Reznor said in interviews that he played ''Low'' constantly during the recording of ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]]'' for inspiration. Incidentally, Reznor has been accused of using the main melody from Bowie's 1980 instrumental single "Crystal Japan" in Nine Inch Nails' 1994 track "[[A Warm Place]]." Reznor explained the similarity in an interview.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0RQCT69y5s&feature=player_embedded] The half-song, half-instrumental approach of ''Low'' was also a reference point as ''[[The Fragile (halo)|The Fragile]]'' was being written.[http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/manager/display_article.php?id=833]
The line "falls wanking to the floor" from Bowie's 1973 song "Time" was featured in several remixes of "[[Mr. Self Destruct]]" from ''[[Further Down the Spiral]].'' A reversed [[samples|sample ]] from the end of Bowie's "It's No Game" runs through the background of "[[Pinion]]".[http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/manager/display_article.php?id=327] The lyrics to "[[We're In This Together (song)|We're In This Together]]" may be inspired by Bowie's song "Heroes".
Bowie also possibly drew some influence from Nine Inch Nails. A beat similar to that of "[[Closer]]" was used in Bowie's 1997 track "Seven Years In Tibet". The beat that was sampled for "Closer" had been taken from "Nightclubbing" by Iggy Pop, a track that was co-written and produced by Bowie. Taking a cue from photographer Joel-Peter Witkin, the music video for "Closer" contains a scene of a bald woman wearing a black mask with a crucified Jesus on it. Though the influence could have come directly from Witkin instead of "Closer", a similar mask is worn by Gail Ann Dorsey in Bowie's 1997 video for "Dead Man Walking".