Content warning for mental illness, suicide and explicit sexual themes.
The year is 1994; you turn on MTV. You’re greeted with a man singing into a breast-shaped microphone, a tortured monkey on a cross and someone with their wrists chained and fetish gear on. The song this music video accompanies is “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails, the industrial rock band responsible for “The Downward Spiral.” The album received both critical acclaim and the scorn of social hygienists who wanted it banned or censored, which is understandable when considering children but also ridiculous considering how many lives this work of art saved. Unfortunately, there was scant representation of suicidality in music, especially in the mainstream, so a lack of mental health awareness in the culture is problematic.
Behind everything beautiful is something tragic. Trent Reznor, the brain behind the band, was extremely depressed, suicidal and disillusioned by capitalist culture. It shows even more in 1994 than in the band’s 1989 effort, the electro-industrial rock album, “Pretty Hate Machine,” which sounded more like defeat. This new sound is even more intense, utilizing harsh industrial metal instrumentation, drum machines, synthesizers and unnerving samples. There was also a full band playing with the frontman instead of Reznor simply working out of a studio.
Fans of the record lauded its fresh and innovative sound, as well as its dark and depressive subject material. It was daring and incredibly edgy. This is one of the greatest displays of sonic creativity in the mainstream of all time, and I anticipate the same effect for Machine Girl’s “MG Ultra.”
What could ever compare to this masterpiece? Well, let’s skip forward 30 years later to 2024, when experimental electronic duo Machine Girl released their long-awaited, “MG Ultra.” While not receiving as much attention, the narrative of someone delving deeper into a state of unmedicated psychosis struck a chord personally and beyond. It has become a cult staple for some recent underground music listeners.
What I like about Machine Girl’s approach to music and lyrics is how timely it is for the digital age. Nine Inch Nails may have made a timeless album, but “MG Ultra” is relevant to today and could be used as a time capsule for the future to hear what deviancy in the time of Gen Z is like.
I firmly believe that “MG Ultra” is Generation Z’s version of “The Downward Spiral” because of the themes and their palatability to mainstream listeners while still being authentic. Both records will be viewed as not only excellent examples of experimental and boundary-pushing music sonically and culturally, but also an example of the intense effect that unchecked mental health and lacking emotional support can have on people.
Machine Girl’s vocalist and producer Matthew Stephenson, like Trent Reznor, has certainly dealt with mental illness himself. He has an interest in the esoteric and macabre that shows in his art.
“MG Ultra,” like “The Downward Spiral,” can be intense. Both depict characters with extreme mental illnesses and don’t pull any punches with imagery or “out-there” themes.
Machine Girl addresses topics like doomscrolling on “Ass2Mars” and conspiracy theories on “Hot Lizard” and “Cicadas” wonderfully. The lyric on “Cicadas,” “What’s the antidote to global psychosis? Another world war or the children of the COVID?” could be the zeitgeist of Gen Z’s worries.
Both also have heretical lyrics that could offend Christians. Nine Inch Nails has the song “Heresy” dedicated to this, taking an atheist stance with the lyrics, “if there is a Hell, I’ll see you there.” “MG Ultra,” however, has various allusions to parts of the Bible that include a reference to the Biblical character Lot’s wife becoming a pillar of salt in “Motherfather” and the original sin with the snake’s influence in “Hot Lizard.”
I theorize that Machine Girl’s sadomasochistic anthem “Grindhouse” also mentions the story of Lot’s wife, now with the admittance of succumbing to the depravity, as a reference to sodomy. Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom before God turned her to salt, and that term for sex without procreation is derived from that city.
The elephant in the room is that while “Closer” and by proxy “Grindhouse” have some kinky elements to them, they aren’t just “kinky BDSM songs.” There are deeper meanings of mental anguish and sex as a means of escapism, especially in the song, “Closer.”
Despite similarities, one difference between the two albums is the involvement of parents or caretakers. In “The Downward Spiral,” there is no mention of parents. In MG Ultra’s “Motherfather,” however, they delve into familial strain. This could be pertinent to many people who fall under Gen Z and beyond.
The outcomes for the protagonists also differ, as in “The Downward Spiral,” the protagonist shoots himself in the head, leaving behind a suicide note. In “MG Ultra,” the protagonist hallucinates blowing other people’s heads off violently, and we don’t hear what happens to him next. It’s hard to discern which fate is more unnerving.
Both protagonists, however, have one thing in common: They were jaded to help. Machine Girl’s “Schizodipshit” and “Psychic Attack” both emphasize a reticence to help. Nine Inch Nails’ “I Do Not Want This” also makes this point with the lyric, “Don’t tell me that you care.”
As someone with the conditions depicted, it’s easy to glorify mental illness. Although these albums could be seen as cautionary tales of mental health failing to be affirmed, it’s also comforting to many who have experienced these issues. Although age separates us, we have universal experiences that refuse to be erased.