Reznor's take on the Matrix

[Approaching Infinity]

Yes, from the guy who wrote "Closer," here is a great song from NIN's new cd.

Right Where it Belongs

See the animal in it's cage that you built
Are you sure what side you're on
Better not look him too closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all
Right where it belongs

What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you wanted to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the world's inside of your heart
Just creations of your own
Your devils and your gods
All the living and the dead
And you really are alone
You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the words
Are you hiding in the dreams?

What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you wanted to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

 

[Nathan]

More from Reznor:

"The Hand That Feeds"

You're keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
Cause you do
What you're told
But inside your heart it is black and it's hollow and it's cold

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

What if this whole crusade's
A charade
And behind it all there's a price to be paid
For the blood
On which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

So naive
I keep holding on to what I want to believe
I can see
But I keep holding on and on and on and on

[8X]
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?




"Every Day Is Exactly The Same"

I believe I can see the future
Cause I repeat the same routine
I think I used to have a purpose
But then again
That might have been a dream
I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
I just do what I've been told
I really don't want them to come around

Oh, no

[Chorus:]
Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

I can feel their eyes are watching
In case I lose myself again
Sometimes I think I'm happy here
Sometimes, yet I still pretend
I can't remember how this got started
But I can tell you exactly how it will end

[Chorus]

I'm writing on a little piece of paper
I'm hoping someday you might find
Well I'll hide it behind something
They won't look behind
I'm still inside here
A little bit comes bleeding through
I wish this could have been any other way
But I just don't know, I don't know what else I can do

[Chorus x2]



"Getting Smaller"

Getting a little erratic here
And I don't know who to trust
I guess they got a way of reading my mind
I guess I got to adjust
I've got my arms that flip flop flip flop flip
I got my head on spring
Well I thought I got you on my side
I haven't got fucking anything

[Chorus:]
I'm just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even trying to stand out
I'm getting smaller and smaller and smaller
And I got nothing to say
It's all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I'm afraid I am starting to fade away

Uh huh
I kind of see through the cracks when I press up on the wall
I'm not looking to stand up real high, I'd be happy to crawl
I think I'm losing my grip, but I can still make a fist
You know I still got my one good arm that I can beat
I can beat myself up with

[Chorus]

Hey, and for what it was worth
I really used to believe
That maybe there's some great thing
That we could achieve
And now I can't tell the difference
Or know what to feel
Between what I've been trying so hard to see
And what appears to be real

Fading away [x4]

[x4]
My world is getting smaller everyday
Hey hey hey hey, and that's okay


[from an older album]

"Happiness In Slavery"

slave screams he thinks he knows what he wants
slave screams thinks he has something to say
slave screams he hears but doesn't want to listen
slave screams he's being beat into submission
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the devils of truth steal the souls of the free
don't open your eyes take it from me
i have found
you can find
happiness is slavery
slave screams he spends his life learning conformity
slave screams he claims he has his own identity
slave screams he's going to cause the system to fall
slave screams but he's glad to be chained to that wall
don't open your eyes you won't like what you see
the blind have been blessed with security
don't open your eyes take it from me
i have found
you can find
happiness is slavery
i don't know what i am i don't know where i've been
human junk just words and so much skin
stick my hands through the cage of this endless routine
just some flesh caught in this big broken machine

 

[Nathan]

Two new songs (intentionally) leaked from the new album Year Zero.

Some interesting trivia:

Reznor's 2006 blog entries noted that the album "could be about the end of the world".

Spin magazine said, "Trent's getting outside of himself lyrically - it's a real state-of-the-union message wrapped in a sci-fi concept album about a totalitarian government in the not-too-distant future."

My Violent Heart

You and I, we may look the same
But we are very far apart
There's bullet-holes where my compassion used to be
And there is violence in my heart

Into fire you can send us
From the fire we return
You can label us a consequence
Of how much you have to learn

You can try but you'll never understand
This is something you will never understand
Can you hear it now?
Hear it coming now
Can you hear it now?

On hands and knees
We crawl
You cannot stop us all

Our bones, our skin
We will not let you win

You have set something in motion
Much greater than you've ever known
Standing there in all your grand naivety
About to reap what you have sown

Time will feed upon your weaknesses
And soon you'll lose the will to care
When you return to the place that you call home
We will be there, we will be there

On hands and knees
We crawl
You cannot stop us all
Our blood will stay
We will not go away

On hands and knees
We crawl
You can not stop us all
Our blood our ways
Will never leave this place

We crawl
We crawl
We crawl
We crawl




Survivalism

I should have listened to her
So hard to keep control
We kept on eating but
Our bloated belly's still not full
She gave us all she had but
We went and took some more
Can't seem to shut her legs
Our mother nature is a whore


(chorus:)
I got my propaganda
I got revisionism
I got my violence
In hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist
I got my plan
I got survivalism

Hypnotic sound of sirens
Echoing through the street
The cocking of the rifles
The marching of the feet
You see your world on fire
Don't try to act surprised
We did just what you told us
Lost our faith along the way and found ourselves believing your lies

(chorus)

(cut-up speech)

All bruised and broken, bleeding
She asked to take my hand
I turned, just keep on walking
But you'd do the same thing in the circumstance
I'm sure you'll understand

(chorus)

(guitar solo)

You got your pacifism - I got survivalism (repeat)




Edit: you can listen to them at www(dot)myspace(dot)com/nin

 

[Nathan]

And some others from the new album (all of which can be listened to at the aforementioned address).

The Warning

Some say it was a warning
Some say it was a sign
I was standing right there
When it came down from the sky
The way it spoke to us
We felt it from inside
Said it was up to us
Up to us to decide

You've become a virus
That's eaten up its host
We've been watching you with all of our eyes

And what you seem to value most
So much potential, or so we used to say
Your greed, self-importance and your arrogance
You piss it all away

We heard a cry
We've come to intervene
You will change your ways
And you will make amends
Or we will wipe this place clean

Your time is tick-tick-ticking away


The Good Soldier

Gunfire in the street
Where we used to meet
Echoes at a beat
And the bass goes "bomb"
Right over my head
Step over the dead
Remember what you said

You know the part about life
Is just a waking dream
Well I know what you mean
But that ain't how it seems right here, right now

How can this be real?
I can barely feel
Anymore

I am trying to see
I am trying to believe
This is not where I should be
I am trying to believe

Blood hardens in the sand
Cold metal in my hand
Hope you understand the way that things are gonna be
There's nowhere left to hide
'Cause God is on our side
I keep telling myself

I am trying to see
I am trying to believe
This is not where I should be
I am trying to believe

God Given

Hey man, please don't make a sound
Take a look around, can't you see what's right in front of you
Have a little taste, no more time to waste
You don't wanna get left behind cause it's all coming down right now

How hard is it to see
Put your faith in me
I sure wouldn't want to be
Praying to the wrong piece of wood
You should get where you belong
Everything you know is wrong
Come on, sing along, everybody now

God given

And it gives us sight
And you'll see the light
And it burns so bright
Now we know we're right
When his kingdom comes
And thy will be done
We've just begun
We're the chosen ones

I would never tell you anything
That wasn't absolutely true
That hadn't come right from His mouth
And He wants me to tell you

Wait, step into the light
How can this be right?
I'm afraid we're gonna ask you to leave
This you cannot win
With the color of your skin
You won't be getting into the Promised Land
It's just another case
You people still don't know your place
Step aside, out of the way, wipe that look off your face
'Cause we are the divine separated from the swine

...

The one below appears to be told from the perspective of a Bushist.

Capital G

I pushed a button and elected him to office and
He pushed a button and he dropped the bomb
You pushed the button and could watch it on the television
Those m*****f***ers didn't last too long

I'm sick of hearing about the have's and the have not's
Have some personal accountability
The biggest problem with the way that we've been doing things is
The more we let you have the less that I'll be keeping for me

Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Traded in my God for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G

Don't give a shit about the temperature in Guatemala
Don't really see what all the fuss is about
Ain't gonna worry about no future generations and
I'm sure somebody gonna figure it out

Don't try to tell me that some power can corrupt a person
You hadn't had enough to know what it's like
You're only angry 'cause you wish you were in my position
Now nod your head because you know that I'm right, alright!

Well I used to stand for something
But forgot what that could be
There's a lot of me inside you
Maybe you're afraid to see

Well I used to stand for something
Now I'm on my hands and knees
Traded in my God for this one
And he signs his name with a capital G

 

[baffledking]

Reznor is most likely quietly awake. I'd like to think that some of our old "heroes" have figured it out...

Cohen? Dylan? Lennon? Bowie?

 

[Adaryn]

Reznor is most likely quietly awake. I'd like to think that some of our old "heroes" have figured it out...

Cohen? Dylan? Lennon? Bowie?

Argh, not sure about the last one... I AM a fan, but certain things he did or said, well... Ok, there was a period when he was quite spaced out, with the drugs and the occult thing...
I don't say he hasn't figured it out, but I wonder on "which side" he is ? When you've seen The Man who fell to Earth,... I know it's just a film but you wonder. He's so convincing as a sort of reptilian alien :O
I have wondered the same about the Lizard King aka Jim Morrison, of whom I was a fan too ! For him, I guess it was just an image he liked to give to himself. And it suited him quite well :D

 

[baffledking]

Argh, not sure about the last one... I AM a fan, but certain things he did or said, well... Ok, there was a period when he was quite spaced out, with the drugs and the occult thing...

He may very well be on the "other side" but, like you said, his whole occult-era (Alister Crowley anybody?!) and his movie roles, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Jareth the goblin King from Labyrinth, vampire, Nikola Tesla.....plus his androgyny phase....all taken together, you get the image of a man who may have access to information that most know nothing about.

Then again, he may just be a weirded out, very talented opportunist.

 

[Tigersoap]

He may very well be on the "other side" but, like you said, his whole occult-era (Alister Crowley anybody?!) and his movie roles, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Jareth the goblin King from Labyrinth, vampire, Nikola Tesla.....plus his androgyny phase....all taken together, you get the image of a man who may have access to information that most know nothing about.

Then again, he may just be a weirded out, very talented opportunist.

After reading some great book about the whole punk/CBGB era in New York, I had another opinion about David Bowie and his good friend Iggy Pop.
These two were social climbers and narcissistic persons of the first kind.
I think talented opportunist is quite fitting.
His ex-wife from that time (her name eludes me) was amazed how David Bowie could find and use anyone that could propell him upper on the ladder of stardom. That's why he really hooked up with Iggy Pop in the first place, to access the US public through Iggy.

David Bowie was pretty paranoid about being jinxed and did not seem to care about anyone except himself.
Iggy and David had a real nazi fetish when they went to Germany (but most of the burgeoning punk band at that time used a lot of nazi imagery because it looked cool, nothing political behind it.).
I am not sure he is that knowledgeable in the way we imply it on this forum.
Maybe he is, but I doubt that is ego would have let him go that far, who knows.

 

[Approaching Infinity]

David Bowie was pretty paranoid about being jinxed and did not seem to care about anyone except himself.
Iggy and David had a real nazi fetish when they went to Germany (but most of the burgeoning punk band at that time used a lot of nazi imagery because it looked cool, nothing political behind it.).
I am not sure he is that knowledgeable in the way we imply it on this forum.
Maybe he is, but I doubt that is ego would have let him go that far, who knows.

Interesting that Bowie is mentioned in the Reznor thread, because when NIN got really popular in the mid 90s, Bowie (not very popular at the time) convinced Reznor to tour with him.

As for the Nazi imagery, I think it has more to do with that peculiar "resonance" by which deviants are "fished" out of their surroundings. The pathocratic call is like an invisible force, uniting them from distances of oceans. Working in an environment with regular contact with a wide variety of people I've noticed that those with an affinity for Nazi imagery are usually psychopaths or characteropaths themselves.

 

[baklavatsky]

I used to be a NIN fan in my teens, and I can tell you somethings about NIN.

Trent recorded some Marilyn Manson's albums and his own album The Downward Spiral at the studio Le Pig in California, which is just the same house where Sharon Tate and her friends were killed by the manson family. some of them wrote on the wall with the blood of the victims: "Pigs", "Helter Skelter", etc. This was linked to the mind programming that Charlie Manson imposed on their mind, his eschatological view of a great racial war opposing blacks and whites (white album). "Pigs" is a word used in the white album, and is maybe referring to capitalists or maybe WASP.

Trent bought the Mellotron of John Lennon and used it in the Downward Spiral... This is an eerie instrument. Could almost be used for channeling I guess...

In one of NIN's videos, for the song "gave up", the band is playing the song in the studio Le Pig, Marilyn Mansno is there playing guitar on the track. We see many times this small statue of a black man with his arm raised and a knive in his hand, like he was about to stab.

I sensed some gloomy vibrations around all this.

In The Downward Spiral, the word "pig" is used often (the song "Piggy", and "March of the Pigs").

NIN is under the label Nothing, property of Trent REznor. "Nothing" is under Interscope", which is linked to... Death Row records! Interscope is property of Bronfmans and they hire only provocative performers, agressive music such as gansta rap or more heavy stuff like NIN, Marilyn Manson, etc. I heard that Death Row Records only hire rappers who have killed people and spent time in prison. Inerscope seems to be a channel of experssion for psychopathic musicians, to spread the naughtyness in our youth... When I was listening to NIN IO was looking for a deeper level of meaning. I now see that there is none, even Reznor said that. His last album is different, he is really full of crypted meaningful messages, instead of the sheer reage and will-to-destroy of his first ten years of drug-induced industrial frenzy.

 

[Beau]

NIN is under the label Nothing, property of Trent REznor. "Nothing" is under Interscope", which is linked to... Death Row records! Interscope is property of Bronfmans and they hire only provocative performers, agressive music such as gansta rap or more heavy stuff like NIN, Marilyn Manson, etc. I heard that Death Row Records only hire rappers who have killed people and spent time in prison. Inerscope seems to be a channel of experssion for psychopathic musicians, to spread the naughtyness in our youth.

I don't think the connection between NIN and Death Row Records is all that strong. You seem to forget that Interscope also has under its flagship acts like No Doubt, All-American Rejects, Audioslave, Primus, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Pussycat Dolls. They certainly do not hire only provocative, aggressive, and psychopathic musicians. I don't see any of the above band fitting into your description. They are a business so if they can make money selling a record, they won't stop to think if the music is proper or not. Capitalism just don't work that way.

Interscope was not founded by the Bronfmans. It was founded by Jimmy Iovine. The Bronfmans assumed ownership when Interscope was bought out by UMG in 1998, of which Seagrams is the parent company. That was way after Death Row lost all their musicians. So their connection to Interscope is tenuous at best. I doubt the Bronfman's are the ones who decide which acts get signed.

 

[John G]

Hey, leave Jimmy Iovine out of this :)

http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/penguin/iovine.htm

 

[baklavatsky]

I have been a big nine inch nails fan. It lead me to appreciating the art of David Lynch (collaboration for Lost Highway). In NIN and Lynch, I found gnostic patterns (in NIN between Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral) and/or manichaean (in Lynch).

Beside those tow I respect, i also encountered Marilyn Manson and Danzig. Those two are suspicious. Manson is in the O.T.O. and used the nazi imagerie in The Golden Age of Grotesque. Danzig loves satanic and nazi books _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOVuYbT66us&NR=1 , and in his songs he blends ophic gnosticism with satanism. Here he whos himself like a true psychopath _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weNO9k1TXS0 . I fell on this song which reminded me of the secret history of jewish sacrificial rites (that we also can find in the Temple of Solomon/egyptina or cretean labyrinth: "How the Gods Kill" _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K5nIpS3vV8 . cantspeak _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9QNxZHfw3I almost seems to suggest a message like political ponerology, with those images of historical wars, and political personalities (liars).

 

[Nathan]

NIN is under the label Nothing, property of Trent REznor. "Nothing" is under Interscope", which is linked to... Death Row records! ...

An update on this:
In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group—the parent company of the band's record label, Interscope Records—for their pricing and distribution plans for Nine Inch Nail's 2007 album Year Zero. [Source: _http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/05/14/nine-inch-nails-trent-reznor-slams-records-labels-for-sorry-state-of-the-industry/]
He labeled the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD", [sic] concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off". Reznor went on to say that as "the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more."
[Source: _http://web.archive.org/web/20070517041353rn_1/nin.com/tr/]

Reznor announced later that Nine Inch Nails split from its contractual obligations with Interscope Records, and will distribute its next major albums independently. In March 2008, Ghosts I–IV was released independently under a Creative Commons license. The next album, The Slip, was released independently and is available free of charge on the band's website.

 

[Nathan]

12.11.08: Regarding NIN music used at Guantanamo Bay for torture

It's difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you've put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture. If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities. Thank GOD this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration's reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us.

Trent Reznor

Source: nin.com news feed

It's sad to see so many people hit the snooze button and go back to sleep.