49
edits
Changes
→Live
}}'''"March Of The Pigs"''' is the fourth track on 1994's ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]].'' It has one of the most unusual metres of any song to enjoy popular radio play, alternating three measures of 7/8 time with one measure of 4/4 time in the verses (in effect, a 29/8 time signature). The chorus is in the common 4/4 time signature. As a result, with eighth notes getting the count, the song has a BPM rate of 269. The chorus of this song shares its chord progression with the bridge of "[[Wish (song)|Wish]]."
Lyrically, the song could be about society or NIN's fans, but [[Trent Reznor]] has stated in the interview titled Disturbed that the "pigs" in this song refer mainly to "anywhere from the media to people he thought were friends around him." Furthermore, he said, "The issue I was addressing was... when we attained a certain level of success, it was surprising to see the legion of people starting to fuck with you, can't wait to see you fail, hoping that you'll fuck up, ripping you off, trying to use you... The fact that American media, in 'underground world,' you go from being the darling to 'well, we accidentally started selling some records,' so they have to turn their backs on us." He also occasionally referred to fans as 'pigs' at live performances.
According to the Filter biography on their official website, former live guitarist [[Richard Patrick]] reportedly received the nickname "Piggy" while in Nine Inch Nails. As well, "Piggies" is a song on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled (or 'white') album, a noted influence on Charles Manson, who scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the front door of the Sharon Tate mansion wherein he and his 'Family' killed Tate and several others on August 8, 1969. The mansion was also where Reznor recorded ''The Downward Spiral'' in 1993-4 and Reznor kept the Tate door when he moved to [[Nothing Studios]] in New Orleans. In However, Reznor debunked rumors of song connections to the Tate murders in an interview[http://www.nin-pages.de/2003_Metal_Hammer_April_english.htm], Reznor debunked rumors of song connections to the Tate murders:
<blockquote>"I had 'Piggy' written long before it was ever known that I would be in that house. 'March of the Pigs' has nothing to do with the Tate murders or anything like that, I’m not going to say what it is about, but it’s not about that. Yeah, the name of the studio being 'Pig', that was a definite bad taste joke. It was written on the front door at one time, I’ll admit to that."</blockquote>
*Production: Trent Reznor
*Mixing Engineer: [[Alan Moulder]]
===All The Pigs, All Lined Up===
'''''Running Time: 7:25'''''
This version is entirely in 4/4 and has en extended ending that incorporates the lyric "Don't you feel a whole lot better?" This version is also much less guitar oriented, with extra synth layers added as well as additional crowd noises and pig squeals not prominent in the original. It ends in a loud, distorted drum pattern before collapsing to noise feedback, which segues directly into "[[A Violet Fluid]]."
==Music Video==
[[Image:MOTPstill.jpg|thumb|Screenshot from the "March Of The Pigs" video]]
A [[Nine Inch Nails music videos|music video ]] was made for this song, directed by [[Peter Christopherson]] and released in March of 1994. The video features the band performing the song live in front of a white wall backdrop. Reportedly, around a dozen takes were done, and the final video take was the one that "did not suck." It's filmed in one shot, a rare occurrence for music videos. This video was the last video to be played on MTV2's ''Increase the Beat'', on Memorial Day weekend 2002. At 269 BPM, it had the fastest tempo of the 400+ videos that were played that weekend.
A previous version of the video was partially shot but abandoned, and is included in glimpses on the ''Closure'' DVD. The band performs the song in a red, cave-like set with water at their feet, with a troll-like midget in costume running in and out of the set.
In most performances in the pre-''[[With Teeth (halo)|With Teeth]]'' eras, the songs starts with similar high pitched squeals as it does in the performance music video for the song. The [[Live: With Teeth]] arrangement started with [[Alessandro Cortini]] playing the synthesized bassline twice, stopping for eight bars of the drum pattern before the band launched directly into the first verse. Reznor typically starts the song with the spoken lyrics "C'mon you pigs... march!".
Since 2009, [[Ilan Rubin]] has left the drum set to play the song's two keyboard interludes before rushing back to continue on drums when the song kicks back in.
==Lyrics==