Another in a series of music vids you gotta watch!

[gozer]

chelseagirl47 asked a question about The Brothers Quay in my "Sledgehammer" post, which suggested to me that Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" (1994) might be a good vid to share with the class next. Parts are a live-action reenactment of scenes from their infamous short film "Street of Crocodiles."

Despite being one of the most overtly obscene and profane songs ever written, Trent Reznor's Closer (to God) is firmly ensconced in everyday popular culture, with so many covers I wasn't able to find a full list. I imagine it must be quite therapeutic for a singer to be allowed to belt out the words "I want to fuck you like an animal" in front of an appreciative crowd, as well as being a quick way to gain a desirable reputation for edginess--besides, it's an awesome song, deserving of "classic" status. NIN's version has been used on several TV shows, including CSI and Cold Case, though of course highly edited, and in several films like Se7en, The Hitcher, and The Fan. That opening drum sequence is unmistakable. Weird Al Yankevic's comedy version uses wacky Saturday-morning cartoon noises in place of the word "fuck."

In the MTV edit of this vid, there's a skip over the word "fuck" on the soundtrack, as if the film itself had cracked and been repaired with editing tape; also a title card with the words "scene removed" was edited in to replace scenes that upset MTV's censors, thus rendering naturalistic the necessary edits to get the vid on TV. The delightfully aged quality of the look of the vid is due to Reznor having it shot on a can of vintage unexposed film, not from post-shooting manipulation.

This ain't TV, so I'm posting the NSFW, uncut version of the video. But there are some who will find it disturbing, hence the cut-tag.

Reznor has said that he liked the song even better after he saw the music vid, which is kinda nice. ;) I have a lot of respect for his insane artistic impulses. OTOH, I confess that the last shot of a shakily-suspended Reznor plinking away on the wall-piano inexplicably makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. It's a mood-breaker. Sorry, Trent! Love ya, buddy!


BONUS FILM! I also found "Street of Crocodiles" on youtube, put up by MaverickMediaUK. It, too, is awesome in its creepiness, though this version seems rather dark. If you're going to watch it, I suggest you blow it out to full screen rather than watching it in the tiny window.

Here's Part One:

And Part Two:

OKAY THAT WAS A LITTLE DEPRESSING! EXISTENTIAL WOE!

Maybe I should have waited until Halloween to post these... I shall have to come up with something scarier!

Comments

[cesare]

I actually prefer the version of the "Closer" video that has the "Scene Removed" cards... it fits the aesthetic, like you mention, and the rhythm of those cards added something to the video imo. Plus personally it made me imagine much worse than what was actually cut.

As for something scarier for Halloween, there's always the Broken film: a short film that intercuts disturbing NIN videos with verite-looking scenes of a serial killer torturing a young man. Maybe that's old hat now in the post-Saw/Hostel world, but when I watched it as a bootleg in the '90s, it was freaky.

[gozer]

I wanted to put up both versions, but couldn't find the "clean" MTV-edited version on youtube! Or anywhere else; Closer appears to be down on MTV's site. I really did want to do a compare-and-contrast. If you should happen to trip over it somewhere, let me know and I'll put in a link.

I remember really loving the MTV version when I saw it in 1994, and I think I might agree with you with regard to the cards setting a rhythm. I do remember that. I don't remember exactly what got scenes got cut, but I bet it was every damned nude scene and not much else -- for all that our culture is steeped in (often-inappropriate) titillation, we are incredibly prudish about Teh Nekkid here in the US.

HA! I was thinking of putting up Michael Jackson's Thriller, actually! ;) As Count Floyd used to say, "Ooh! Scary!" But on second thought, I'll probably introduce everybody to "Michael Jackson - Ghost", a music vid that almost nobody's ever seen, mostly because it's 40 minutes long, self-indulgent, and god-awful... but there seem to be a few shorter versions out there that might suit our purposes. He just needed an editor with a machete and some taste.