“Man is nothing else but what he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realises himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions, nothing else but what his life is.”
In July of 2005, Nine Inch Nails released “Only” as the second single from With Teeth. It was the only rhythmically upbeat track off the album, and probably one of the few in NIN’s entire catalogue at the time. Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have long been known for having a dark, industrial sound, harsh and abrasive even. Classic tracks like “Mr. Self-Destruct” and “Hurt” being two of many.
“Only” is far more polished, with a slick, danceable, synth-laden groove. With elements of new wave and synth pop, and funk-inspired bass lines (in the Red Hot Chili Peppers sense, more than the Prince sense of the word). The guitars take a back seat, while the synths make up most of the instrumentation.
Produced by Reznor and Alan Moulder, the track slowly builds and builds, as opposed to the big choruses NIN are known for. Korn’s “Freak on a Leash” and Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” do this too, each in their own way.
A video for the track was directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven), where Reznor appears only via a 3D pin-art board in an office. Identity, simulation, and detachment, all there.
The instrumentation may be upbeat, but the lyrics align perfectly with the album’s overall themes of ego, identity, and self-destruction. Disillusionment with the self, or the thought that one’s self might be just a fabrication. What makes “Only” stand out lyrically is that it’s all delivered with a touch of sarcasm and even defiance. The chorus repetition of “There is no you, there is only me” drives home the point that, when all is said and done, all men are fundamentally alone, and all one has is themself. To Reznor, and probably countless others, even that rings hollow.
“I just made you up to hurt myself” is a striking line, something that could have been inspired by Reznor’s sobriety. Those self-destructive tendencies, those inner monologues he had — they had no real power, only the power he gave them. Or it could be about the music industry, and how he’s never felt like he fits in.
Consider the Ship of Theseus. Plutarch wrote about it in his “Life of Theseus.” I love it, it’s one of my favourite thought experiments when teaching Philosophy (way better than the fucking trolley problem). In Ancient Greek mythology, Theseus was a mythical king who rescued the children of Athens from King Minos. After slaying the minotaur, he escaped on a ship, heading to Delos. Each subsequent year, the Athenians would commemorate this by sailing to Delos, to honour Apollo. Over a long period of time, pieces of the ship would be replaced, simple maintenance over the course of many years.
Philosophers would ask:
If every piece of the ship was replaced, is it still the Ship of Theseus?
And if it was no longer the same, when did it cease being the original ship?
Or, as Thomas Hobbes would wonder in “On Identity and Difference“:
What if a second ship was built entirely from pieces of the original?
Today, the Ship of Theseus is ground for some pretty lengthy discussions on the concept of identity over time. Philosophers of mind go crazy over it. Is identity fixed, and we are all merely the sum of our parts? Or is identity a fluid concept, and a sense of self can persist throughout all manner of changes, trials and ordeals?
If Trent Reznor gets sober, hits the gym, and just generally maintains a healthy lifestyle instead of being addicted and depressed a la Woodstock ’94, is he still the same person? Who really knows? I kind of think it’s not for us to say.
To me, “Only” does lend itself to a Ship of Theseus sense of identity. I tend to think of the self as shifting, it changes and corrects itself over time. It might not feel the same per se, even if that self still carries the same exterior (the Nine Inch Nails name and reputation, for instance). Those parts of Reznor, the self-destructive tendencies and addiction, those things can change over time. Who’s to say if he’s the same person or not?
Maybe, for Reznor, the “self” isn’t fixed, but something that is recreated again and again over time. It’s what I like to think of when I think of “Only.” It’s definitely one of NIN’s more accessible tracks, but it is no cookie-cutter pop number. Rather than delving into Reznor’s deepest hurts and hitting you in the face, it just seems more detached. That line of “There is no you, there is only me” could be his way of taking control, of discarding those destructive tendencies and that part of himself. The supposedly distinct “you” he speaks of could have been a part of himself as well. At least the lyrics steer things in that direction.
The upbeat tone of the song gives a sense of a person playing themselves. Polished, poppy, and perhaps even made for radio, like Reznor is watching himself from the outside. New frame, but still the same person. My instinct here is that “Only” can be taken as a meditation on the impermanence of the self, and this makes the track stand out.
Or you could just go full Buddhist and say there is no self to be found. There’s always that.
But to me, the non-insider, Reznor and Nine Inch Nails will always be the real thing.
Lawrence Deveney 