"THE HAND THAT FEEDS" NINE INCH NAILS (2005)

For the month of October, I’m taking the #OctAtoZBandChallenge challenge. The premise is simple. Pick a band starting with the day’s assigned alphabet letter and then choose a song from that band.

Day 14

Well after the hey dey of Nine Inch Nails, particularly the Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral years, this song and album were off my radar. If anything, “The Hand That Feeds” is a reminder not to give up on a great band and assume they’ve done their best work already and can’t get back to form. In recent years, we’ve seen that can be a mistake. Bands like Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers continue to be relevant – and this track proves Nine Inch Nails was able to accomplish the same feat more than a decade after it exploded on the scene.

“The Hand That Feeds” still captures the same angsty essence of NIN. The tempo-driven, percussion-barraged, distortion-soaked instrumentation is all there. But something feels different. While the seminal songs from Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral seemed to reveal Reznor’s wallow in self-pity and self-destruction, this newer version of NIN flips the switch. The song comes across as a warning from a protagonist that is largely in control. It’s a band reinvented, but one that never lost its musical identity.

“Just how deep do you believe? Will you bite the hand that feeds?”

"HURT" NINE INCH NAILS (1994)

I generally gravitate to the music first before the lyrics. But as a writer, I still marvel at well-spun verses and choruses. This month, I’m joining the music Twitter community in #31DaySongLyricChallenge

Day 2

Trent Reznor wrote from a place of anguish and isolation. The words are, above all things, real and raw. The lyrics are so powerful, they even took on a different meaning when Johnny Cash famously covered the song, proving that “Hurt” is not just Reznor’s personal memoir, it’s a song that you can make your own.

“I hurt myself today. To see if I still feel. I focus on the pain. The only thing that's real.

The needle tears a hole. The old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away. But I remember everything.”

"DEAD SOULS" NINE INCH NAILS (1994)

This month, the Mental Jukebox revisits the movie soundtracks of the nineties. The music I’m highlighting are some of my personal favorites. In many cases, the movies themselves were huge for me as well. But the focus will still be on the music – as always. Let’s bring on the throwback classics, the grunge, the gangsta rap, and the indie gems. #31DaysOf90sMovieSongs

Movie: The Crow

The Crow’s dark underworld found the right musical counterparts in its soundtrack from top to bottom. With contributions from dark, edgy bands, the songs spanned the musical spectrum — from The Cure to Henry Rollins to Rage Against the Machine. The track list reads like a college radio playlist. And one of my favorites is the Nine Inch Nails’ cover of Joy Division’s “Dead Souls”. It’s pretty ballsy to cover Joy Division. If you’re gonna do it, you better sure as hell nail it. And nail it NIN sure did.

The Crow comic books have been known to find inspiration from Joy Division, making the inclusion of “Dead Souls” that much more powerful. Just as the movie brought a new element to the original stories and images, Nine Inch Nails found a way to reinvent the Joy Division song with its own unique musical sensibilities. While Joy Division took to the upper registers with Hooky’s bass lines high up on the fretboards and Ian Curtis’ spastic vocal tremors, NIN found a home in the lower registers, with cyclical bass drum beats, grating electric guitar riffs and Trent Reznor’s tormented chants. It’s a thing of beauty in its own dark way rather than try to be Ian Curtis 2.0.

“Someone take these dreams away that point me to another day.”

"DEAD SOULS" NINE INCH NAILS (1994)

Exceptional soundtracks can make good movies great. They can also take on a life of their own, becoming a greater highlight than their respective films. In this series, I’m selecting some of my favorite soundtrack songs. While quite a few are well-known recordings, I’m also including a few that have flown under the radar over the years.

The Crow’s dark underworld found the right musical counterparts in its soundtrack from top to bottom. With contributions from dark, edgy bands, the songs spanned the musical spectrum — from The Cure to Henry Rollins to Rage Against the Machine. One of my favorites is the Nine Inch Nails’ cover of Joy Division’s “Dead Souls”.

The Crow comic books have been known to find inspiration from Joy Division, making the inclusion of “Dead Souls” that much more powerful. Just as the movie brought a new element to the original stories and images, Nine Inch Nails found a way to reinvent the Joy Division song with its own unique musical sensibilities. While Joy Division took to the upper registers with Hooky’s bass lines high up on the fretboards and Ian Curtis’ spastic vocal tremors, NIN found a home in the lower registers, with cyclical bass drum beats, grating electric guitar riffs and Trent Reznor’s tormented chants. It’s a thing of beauty.

“Someone take these dreams away that point me to another day.”