How diverse was the mainstream music scene in the early ’90′s? “Closer,” the pounding, industrial/rock/quasi dance hybrid song by Nine Inch Nails with a chorus that includes the lyric “I want to fuck you like an animal,” reached #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Additionally, the video for the song, which was a montage of images that would have felt appropriate appearing in the scene in which Malcolm McDowell was strapped to a chair in A Clockwork Orange, was not only welcomed with open arms but it is generally agreed to be one of the best music videos ever made.
The early ’90′s saw plenty of songs by new bands that just flat-out crushed people with their first impression: “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” with its metallic angst and indecipherable lyrics, offered everyone living outside of the 42nd state a release from cock rock acts like Warrant as well as studio created offerings like C+C Music Factory; “Alive,” a quintessential misunderstood song from a lyrical perspective, but musically it more than provided a crave-worthy update to the classic rock anthem; “Them Bones,” a classic that assaults you from the first second, doesn’t let up, and then is done in under two and a half minutes; etc., etc. And while Nine Inch Nails enjoyed some cult success with “Head Like A Hole” on their debut Pretty Hate Machine, “Closer” was the type of song that just fundamentally stopped you in your tracks (and probably even punched you in the face or kicked you in the stomach).
“Closer” not only legitimized the post-industrial genre on a mainstream scale,[1] it also helped expand the boundaries of mainstream rock in general. Released during the first third of 1994, The Downward Spiral brushed shoulders with an array of eclectic album releases, from Tori Amos’s Under The Pink to Pavement’s sophomore effort Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; from Jar of Flies, the EP by Alice In Chains (the first EP to ever claim a #1 album chart position, by the way) and Soundgarden’s Superunknown to The Division Bell and Illmatic, the debut by Nas. The rest of 1994 pretty much unfolded in the same diverse manner: you had expected hits from established groups (Ill Communication, Purple, Vitalogy), unexpectedly big debuts (Weezer, Definitely Maybe), and breakouts by bands that few people knew of (Under The Table And Dreaming, Throwing Copper). To be sure, this summary is a bit generalized. But even as 1994 was taking place during its present tense, and even looking back at it years later, it is/was amazing that “Closer” struck a chord with such a broad audience, especially when you consider how many other cleaner alternatives there were.
1994 was the year of Kurt Cobain’s suicide, the year of the big label debut of Green Day (with their I-can’t-believe-ten-million-motherfuckers-bought-this-fucking-awful-album, Dookie),[2] the year that gangsta rap and hip hop continued its credible ubiquitous ascent with releases by Warren G, Nas, Boyz II Men, and The Notorious B.I.G., the year of Jeff Buckley’s final album Grace—which immediately catapulted Buckley into the Nick Drake Zone of artists whose rating will always be skewed high because they died young and, more importantly, they died while in relative obscurity. Again, I’m generalizing a bit, but where in all of this can one sort out or possibly predict that 1994, at any brief point, would be known as the Year of “I Want To Fuck You Like An Animal”? This question is not the result of looking for an answer. Rather, it is mostly a construct to prove a larger point, and that point is that “Closer” is quite literally a one in a million song.
If a gangsta rap artist had produced a song with the lyrics I want to fuck you like an animal it would be almost certainly reviled by white audiences (as well as producing some confused looks amongst black audiences). If a straight-up white rock group included those lyrics they would have most likely been met with outrage too. Furthermore, if the video for said song included, amongst other borderline disturbing imagery, the lead singer licking an oversized, blatantly phallic microphone, the artist would probably be sneered at; he would probably even have many homophobic slurs thrown about when talking about him. And yet… somehow, Trent Reznor made a song (and a video) that incorporated all of these things and it all just made sense.
I remember listening to this song the first few times and, like many other people I suppose, thinking to myself, “I don’t fully get this, but it makes sense.” “Closer” positions itself on a razor’s edge of perception, dealing with subject matter that is both blunt and potentially volatile. On first listen, it conceivably sounds like a song about: thrusting your will on someone (“I want to feel you from the inside”), pain (“You can have my isolation/You can have the hate that it brings”), a typically unspoken dark subconscious (“It’s your sex I can smell”), and an odd form of redemption (the final two lyrics, “I drink the honey inside your hive/You are the reason I stay alive”). It plays on darkness on violence and sex-as-power, and the way that it was all blurred made it a perfect microcosm for 1994, which was probably the last truly diverse year in mainstream music.[3]
1994 was the year of O.J., NAFTA, Nancy Kerrigan’s knee, the first released version of Netscape, the MLB strike, the Republicans taking control of both houses—a series of wildly disparate events that are not only still relevant today, but whose effects (some bad, some good) are still being felt today. I am not attempting to compare “Closer” to these things in a literal sense but in a metaphorical sense maybe this song was exactly what we needed following the ridiculous coverage of Nancy Kerrigan and the Olympics; it was an antidote of sorts. And as the weeks and months of 1994 passed and the world of journalism unraveled at a ridiculous velocity over the O.J. case, and the “Contract With America,” and all of the other bullshit, the pounding beats of this track seemed more intense and welcoming like an auditory, rhythmic version of Tyler Durden.
It would be great if another “Closer” were to claw out of the bullshit of today, providing something to stop us in our tracks. But there probably won’t be. This is not necessarily an indictment on today’s artists or talent or youth or the music industry; it’s just another reason to celebrate the uniqueness of this track.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
[1] Maybe “legitimizing the post-industrial genre on a mainstream scale” isn’t an historical or significant achievement but it is worth noting nonetheless. “Closer” begat a larger acceptance of bands like Gravity Kills and KMFDM, which begat a larger acceptance of Marilyn Manson.
[2] I know that my thoughts on Dookie here are really hostile (and even outright bellicose) towards the people who like them and that album but Dookie, to me, is just an unforgivable album. Everything about it and the band inspires a kind of murderous rage in me. Just know that it’s not personal towards you if you happen to like/love that album. I just really fucking hate that band. They are my white whale, an object of irrational hatred.
[3] 1995 became more pop rock oriented (hello, Alanis Morissette, Goo Goo Dolls, and Collective Soul) and produced quite a bit of disposable hits (hello Silverchair, Spacehog, and The Presidents of the United States of America). 1996 was the year of extended radio deregulation, and really ever since then it’s been kind of downhill from a mainstream music perspective.
