Song meanings General

Help me unpack the meaning of this song.

NINE INCH NAILS - "CLOSER"

youtu.be/ccY25Cb3im0

It's about obsession and using it as a form of escapism ("you get me closer to God" or "help me become somebody else").

I will unleash my autism on an obvious bait thread.

TDS is a story about thinking kill God and the terrible ramifications that come from it. By Closer the protagonist is devoid of His presence and is reduced to little more than an animal, using primal instincts to connect back with God, but it's fleeting and it only hastens his collapse.

Every song prior to Closer is a smug triumph with an apparent victory over Him, every song after is more and more of a nightmare.

/autism

[spoiler] The Fragile is better [/spoiler]

I don't know where this "killing God" thing comes from, to be honest. I just thought it's about mental illness and other people dragging a person down until they commit suicide (Hence why the first track is so aggressive, it's more of a prologue, like the negative forces seeking out a victim or something, whereas the second track is, for the most part calmer, it's where things start for the album's protagonist).
There's Heresy, of course, but I always viewed that as loss of faith being a part of the downward spiral that the album is about.

Killing God doesn't have to be a literal thig. God is usually equated to morality, the protagonist does away with this and everything collapses in onto him leading inevitably to the Title Track song.

Nine Inch Nails = bad music for 14-year olds

This thread is all the proof you need.

What do you think Ruiner is about? I always assumed it was about being oppressed and kept down by something or someone, but I'm not sure.

I assumed that the first half of Ruiner was him attacking God, blaming the God for all his personal problems. Calling him an abuser of the weak, manipulator.
In second part, with that guitar solo, is him taking down "God" and taking his place.

Only for the protaognist to become the verything he accused God of being.

In I Do Not Want This, at the end he wishes for God-like powers, wanting to be everywhere, do everything and fuck everyone in the world, when Big Man With A Gun starts, any sort of redemption the protagonist might have had is down the drain as he rapes and kills someone.

>tfw TDS is actually a religious album and shows how atheism leads to loss of meaning and morality and eventual murder and suicide
At last I truly see

I love The Fragile's concept much more, sad it doesn't get much more discussed, it's obviously much more personal to Trent, whereas TDS definetelly was personal as well, The Fragile was pretty much just Trent, no protagonist or character.

I was always fascinated by the visuals The Fragile put through, the waterfall, the close-ups of flowers and nature, it's clear Trent was falling apart but also wanted to prove to the world he was a fragile human being (He talks about this in the interview). While The Fragile is a very agressive album, it has quite kidness to it all that makes it very "human" album, while TDS was all about stripping away humanity.

I don't think it's that necesarry, religion is definetelly a part of it. But in the long run, the protagonist doesn't just give up God and humanity, he gives up everything, The Downward Spiral is a showcase of a man whom destroys his humanity in an attempt to become of more control of his own life, the control he wants and seeks is what leads to his downfall, he is a control freak and that is the real reason he hates God, the actual God or even the idea of him.

He changes at the last song "Hurt", notice how every mention of other people is as "Pigs", he loses his significant friend, or other, in "Piggy". In "Hurt" he probably calls back to this "friend", but he's changed now, even though he's dying, he has realized his faults and refer to them as a "friend" rather than piggy.

Well done on your choice of song for analysis. If it's not the best song of the 90s, surely the video is.

It is about the utter madness of sex. Or really about the narrator's uncomfortable-ness and anxiety with fucking a girl. From there the extrapolations, implications web outward to the entire animal nature of society and world and the revolting dominance and violence of everything. Human all to human as Nietzsche put it.

I will never not be slightly disappointed that the picture of the flowers did not become the cover. I like the final one too, but the one with the flowers would've been so much better.

My post wasn't 100% serious but some of what you mention is actually what I've heard pastors talk about when I attended mass, stuff like trying to appeal to other people or oneself before God and all that.
I recall seeing a quote from Trent in the 90s where he says that he believes in God, but I can't find it, maybe it wasn't real. But I still don't believe that TDS is as anti-religious of an album as some people make it out to be.

It's about the inevitable and unavoidable conflict between Logos and the Ground of human existence, the chaotic madness of God, his withdrawal into himself, his arbitrary will, and his rational ends. Between revelation and rational theology.

>I recall seeing a quote from Trent in the 90s where he says that he believes in God, but I can't find it, maybe it wasn't real.
Trent believes in a God, but he never reveled in which one, it's clear he always struggled with faith, it seems he has made peace with it if Find My Way was any clue.

And NIN isn't anti religious in general, its attacks againts religion were always those whom abuse the faith to hurt others, Year Zero's God Given makes this especially clear.

>I will never not be slightly disappointed that the picture of the flowers did not become the cover. I like the final one too, but the one with the flowers would've been so much better.
I feel like Trent picked up the close-up of the water-fall intentionally.

La Mer was the song he wrote when he wanted to kill himself, instead he wrote a song, the song is about suicide by drowning, which is probably how he thought of dying as well. So it's a probably very personal artwork for him, I could be totally wrong on that, but I think there's a connection there.

...

Okay so in The Downward Spiral you've got this dude, he wants to be in charge

but then his girlfriend fucks off so he feels he's no longer in charge

so he's mad at God or the World or whatever, cause God's in charge and he doesn't like that.

So now that he's dismissed rules and stuff, he feels in charge again, but he doesn't know what to be in charge of

so he gets super bored cause stuff don't matter no more

so he tries to rape or kill someone in order to feel in charge

and then he goes to a prostitute so he can feel in charge but he's not really in charge cause plenty of other clients are also in charge, so it feels like getting cucked again

and then he realizes that his desire to feel in charge is in charge of him and he doesn't like stuff to be in charge of him

so he kills himself cause that way nobody will be in charge of him

the end

>DO YOU FEEL IN CHARGE

...

OK now make the post again, except this time make sense.