Closure pare one: Self Destruct
March 21, 2013 5:59 PM   Subscribe

Nine Inch Nails has posted tape 1 of the 1997 VHS-only release Closure on Vimeo. It's a 75-min long documentary of the Self Destruct Tour, both on and off stage, includes (not necessarily musical) appearances by Marilyn Manson and David Bowie, amongst others.
posted by hippybear (30 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
I keep forgetting how much I like Trent Reznor. It was easy to give him shit back in the day, but you look at his back catalog and what he's accomplished, and you see that he's a pretty singular sensation. He has a pretty hilarious attitude towards this kind of self-bootlegging, too. I love it when he randomly releases things like the "lost" Butch Vig remix of "Last".
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:11 PM on March 21, 2013


Awesome, I loaned the tapes to someone years ago and never got them back. Not like I have a VHS player anymore anyways but it'll be nice to see it again!
posted by Hazelsmrf at 6:11 PM on March 21, 2013


Ah, and be warned -- the "original .MP4 file" download link is actually 3.27GB, not 1GB like advertised...
posted by hippybear at 6:14 PM on March 21, 2013


The show with david Bowie was one of the first concerts I ever went to. I also have this tape somewhere. This makes me feel old.
posted by empath at 6:16 PM on March 21, 2013


“... includes (not necessarily musical) appearances by Marilyn Manson and David Bowie... ”

My dad's voice in my head: "Well, they got the 'not necessarily musical' part right, that's for sure."

Me: "SHUT UP DAD THIS IS AWESOME, ALSO WHY ARE YOU IN MY HEAD"
posted by koeselitz at 6:28 PM on March 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


This is the perfect follow-up to your recent comment about The Fragile, which resulted in my revisiting that album several times over the last couple weeks. So may fond memories of my youth wrapped up in Nine Inch Nails, not the least of which being the first time I ever heard the Quake theme...and the subsequent sound of several years of my life down the drain.
posted by Lorin at 6:33 PM on March 21, 2013


Somewhere I have an ISO of the Closure DVD with an additional making-of documentary of the "Closer" music video. It was a fully-authored release-ready disc that wasn't released for some reason. Scuttlebutt was that Reznor leaked it himself.

Sure would be nice for Trent and the gang to re-transfer the videos in HD where applicable (some of the videos are sourced on SD).
posted by infinitewindow at 6:37 PM on March 21, 2013


I remember seeing this tour at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. My personal recollection is that Marilyn Manson kind of sucked, but I think that was the same show where Jim Rose's Sideshow were also openers, and several people passed out while one of his contortionists put his whole body through an old wooden tennis racket.

I can't remember what I was on, but I do remember that Nine Inch Nails performed "Hurt" behind that big projection, and when the cormorant came down to snatch that fish, I flipped the fuck out.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:46 PM on March 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


This makes me feel old.

Also, too: Pixies' Surfer Rosa is 25 years old this year, and Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children is 15.
posted by shortfuse at 6:55 PM on March 21, 2013 [7 favorites]


I saw this tour twice. A fact that most of my younger coworkers find weird (I'm kind of an old stodgy now).

I mostly remember seeing it at Vanderbilt, Marilyn Manson flapping a dildo on the back of a security guard's head. And Jim Rose being an unentertaining freakshow. Just not my cup of tea..

Oh, and then NIN doing the most high energy, fun show ever. (though maybe that was the tour before this one? 97 seems late).

I've already warned my wife we're going to see them if/when they come through Louisville. But I bet we wear earplugs. #getoffmygrass.
posted by DigDoug at 7:01 PM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


According to google, NIN @ Vanderbilt was September '94. So the beginningish of this tour. That makes more sense.
posted by DigDoug at 7:10 PM on March 21, 2013


@DigDoug, I saw them on that same tour, at Hampton Colosseum in ~1994. I remember Manson wearing several layers of black vinyl, and stripping down through out the course of his set. He finished in only black underpants that had a giant, black vinyl penis attached, with which he pantomimed masturbating onto the guitarist while pouring a can of Budweiser all over himself. Not my cup of tea, either, but yeah...the NIN show was amazing.
posted by higginba at 7:21 PM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I saw Jim Rose Circus Sideshow a couple of times at the late, great Harpo's in Victoria. I think it was something to experience rather than enjoy, and one of the troupe members (think Bile Beer) is active here on MetaFilter. His Flickr photostream is another incredible first-hand document of early 90's music.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:23 PM on March 21, 2013


Oh it's going to be that kind of evening, is it? I caught this show at a certain summer festival in Saugerties, NY which shall remain nameless. It was pretty damned impressive, and cemented NIN as the music I would listen to while moping through my early 20s.
posted by 1adam12 at 7:45 PM on March 21, 2013


I remember paying some random Internet guy $20 for a homemade mix of all NIN videos up through TDS before I had a powerful enough computer to use a graphical Web browser.

It included the Happiness in Slavery video but even worse, the 30 minute "broken" movie that was too horrible to release. That was some freaky ass shit. Still got it somewhere. Anyone else remember that puppy? Was glad to see it didn't make it to "Closure" IIRC because I wanted it to be my special freaky video.
posted by lordaych at 8:01 PM on March 21, 2013


Yeah, I have broken around here someplace. I think it was also a seed0 release. I've only watched it once.

Love his music, pretty much, but find some of his imagery, especially early on, to be the opposite of entertaining for me.
posted by hippybear at 8:12 PM on March 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


That version of hurt with Bowie gave me chills.
posted by pickinganameismuchharderthanihadanticipated at 9:21 PM on March 21, 2013


True dat on the imagery. I remember casually laughing off the "Down In It" video as a teenager, but seeing it as a full grown bipolar adult was truly disturbing and the lyrics took on the uhhh, intended meaning that I never paid attention to and I realized that I actually have a hell of a lot more angst now than I did as a teenager. Broken and HiS were the most disturbing to me then but I can't think of any videos I'd enjoy now.
posted by lordaych at 9:38 PM on March 21, 2013


I am a wuss, and have yet to actually watch "Happiness in Slavery" (though the song is awesome) or the Broken Movie -- but the latter was directed by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, of Throbbing Gristle and Coil.

(Sleazy also did a Hanson video!)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 10:06 PM on March 21, 2013


> @DigDoug, I saw them on that same tour, at Hampton Colosseum in ~1994. I remember Manson wearing several layers of black vinyl, and stripping down through out the course of his set. He finished in only black underpants that had a giant, black vinyl penis attached, with which he pantomimed masturbating onto the guitarist while pouring a can of Budweiser all over himself. Not my cup of tea, either, but yeah...the NIN show was amazing.

Hey, I was at that show too. Waiting patiently for Manson to be done.
posted by desuetude at 10:35 PM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


My dad's voice in my head: "Well, they got the 'not necessarily musical' part right, that's for sure."

Isn't NIN considered Dad Rock now?
posted by homunculus at 11:09 PM on March 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


I remember this tour with bitterness.

See, a friend and I were to go together. And this was way before ordering Ticketmaster tickets online. And since he was my ride, I couldn't get a ticket without him. So, early on a Saturday morning, I get up, head to a record store in Madison, WI, and wait for my friend to show up, so we can buy our Chicago tickets together.

What I expected was a nearly empty record store. What I saw instead was a mob. Why? Because Elton John tickets were also going on sale that same morning, and 99% of the crowd was there for EJ, not TR. my friend never shows up, and after an hour and a half of waiting, I decide to queue up to buy a singular ticket - I'll get ther some way somehow - just to find that, predictably, it's sold out. THEN my friend waltzes in, hung over, and when he finds out that there's no tickets left, just shrugs and leaves. Yeah.
posted by spinifex23 at 11:31 PM on March 21, 2013


I have the VHS of Closure around here somewhere, but it's been a long time since I've had a VCR. If I remember correctly there's a beautiful* scene backstage at some venue. NIN and I think The Melvins have declared some kind of full-scale war on one of those standard red-backlit EXIT signs, and they've basically emptied a dressing room throwing shit at it, though it is proving a worthy foe.

The penultimate item is a loveseat, which touches the sign but does no additional damage. Trent, who has been kind of standing off to the side watching (seemingly not 100% thrilled), looks down at the nearly empty beer bottle in his hand and, what the hell, takes a shot.

The sign comes down. The bands go wild.

*For a given definition. I have a hard time watching some of that stuff now, knowing how bad things were. (Also, suddenly I can't remember if that scene was in Closure or And All That Could Have Been.)

There have been points where TR and Rob Sheridan were linking and seeding torrents in a "gosh, who put that there, you certainly wouldn't want to download it" way. I don't think Closure (or the Broken tape, which is...yeah, a hell of a thing) will ever get a DVD release, thanks to the TVT mess, so this is probably as close (ha) as you'll ever get.

I've never lost the faith. I'm so looking forward to the new tour. I need to scrape the dust off my combat boots.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:50 PM on March 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


homunculus: “Isn't NIN considered Dad Rock now?”

I'm in my mid-thirties, but since I haven't had kids yet, I get to pretend it isn't.

But this does remind me of what my dad said when he heard me listening to the Beastie Boys in high school:

"Wow, they sure are great at singing just that one note, aren't they?"
posted by koeselitz at 12:12 AM on March 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I don't think Closure (or the Broken tape, which is...yeah, a hell of a thing) will ever get a DVD release, thanks to the TVT mess, so this is probably as close (ha) as you'll ever get.

Well, technically, the seed0 Pirate Bay releases are about as close to an actual DVD release Closure will ever get. (Broken is also there, for those who are too curious to keep their cat alive.)
posted by hippybear at 4:37 AM on March 22, 2013


I got in such trouble when my parents found my copy of the Happiness in Slavery video. I think they made me got to therapy for a few sessions, then I got to quit once they realized how expensive it was. The therapist did tell me to just do whatever my parents said for a little while longer, then move out and get some distance from them as soon as I finished High School.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 7:59 AM on March 22, 2013 [3 favorites]


I had forgotten what the pre-steroid rumors Trent Reznor looked like.
posted by yellowcandy at 2:06 PM on March 22, 2013


I somehow managed to acquire the VHS release of this at some point in high school. I forget how, but I distinctly remember keeping it a secret from my parents. I'd watch it super late at night on weekends after marathon Quake sessions with the volume turned way down way, way, way after I was supposed to be asleep.

To be fair, they were more tolerant than some of my friends' parents, but less than others. They didn't police my music listening habits, but I know for damn sure they wouldn't have been cool with me sitting around watching that collection of music videos a bunch (not that I could stomach some of the Broken ones more than once or twice).

The tour documentary was a revelation though. This was pre-YouTube by a lot, so I had no conception of what NIN was like live, and not really any conception of Trent as a person at the time.

Good times.
posted by sparkletone at 7:08 PM on March 22, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also, Jim Rose freaked the HELL out of me then and the thought of those images still does now.

O U C H. D O N O T W A N T.
posted by sparkletone at 7:12 PM on March 22, 2013


Awww. I saw this tour in the summer of 1994. I was really young and thought I was all cool for having seen them play a month or so before they were all over MTV. Got a ride with a friend and his older sister, then my parents found out later what kind of music it was and were absolutely furious. I wasn't about to tell them about the opening band (Marilyn Manson) and had to hide most of my CD/tape collection after that. I still have my steel toed Docs around here somewhere. Thanks, Trent!
posted by citron at 4:45 PM on March 24, 2013


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