This song introduces our protagonist, who will ultimately become the victim of the villain introduced in Mr. Self-Destruct. The protagonist represents the type of people who give in to Mr. Self-Destruct, those who are too weakened to put up a mental defense and keep their humanity. When I think of this specific protagonist, I think of a regular guy with a boring office job, and his girlfriend has just left him, leaving him weak and broken.... the perfect victim for Mr. Self-Destruct. He refers to her as "Pig" because he is disgusted at how she left him for "something new". However, he is not a complete victim: "black and blue and broken bones" leads me to believe he abused her. Thus, he is selfish for thinking that she alone is responsible for his pain. This will contribute to his downfall. Instead of embracing his emotions, he tries desperately to shrug it off, claiming "nothing can stop me now cause I don't care anymore". The second verse is interesting, as this is the first time the Downward Spiral Motif plays. Mr. Self-Destruct already has the protagonist in his sights. He had it all planned out, but she ruined it, and he wants to understand her reasoning for leaving, what she thinks he's supposed to do now that she's gone. The drum solo to me is a raw representation of the confusion and turmoil inside his head (yes, I know the story of how Trent was doing a drum sample and just decided to keep it because he liked it, but I like to piece everything together). Great song overall.
This song introduces our protagonist, who will ultimately become the victim of the villain introduced in Mr. Self-Destruct. The protagonist represents the type of people who give in to Mr. Self-Destruct, those who are too weakened to put up a mental defense and keep their humanity. When I think of this specific protagonist, I think of a regular guy with a boring office job, and his girlfriend has just left him, leaving him weak and broken.... the perfect victim for Mr. Self-Destruct. He refers to her as "Pig" because he is disgusted at how she left him for "something new". However, he is not a complete victim: "black and blue and broken bones" leads me to believe he abused her. Thus, he is selfish for thinking that she alone is responsible for his pain. This will contribute to his downfall. Instead of embracing his emotions, he tries desperately to shrug it off, claiming "nothing can stop me now cause I don't care anymore". The second verse is interesting, as this is the first time the Downward Spiral Motif plays. Mr. Self-Destruct already has the protagonist in his sights. He had it all planned out, but she ruined it, and he wants to understand her reasoning for leaving, what she thinks he's supposed to do now that she's gone. The drum solo to me is a raw representation of the confusion and turmoil inside his head (yes, I know the story of how Trent was doing a drum sample and just decided to keep it because he liked it, but I like to piece everything together). Great song overall.