“The Hand That Feeds”
by Nine Inch Nails
from the album With Teeth
2005
Buy the album on Amazon

I have weird tastes in albums, particularly from established artists.  Masterpieces that everyone else fawns over, I end up feeling meh about.  My go-to example is Pinkerton.  Sometimes it has to do with which album was my first with that artist.  The Blue Album ruined me for all future entries in their discography.  The same thing happened with The Downward Spiral, while it’s harder and more raw that Pretty Hate Machine (these are good things), I’ll never love it as much.  But sometimes certain albums just speak to you.  With Teeth was the album I needed exactly when I needed it.  And consequently, it’s my favorite Nine Inch Nails album.  That’s heresy for most NIN fans, but these lyrics, the raw sound of the production (after the super-indulgent Fragile) and the big-ass beats courtesy of the heaviest right foot in rock, Dave Grohl, delivered exactly what I wanted.

I was really in a bad place when this album came out,  hating on my job, single with no prospects and musically frustrated as well. My office was this windowless cave.  Now, while this gave me a nice private space to play MarioKart with my coworkers during the day, really put me in a foul mood the rest of the time.  This album was therapy full of high energy and served as a great background for air-drumming marathons.  I saw NIN four times on this tour, and it was an amazing show.  Every. Single. Time. And how great is “The Hand That Feeds” video?

I’ve attempted this a couple of times at karaoke, but I’ve never quite been able to pull it off.  There’s some odd phrasing which doesn’t quite line-up with the lyric display on the monitor as well as Trent Reznor’s angsty vocals and my own dynamic range not exactly syncing.  But I’ll keep trying.  Hopefully Chris will keep working up his version of “Only” and we can get a nice NIN-off.

You’re keeping in step in the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
‘Cause you do what you’re told
But inside your heart it is black and it’s hollow and it’s cold
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?

Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

What if this whole crusade’s a charade?
And behind it all there’s a price to be paid
For the blood which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine

Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?

Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?

So naive, I keep holding on to what I want to believe
I can see but I keep holding on and on and on and on

Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?

Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?

Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?

Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?