How Trent Reznor Tried To Ruin The Nine Inch Nails Hit Song ‘Closer’

On a recent episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown, former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna told the story of the song "Closer" and how it ended up with its vulgar lyrics.

Chris spoke to how famed producer "Flood" was working on the album with the band. "So, we had Flood, and he was staying with us at the Tate house for, you know, for a month or two, working on production on Downward Spiral with us, and we, you know, the music was already there pretty much, and Trent comes in he's like, "I got the lyrics, man." And so we go in, you know, we have our coffee, and he's like, okay. And then he hits play, and he's singing. He's singing, you know, he sings "Closer," and we start to like, and Flood and I start laughing and... I was like, you know, this is probably the most pop song that we have. And if you think about it, musically, it is the most like the most pop-sounding and structured song on the record. And I said, but you now ruined it. We'll never have a hit single because you say (The F Word).

Chris went on about the lyrics to the song "I want to F you like an animal, and Trent said, "I know, I did it on purpose to make sure it can't be the pop single." And I was like, I mean, how do you argue that? Okay, so he did it completely on purpose to mess with it because he also thought it was too pop, and that was his way. But he loved the song, and we just bleeped that word out, and it didn't seem to affect the radio airplay at all."

Of course, I had to ask him how often he'd heard that song in "gentlemen's clubs." "I can't tell you how many times we'd be on tour, and, you know, it'd be like, one of those gentlemen's clubs, and they are what they are. But they'd find out that we're walking in and the DJ (makes a record scratching sound) Like, I mean, thanks, but, you know, we don't wanna try not to draw attention to ourselves here.