March of the Pigs

March of the Pigs has an unusual meter, alternating three bars of {{music|time|7|8}} time with one bar of {{music|time|8|8}} to effectively create one long measure of {{music|time|29|8}}.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/nine-inch-nails-the-downward-spiral-at-20-classic-track-by-track-5930270/|last=Mason|first=Kerri|date=March 7, 2014|title=Nine Inch Nails' 'The Downward Spiral' at 20: Classic Track-By-Track|magazine=Billboard|access-date=March 15, 2021|quote= Peaking at 269 BPM and weaving in and out of a maddening 29/8 time signature, it's as ballistic as Reznor has ever been.}} The song features a techno style bridge in {{music|time|4|4}} with a vocal melody based on the blues scale that ends with a cheerful piano jingle.{{cite web |last1=Krovatin |first1=Chris |title=Nine Inch Nails' March Of the Pigs is still as intense as ever |url=https://www.kerrang.com/remembering-nine-inch-nails-march-of-the-pigs-25-years-later |website=Kerrang! |date=February 25, 2019 |quote=With its odd 7/8 time signature, rabid punk pace, and bizarre piano-driven chorus breaks}} This is followed by an unnerving silence before the song repeats itself. The song's high energy (analogous to a previous Nine Inch Nails track, "Wish"), segued by two piano breakdowns, has made it a staple of Nine Inch Nails' live concert performances. It is also one of the band's shortest hit songs, clocking in at just under three minutes.

March of the Pigs is one of Nine Inch Nails' most well received songs commercially.{{Cite news |last=Newstead |first=Al |date=2024-03-05 |title=Depraved, angry, terrifying: how Nine Inch Nails' biggest album changed music in the 90s |url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/nine-inch-nails-downward-spiral-anniversary-closer-hurt-reznor/103552942 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504070031/https://www.abc.net.au/listen/doublej/music-reads/features/nine-inch-nails-downward-spiral-anniversary-closer-hurt-reznor/103552942 |archive-date=2024-05-04 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Double J |language=en-AU}}{{Cite news |last=R. Weingarten |first=Christopher |date=2019-03-08 |title=17 Essential Songs In 7/4 |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2034893/17-essential-songs-in-74/lists/ultimate-playlist/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225152642/https://www.stereogum.com/2034893/17-essential-songs-in-74/lists/ultimate-playlist/ |archive-date=2024-02-25 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Stereogum |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Adams |first=Gregory |title=Fan poll: Top 5 live NINE INCH NAILS songs |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/feature/fan-poll-top-5-live-nine-inch-nails-songs/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250130162518/https://www.revolvermag.com/feature/fan-poll-top-5-live-nine-inch-nails-songs/ |archive-date=2025-01-30 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Revolver |language=en-US}} In 2020, Kerrang! and Billboard ranked the song number three and number six, respectively, on their lists of the greatest Nine Inch Nails songs.{{Cite web |title=The 20 greatest Nine Inch Nails songs – ranked |url=https://www.kerrang.com/the-20-greatest-nine-inch-nails-songs-ranked |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250406021637/https://www.kerrang.com/the-20-greatest-nine-inch-nails-songs-ranked |archive-date=2025-04-06 |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=Kerrang! |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news |last=Unterberger |first=Andrew |date=2020-11-05 |title=The 25 Best Nine Inch Nails Songs: Staff Picks |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/nine-inch-nails-best-songs-9478519/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250608200918/https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/nine-inch-nails-best-songs-9478519/ |archive-date=2025-06-08 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Billboard |language=en-US}}

In 2015, Exclaim! proclaimed in a Nine Inch Nails collaboration with the clothing brand N.I.C.E. Collective that they would release March of the Pigs music video replica boots.{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Josiah |date=2015-11-08 |title=You Can Now Buy Your Very Own Trent Reznor Boots |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/trent_reznor_boots_available_now_for_1100 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113010756/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/trent_reznor_boots_available_now_for_1100 |archive-date=2015-11-13 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Exclaim! |language=en}} The boots were called the "Reznor Combat boots." In 2024, Gregory Adams of Revolver called for fans planning to purchase the Dr. Martens apart of the Downward Spiral 30th anniversary collaboration with Nine Inch Nails to prepare for the 'March of the Docs'.{{Cite news |date=2024-07-15 |title=NINE INCH NAILS and DR. MARTENS announce 'The Downward Spiral' collaboration |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/nine-inch-nails-and-dr-martens-announce-downward-spiral-collaboration/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240715191750/https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/nine-inch-nails-and-dr-martens-announce-downward-spiral-collaboration/ |archive-date=2024-07-15 |access-date=2025-06-22 |work=Revolver |language=en}}

After abandoning a more elaborate version before filming could be completed, Reznor and the live band assembled for the then-impending Self Destruct Tour (featuring drummer Chris Vrenna, keyboard player James Woolley, guitarist Robin Finck and bassist/guitarist/keyboardist Danny Lohner) regrouped with director Peter Christopherson to film a stripped-down, minimalist music video for the song. The video, filmed in 1993 and released in March 1994, features the band performing the song live in front of a white wall backdrop, with Reznor moving around aggressively, pushing the other band members and their instruments, and repeatedly tossing his microphone away. Throughout the video, stagehands visibly move into the frame to reset the equipment he knocks over, handing Reznor a microphone each time he needs to start singing again after an instrumental section. File:Nine Inch Nails March of the Pigs Photoshoot.jpg, Reznor, Vrenna ]]The bulk of the video appears to be filmed in one long take, with the camera zooming and panning continuously. When Reznor appeared as a guest programmer on the ABC Rage TV program, he explained that they just kept playing the song over and over to the point of exhaustion to get the final take. The video uses the live performance audio of the song recorded at the video shoot, rather than synchronizing the footage to the studio-recorded version from the album as most music videos do.{{Cite book

| last = Huxley

| first = Martin

| title = Nine Inch Nails: Self Destruct

| date = September 1997

| publisher = St. Martin's Press

| isbn = 0-312-15612-X

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/nineinchnailssel00huxl

}} The bands' personal photographer for their Self destruct tour, Joseph Cultice, had taken behind-the-scenes photographs of the shoot. He claims that it had taken the band only 5 long take shoots to complete the music video.{{Cite news |last=Staff |first=Revolver |title=Nine Inch Nails "March of the Pigs": From Scrapped Original Video to Iconic Final Cut |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/nine-inch-nails-march-pigs-scrapped-original-video-iconic-final-cut/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250516081242/https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/nine-inch-nails-march-pigs-scrapped-original-video-iconic-final-cut/ |archive-date=2025-05-16 |access-date=2025-06-20 |work=Revolver |language=en-US}} This version of the song is also included on the "Closer" cassette single.

Portions of the earlier, uncompleted video are included on the Closure DVD disc image file that appeared on file-sharing network The Pirate Bay in December 2006; this file is believed to be a leak of a completed but (so far) officially unreleased deluxe DVD reissue of the band's 1997 VHS/laserdisc long form music video Closure.{{Cite web |last=Sheridan |first=Rob |date=2020-02-23 |title="Whatever happened to the Closure DVD release? A: Interscope at the time decided they didn't want to release it, so we leaked what we'd made so far onto Pirate Bay." Rob Sheridan: The Reddit AMA Interview: Feb 11th 2020 |url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/rob-sheridan-ama-34278427 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250523190102/https://www.patreon.com/posts/rob-sheridan-ama-34278427 |archive-date=2025-05-23 |access-date=2025-06-22 |website=Patreon}} In this version of the video, the band performs the song in a red cave-like set with water at their feet, and a person with dwarfism appears.

Live performance videos of "March of the Pigs" are included on each of the band's live releases: Closure, And All that Could Have Been, and Beside You in Time.

The American "March of the Pigs" CD single contains two mixes of the title track, two remixes of its fellow The Downward Spiral track "Reptile", and "A Violet Fluid", a non-album instrumental track. In the UK, the single was released as a two-disc (each sold separately) CD single, adding a censored radio edit of "March of the Pigs" and "Big Man With a Gun" from The Downward Spiral. The disc art for this single features a curled-up millipede, an image that was later used on the cover of the single "Closer".

"March of the Pigs" peaked at No. 98 on the Australian ARIA singles chart.{{cite web|url=http://i.imgur.com/Po0yn2c.jpg|title=The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 08 May 1994|publisher=ARIA|access-date=2016-03-04}} It also peaked at No. 59 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, which was the band's first appearance on the chart. Thirteen years after its release, the single debuted at No. 9 and peaked at No. 6 on the Canadian Singles Chart.{{cite news|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/SINGLES.html |title=JAM! Music SoundScan Charts |work=Canadian Online Explorer |date=2007-06-17 |access-date=2007-06-24 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20041226010450/http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Charts/SINGLES.html |archive-date=December 26, 2004 }}

• Nothing Records / TVT Records / Interscope Records / Atlantic Records 95938-2
• TVT Records / Interscope Records INTDM-95938 (Reissue)

{{tracklist

|title1= March of the Pigs

|length1= 2:54

|title2= Reptilian

|note2= "Reptile" remixed by Dave Ogilvie

|length2= 8:40

|title3= All the Pigs, All Lined Up

|note3= "March of the Pigs" remix

|length3= 7:25

|title4= A Violet Fluid

|length4= 1:04

|title5= Underneath the Skin

|note5= "Reptile" remixed by Dave Ogilvie

|length5= 7:16

}}

• Island Records CID 592 854 001-2 (Disc one)
• Island Records CIDX 592 854 003-2 (Disc two)

{{tracklist

|headline= Disc one

|title1= March of the Pigs

|note1= clean version

|length1= 3:01

|title2= All the Pigs, All Lined Up

|length2= 7:25

|title3= A Violet Fluid

|note3= listed as "A Violent Fluid" in UK releases

|length3= 1:04

|title4= Big Man With a Gun

|length4= 1:37

}}

{{tracklist

|headline= Disc two

|title1= March of the Pigs

|note1= LP version

|length1= 2:54

|title2= Underneath the Skin

|length2= 7:16

|title3= Reptilian

|note3= remixed by Ogilvie

|length3= 8:40

}}

• A cover version of "March of the Pigs" has been recorded by Mae for the 2006 compilation Punk Goes 90's.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/punk-goes-90s-mw0000408593|title=Punk Goes 90s - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic|website=AllMusic}}
• Eighteen Visions released a cover version of the song for the Metal Hammer Goes '90s compilation album.{{cite web|last1=Shinn|first1=Travis|title=Hear Stone Sour's Fiery Cover Of Rage Against The Machine's "Bombtrack"|url=http://www.revolvermag.com/artist-news/hear-stone-sours-fiery-cover-rage-against-machine%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cbombtrack%E2%80%9D/23583|website=Revolver|access-date=2017-07-30}}
• Horse the Band released a cover of the song for their EP Your Fault.{{Cite web|url=https://open.spotify.com/track/6JYoxtsa0y7Kbxo9YAHWnk?si=RUp198LURRW4S2k7akx4AQ|title=March of the Pigs - song by Horse The Band|date=27 November 2020|access-date=December 10, 2020|via=Spotify}}
• Car Seat Headrest recorded a cover of the song for their 2021 EP MADLO: Influences, a collection of covers from artists that inspired the sound of their 2020 album Making a Door Less Open.

The song was released as a track for the video game Rock Band on February 26, 2008 for Xbox 360 and on February 28 for PlayStation 3. It was available as a standalone download or as part of the 'Nine Inch Nails' song pack (also including "The Perfect Drug" and "The Collector"). It was also featured on Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and the Wii, alongside the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

In a 1994 episode of Beavis & Butt-head, the boys watch the video for "March of the Pigs" and enjoy much of the song except for the piano parts. After Trent Reznor knocks over his microphone at the end of the video, Beavis says, "Thank you very much. We're Nine Inch Nails." somewhat dismissively, with Butt-head adding "Good night."{{Citation |title=Nine Inch Nails March Of The Pigs on Beavis and Butthead | date=15 July 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyKsqzZS_1M |language=en |access-date=2022-12-20}} - on YouTube

In 2024, the song was added to the online video game Fortnite through the Fortnite Festival game mode and as a purchasable jam track. The game uses an extended studio version of the song, featuring a recorded version of the outro typically played at their live shows.

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090421062548/http://www.nin.com/listen/ March of the Pigs] at nin.com, the official website
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060815012733/http://www.nincollector.com/archive/releases/halo_07/halo07.htm Halo 7]}} at NIN Collector
• [http://www.discogs.com/release/4402 discogs.com: March of the Pigs (US CD5")]
• [http://www.discogs.com/release/82623 discogs.com: March of the Pigs (US 10")]
• [http://www.discogs.com/release/120254 discogs.com: March of the Pigs (UK 2xCD5")]
• [http://www.discogs.com/release/307910 discogs.com: March of the Pigs (UK 7")]

{{Nine Inch Nails}}

{{authority control}}

Category:1994 singles

Category:Nine Inch Nails songs

Category:Songs written by Trent Reznor

Category:Nothing Records singles

Category:Interscope Records singles

Category:TVT Records singles

Category:Atlantic Records singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Trent Reznor

Category:1994 songs

Category:Industrial metal songs