The Song
Though several stations played a leaked copy of "The Hand That Feeds" in February, official radio play of the song began on March 14, 2005. "The Hand That Feeds" was released for sale on both iTunes and Napster on March 22, 2005. Upon its release, it topped the iTunes Top 100 songs list.
A music video was made for this song. It was directed by Rob Sheridan and was released on March 17, 2005 on the NIN official website. A second video for this song was directed by Ian Inaba, but was shelved and was never completed.
The April 15, 2005 update to the current section of nin.com included a link to a multi-track GarageBand file of the song. This file allows anyone with the Macintosh program GarageBand to remix the song.
NIN was due to play this song at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards, but dropped out due to conflicts between Trent Reznor and MTV concerning the band's plan to incorporate an image of George W. Bush into the performance. An announcement made by Trent Reznor on the NIN website on May 26 stated:
"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."
The following day, MTV stated,
"While we respect Nine Inch Nails' point of view, we were uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement. When we discussed our discomfort with the band, their choice was to unfortunately pull out of the Movie Awards."
Nine Inch Nails was eventually replaced by Foo Fighters at the ceremony on June 9.
During the performance of The Hand That Feeds in Jacksonville, Florida on 10/29/08, a photo of George W. Bush was displayed behind the band, and as the band played the photo gradually morphed into John McCain.
The song was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance for the 48th Annual Grammy Awards in 2006.
One of the blog entries on the NIN website made during the early recording phase of the new record (working title was "Bleedthrough", now known as With Teeth) stated that Trent always loved The Kinks. Their influence can be felt strongly in this song. The song's riff is a modified version of the one from the Kinks' classic "You Really Got Me".
The song is included in the videogames Rock Band, Midnight Club 3 and as downloadable content in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The song also appears in the trailer to Red Riding Hood.
Read more about this topic: The Hand That Feeds
Famous quotes containing the word song:
“Even their song is not a sure thing.
It is not a language;
it is a kind of breathing.
They are two asthmatics
whose breath sobs in and out
through a small fuzzy pipe.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Marlowe went muttering to death
When he had done with song and lust.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)