Survivalism

Great Music Videos: Nine Inch Nails- Survivalism
nine inch nails — Nine Inch Nails: Survivalism

Nine Inch Nails 2007 album Year Zero is a true Unsung Masterpiece. It’s one hell of an album. The concept behind it is super eerie when you think about what has been happening to society and government over the years. The first single from the album, “Survivalism” is tremendous. The lyrical content along with the pulsating beat are so damn good. The video for the song is on a whole other level. At the end of 2007, Rolling Stone readers voted the video as the best music video of year. Directed by Trent Reznor, Rob Sheridan and Alex Lieu, the video consists of a series of images from a console of secret cameras installed in an apartment block. As the camera moves between the footage, viewers are able to see into the lives of a number of residents, including:

  • A catatonic older couple watching television with a portrait of Jesus behind them.
  • A man looking after his drugged spouse (and in one scene possibly dripping or injecting the fictional drug “opal” in her eyes).
  • Two men having sexual intercourse in bed. (Covered by the US Bureau of Morality image in the TV edit.)
  • A topless woman applying make-up in a bathroom. (Covered by the US Bureau of Morality image in the TV edit.)
  • A man sitting at a table staring at his food.
  • Three men in a shop (and later in an alley) working with stencils.
  • A man in his cubicle surfing the Internet on his laptop computer.
  • Nine Inch Nails performing the song in a room.

There’s so much more to this video. Each time you watch it, you find something else that was hidden in there and a bit subliminal. Nine Inch Nails videos are some of the best you’ll see.


Nine Inch Nails- Survivalism:

Video Rank: Nine Inch Nails

03 - Nine Inch Nails

 

There are lists devoted to ranking a bands best albums and songs, and not enough that rank the bands videos. So I thought why not do a ranking of a bands videos. Since Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band, here is the ranking of 10 of their best videos.

 

10. Into The Void- The Fragile

 

9. Only- With Teeth

 

8. Head Like A Hole- Pretty Hate Machine

 

7. Wish- Broken

 

6. We’re In This Together- The Fragile

 

5. The Hand That Feeds- With Teeth


4. March Of The Pigs- The Downward Spiral

 

3. Survivalism- Year Zero

 

2. Closer- The Downward Spiral

 

1. The Perfect Drug- Lost Highway


<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/3612941″>Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug (1997)</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/ninofficial”>Nine Inch Nails</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

 

Unsung Materpieces: Nine Inch Nails- Year Zero

Concept albums are very unique and at times take a long time to fully understand. Listening to select songs doesn’t give you the full effect. And a lot of the time the story that accompanies the album is very convoluted. Though there are many cases when the above statements don’t apply. Pink Floyd, The Who and more recently Mastodon and Nine Inch Nails  have been able to create epic concept albums that can stand on their own or as separate entities. In 2007, Nine Inch Nails released Year Zero.

“The Year Zero story takes place in the United States in the year 2022. The United States has suffered several major terrorist attacks, and in response the government has seized absolute control on the country and reverted to a Christian fundamentalist theocracy. The government maintains control of the populace through institutions such as the Bureau Of Morality as well as increased surveillance and the secret drugging of tap water with a mild sedative. In response to the increasing oppression of the government, several corporate, government, and subversive websites were transported back in time to the present by a group of scientists working clandestinely against the authoritarian government. The websites-from-the-future were sent to the year 2007 to warn the American people of the impending dystopian future and to prevent it from ever forming in the first place.”

So with that all mind one would think that this is just a mess, but in fact it’s the complete opposite. Trent never misses a step with creating this apocalyptic epic. This album was also the next step in Trent’s revitalized state of mind and musical odyssey. There are a lot of uses of noise, static, and strange yet amazing distortion. Certain songs stand out amongst the album as a whole such as “The Beginning Of The End,” “Survivalism,” “In This Twilight,” “The Great Destroyer,” and  “My Violent Heart.” Furthermore there was something else about this album, was that it opened up the visual aspect even more than before. Since Trent has described Year Zero as a soundtrack to a movie that doesn’t even exist, it’s not hard to let your imagination take you off on quite a little trip.

Year Zero is not The Downward Spiral or The Fragile, but it is one of the most artistic and well thought out releases that Nine Inch Nails have ever released. One other strange thing about this album, was that touring for this album was not very prevalent. The people at Interscope records really dropped the ball on handling the marketing and promotion for this album, hence why it never got the due it deserved. So give yourself some time and delve back into Year Zero and see for yourself what you might have missed.

 Year Zero:

By: Brian Lacy