I’ve always thought that if an artist is going to cover a famous song, they should make it their own in every way possible. And that, thankfully, is precisely what Allie Goertz has done with Peeled Back, a full album of Nine Inch Nails covers. With highlights from the band’s first five albums (Pretty Hate Machine, The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, With Teeth, and Year Zero), Goertz reimagines the songs in such a way that they take on new meaning while leaving their haunting quality fully intact.
This is perhaps unavoidable, even if she was just replacing Trent Reznor’s original vocals with her own and leaving the instrumental track in place. Just hearing these familiar lyrics (most of the band’s biggest hits are accounted for, so even casual fans will recognize a lot of them) out of a woman’s voice changes their context and, in many cases, allows them to push different buttons entirely. But the stripped-down singer-songwriter’s approach to the arrangements changes their tone without changing the words themselves; what once sounded aggressive and angry now sounds mournful and hurt.
This is no more apparent than on “Closer,” the lone song in their repertoire that even some of our moms might recognize (not to mention the legion* of fans of The Hitcher remake). Goertz’s sweet-natured voice makes one reconsider the iconic chorus, changing what always sounded like (no offense, Trent) every other horny aggro guy at the bar into something haunting and sad.
*just me
Of course, one can’t think about the song without its accompanying video, one of the last great hard rock videos that you could see in heavy rotation on MTV prior to the channel phasing out most of their more eclectic music video programming, leaving only the TRL-sanctioned pop fare. Mark Romanek’s always striking visuals and unusual approach to giving it a raw look (the director reportedly dragged the film strips around a parking lot to scratch them up) made the video just as iconic as the music. Indeed, Reznor himself has said the video made the song sound better to him.
Goertz’s take, which she co-directed with cinematographer Elle Schneider (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched, That Guy Dick Miller), pays homage to Romanek’s iconic clip in ways both overt (yes, there’s a “Scene Missing” card!) and subtle. But unlike the rather experimental original, this one tells a comparatively straightforward story of a woman being sucked from her normal but lonely bedroom into a hellscape that should look familiar to anyone who has seen the original, only to escape from it stronger than when she went in.
In many ways, using recognizable moments from Romanek’s take (the mid-air spinning, the chair, etc.) highlights what makes Goertz’s version different. And by that I mean it’s actually scarier, at least to me. While the 1994 version is certainly disturbing at times, there’s far more nightmare fuel here, with more black goo than the first five seasons of The X-Files combined and a way creepier heart (designed by Emilia Larsen).
Not to mention that it starts relatively normal, with Goertz in a bedroom set (which she also built herself along with her stepfather), making the turn into the nightmarish actually give the viewer a bit of a jolt, unlike the original, which is just messed up from the first frame.
Plus, and maybe this is just my aging ass talking (I was 14 at the time of the original video; you can do the math), it’s just nice to see an old-school video like this. Practical effects, sets that aren’t just a warehouse or a rooftop, a story being told… It really takes me back to the glory era of the ’90s, when the labels would pump money into these things to make them just as memorable as the songs themselves.
Even the 4:3 framing made me a little nostalgic; all that was missing was the little credit block on the lower left telling us the band, song title, label, and video director. That it’s all for something that speaks our language is just icing on the cake.
So enjoy, Fango faithful! Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, the whole album is worth checking out, and you can do so on the usual streaming services and also on Bandcamp, where (hint hint) Goertz will get paid for her efforts. There is also a video for “Ruiner” (Buffy fans take note: Adam “Warren” Busch, who also co-produced the album, appears in that one) that is equally unsettling, so give that a look as well. And here’s hoping for a Peeled Back II, because I selfishly want to hear her take on “Something I Can Never Have”, i.e. my personal favorite NIN track.