March of the Pigs

I disagree with most of these comments. I think a lot of people just want to attribute the use of the term pigs to cops because they're angsty teens and dislike authority. Sort of the way everyone attributes almost every single song to drugs on here.

If you read the lyrics it seems more to me like the way people in society see something that someone has created that is good, and they enjoy it. That is until they get bored with it from "pushing" and "rushing" it all into the limelight. Sort of the way popular culture will take something new and fun and run it directly into the fucking ground through over exposure. Then the fans, the people who once enjoyed it, start tearing it down, that is, the concept or product or whatever it may be. They make constant demands on the creator that they know he or she can't fulfill for the purpose of calling it shit. They want to discredit it, pick away, fuck it up, etc. Once it is destroyed they can relax and move onto the next new fad, that subsequently inherits the same fate.

after reading a lot of these opinions, it really makes me wonder why i even signed up to be on this site in the first place. from the obviously incorrect assumptions that this song is about cops to the mindless ramblings of 'BLAH NIN ROCKS' it really makes me wonder if there is ANY hope at all for you pigs. that's right. pigs are mindless creatures fed to the slaughter.. and they keep winning, day after day after god blessed day.. in the court houses, in congress, on the media... there's pigs everywhere in this capitalistic society. this song is about truth, sanity, stage performance, society, and so many other meanings that anybody could apply to it with whatever argument they please. "maybe afraid of it let's discredit it let's pick away at it I want to watch it come down" actually, now that i've read the last page of comments on this, i can see that another like-minded individual already explained this better than i would have, and i'm just going to say that i agree with you, totally, ragnarok2128

I think this song deals with Reznor's hatred of a conformist society where everyone is forced to be the same, lined up in a great "march of the pigs" (kinda reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"). So he urges the listener to "pick away at it, I want to watch it come down," being the pretence of our society, the need to be a follower. "Take the skin and peel it back but doesn't it make you feel better?" - you'll feel better if you peel back all the crap society has forced on you and just be yourself. Reznor also reminds that society is bigger than us and will inevitably still rule over everyone - "the pigs have won tonight they can all sleep soundly".

Judging by the violent nature of this song, I think its told from the perspective of Mr. Self-Destruct, and his first true interaction with the protagonist. He picks him out (I think he's losing it) and decides now is his chance to destroy him (I want to watch it come down). After these violent outbursts, the villain actually begins putting ideas in the protagonist's head (All the pigs are all lined up, I give you all that you want, take the skin and peel it back, but doesn't it make you feel better). The piano segment represents the protagonist's viewpoint, how he thinks these thoughts are just things he considers as he goes to sleep. Little does he know their corrosive true nature, expressed in the violent, intense sections of the song.

On the interview album "Disturbed", Trent is asked what the meaning of the song is. Who are the Pigs? If I remember correctly, he said that the "Pigs" are all of the people in his life who just wanted to get close to him in order to try and control him, watch him fail or get in on a piece of that fame.

first off, beth, this isnt on the fragile, second-i do think pigs refers to the police or a point of authority, telling them what to do and how to do it, and the only thing that makes them feel better is "taking the skin and peeling it back"...fun..

i never knew what this song was about, but according to an interview with trent i read, its about his fans. he said that he wrote it after a show, when he threw something into the crowd and they were all fighting over it like pigs over food, or something like that. if you look at the song closely this makes a lot of sense, the "i want to break it up", trents tendency to destroy instruments onstage, i dont feel like explaining the whole song, but its in there

Nine Inch Nails is a fucking awsum band, one of my favorit 4. Trent Reznor is a fucking god! good song too

I couldn’t ever find out what this song is all about. I thougt all the different explanations never fitted properly. But a few days ago I went to a NIN concert and when they playd “march of the pigs” and the crowd was going crazy (I was in one of the first rows in the middle in front of the stage), I had to laugh out loud because the meaning seems to be so obvious. And I imagined what we (the crowd) must look like from his positon on the stage... like a march of the pigs. Maybe thats not the orignial intension of the song on the album but experiencing this song in a live performance, it feels like it’s all about the people in the crowd.

Pigs seem to be a motif in downward spiral.