The Ultimate Rock Sex Song by NIN

Opening song by Witch of November. 

Is Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" the most IMPORTANT industrial rock song ever written? Dive deep into the BRUTAL brilliance of the track that defined the 90s.

In this full-scale music DECONSTRUCTION, PJ Pat breaks down how Trent Reznor blended electronic, industrial, and heavy metal elements to create an ESSENTIAL, game-changing anthem. We analyze the track's groundbreaking production, the signature rhythm loop, the LETHAL bassline, and the intense lyrical themes that cemented "Closer" as a masterpiece of "The Downward Spiral" era.

If you love detailed rock music analysis, sound design breakdowns, and the history of 90s industrial music, this video is for you.

Hit the Lwhat’s your FAVORITE Nine Inch Nails song?

0:00 The Essential Power of "Closer"
1:30 The Production BREAKDOWN: Machines Meet Metal
3:45 The Lyrical INTENSITY and Trent Reznor’s Vision
6:00 Analyzing the ICONIC Drum Loop & Groove
8:20 The LETHAL Synth & Driving Bassline
10:45 The Enduring LEGACY of The Downward Spiral

Transcript

Welcome to the It's one Louder podcast.

Your host, PJ Pat, has done absolutely nothing that you would know about. So turn up the volume one louder and enjoy the show.

Well, hello? Hello, rock freaks. This is your fellow rock freak, PG Pat. I am ecstatic that you chose to click on this podcast to listen to. I can't thank you enough. I appreciate your loyalty and your time we spent together, and, uh, I hope you're just as excited as I am to start these holidays next week. Man.

It's been a crazy year, hasn't it? With all the turmoil going on economically and just AI taking over our lives. It seems like every third conversation I have with someone, it's about ai, but I think everyone's looking forward to [00:01:00] just taking a break and just chilling out and just removing ourselves from all that noise from around the world and from the news.

I actually had to take the news app off my phone. Because I was starting to get addicted to that newsfeed with the whole Trump thing and with the wars and what's going on here, what's going on there, and the cost of living and how everything's unaffordable. Yes, it is unaffordable. Taking a news app doesn't change that, but at least it gives me a little bit of peace of mind or some mental health, uh, positivity, taking that thing off and just taking a break from the news.

I don't know. I'm sure you all have your own thing. You do. To recharge your batteries and to just, um, avoid the negativity, you know? So one way to avoid the negativity hopefully is you listening to this. Episode about one of my favorite bands in the nineties, nine Inch Nails, the genius of Trent Resner, and I'm not sure if you've been following what he's been [00:02:00] doing lately.

He's been involved with a lot of stellar movie soundtracks. He's just up his game. Very, very cool. Luckily that the movie he soundtracks on are good. So that I'm sure helps. But man, he is on another level these days. I mean, it seems like everything he touches is gold. If you haven't seen the latest Tron, go check it out.

He does the soundtrack for that. And, uh, I saw it and I was blown away, not only by the movie, but by the soundtrack. It added a whole other dimension to the movie. It was like its own character. And listening it on a big screen with those big speakers right at you. One louder. Poof. What an experience.

Alright, well, before we get into this episode, I just want to let you know that I revamped. Our website, it's one louder.com, ITS, the number one louder.com. I put in a bunch of new designs on there, so if you're still looking for that Christmas gift for that special someone so mosey on over to [00:03:00] it's one louder.com and I'm sure you'll find some rock thing that that person will be into, whether it's a mug, a cap, a hoodie, a t-shirt, you name it.

Hopefully you like the new designs. Check it out. Also, while you're on there, definitely sign up for the 11 Club. So that's something I'm starting and it's just a membership. It's free, absolutely free. What I want to do is add value to you. I'll give you some special discounts from the new designs coming up throughout the year, next year, 2026.

I want to give you some perks as well. I'll give you an exclusive members only podcast once every three months. So you won't fight on YouTube, you won't find it on any podcast episode. I'll send it right directly to you, to your inbox. So sign up for that and if I come up with anything else, I'll let you know.

I have this fantasy of starting a poster club as well. Not sure if you've seen on my videos on YouTube, but I very often I'll have like a one or two posters. I'm a [00:04:00] big poster fan, concert rock poster fan, and I want to do something around that. So. Stay tuned for that. That's gonna come in 2026. Alright, without further ado, let's get into it.

Happy holidays everybody. I wish you nothing but the best times with your family and friends this upcoming holiday season and nothing but the best rock and roll as you're opening the gifts and enjoying the meals with your loved ones. Don't forget, though, to always rock it and crank it up. One louder.

Thanks for joining the Its one Louder podcast. I'm your host, PJ Pat and I found this amazing article. About the ultimate rock sex song by the one and only Nine Inch nails called Closer released in 1994. And I saw this article in the latest Metal Hammer magazine and it's pretty cool 'cause it, it'll talk about the story behind the song Closer released in 1994.

Like I said now, that was pretty much the peak of my clubbing [00:05:00] days, and there was a time. Religiously, that song would come up at the end of every night, right before closing time when people are trying to hook up for the rest of the night, if you know what I mean. In my club days without fail, that song will come on every single time I went out.

And to this day, I actually hear it on the radio. Obviously it's vulgar, it has the F word in it, but I still hear it on the radio from time to time where they either. Mute the word or bleep it out, but they still play it. That's how iconic this song is, and it's actually a really damn good song too.

Ironically, this morning I read that young people these days from the age of 15 to 25 are actually having less sex than back in my day. One could argue the reasons, but social media I think is undeniable. That's one of the reasons. The young people are more anxious now. The world is in a different place, more worrisome.

It's hard to make a living these days. So the stress around that [00:06:00] and the anxiety and busyness that social media brings to people, I'm sure that affects it. But I'm saying maybe the cure to that. More people need to listen to closer. That's what I'm saying. Probably the kids these days. Over 15 have no idea about this song.

I say we should let this song rip. All over the place and bring a song back again into the limelight so these kids can start having fun again, if you know what I mean. Alright, let's get into this article. You ready? Let's do it. Welcome to the It's one Louder podcast. Your host, PJ Pat, has done absolutely nothing that you would know about.

So turn up the volume one louder and enjoy the show. Okay. The article is called The Story Behind Closer Nine Inch Nails. How a misinterpreted horny anthem turned Trent reser into an unlikely and unwilling. Rock and roll Sex God words. Dave Everly. It was Motley Crewe drummer and [00:07:00] hard rock's Bozo in chief, Tommy Lee, of all people who nailed the enduring NSFW brilliance of nine-ish Nails, 1994.

Single closer. Come on dude, I wanna fuck you like an animal. He enthused a US magazine blender referring to the song's. Provocative, lyrical. Hook. That's the all time fuck song. Those are pure fuck beats. Trent Resner knew what he was doing. You can fuck to it. You can dance to it and you can break shit to it.

Yeah, I gotta say he is got a point. He wasn't wrong. Even if that wasn't wholly the intention of the man who wrote it. Closer was three minutes of provocative industrial disco perfection, A PVC clad anthem with one foot in the strip club and one in the fetish club. It helped accelerate nails transformation from seething, goth, malcontents into one of the defining bands of the 1990s and beyond.

Elevating Trent resident to the status of cultural figurehead, albeit one [00:08:00] who was on the outside looking in. I think popular music sucks today. Trent told Spin Magazine back in 1994. For the most part, I cannot stand the shit that's at the top of the charts. Now, I'm not saying my sole mission is to turn people onto other music, but maybe I can change things a bit.

1994, I don't know if I'd agree with that. I mean, that's still, I wouldn't say it's a peak of grunts, but that was still. Pretty damn popular. I know Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April of 1994, so that's after in utero. But I think around that time there was still some good shit going on. I think, you know, silver Chair was at its peak then, and a lot of the grunge bands, Pearl Jam, Alison Chains, sound Guard, were still releasing albums too.

So I would tend to disagree. I think back then, especially the mainstream stuff was pretty damn good. Especially if you compare it to today. And I'm not just an over far talking, you kids go back and listen to all the popular songs back in 94 and you tell me if I'm outta my head. [00:09:00] Actually you know what?

Here, let me look it up. Alright, I'm looking up right now. I just did a Google search on the Top Rock hits of 1994 and I think Trent is a little out of his mind. No offense, but you got Sound Gardens, black Hole, sun and Spoon Man. Were Major Hits, super Unknown was groundbreaking album, hugely popular. Love those songs.

Stone Temple Pilot had a big year with songs like Interstate Love Song Vaseline, and Big Empty Wow Collective Soul Shine. Okay, that was good. Nirvana's All Apologies, was a significant rock hit back in 1994 and in Utero. Love that album, green Day Basket Case. Come on, Dookie. Come on. That's unbelievable.

Meat puppets, backwater, Allison Chains, no excuses, and I stay away. That's one of my favorite primary acoustic albums of all time. It was called Jar of Flies. Absolutely amazing. Counting Crow's, Mr. Jones. I mean, come on. Counting Crow's first album. Poof. Such an [00:10:00] awesome classic. Live selling the drama. Okay.

Yeah. Live, I would say is like the nineties creed, but you know, it was okay. The offspring come out and play. Come on. That song and that album. That was groundbreaking too. I think up to that point, a lot of the kids. Had never heard anything like that. And so this was all mainstream and top of the charts in 1994.

I'm sorry, Trent, but you're outta your mind. Alright, but I digress. Trent has a right to have his opinion. I think it's a little bit of, uh, I'm better than you type, uh, attitude. But shall we continue? We shall. Ironically, nine Inch Nails themselves fitted into the category of popular music by that point, the success of their debut album, pretty Hate Machine, released in October, 1989.

But Turbocharged by the band's appearance on the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1991, had done more than any other record to introduce mainstream audiences to industrial music, and I gotta say, nine inch nails. Really kudos to them. They were [00:11:00] the ones that really did make industrial music mainstream.

I mean, there were other bands here and there that had that type of sound. But no one really blew it up. Like nine inch nails for sure. So you gotta give him credit. Pretty hate machine. And his follow up, 1990 two's Nihilistic Broken EP turned Trent into the high priest of self-loathing, providing the soundtrack for people who hated themselves but still wanted to dance.

However, it'd be their second full length album. 1994 is the downward spiral. What a classic. That kicked nine inch nails to the next level and turned its creator into. Bonafide star, albeit a reluctant one and closer was a big reason for its success. So from what I read when Trent recorded the downward spiral.

Guess what he actually recorded in Shannon Tate's house. Uh, so if you heard of Charles Manson and the Manson murders, it was the murders took place in, uh, Shannon Tate was, I believe [00:12:00] an actress at the time. They murdered her and a couple other people, and it was, the murders happened in her house and believe it or not.

Trent Resner actually rented her house to record the downward spiral, that whole album. And so there's a haunting mystique to it, and that probably contributed to the mood of the album. But yeah, it's not kind of crazy. But you know, if there was anyone to, to do that, it would be Trent. At the time, he probably was, I, I'm pretty sure he was totally on drugs and addicted at that time.

And just going down a quote unquote downward spiral. Alright, back to the article. Nine Inch Nails hadn't so much formed a coalesced around a series of demos Trent had written and recorded while working as a studio hand in his adopted hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in the late eighties. Over the next few years, it mutated.

From one man project into a more recognizable brand, and their success began to grow [00:13:00] as a kid. Trent was a huge fan of Pink Floyd and specifically their sprawling 1979 album, the Wall. Who wouldn't be? An increasingly unhinged concept album about a tortured rockstar whose life spirals out of control. As his fame grows following pretty hate machine, he found himself in his own real life version of the wall.

The downward spiral would be his attempt to dissect what was happening to him and turn it into art. It was about me, but a projection of me, a character who systematically destroys all these different things in his life in search for some sort of answer. Trent told Metal Hammer of the album in 2005. In the crossfire is sex relationships, trust the specter of religion and its flaws and its lies and its hollowness, and drugs and a sense of purpose and self-loathing and desperation.

I'm pretty sure he was all feeling all that at [00:14:00] the time, for sure. He elected to record this song in Los Angeles rather than a regular studio. He rented a house in the Hollywood Hills. That he'd spotted in an advert and set his equipment up there. The house located at 150 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon had been the scene of the 1969 murder of actress Sharon Tate.

That's what I was just saying. Four of her friends and her unborn son by the followers of the cult leader, Charles Manson. There you go. While the Tet host would become part of the downward spirals mythology. Trent insisted that he'd had no idea of the place's grim history when he signed the rental agreement and knocked back claims that he idealized fucked up old hippie Manson that didn't stop him.

Nicknaming the studio Le Pig. A reference to the fact that the killers had smeared the words pig on the walls in their victim's blood. Whoa. Pretty gruesome. The Bestial theme bled into the downward [00:15:00] spiral, not least on closer. Although Trent had the songs Carnal, I Wanna Fuck You like an animal lyric in place.

When he began writing and demoing the song before arriving in Los Angeles, the song started with that line. Trent told spin. Everything else kind of got pieced around it. That's a pretty damn good chorus. Trent, you got that one right. Yeah. One musical inspiration for the track was Iggy Pop's, 1977 Song, night Clubbing, A throbbing disco punk song, Iggy Coro with Trent, big Hero, David Bowie.

I love that song. Night Clubbing. I think the first time I heard that song was. Train spotting. Remember that movie, that song was on the soundtrack. I think it was when he went clubbing actually. Yeah. He was at the club and I think they were playing that song and loved it. I, I remember playing that train spotting soundtrack.

If you haven't heard it, go check it out. It's really, really good. Alright, back to the article. Another sample came from Roxy Music's Smooth 1982, single take a [00:16:00] chance with me. Although the nine inch nail man reversed it and sped it up until it was unrecognizable, really. But compared to the anger and self disgust that fueled much of the rest of the downward spiral closer was almost a beat.

I thought, how am I gonna be able to do this? I'm supposed to be tough, I gotta act tough. Trent told Spin, but I'm having fun doing it, so I'm gonna do it. It's scary to do that than to do Mr. Self-destruct type songs. He added referencing the album's intense opening track. The resulting song was certainly the poppies moment on the downward spiral.

Although pop is a relative term, lines such as. You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you. And my whole existence is flawed. You get me closer to God. Blurting the lines between sex and religion, obsession and control. The, I wanna fuck you like an animal hook only added to the fetish club vibe, man.

Reading [00:17:00] this article has definitely taken me back to my clubbing days and, and being just pumped full of testosterone and hearing a song. And dancing around pretty women and looking at each other, it's uh, definitely puts you into some sort of hypnotic trance on the dance floor, especially when you had a couple of brew skis beforehand, if you know what I mean.

It's super negative and super hateful. Trent told Details Magazine of the song's, lyrics. It's, I am a piece of shit and I am declaring that. And if you think you want me, here I am. Closer was released as a second single from the downward spiral in May of 19 94, 2 months after the album came out. So just, uh, parenthesis here.

Trent was talking about how, uh, closer sounded popular than anything else in the album, and that he was kind of scared to do it, so that pushed him to actually do it. So he, uh, stayed loyal to that logic and thinking, because I remember when he released a, that really Poppy [00:18:00] album. Um, uh, what was that called?

And he came up with that really commercial song. Okay. Right. The song was called The Hand Net Feeds, and it was a very much more commercial song than he was used to doing. And it was a very popular, I actually love that song. That album's actually pretty good. It's very commercial, very accessible, but that song, the hand that feeds is amazing.

If you haven't checked it out, go check it out. And uh, I remember my band used to play it at gigs and love that song. Love the vibe. And it's pretty catchy. But he, I remember reading at that time that he was saying that, you know, people kind of expected him to do the self-destruct, industrial nine minute songs, whatever.

And um, when he started writing this popular, more accessible album, again, he said pretty much the same thing he just said, where he. Kind of scared to do it. And uh, so that's what really pushed him to do it. And that was a risk. He was saying that writing a pop song, popular album was actually a risk for him.[00:19:00]

And doing the same old thing was just, uh, boring to him. And I'm sure that bowed for him very well. Alright, back to the article to direct a video. Trent enlisted Mark Romanek, the Man Behind High Profile promos by the likes of Madonna, Lenny Kravitz and David Bowie. Previous on H Channel's videos had ranged from the glitchy low-fi visuals for pretty hate machine singles.

Down in it and head like a hole to the graphic s and m theme clip for 1992, single Happiness and Slavery, which saw performance artists Bob Flanagan undergoing uns simulated sexual torture. Not surprisingly, it was banned by MTV and everyone else. The closer video wasn't quite as full on as that, but it still pushed the boundaries of what a mainstream artist could get away with.

Filmed inside an abandoned hospital in Los Angeles. It featured a grainy stream of serial images including nude models, crucified monkeys, and angel wings made of animal carcasses. [00:20:00] Typical Trent Reser right there despite his strangeness and perversity. It was slicker and glossier than past nine-ish nail video.

In a closer video, I was myself, but in a foreign environment. He pointed out on 2000 fives the work of Director Mark Romanek, DVD. It's strange when you're playing in front of 30 people lip-syncing, especially when you're hanging upside down with a piece of meat behind you. MTV was never going to play closer in its original form.

But an edited version went onto rotation. Similarly, the song was picked up by radio stations despite the constant stream of sexual F-bombs dropped throughout, which were replaced with silence rather than bleeped out. Again, something I mentioned earlier. Yeah, so to this day, I still hear it on a radio, it's status as a key nine inch nails track was cemented by its presence in their memorable set at Woodstock 94, which saw the mud cake ban.

Played to an estimated 350,000 people. [00:21:00] Nine ish nails had become proper rock stars. Yeah, I remember that. In 94 it was them in Green Day, I think. Where their sets were completely mud filled, 'cause it started raining and there was just mud everywhere. The crowd was just throwing mud at the band. The crowd was throwing mud at itself, and I remember nine inch nails, they were just covered in mud.

Trent covered in mud. Such a memorable set. Unforgettable. If you haven't seen it, go check it on YouTube. I'm sure there are clips of it and you won't believe it. They're just like covered in mud, all their instruments covered in mud and Trent Reser just so freaking intensely singing and so awesome. I wish I was there.

Closer gets added at MTV and somehow people at Woodstock think we did good and somehow the timing of Rolling Stone finally offering us a cover. Like it was all perfectly planned, which it's not. He told RIP Magazine. I know when I go to sleep at night, I've made the record I wanna make without any [00:22:00] compromise.

If that is a sellout, then I'm a hundred percent sellout. It didn't take long for closer to find hist place in the wider culture. It appeared in the opening credits of David Fincher's. Bleak. 1995, thriller seven. Awesome movie by 2000. Fred Durst was referencing it in Limp Bizkit song, hotdog twisting the lyric around.

You wanna fuck me like an animal? You like to burn me on the inside? And Trent Rener himself, he has expressed mixed feelings about the song that did more than any other to raises band's profile what I hoped would've been a higher art thing, became a frat house date rape strip club Anthem thing. He told Keyboard Magazine in 1995.

Huh? Sad. I mean, it is an ugly song. No doubt. It's not nice, it's not life affirming. It's probably the ugliest song on a record, which is why I dress it up. Nice, easy to listen to music. Wow, there you go. And it says here, nine Inch Nails Tron [00:23:00] Aries soundtrack is out now via Interscope Records. Yeah. By the way, if you haven't seen the movie, Tron, nine Inch Nails is a soundtrack for that, and it's unbelievable.

It is awesome, especially when you sit in movie theaters with the sound system blasting at you. I'm telling you. Yeah, definitely go check out the movie and the soundtrack. You can't go wrong and look at these pictures. You know, back then Trent was pretty much a druggie and. Really skinny. I've seen him I think twice now, and last time I saw him, he was super buffed.

You know, he gave up that self-destructive behavior. He's buffed now. He goes to the gym. He's healthy, and he's been involved with tremendous projects. I just love seeing Nineish nails and specifically Trent Renner's evolution in his art. You know, he's gone from. The self-destructive, goth, industrial, dark type of music when he first started his career.

And obviously he's matured as a grown man now, and he is working with other people. He is [00:24:00] doing a lot of soundtracks right now. He's been involved with like amazing soundtracks, movie soundtracks. That is, you know, I'm looking at the list now. Natural born killers, lost highway, the social network. Well, I forgot about that.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Gone Girl. Just amazing movies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem The Killer, and recently Tron. I mean, he's found a knack to associate himself with talented people and get involved in these amazing projects. So kudos to Trent. I'm really happy for him. I mean, I see him do all kinds of stuff.

And also he still continued to doing nine-ish nails. I mean, you gotta give him credit for that. He doesn't have to. He can just tour with all his old repertoire, but he still continues to make new music. That's a true artist for you. Alright, I hope you liked that article. Hope you enjoyed my little 2 cents and I really appreciate you joining.

Thank you so much to all the [00:25:00] subscribers. Recently I've been noticing the subscribers uptick. I can't tell you enough how thankful I am and how grateful I am for all of you to tune in every time I release one of these videos. I really appreciate it. Thank you again. Happy holidays.