mod, Administrators
14,199
edits
Changes
no edit summary
| versions =Big Man With A Gun<br>Big Man With A Gun (''The Downward Spiral'' DE)
| live =[[Self Destruct Tour]]<br>[[Wave Goodbye Tour]]
}}'''"Big Man With A Gun"''' is the ninth track on ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]]''.It is one of the many songs to include the phrase "[[Nothing Can Stop Me Now|nothing can stop me now]]."
In a 2024 article from ''Spin'' magazine, it was revealed that this track was recorded as an afterthought.[https://www.spin.com/2024/03/nine-inch-nails-the-downward-spiral-turns-30/] The song's lyrics were also the subject of controversy when they were cited by conservatives William Bennett and C. Delores Tucker during their crusade against explicit lyrics in rap and hip-hop, egregiously mislabeling [[Nine Inch Nails]] as one of these acts.
===Song Credits===
*Production: [[Trent Reznor]]
*Mixing engineers: Bill Kennedy, [[Sean Beavan]]
*Additional guitars: [[Danny Lohner]]
==Meaning==
In the March 1996 issue of ''Spin Magazine''[https://www.theninhotline.com/archives/articles/display/625], [[Trent Reznor]] said the following about this song:
<blockquote>The record was nearing completion. I had written those lyrics pretty quickly and I didn't know if I was going to use them or not. To me, ''Downward Spiral'' builds to a certain degree of madness, then it changes. That would be the last stage of delirium. So the original point of "Big Man With A Gun" was madness. But it was also making fun of the whole misogynistic gangsta-rap bulls**t. ... I listen to a lot of it, and I enjoy it. But I could do without the degree of misogny and hatred of women and abuse. Then, my song got misinterpreted as exactly that. It was probably a lack of being able to write. I've been taken out of context, and it's ridiculous.</blockquote>
==Live==
"Big Man With A Gun" was played regularly on the [[Self Destruct Tour]] as the penultimate song of the main set, with Reznor frequently encouraging the audience to "fuck yourself up" or "hurt yourself to this song". It had not been played live since then until its appearance at the [[2009/08/23 New York, NY|Webster Hall]] and [[2009/09/02 Los Angeles, CA|Hollywood Palladium]] full album performances of ''The Downward Spiral.''
Rehearsal and live footage of the song appear in brief on the leaked ''Closure'' DVD appendage.