10 Amazing Hard Rock Music Videos

The Downward Spiral is known as one of the most disturbing pieces of hard rock ever to be put to tape. Recorded in an abandoned house where the Manson family murdered Sharon Tate, the entire record feels like you're slowly being dragged into Hell with Trent Reznor as your guide. There's no real way to sugarcoat these kinds of songs, but "Closer" didn't need any fluff to turn heads.

Taking over most of the project, Reznor concocted an idea for the more unpleasant images in the video. With the song centered around sex, Reznor makes the act of carnal escapism feel utterly terrifying, as he shows everything from gritty S&M paraphernalia to suspending himself in ropes, almost begging for some sort of reciprocation. It was already uncomfortable, but Reznor pulled out even more weird ideas like spinning around the room aimlessly and even filming a monkey on a crucifix.

This was a unique piece of work, but the restrictions of the '90s were having absolutely none of it. As a compromise, Reznor eventually censored some of the images by putting up pieces of blank footage, but that actually ended up working as an advantage, with the viewer getting more frightened at the mere suggestion of what's going on. There was definitely scarier music than Nine Inch Nails in the '90s, but when it comes to the video format, no one really captured the feeling of evil like Trent Reznor.