and the direction makes it enthralling. This video stands out mainly because of how unique it is. Not many could pull this off, but they do.
12. ”Gave Up”
Album: Broken
Directed by: Jon Reiss
(1992) - I love this song. I can’t say I “relate” to it, but this song captures the feeling of despair and breaking down past despair and into a whole different level of primal pain that you just accept it and embrace the reality. It’s not a “whoa is me” song at all, it’s a “fuck this, fuck that, and fuck you because you can’t hurt me anymore” battle call. The video seems so simple. It’s Trent and boys, including a young Marilyn Manson, rocking out in a home studio. All innocent and well emoted, but once you dig deeper it takes on a new context. The house seen, recorded and lived in here is the famous “Tate House”, where Charles Manson’s followers murdered a famous actress. Creepy! Apparently, Trent kept the door that may or may not have had blood smeared on it. Eeek.
11. ”Down in It”
Album: Pretty Hate Machine
Directed by: Eric Zimmerman, Benjamin Stokes
(1989) - This is the FIRST Nine Inch Nails video. Trent runs crazily through downtown Chicago for a while and then climbs to the roof of a random building. He slips, falls, and dies. Layer on his bandmates end up finding his body. That’s about in the terms of “story”, but the direction and the cuts are pretty interesting. It feels “dated” because of what they were wearing, but it’s not without its “Lost Boys” vibe charm. Trent’s “Michael” hair is pretty amusing. The most interesting part of this was the backstory. Apparently one of the camera balloons used for the “Trent is dead” shots flew away. When it was recovered by a Michigan farmer the FBI got involved, thinking it was a snuff film. Crazy!
Next week we dig into my picks for the top ten music videos of Nine Inch Nails.
I’m sure you can think of a few obvious picks, but what will be number one?
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