Changes

2. The Video

"Closer" is the fifth track on the 1994 release "The Downward Spiral." It begins with an electronic beat that is reminiscent of a heartbeat for eight bars. A keyboard pattern and stxteenth-note beat join in along with the vocals. Layers are continuously added before dropping out at the end, leaving a simple chromatic piano melody to end the song.

"Closer" is perhaps the most well-known song from Nine Inch Nails, maybe moreso for its video. The subject matter is clearly about sex, but it's not just sex. Instead it's a feeling of worthlessness and trying to quell that feeling through sex. The song was at the number 2 position on AOL's "69 Sexiest Songs of All Time," mostly due to the frankness of the chorus of "I want to fuck you like an animal/I want to feel you from the inside."

The Downward Spiral (1994)

Closer To God (1994)

Beside You In Time (2007)

Several remixes of "Closer" have been made. These appear on Closer To God.

Closer

Closer (Further Away)

You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you

You let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you

You are the reason I stay alive

in April 1994, a video for "Closer" was filmed. It was directed by Mark Romanek, who also directed "The Perfect Drug" in 1997 and Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" in 2003. The concept to the video is that it's an old stag reel recently uncovered. The aesthetic, atmosphere, and images in the video were inspired by the works of Man Ray, Francis Bacon, and, most notably, Joel-Peter Witkin. It was filmed using three-color film and hand-cranked cameras, to make it look much older. Additionally, there were more modern devices included in the video, such as a television.