Via NIN.com:
Nine Inch Nails will not be performing at the MTV Movie Awards as previously announced. We were set to perform “The Hand That Feeds” with an unmolested straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently the image of our President is as offensive to MTV as it is to me. See you on tour this fall when we return to play in America.TRENT REZNOR
5_26_2005
Queens Of The Stone Age will be joining NIN on the tour. Meanwhile, the Movie Awards (which tapes next Saturday) have a spot to fill. Early buzz suggests Foo Fighters may stand in.
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Maybe Reznor could have had a childhood picture of his father fucking his puckered bleeding cumhole when he was a kid. It would explain a lot of things.
Maybe, maybe…
you sir, have offended my sensibilities. y’all.
Since when is Bush offensive?
The “I hate President Bush” thing is not overdone at all. Praise be to Trent Reznor for his courage and originality. How did he think that one up?
Yeah great, lets not voice our dissatisfaction with the president because it’s “overdone.”
Vote or die!
MTV’s comfort level with politics seems to top out with thinly veiled support or condemnation of a particular candidate…
who cares how much its done as long as its justified, you silly fools. this goes beyond a cool hipness factor that you all gauge your life by.
duh, dipshits. they exploit it because its hip right now. jesus christ, people can voice their opinion without making all their music about fucking politics. id like to hear something that hasnt been beat down my fucking throat already by green day, system of the down, nofx, etc. i dont like bush but im sick of celebrities being worshiped for hating him. so the fuck what!?!? write a song about something else, thats all i ask.
the song “the hand that feeds” is about bush and his administration. it is perfectly legit for trent to use that as his backdrop in order to further drive home his point.
freedom of speech, folks. it was a beautiful thing, wasn’t it?
What he didn’t say was that his first choice was Warren G. Harding, but the suits at MTV thought it was still a little “too soon” after the Teapot Dome Scandal.
And huzzah to Holmes. You were the One Millionth American to eulogize the First Amendment in response to a private entity deciding that it is in its own pecuniary interest not to piss off a huge portion of public. Way to completely miss the point of the First Amendment!!
Amen.
Something sarcastic and witty!
I am also offended by the image of “unadulterated President Bush”. Fuck him.
Teapot Dome, LOL! I don’t know who’s an easier target, Harding or G.W. Bush.
Without thinly veiled political messages in songs, we wouldn’t have the music of the late sixties, early seventies. Of course, the opinion of the nonvoting youth had no effect then, and it has no effect now.
i think we wouldve had the music, just not the lyrics.
you’re only strengthening my point: politics in pop music is tired as shit.
would you prefer more love songs?
Hey Gatrios
Did you mean Bush Sr. fucking Jr. in the ass until he’s bleeding and cum soaked?
I bet Bush Sr. wishes Barb’s poonani would look like Phil Spector’s second chin.
kyle, love songs make my heart sing. they are the only thing more played out than antiwar songs.
hmmm… grow up people
voicing your opinion about the world is never “overdone”
and judging by ditching the show (thank the gods)and the current NIN release – Trent couldn?t give to shits about being what some narrow minded people want him to be
but then… for all we know this could have been a total publicity stunt and he had no intention of ding the show (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE say it’s true)
“politics in pop music is tired as shit.”
I’m not into someone screaming their politics at me either (Rage Against the Machine, anyone?), but to say politics in music is tired is ridiculous. Personally, I don’t mind it if it’s done with some subtlety and intelligence.
I think most artists who inject politics into their music are well intentioned and do it because they’re passionate about an issue — not because they see it as some fad. With voter turn out as low as it is for the 30 and under crowd, I think it’s good if an artist can inspire people to get informed and/or involved.
landon speaks truth
trent bushbashing … ok id watch it
but i so wish i had a copy of the natalie maines tirade, ya that chick truly is the 2nd coming of the “antichrist”
I just phoned Davd Sirulnick at MTV, and asked if I could perform a poetry slam at the MTV Movie Awards, with a gigantic, unmolested photograph of Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman in the background.
He turned me down.
What about my 1st Amendment rights, man?
N, you make some good points. It wasnt entirely fair to say that every musician that tries to make a political statement is doing so for attention. However, will someone please back me up that SOME BANDS like Green Day, whose best song is about jacking off, try to make their music seem important by suddenly turning political?? I’m sick of hearing American Idiot labeled a “concept album.” Bush is a cunt. What a concept. They might not support the war and hate the president, but I think it’s naive to assume that they honestly care more about changing the world than the money they’re making. I’m done with this topic, so go ahead and tear me up again.
Irish Mike, I can’t disagree with you on the Green Day score. They’re probably sincere in their hatred of Bush, but there’s little in the way of subtlety (and substance?) in how they deliver that message. It’s obviously meaningful to some, though.
That said, it doesn’t sound like we’re too far apart on the question of politics in music.
I hear you, Irish Mike. Most political songs come off as disingenuous, just another flavor of hackiness. On the other hand, true sincerity always wins, whether we’re talking love songs or political songs. In either case, there is a palpable difference between an expression and a sermon, and at worst exploitation.
When a singer uses the face of a political person as a backdrop, and that person is called the enemy, the singer is getting pretty close to straight-up exploitation. Same with using the flag, either to bash it or wrap one’s self up in it.
Like N says, what is artful about that?
I am totally putting up a backdrop of an unadultered image of trent reznor at my next show. I’m gonna open with a new song called “without teeth”.
Most of your knowledge of Trent’s politics are obviously limited. Ever read the lyric to “Head Like a Hole”…..he opposed organized religion and all that support those hate groups….aka GW Bush.
You’re a poli sci student at UCSD? I weep for our youth.
And nobody mentioned Stereogum’s genius headline for this post. well. i give props
I think that it’s a lot of spectacle, and spectacle is cheap. Not super different from the guy who tried to throw a pie in the face of Ann Coulter (but missed). Did Ann Coulter look bad, or the person who tried to throw a pie at her??
If the outcome were different in a few states and Kerry won the election, would Green Day and NIN write songs about congress? Or would Green Day go back to writing about jacking off and Reznor go back to writing songs like on The Fragile?
the funniest part of this whole debate is that it’s all based on conjecture. all trent wanted to do was play his song with a picture of the president in the background. what’s wrong with that?
Mike Politik is a moron! Buddhism is an organized religion. Is it a hate group? Is it Buddhism AKA George W. Bush?
If you’re going to say stupid shit like that, don’t tell people you’re a poli sci major. Or maybe wait until you’ve taken some upper division classes so you’ll know what the hell you’re talking about!
KOMPRESSOR CRUSH MIKE POLITIK!
Yeah, Buddhism is not a hate group, Christianity is. Kompressor, you are a retard. Scientologists are not either…..
Bush is a right-wing zealot who panders to the LCD of the Christian right…..
and you missed the point, do you even know the lyrics to “The Hand That Feeds”? You call yourself Kompressor…..you must be referring to the contents in your head. Because your reading comprehension is weak.
What do you think of this story? You Tell Us
http://www.mtv.com/news/youtellus/
Oh geez, another person calling Christianity a hate group, just because of a handful of misguided idiots that make the faith look bad. Heh…
I was never really a NIN fan, but I do like the fact that he didn’t give into MTV’s bullshit and appease them. I have a feeling that if it were Eminem, they would have let him do what he wanted.
Gummer not quite sure what to make of the first comment, But as we know trents new music has created almost no buzz so offending the sensiblities of the MTV generation may help move more units of his latest retread tired unimagitive new release, all in all Trents new one sucks, Bush sucks, & MTV sucks so there you go………Lets have some more Federlines!
I like Christians. Am one myself. Like Bhuddists, too (not that I ever met one). Don’t much care for politicians, but I respect the fact that many are good people with families just getting by, quietly doing the things we need ‘em to do. Just like most Christians, just like most Bhuddists, just like most rock singers.
Oh, wait, it sorta falls apart on that last one.
Regardless, you guys whine too much. Makes you all (see? I can generalize too!) sound 19.
Now, let’s all hope Reznor teams with those crazy Dookie kids to sing “Up With People” at Tom Delay’s indictment ceremony!
The best thing about music is that a few of us still see it as a way to communicate something other than fashionable lifestyle choices.
Maybe political persuasion has *become* a fashionable lifestyle choice for a lot of people…. but the best thing about this country is that right now we can bitch about the President all we want. And if a *million* bands choose to do that, I just don’t care because they are at least paying attention to and enjoying their rights.
Now I can’t say I’m not bored with that, because I really am. And yes, people have a right to bitch about other people like they’re doing here. Fine. Great.
But nobody’s forcing me to listen. It’s more fun to put on good music than to sit around griping.
Y’know, I can bitch about Bush with the rest of the populus all day long, as well, but I wholly concur with the voice of all the cats who are tired of hearing bands musically flog the already dead Bush horse. Seriously. Write a song about Zell Miller or Condy Rice or something.
i have typically detested political songs in the past, but i like and respect NIN, and lets face it, this is a different matter, its not about average politics. we’re not talking about a president who cut some cherished program or cut/raised taxes or even got an illicit blow job. this president decided to invade iraq in 1999, prior to election, for political benefit (according to Mickey Herskowitz, bush’s autobio ghostwriter) and further plotted w/ the british pm a year prior to invasion and then proceeded to bend the intelligence around the wmd threat scenario, in order to sell the war to the hooples in the US. this is not only an impeachable offense it is by international law, a war crime. over 1,600 US military have died so far and countless iraqis. this iraqi adventure will last for a decade at least, enlistments have ground to a halt…someone’s gotta go. maybe while some of you are waiting in the draft line to get your heads shaved…wait a minute, if this war thins out the herd of hipster dilettantes it might all be worth it…nevermind.
Sorry to disappoint, duck of death– but if the past is any indication of what’s to come, it’s not going to be the hipsters who get drafted.
you are, of course, correct…but one may hope.
Stereogum readers seem to hate everything! Bright Eyes, Killers, Bravery, Nine Inch Nails, Green Day… That’s just in the past month. Sometimes it gets just a tad ridiculous. But oh well.
Personally, I think it’s cool that Da Rez was all “Fuck that, I do what I want!” to MTV. Screw MTV. I mean, whether or not you think it silly, putting a picture of Bush behind your band while on stage is a pretty tame, minor request. Why would MTV say no to that? If Jay Leno and NBC are cool with letting Bright Eyes ponder whether the president smells his own bullshit when talking with imaginary gods, you’d think MTV allow a picture of the guy to be shown during the performance of a song that’s not really Bush-specific to begin with. (Bush-relevant, yes, but not specificly about the Bush admin, to be sure.)
I’ve always hated specificity in songs. That’s why I’ll probably never listen to 3/4ths of “The Rising” again and I really don’t like early, protesty Dylan and the like. Once removed from the context from which they came, the songs become little more than historical artifacts.
I cant believe any of you Indy Yuppsters would even admit to watching MTV….aren’t you to busy blogging? I mean MTV is so yesterday, what was trent even thinking?
Wow Yalie– I never heard an insult like THAT before!
But then again, I’d imagine that the credibility of someone who criticizes bloggers…. by reading a blog…. and then commenting in it…. is pretty shot.
Please. This is just a backhanded publicity stunt from Mr. Trent “Rocky Redux” Reznor.
I highly doubt NIN’s exit from the Movie Awards can be dismissed over something as petty as a backdrop, in spite of what Trent wrote.
cnn just confirmed foo fighers are performing in place of nin
MAYBE WHAT REALLY HAPPEND WAS THAT TRENT FOUND OUT MARIAH CAREY WAS PERFORMING AND HE FLIPPED B/C HE’S A BIG DIVA. SO I HEARD FROM AN INSIDER AT COACHELLA.
cnn should be concentrating on more importantant things than who is performing at a fucking mtv event. goddamn news is so fucked up.
These guys make fools of themselves everytime they open their mouths. I don’t give three craps about what they think about anything.
what is this “mtv” you speak of? I’ve never heard of it.
President Bush is a good man doing a good job – liberating countries, expanding freedom, miraculously improving an economy crippled by 9/11 through tax cuts (that liberals said would not work). The irrational criticism is so stupid – it’s uninformed trying to sound involved or smart by clinging to rumors disproven time-and-time again.
rumors disproven over time, you mean like the one about iraq having wmd, the reason he sent the troops to war, the reason that has been completely proved both false and trumped up by his own people. oh yeah those wmd.
he is not a good man and he is not doing a good job. he has liberated no one. the taliban is on the move in afghanistan because we left so few troops behind to stabilize the country. and iraq is a fucking wasteland thanks to bush and rumsfeld. shock and awe, more like shock and aw shit. and as far as the economy, from the poorest city in the nation I say, fuck you.
Trent writes one fricking song about the President and you people act like he’s become a political advocate like Green Day and U2. MTV replaced NIN by the Foo Fighters who rocked to raise money for Kerry and even have a track on an anti-bush album called “Rock against Bush 2″. Dave Grohl plays the drums on a number of NIN’s new songs. MTV is owned by a pro-republican parent company. Fucking can’t even post a Bush backdrop these days. And I thought things were going crazy when anti-bush demonstaters were haulled up and taken away for the Republican convention. This shit is insane.
I hope Dave Grohl wears a NIN shirt while playing at the awards. For the person who thought NIN should have played at the awards and just do something on the spot, it’s not an option. The Award show is taped on the 4th and then aired on the 9th…
Never thought I’d see the day where some total idiot tried to convince me that MTV was pro-republican.
Wow, the libs are not only self-righteous, but they’re also maliciously paranoid.
I stated MTV’s parent company is Pro-Republican jackass.
MTV didn’t want a performance built around a partisan political statement…
Aren’t all political statements partisan? Foo Fighters and Eminem are open critics of Bush, but fit the bill because they don’t have a picture of him as a backdrop.
Three phrases should be among the most common in our daily usage. They are: Thank you, I am grateful and I appreciate.
Is Bush bashing overdone? I’d just like to remind you of something:
KERRY LOST. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
How could Bush win an election after starting an “illegal war”, after his terrible gaffes (“Karyn is with us. A West Texas girl, just like me.”), after reversing gun control and frittering away the budget surplus built by Clinton. I think it’s because when the voters look at who stands against Bush (Michael Moore, Eminem, Pink and now Trent Reznor) they think – what a bunch of freaks. I’d rather live in an America run by a down to earth Texan than these degenerate scum. And who’s to say they’re not right?
good thing this thread is dead now, hrhclinton, because you set yourself up for a flaming. Anyway, to talk to nobody, I think NIN is the epitome of music, I listened to it all through the 90s, and I appreciate that Reznor has his viewpoints, but they are indicitive of where he spends his time and who he surrounds himself with. To the guy from the poorest place in the nation, you must be starving to death while your typing up a comment on this thread on a computer somewhere (either you own it or its provided to you) and you probably need to go to a socialist nation, because to have the opportunity to have more than other people other people have to be able to have less than you too, idiot. Any economy where you can become rich means there is risk for people. Figuratively, if you want to give any earnings you might get over to the governmental insurance program, so that you are guaraunteed safety, you can never achieve. That’s fine, but that’s not here. And you aren’t poor. Take it from someone who has been homeless, and not because of Bush. I wish those of you who hate him would stop using your inductive reasoning to justify it and step back and look at facts instead of jamming your heads down into the middle of the cacophony. It’s incestuous. Trust me, he is neither the super-good all wonderful savior the far right makes him out to be, nor is he the devil incarnate retarded gimp mastermind the arts and academia crowd make him out to be. He actually is trying to do what he thinks will be good for the world, and in some cases he’s off base, and in some he is not. The situation he’s in is a lose/lose for his approval rating because Americans are so fickle. And check the reliability of your sources if you think he intended to go into iraq in 1999. Poli sci professors say that, you say that, but everytime you track down the evidence, it’s coming out of someone’s mouth who has extremely questionable motives and always gets downgraded to their opinion and what they ‘inferred’ and them saying it always involves a conflict of interest that benefits them. But i’ll tell you what I told my right wing friends in late 01 and 02, that Gore would have been going into afghanistan and iraq too, because they were gloating that Gore would not have ‘had the balls’ or whatnot. This whole world and cycle of events did not get created by George W. Bush nor does he have that much control over what can and cannot be done, the machine of such things often puts us in a corner. You all need to calm down. In fifty years the consensus will be that Bush was an average president thrown into a horrible time and did better than some, worse than others would have done, and I personally am tired of hearing high school dropout pot smokers telling me that they are smarter than he is (personal experience, not you guys).