Nine Inch Nails Survivalism Video

"Survivalism" (also known as Halo 23) is the first single by Nine Inch Nails from their 2007 album Year Zero. The song is the third track on the album. The single was released digitally on the iTunes Store on March 13, 2007, and the CD and vinyl singles were released internationally on April 2, 2007.

On February 14, 2007, a clip of the chorus to "Survivalism" was first heard by fans calling the telephone number 1-310-295-1040, which was found by joining discolored numerals on the back of a tour t-shirt. 102.1 The Edge in Toronto, Ontario debuted the song the next day, and on February 16, the track was officially played on radio stations across the United States. It was later made available on Nine Inch Nails' MySpace page.

"Survivalism" was performed live for the first time in Barcelona, Spain on February 19.

As with "The Hand That Feeds" and "Only," the "Survivalism" multi-track GarageBand file was released by the band for fan remixing on March 13. It can be downloaded on the album's website. The following single has been rumored to be "Capital G".Nine Inch Nails was scheduled to begin shooting a video for "Survivalism" on February 5, 2007, in the Los Angeles area.

The video was circulated on the internet on March 7, 2007, when Nine Inch Nails played the Carling Academy Brixton in London, England. USB pen drives containing low and high resolution versions of the video were found at different locations in the venue by concert-goers.

The video consists of a series of images from a console of secret cameras installed in an apartment block. As the camera moves between the footage, viewers are able to see into the lives of a number of residents, including:

* A catatonic older couple watching television with a portrait of Jesus behind them.

* A man looking after his drugged spouse (possibly the fictional drug "opal").

* Two men having sexual intercourse in bed.

* A topless woman applying makeup in a bathroom.

* A man sitting at a table looking at his food.

* Three men in a shop (and later in an alley) working with stencils.

* A man in his cubicle surfing the internet on his Apple laptop computer.

* A band (portrayed by Nine Inch Nails) performing the song in a room.

There are also cameras directed at hallways and stairs inside the apartment block. After about a minute, these screens show a SWAT team armed with submachine guns assembling outside. They enter in formation, and eventually break down a door (on which the letters "REV 18 3-4" are stenciled, a reference to a passage in the Bible) and enter the apartment where a band is playing. The noise disturbs all the residents, who momentarily stop what they are doing and move off to investigate, then return to their activities. At this point, a number of cameras have been turned off and show static. The band is no longer in their room. It has been torn asunder and a large smear of blood is visible on the floor. The final scene is of a member of the SWAT team dragging the bleeding corpse of Trent Reznor around a corner.

The Bible passage referenced by the door is from the Book of Revelation, a passage describing the fallen city-nation of Babylon and how she has been corrupted by luxury and adultery, and how people are being called to leave this whorish nation behind and not share in her immorality to keep from sharing in her judgement. (see here)

The time code in the monitor sometimes changes the last digit for a letter. This eventually spells out "THE_TURNEDTO_". In addition, several Bible verses that reference water and blood are shown through out the video. "Isaiah 15:9" on the graffiti wall, "John 19:34" on the picture of Jesus behind the couple, and "II Kings 3:22" and "Exodus 7:21" in the board behind the man with the laptop. This led to the discovery of the Year Zero website, thewaterturnedtoblood.com, which is a collage of a hand picking a man up out of the wreckage of a crumbling bridge, claimed to be drawn by a prison inmate. There are various biblical quotations surrounding the drawing, and capital letters (un-capitalized letters in the second paragraph) align to form the word "francesca" once in the first paragraph, and twice in the second.