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Watch Nine Inch Nails Bitterly Reject Hope and Change in ‘Disappointed’ Live Debut

Nine Inch Nails, Disappointed, Hesitation Marks, South Korea, video

When Trent Reznor gives more interviews about Nine Inch Nails’ Hesitation Marks, someone will probably ask him about politics. The topic doesn’t come up as often in non-election years, but at a time when the national discourse has turned back, pre-9/11 style, to Gary Condit and shark attacks — pardon, we meant to say Anthony Weiner’s peen — rather than ongoing economic inequality or the fact that a member of Congress just compared immigrants to dogs, a little cynicism about democratic change is understandable. Nine Inch Nails have already shared the synth-scorched single “Came Back Haunted” (and its David Lynch-directed video), and last week they debuted the Lindsey Buckingham-guesting album’s fellow songs “Copy of A” and “Find My Way” live in Japan. On Sunday, July 28, the band performed at South Korea’s Ansan Valley Rock Festival, and as Antiquiet notes, video has emerged of another new song, “Disappointed.”

No Morrissey cover, this one is a winding, violin-whining blast of disillusionment, impressively comprehensive in its jaded embitterment. “You’d think by now you’d figure out / That nothing’s going to change,” Reznor seethes, adding, “And I am part of the reason.” Sure, helplessness might be just the attitude that the status quo demands, but in a year of revelations about government spying and debate about “stand your ground” laws, it’s a sentiment that’s all too familiar. M.I.A. remix next?

Also, when will the guy involved with a Beats-backed digital streaming service finally pull a Thom Yorke and start making high-quality videos of these live shows available so we’re not all watching shaky phone-cam clips? (Note well, “Disappointed” starts around the 5:40 mark above.)