Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)

"Closer"
US CD single cover
Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album The Downward Spiral
B-side	"March of the Fuckheads" "Memorabilia"
Released	May 1994
Studio	Le Pig, Los Angeles Record Plant, Los Angeles A&M, Hollywood
Genre	Industrial rock alternative rock avant-garde funk electronic
Length	6:13 (album version) 6:26 (single version) 4:25 (radio edit)
Label	Nothing TVT Interscope Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	Trent Reznor
Producer(s)	Flood Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"March of the Pigs" (1994) "Closer" (1994) "The Perfect Drug" (1997)
Halo numbers chronology
Halo 8 (1994) Halo 9 (1994) Halo 10 (1995)
Audio sample
"Closer" file help
Music video
"Closer" (Director's Cut) on YouTube

"Closer" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single on their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). Released in May 1994, it is considered one of Nine Inch Nails' signature songs and remains their most popular song. Most versions of the single are titled "Closer to God", a rare example in music of a single's title differing from the title of its A-side ("Closer to God" is also the title of an alternate version of "Closer" featured on the single, which was also released as a separate promotional single for club-play).^[1][2][3] The single is the ninth official Nine Inch Nails release, making it "Halo 9" in the band's official Halo numbering system.

A promotional single provided by the label to radio stations included both long and short vocal-censored (i.e. silenced profanity) versions.^[4] Although the song addresses themes such as self-hatred and obsession, its sexually aggressive chorus led to widespread misinterpretation of the song as an anthem of lust, which helped it become Nine Inch Nails' most successful single up to that time and cemented Trent Reznor's status as an industrial rock icon. Commercially, "Closer" reached No. 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 3 on the Australian Singles Chart. Censored versions of the song and its Mark Romanek-directed music video received substantial airplay on radio and MTV.