Are there any Halo tracks unrelated to TR?

[snaapz]

Other than Y_Z and Presidents/War/Politics, are there any Nine Inch Nails songs written by Trent Reznor that are about an event or a person unrelated to him or someone in his life?

My wife is on a huge Pearl Jam kick and we have been re-discovering PJ and many of the songs about events or people unrelated to them, 'Crazy Mary' for example. (PJ). This has got me very curious, are there any confirmed or speculated NIN songs which are about a past event or person which is not connected to or related to TR?

[sonic_discord]

There's the rumor that Piggy is about Richard Patrick
And The Day the World Went Away and I'm Looking Forward to Joining You Finally being about his grandmother (but those are also about himself and his feelings regarding her passing)
And some of Broken being about Steve Gottlieb
And She's Gone Away being written for/about Twin Peaks
Less Than seems to be an anti-war, possibly anti-Trump song
The Hand That Feeds and Capital G were about George W. Bush
Much of Pretty Hate Machine was about an ex-girlfriend (Andrea Mulrain if I remember right)

...Does that count?

[snaapz]

There's the rumor that Piggy is about Richard Patrick
And The Day the World Went Away and I'm Looking Forward to Joining You Finally being about his grandmother (but those are also about himself and his feelings regarding her passing)
And some of Broken being about Steve Gottlieb
And She's Gone Away being written for/about Twin Peaks
Less Than seems to be an anti-war, possibly anti-Trump song
The Hand That Feeds and Capital G were about George W. Bush
Much of Pretty Hate Machine was about an ex-girlfriend (Andrea Mulrain if I remember right)

...Does that count?

Thank you sonic_discord, but not exactly as these are stories out of his diary and/or related to people in his life.

I excluded Y_Z and presidents/politics as I get those few songs but it's not really what I am searching for; and even still Y_Z was mostly fictional.

[BenAkenobi]

"At the heart of it all" — included in FDTS but not written by or about TR.

[snaapz]

My wife just texted me saying "maybe they (other bands) haven't had as much sadness and things to sing about".

Touché



'MOTP' I always believed it was about us; fans and their lack of true compassion for the artist.

'Ahead of our selves' is likely about the general population in America, or perhaps the world.

[katara]

I think this is the third topic you've posted recently that belongs in either Random NIN Questions or Random NIN Thoughts.

Anyway, there are arguably plenty of tracks. I don't believe The Downward Spiral is about Trent mostly, rather it's written with a narrative and persona in mind (which became somewhat self-fulfilling in various aspects).

March Of The Pigs, from ninwiki:

Lyrically, the song could be about society or NIN's fans, but Trent Reznor has stated in the interview titled Disturbed that the "pigs" in this song refer mainly to "anywhere from the media to people he thought were friends around him." Furthermore, he said, "The issue I was addressing was... when we attained a certain level of success, it was surprising to see the legion of people starting to fuck with you, can't wait to see you fail, hoping that you'll fuck up, ripping you off, trying to use you... The fact that American media, in 'underground world,' you go from being the darling to 'well, we accidentally started selling some records,' so they have to turn their backs on us." He also occasionally referred to fans as 'pigs' at live performances.

The Trilogy is rife with songs about other (probably fictional) people, especially as it started as a kind of Year Zero sequel. There are tons of Bowie references in there, too.

One could see much of TR's lyrics as connected to certain events in his life, in the world at large, and even in one's own life. Most are openly (and I'm sure deliberately) vague so they're not tied down to just one interpretation. That way, each of us individually can perceive each song in our own ways.

[halo eighteen]

Other than Y_Z and Presidents/War/Politics, are there any Nine Inch Nails songs written by Trent Reznor that are about an event or a person unrelated to him or someone in his life?

My wife is on a huge Pearl Jam kick and we have been re-discovering PJ and many of the songs about events or people unrelated to them, 'Crazy Mary' for example. (PJ). This has got me very curious, are there any confirmed or speculated NIN songs which are about a past event or person which is not connected to or related to TR?

Crazy Mary is actually a Victoria Williams cover despite PJ's version being released first, not sure if you know that.

[snaapz]

Crazy Mary is actually a Victoria Williams cover despite PJ's version being released first, not sure if you know that.

I kid you not, as I your comment “Big Hard Sun” came on the radio! I did know that and it’s a good point!

The more I think about this I wonder how many songs from the last 3 albums were not from Tr/AR diary and are more along the lines of observations.

[RobCoz98]

Parts of Still were supposedly written for the film One Hour Photo but weren't used so I suppose they can count?

[katara]

The entirety of Ghosts I-IV is relevant to this conversation:

This collection of music is the result of working from a very visual perspective - dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams.