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Mr. Self Destruct

"Mr. Self Destruct"
Song by Nine Inch Nails
from the album The Downward Spiral
Released March 8, 1994
Recorded 10050 Cielo Drive (Le Pig), Beverly Hills, California
Length 4:30
Label Interscope, Nothing, TVT
Songwriter(s) Trent Reznor
Producer(s) Trent Reznor, Flood
The Downward Spiral track listing
"Mr. Self Destruct"
(1)
"Piggy"
(2)

"Mr. Self Destruct" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. Written by frontman Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood and recorded at Le Pig in 1993, it is the opening track of The Downward Spiral (1994), and predicts the album's "ugly" aesthetic and mostly "angry" tone. The song also gives a lyrical background of the album's protagonist.

Receiving positive feedback from music critics, its title became used as the official name for a tour by the act. "Mr. Self Destruct" has been remixed multiple times, with five of them appearing in its accompanying remix album, Further Down the Spiral (1995), and in 1996 Reznor granted film director David Fincher (whom he later collaborated with along with Atticus Ross to create soundtracks to three of his films) the permission to use a remix of the song in a Levi's television advertisement.

The first ideas for the song were conceived after the act's role in the Lollapalooza 1991 festival. Production began after the completion of Broken (1992), when Reznor wrote a short poem. This was transformed into a prototype of "Mr. Self Destruct", along with many other songs. Flood was the co-producer of the song, as with the remainder of the then-upcoming album from Reznor's project.

Reznor was considering Adrian Belew (who played in several bands, including King Crimson and the live band for David Bowie) exhibited to Le Pig, so Flood made a welcoming phone call and invited him to the house surrounding the studio (10050 Cielo Drive). Upon entering Le Pig he asked, "Hi, what do you want me to do?". The production team communicated back to Belew, who spoke about what tuning the song was played at. Reznor responded, "Um, I'm not sure. Probably E. See what happens. Don't worry about it. Here's the tape, [and] do whatever you want. Go!". Belew eventually recorded what became the odd ending of the song.


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Wikipedia

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