Changes

| live = [[Cold And Black And Infinite Tour]]through present

*Assistance: [[Brian Pollack]]

This is the original version that can be found on the ''Lost Highway'' soundtrack as well as some editions of ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions''. It features prominent acoustic guitars playing a quick, ascending riff similar to the chorus of "[[The Wretched]]". It is backed by frantic and complex drum machine programming commonly associated with the drum 'n' bass genre, which opens up into simpler patterns for the pre-choruses. The drum sound in the pre-chorus is highly reminiscent of that on "[[Eraser]]". The chorus features heavy guitars backed by more frantic drums, while the bridge is composed mainly of percussion patterns and percussive synthesizers and guitar riffs, which build in intensity to give way to a slower, simpler, quieter codawhich features what is likely a Mellotron.

"The Perfect Drug" was not played live until [[2018/09/18_Morrison,_CO|September 18, 2018]] at Red Rocks, Colorado, though it was attempted during rehearsals for a few previous tours. It was widely speculated that the complex drum solo in the song was responsible for this, although it was probably not out of the range of drummers [[Josh Freese]] or [[Ilan Rubin]]. It is also likely possible that Reznor does did not personally like the song very much, as he concedes that it was produced quickly for the ''Lost Highway'' soundtrack.