MarioTV : Episode 4 : Nine Inch Nails

And now a word from our sponsors:

MarioTV is brought to you by...

Mario Frassetto.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

One of the last conversations Mario and I had regarding music was about Nine Inch Nails. We revisited a topic Mario was quick to point out just about every time the name Trent Reznor was thrown out there. He was disappointed with the way things started to sound a couple years ago, ever the critic on what was good and bad. Mario would only give the occassional "meh", followed by a comment about it not being like the old NIN. He'd also say that comparing Nine Inch Nails Old to Nine Inch Nails New, wasn't like comparing them to another band. Not too many artists (bands) have the extensive catalog that Trent Reznor has put together.

When I was out in Cali hanging with him in June I popped in to a store and the guy behind the counter went to turn down his iPod when The Perfect Drug came on. I interrupted his shutdown so I could hear the song. Fifteen minutes later I told Mario that the store closed with me in it, and the guy blared The Perfect Drug for me. I haven't listened to that song in a long time, I'll have to put it on my Nano for tomorrow. Low and behold, he came back after work that day and said it's one of the best music videos out there. I forgot how sweet that song is. Seems he paid a visit to YouTube at some point.

By no means was Mario a fiend of any sorts in the using and abusing department as this song suggests. After all, lots of songs say plenty of things that don't pertain to our lives whatsoever, and yet we still enjoy them. This song (and video) just happen to be ranked right up near Super's top.

Having been a fan of NIN since I was about 13, hearing specific Halos remind me a lot of Mario. When he and I lived together he would play The Fragile, And All That Could Have Been the DVD, Things Falling Apart, and The Perfect Drug single (which was all remixes)......constantly. He had 5.1 surround in his room, and I didn't, so I left most of the DJ'ing up to him. A majority of the time I returned home at a decent hour he'd be in his room with a movie on (that was muted with captions), CD's playing, sitting on the ground with a laptop on the coffee table. That was his thing. He had a sofabed in his room but he always sat on the ground right in front of the table. When something good wasn't on TV he'd always have music playing over a muted television show or movie. Matter of fact, that's where I got it from. These days when I'm lounging around my place I will do the exact same thing. He was the person who taught me that even when you think you know what they're saying in a movie, sometimes you really don't know. You think you do, but you don't. Movies like "Snatch", where Brad Pitt's character Mickey O'Neil speaks in Pikey, a not-Irish, not-English, gypsy dialect, listening to it in caption would change the entire experience. For instance, Mario showed me that when caption was turned on the TV, it would predict the language in a certain pattern. But if the caption was turned on the DVD player, sometimes the sentences would be slightly different. From there, it was all interpretation.

Above and beyond any situation I could remember Mario in, him sitting on the ground watching a muted movie with some music on is the way I remember him most easily. With that said, there will be plenty more NIN to come as I can think of 10 songs he loved, and several that remind me of him.

Here's the video for The Perfect Drug with the lyrics listed below. If you ever come across this and the video is disabled, please let me know so I can re-up it. Thanks. Enjoy.

Nine Inch Nails : The Perfect Drug

I got my head, but my head is unraveling
Cant keep control, cant keep track of where its traveling
I got my heart but my heart is no good
And youre the only one thats understood
I come along but I dont know where youre taking me
I shouldnt go but youre reaching back and shaking me
Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky
The more I give to you, the more I die

And I want you
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug

You make me hard, when Im all soft inside
I see the truth, when Im all stupid eyed
The arrow goes straight through my heart
Without you everything just falls apart

My blood wants to say hello to you
My feelings want to get inside of you
My soul is so afraid to realize
Every little word is a lack of me

And I want you
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the drug, the perfect drug

Take me, with you
Take me, with you
Take me, with you

Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, its not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Its not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Its not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, its not as much fun to pick up the pieces

In memory of our good friend Mario Frassetto.