"The Perfect Drug" is a song by

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 ...

written for the

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

film '' Lost Highway''. It was released in 1997 on the ''Lost Highway'' soundtrack as well as a single from the score. Remixes of the song were released as an EP, ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions''. Though ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions'' acts as a single for the titular song, the original version does not appear on the EP. The track has also been included on international singles " We're in This Together, Part 3" and " Into the Void" without the ending truncated; the only audio release of it in North America being on the ''Lost Highway'' soundtrack. A music video for it was directed by

Mark Romanek Mark Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Romanek wrote and directed the 2002 film ''One Hour Photo'' and directed the 2010 film '' Neve ...

, included with '' Closure'', a VHS compilation and '' The Work of Director Mark Romanek''. In September 2018 the band performed the song live for the first time at

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind ...

Song

"The Perfect Drug" was described by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' as a "

drum-and-bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bas ...

-infused industrial

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

song". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' also noted the drum and bass influence in the song. Despite being a single, "The Perfect Drug" did not appear live until September 18, 2018 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. On the official NIN website, a fan asked whether the track had not been performed live is because "the

drum solo A drum solo is an instrumental solo played on a drum kit. A drum solo may be set or improvised, and of any length, up to being the main performance. In rock, drum solos are unique in that traditionally they are minimally or never accompanied, whe ...

would make Jerome's arms fall off." Then-drummer

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, ...

replied that they "never rule out the possibility of playing any of the songs live." On April 6, 2005, while presenting the late-night

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

Rock Show in the UK,

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

responded to the question, "Which piece of your own work are you least satisfied with and why?" by saying:

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for the single was directed by

and released on January 18, 1997. The theme was inspired by the illustrations of 20th-century artist

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. Hi ...

, with familiar Gorey elements including oversized urns and glum, pale characters in full Edwardian costume. The most obvious reference to Gorey is the boy sitting on a cushion in front of a painting. Other references include an unidentified painting resembling

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's pr ...

's '' The Kiss'' (1907–1908) and a "Scanning Machine" designed by Frenchman François Willème in 1860.

Charlie Clouser Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits a ...

Danny Lohner Daniel Patrick “Danny” Lohner, frequently known as Renholdër, is an American musician. He worked with Trent Reznor on numerous occasions, both with Nine Inch Nails and on the now defunct Tapeworm project. He has also played for Methods of M ...

, and

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails ...

also appear in the video, most notably playing string instruments at the beginning of the video. The entire video was filmed with a blue tint, with the exception of the drum breakdown, which uses flashing green light instead.

Joanne Gair Joanne Gair (born c. 1958), nicknamed Kiwi Jo (alternatively Kiwi Joe), is a New Zealand-born and -raised make-up artist and body painting, body painter whose body paintings have been featured in the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' from 19 ...

's work with Nine Inch Nails on "The Perfect Drug" won her the makeup portion of the award for best hair/makeup in a music video at the Music Video Production Awards.

EP

''"The Perfect Drug" Versions'' is the eleventh official Nine Inch Nails release and consists of five remixes of the song "The Perfect Drug." The European, Australian, and Japanese releases append the original version of the song, while a promotional

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 ...

set adds an exclusive sixth remix, by

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...

Track listing

Available as

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

or EU single.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions and samples

In 2002, American

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has be ...

band the Blood Brothers sampled the song in their song "Kiss of the Octopus". American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with me ...

band

Fit for an Autopsy Fit for an Autopsy is an American deathcore band from Jersey City, New Jersey, formed in 2008. The band consists of guitarists Pat Sheridan, Will Putney and Tim Howley, drummer Josean Orta, vocalist Joe Badolato, and bassist Peter "Blue" Spinazo ...

covered the song for the split EP ''The Depression Sessions'' in 2016.

References

External links

''The Perfect Drug''
at nin.com, the official website
The Perfect Drug
at the NinWiki

with

''Halo 11''
at NIN collector
discogs.com: ''The Perfect Drug'' (US CD5" Promo)discogs.com: ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions'' (US CD5")discogs.com: ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions'' (EU CD5")discogs.com: ''"The Perfect Drug" Versions'' (EU 3x12")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perfect Drug, The 1997 songs 1997 singles Nine Inch Nails songs Songs written by Trent Reznor Music videos directed by Mark Romanek 1997 EPs Nothing Records singles Interscope Records singles Songs written for films