13.2 - Analysis: Hurt by Nine Inch Nails

To-Do Date: Sat Jan 16 2021 07:59:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

 

Musical Analysis - Hurt by Nine Inch Nails

**Warning**

The video contains graphic imagery that may not be comfortable for all viewers. It is part of this musician's interpretation and expression of their music and should be taken as such* See alternative video below, if this is too graphic.

This is Hurt - by Nine Inch Nails.

After watching this performance, what do you believe the song is about? What did the musicians hope to communicate and how does the video help to express that content?

Your teacher may ask you to type your thoughts in the chat.

Concert Video of Nine Inch Nails singing the song "HURT" - Less Graphic Version Links to an external site.

I hurt myself
    

Links to an external site. today
To see if I still
    

Links to an external site. feel
I focus
    

Links to an external site. on the pain
The only thing
    

Links to an external site. that's real

The needle
    

Links to an external site. tears a hole
The old familiar
    

Links to an external site. sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember
    

Links to an external site. everything

What have I become
My sweetest
    

Links to an external site. friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

And you could
    

Links to an external site. have it all
My empire
    

Links to an external site. of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown
    

Links to an external site. of sh
Upon my liars
    

Links to an external site. chair
Full of broken
    

Links to an external site. thoughts
I cannot
    

Links to an external site. repair

Beneath the stains
    

Links to an external site. of time
The feelings
    

Links to an external site. disappear
You are someone
    

Links to an external site. else
I am still
    

Links to an external site. right here

What have I become
My sweetest
    

Links to an external site. friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

And you could
    

Links to an external site. have it all
My empire
    

Links to an external site. of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could
    

Links to an external site. start again
A million
    

Links to an external site. miles away
I will keep myself
I would
    

Links to an external site. find a way

It is important to remember that no music is written in a vacuum. Musicians and composers are influenced by a tremendous amount of pressures that could span the entirety of their lives. It is important to do research on what the song is intended to communicate to more fully understand their reasoning.

Written by Trent Reznor (the lead singer) and released on April 17, 1995 as a promotional single from the band’s second album, The Downward Spiral, Hurt chronicles a person's struggle with despair - and possibly mental illness. Most important in the research is to try to find the words of the composers themselves.

In the words of Trent Reznor - “I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone.”

Based on what you heard, in combination with the composer's words, did you hear what the musician intended to say?