CLOSER TO GOD

"'Closer to God'" (also known as '''Halo 9''') is a single by Nine Inch Nails released in 1994 for the song "Closer" from the album ''The Downward Spiral''.
"Closer to God" is a rare example in music of a single's title differing from its name on the A-Side.

Contents

The song

The single

Releases

Track listing

U.S. version

UK version

Disc 1: Further Away

Disc 2: Closer to God

Cassette version (Australia)

The video

Live performance

Cover versions

In popular culture

References

External links

The song

"Closer" is arguably Nine Inch Nails' most well-known song. The chorus features the line "I wanna fuck you like an animal," with the profanity censored for radio airplay despite its prominent placement in the song.
The song exemplifies Trent Reznor's affinity for dissonance, with a four-note synthesizer riff featuring an augmented interval after the first chorus. It ends with a heavily chromatic piano motif, the same that recurs in the climax of the title track, suggesting that the lyrics should be interpreted beyond their literal meaning.
The beat is a heavily modified sample of a kick drum from the song "Nightclubbing" from ''The Idiot'' album by Iggy Pop.^[1]

The single

The version of "Closer" on the single is longer than the album version by 13 seconds. On the album, the ending piano tune is abruptly cut to segue into the next track, "Ruiner". On the single, the piano and background sounds are played out.
In addition, the single contains five remixes of "Closer", a remix of "Heresy", an instrumental ("March of the Fuckheads"), and a Soft Cell cover ("Memorabilia", originally released on ''Non-stop Ecstatic Dancing''). The UK version contains the same songs split into two discs.

Releases

★ TVT Records / Interscope Records / Atlantic Records 95905–2 – U.S. CD

★ TVT Records / Interscope Records 0694959052 – U.S. CD Re–release

★ Island Records CID 596 854 059–2 – UK CD 1

★ Island Records CIDX 596 854 061–2 – UK CD 2

★ Island Records 12IS 596 854 059–1 – UK 12" Vinyl 1

★ Island Records 12ISX 596 854 061–1 – UK 12" Vinyl 2

Track listing

U.S. version

#"Closer to God" (Remixed by Trent Reznor, Sean Beavan, Brian Pollack) – 5:05
#"Closer (Precursor)" (Remixed by Coil, Danny Hyde) – 7:16
#"Closer (Deviation)" (Remixed by Jack Dangers, Craig Silvey) – 6:15
#"Heresy (Blind)" (Remixed by Dave Ogilvie, Anthony Valcic, Joe Bisara) – 5:32
#"Memorabilia" – 7:21
#"Closer (Internal)" (Remixed by Bill Kennedy, Scott Humphrey, John "Geetus" Aguto, Paul Decarli, Eric Claudiex) – 4:15
#"March of the Fuckheads" (Remixed by Adrian Sherwood) – 4:43
#"Closer (Further Away)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 5:45
#"Closer" – 6:26

UK version

Disc 1: Further Away

#"Closer" – 6:26
#"Closer (Deviation)" (Remixed by Dangers, Silvey) – 6:15
#"Closer (Further Away)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 5:45
#"Closer (Precursor)" (Remixed by Coil, Hyde) – 7:16
#"Closer (Internal)" (Remixed by Kennedy, Humphrey, Aguto, Decarli, Claudiex) – 4:15

Disc 2: Closer to God

#"Closer to God" (Remixed by Reznor, Beavan, Pollack) – 5:05
#"Heresy (Blind)" (Remixed by Ogilvie, Valcic, Bisara) – 5:32
#"Memorabilia" – 7:21
#"March of the Fuckheads" (Remixed by Sherwood) – 4:43

Cassette version (Australia)

#"Closer" – 6:25
#"March of the Pigs (Live)" – 3:12, appears to be the audio track from the music video
Other versions in other formats and countries have the track listing of the U.S. release.

The video

The music video was directed by Mark Romanek and first aired on May 12, 1994. It was cut down from its original length to 4:36. The video was popular and helped bolster the success of the band. It was also somewhat controversial due to its imagery which included a nude woman with a crucifix mask, a monkey tied to a cross, and diagrams of vulvas. These images seem to be inspired by the art of Joel-Peter Witkin. Scenes that had to be removed were replaced with a title card that said "Scene Missing," and the instances of the word "fuck" being edited out were accompanied by a stop in the video motion, to make it appear as if the stop was a result of defective film (this was done to make sure the flow of the song was not affected). The video also has a stylized, old-film look. The video is one of two directed by Romanek that the Museum of Modern Art has added to its permanent collection.
The unedited version of this video was shown on Playboy TV's uncensored music video show ''Hot Rocks'' in 1994. In mid-2002, the unedited version of this video was 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 graphic imagery of "Closer" and several other videos.
In 2006, "Closer" was number one in a poll held by VH1 Classic for the twenty greatest videos of all time.
The unedited video is included in ''Closure'', ''The Downward Spiral'' (DualDisc) and ''. Behind-the-scenes footage with commentary by Romanek is included in ''Closure'' (DVD) and ''Directors Label''.
The keyboard Reznor is seen playing toward the end of the video is a piece of Reznor's own Mellotron, which was once owned by John Lennon and may have been used on The Beatles' song "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Live performance

During the Woodstock 1994 performance of "Closer", 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 has been performing "Closer" with a new breakdown that cuts the track length by about a minute and a half. Instead of playing a prerecorded clip of Trent Reznor saying "all through every forest, above the trees / within my stomach, scraped off my knees / I drink the honey, inside your hive / you are the reason, I stay alive", Reznor screams these lyrics live to the backdrop of "The Only Time", a track from ''Pretty Hate Machine''. Two versions of this appear on ''Beside You in Time''.
Another new feature is the keyboard solo that follows the chorus is now a guitar solo, with it being played using heavy distortion effects. This is seen on ''Beside You in Time''.

Cover versions

★ "Closer" has been covered by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, Curl, The Galan Pixs, Eric Gorfain, Maroon 5, Maxwell, Frank Rogala, Rosetta Stone, Ark Sano, S.I.N.A., Spiralmouth, The Bucketkickers, and Transient.

★ Weird Al Yankovic's song "Germs" from his album ''Running with Scissors'' parodies the style of "Closer", and more so, "Terrible Lie" off the Pretty Hate Machine album. It is also included in the medley "The Alternative Polka" from ''Bad Hair Day'', in which the word "fuck" is censored with a squeaky sound effect.

★ The Asylum Street Spankers occasionally perform a bluegrass version, available at the Live Music Archive.

★ A parody by Nine Inch Richards was released on a maxi-single entitled ''Closer to Hogs.''

★ Unauthorized mashup tracks that use "Closer" are quite common, with some example being "Come Closer Together," a mashup of "Closer" with The Beatles's "Come Together", "Crushingly Close" using the song "#1 Crush" by Garbage, "Closer/Trance is the Motion" with "Trance is the Motion" by Static-X, and "Closer to da Club" with "In da Club by 50 Cent. Most, if not all, are widely available on YouTube and other Internet sites.[1]

★ The song was covered by Ecuadorian alternative act SIQ, with most of their music adapted into a more rock style song. It is played by the band live on many performances including their performance in the massive colombian festival "Rock al parque" in 2005.

In popular culture

★ An uncredited edit of the remix "Closer (precursor)" is featured in the opening credits of the movie ''Se7en''.

★ Limp Bizkit parodied "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." Another line in the song is "Nine Inch Nail get knocked the fuck out!" This is a testament to the feud between Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and Trent Reznor. Reznor was given a writing credit for the song, and thus earns royalties whenever the song is played or copies of the album are sold.

★ ''The Hitcher'' (2007 remake) uses the song in the background of a car chase scene.

★ Santino Rice sang the song on Project Runway season 2 as Tim Gunn.

★ The first few seconds were used as the intro to ECW Hardcore TV. The beats would match each of the letters to the word "Extreme", before the main music kicked in ("Thunderkiss '65" by White Zombie).

★ The song was used in the episode "Lady Heather's Box".

References

1. Trent Reznor Greg Rule

External links

★ halo nine at nin.com, the official website

★ ''Closer to God'' at the NinWiki

★ ''Halo 9'' at NINCollector

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (US CD5")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (US CD5" Re-release)

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (US 2x12")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (disc 1) (UK CD5")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (disc 2) (UK CD5")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (disc 1) (UK 12")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer to God'' (disc 2) (UK 12")

★ discogs.com: ''Closer'' (UK 2x12")