"The Hand That Feeds" is a song by American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Cromagnon, Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten ...

band

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''

With Teeth ''With Teeth'' (stylized as ''ITH_TEETH') is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by Nothing Records and Interscope Records on May 3, 2005. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Tren ...

'' (2005). The single is the highest-charting Nine Inch Nails song on all charts except for ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks, where it stayed at number one for five weeks (the following single " Only" stayed at number one for seven non-consecutive weeks), and the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it peaked at number 31. It is the band's only single to reach the top 10 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, as well as their highest-charting single on the U.S.

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

chart, peaking at number two. It was also a crossover hit, crossing over to pop radio as their first top 40 radio hit since " Closer" in 1994 and " Hurt" in 1995, peaking at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In terms of overall chart performance, the song is beaten only by the group's 1999 song " The Day the World Went Away".

History

Though several radio stations played a leaked copy of the song in February 2005, official radio play began the following month on March 14. The song was released for sale on both

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

and

Napster Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Sha ...

on March 22. In April, a link to a multi-track

GarageBand GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife softwar ...

file of the song was posted on the band's website, allowing anyone with GarageBand to remix it. The single for "The Hand That Feeds" was only given a wide release in Europe. The European releases include a 3-track limited edition CD, a 2-track standard CD, a 9-inch vinyl and a DVD single. In the United States, "The Hand That Feeds" was released on various

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

formats. A limited edition 10-inch

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

and a 7-inch promotional disc (the latter available at ''

'' listening parties) contained the title track and the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

"Home." Additional 12-inch remix records, containing mixes by

Photek Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. Photek has contributed music ...

and DFA were also available. The band was due to play the song at the

2005 MTV Movie Awards The 2005 MTV Movie Awards was hosted by Jimmy Fallon. A special award, the Silver Bucket of Excellence, was presented to the 1985 film '' The Breakfast Club''. Also, Tom Cruise was presented with the first-ever MTV Generation Award. Neither of ...

, but dropped out due to conflicts between Reznor and MTV concerning his plan to incorporate an image of then-incumbent U.S. President George W. Bush into the performance. An announcement made by Reznor through the band's 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." The band was eventually replaced by

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) ...

at the ceremony. During a performance of "The Hand That Feeds" in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

, on October 29, 2008, a photo of Bush was displayed behind the band; as the band played, the photo gradually morphed into

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two te ...

, the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. The song was nominated for

Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

for the 48th Annual

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in 2006. It is included in the videogames ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two gui ...

'', ''

Midnight Club 3 ''Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition'' is a 2005 racing video game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third installment in the '' Midnight Club'' series. Like previous installments in the series, the game is an ...

'', '' Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'', and ''

Rock Band 4 ''Rock Band 4'' is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. ''Rock Band 4'' allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bas ...

''. The song also appears in the trailer for the film ''

Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Brothe ...

'' and in the TV spots for '' Underworld: Evolution'' and '' Running Scared''. In 2009, the song ranked at number 406 in

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

's list of the top 500 songs of the 2000s.

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Reznor and

Rob Sheridan Robert Sheridan (born October 11, 1979) is an American graphic designer, art director, photographer, and comic book author best known for his extensive work with the band Nine Inch Nails. Biography Sheridan attended art school at New York's Pr ...

and debuted on the Nine Inch Nails website. The video features Reznor alongside the band he assembled for live performances at the time (

Aaron North Aaron Wright North (born March 22, 1979) is an American musician. He was the co-founder and guitarist of punk band The Icarus Line, a touring lead guitarist of industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, and vocalist/guitarist for Jubilee. North is ...

Jeordie White Jeordie Osbourne White (born June 20, 1971), better known Twiggy Ramirez or simply Twiggy, is an American musician, mostly known as the former bassist and guitarist of the rock band Marilyn Manson. Previously, he was the bassist for A Perfect ...

Jerome Dillon Jerome Dillon is a professional musician, best known for his tenure as drummer with industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails from 1999–2005. After his departure, his own project, Nearly, released its debut album ''reminder'' in December 2005, ...

, and

Alessandro Cortini Alessandro Cortini (born 24 May 1976) is an Italian musician best known for being the keyboard, guitar, and bass player in the industrial band Nine Inch Nails. Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles-based electronic-alternative band ...

) performing the song. The video uses the pan and scan technique, resulting in video distortion such as

pixelization Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...

and interlacing. During the final chorus, the band members become more distorted by additional interlacing. A second video for the song was directed by Ian Inaba, but was shelved.

Releases

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anothe ...

CID888 - CD * Island Records CIDV888 - DVD * Island Records 9IS888 - 9-inch vinyl *

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner ...

HALO_18 V2 - 10-inch picture disc (limited edition) * Interscope Records INTR-11401-7 - 7-inch vinyl (promo) * Interscope Records B0005127-11 - 12-inch vinyl, Photek remixes * Interscope Records B0005129-11 - 12-inch vinyl, DFA remixes

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

*
nin.comThe Hand That Feeds
at the NinWiki
discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (UK CD5")discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (UK DVD)discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (UK 9")discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (US 10")discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (Photek Remix 12")discogs.com: ''The Hand that Feeds'' (DFA Remix 12")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hand That Feeds, The 2005 singles Nine Inch Nails songs Song recordings produced by Trent Reznor Songs written by Trent Reznor 2005 songs Interscope Records singles American hard rock songs American new wave songs