10 Most Controversial Music Videos Of All Time

Released as a promotional single for Nine Inch Nails’ debut EP, Broken, the music video for Happiness In Slavery immediately incurred the wrath of censors everywhere. Banned worldwide for its extreme content, the music video is most infamous for its depiction of performance artist Bob Flanagan being mutilated. Undressing and washing, Flanagan soon finds himself strapped to a machine that stabs his hands and lacerates his skin. From there, Flanagan is eventually disembowelled and minced, his remains being used as fertiliser for the garden below.

During this time, Trent Reznor has been singing within a cell. In the wake of Flanagan’s grisly demise, however, Reznor finds his way into the torture room. It is implied he is on his way to the same sadistic fate.

To the shock of no one, Happiness In Slavery was never allowed to air on TV. Its ultraviolent content left it without a home until the release of the Broken short movie, a companion piece to their EP. It was also included in their Closure video album and in Too Much 4 Much, a showcase for banned videos on the MuchMusic channel in Canada.

When asked about the video and the notion that it was created purely for shock value, Trent Reznor claimed it was simply visuals he felt fit the song. Frustrated after his miserable time with TVT Records, Reznor considered the music video a celebration of his newly recovered freedom as an artist.