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| BPM = 150| versions = The Becoming<br>The Becoming (Instrumental)<br>The Becoming (''[[Still]]'')| live = [[Dissonance]] tour <br> [[Performance 2007]]<br>[[Wave Goodbye Tour|]]<br>[[NIN 2014 Europe/UK Tour]]<br>[[Cold And Black And Infinite Tour]] through [[NIN|JA 20092022]]}}'''"The Becoming"''' is made from many loops of industrial sounds, thus typical of the seventh track on the 1994 album ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]].'' Its main body is in a 13/8 time signature before switching to a 6/8 time signature at the breakdown. It then goes back to 13/8 before ending in 6/8, crossfading into "[[I Do Not Want This]]." A semi-acoustic version can be found on ''[[Still]],'' which has an accompanying performance video released at the time on [[nin.com]]. ===Meaning===The lyrics describe a man fighting against himself, trying to avoid his "becoming," transforming him into a machine without human characteristics and feelings. Its structure, described below, is indicative of this struggle. This is a rare example of [[Trent Reznor directly referencing a name ("Annie") ]] stated in his lyricsan interview[https://www. Usually, he uses ambiguous pronounsyoutube. This expresses com/watch?v=4IwIxiovt_I] that the need idea for attachment, the need to interact intimately with another human despite the narratormetaphor of a person becoming a machine was inspired by [[Shinya Tsukamoto]]'s extreme attempts to detach himself from the world''Tetsuo: The Iron Man''.

This is the original album version. It begins in a 13/8 time signature with industrial noises such as a manipulated piano line, then bursts into drum machine and [[samples|sample]] loops of screams taken from the film ''Robot JoxxJox''. The drum loop pattern is also nearly identical in "[[The Way Out Is Through]]". At the 3-minute mark, it mellows into an acoustic guitar-led passagein 6/8, with swooshy sounds machine-like loops and synthesized chorus pads sampled from Reznor's voice. The quiet portions of the song also contain a backwards sample from the film ''Angel Heart'' where the character is repeatedly yelling "I know who I am!" There is a final outburst of noise and screaming before returning to the acoustic section, which fades crossfades with the opening of "[[I Do Not Want This]]". The bassline on this track was done with a prototype of the Oberheim OB-Mx synthesizer, called the Obermoog.[http://nindestruct.com/mags/KeyboardMar94.html] While the melody is different, the rhythm and structure of the acoustic sections is reminiscent of the outro bassline on "[[Piggy]]". ===The Becoming (Instrumental)==='''''Running Time: 6:24''''' Released by Reznor via his [[remix.nin.com]] account, this unmastered instrumental version is extended in length, as it does not fade outthe ending, rather looping the acoustic guitar riff many times until stopping.

'''''Running Time: 4:30''''' This version appears on the ''Still'' CD, which was Disc 2 disc two of the Deluxe Edition CD of ''And All That Could Have Been'' . Simpler in its instrumentation and without the sample loops, it transitions immediately from the end of "[[The_Fragile_%28song%29#The_Fragile_.28Still.29|The Fragile]]" and ends suddenly after the final "noisy" section. Though he is absent from the credits, [[Danny Lohner]] is currently available through nin.comclearly seen performing in the video.