Mr. Self Destruct

Written by frontman Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood and recorded at Le Pig in 1993, it is the opening track of The Downward Spiral (1994), and predicts the album's "ugly" aesthetic and mostly "angry" tone.

Its title is a reference to the eponymous opening track from British new wave duo Soft Cell's 1984 album This Last Night in Sodom.

[5] Reznor sought to include Adrian Belew, and Flood invited him to the house surrounding the studio (10050 Cielo Drive).

[7][8] "Mr. Self Destruct" immediately foreshadows the aesthetic and tone of the rest of the album;[9] the opening of the song features a sample from the George Lucas-directed THX 1138 of a man being beaten by a prison guard while flanked inside a jail,[10] cutting immediately to Reznor's aggressive voice delivering the verses and choruses.

[13][14][19] The lyrics of the song introduce the antagonist of The Downward Spiral;[20][21] who ominously calls himself "the voice inside your head.

[22][24] He appears to be violent, even sociopathic, at certain points ("I am the bullet in the gun"), but also claims to represent the purposes of religion, and the ultimate, unattainable goal of all human desire.

The chorus maintains the first-person voice as well, creating an aggressive, intimate, almost confessional tone which Reznor sustains throughout the record.

Self Destruct''s cryptic declarations of the many addictions we seem to openly enjoy are jarringly poetic, and its blistering chainsaw guitars and machine gun drum loops are an outstanding example of how aggressive yet tuneful industrial music can be.