Apple Pulls Plug On Nine Inch Nails App

[Logan Westbrook]

Apple Pulls Plug On Nine Inch Nails App

A Nine Inch Nail app for the iPhone has been rejected by Apple for referring to the band's own album.

An iPhone app targeted at Nine Inch Nails fans and dreamt up by the band's leader Trent Reznor has been rejected by Apple for 'objectionable content'. The objectionable content in question is the app's reference to the album 'The Downward Spiral'.

For those of you haven't heard the album, or even heard of it, 'The Downward Spiral' is a seminal industrial-rock album (it's a real genre, I checked), released in 1994 that has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. Who recorded 'The Downward Spiral' I hear you ask? Why none other than Nine Inch Nails.

The free app would have extended the web of connectivity between fans already offered by the band's website, nin.com [http://www.nin.com], where official content mingles with images and videos taken by the fans themselves.

Reznor, who supplied the music and sound for Quake back in 1996, announced Apple's decision via his twitter feed, saying: "Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is "The Downward Spiral" ... Not even sure where to start with that one."

It's hard to blame Apple for being extra-cautious after the outrage caused by the baby-shaking app [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/91174] that managed to make it past Apple's screening process, but commenters have pointed out that Apple are more than happy to sell 'The Downward Spiral' via its iTunes service.

Source: Boing Boing [http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/03/apples-censors-remov.html]



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[The Shade]

He did the music for Quake?

0_<

 

[Keane Ng]

Ugh. This is just plain ridiculous.

I knew I shouldn't have deleted that app last night.

 

[Cousin_IT]

wonder what they find objectionable about that album being referenced

 

[williamjg]

Man that album is a slice of epic awsome i dont know why it would be objectionable...
and trent has done loads of sound work for games.
its also Industrial Metal dude not rock

 

[schubi]

Maybe they have a problem with the song "Closer"?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

It's a great album.

But I didn't know he did game music. My opinion of him is even higher now.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

He did the music for Quake?

0_<

Yeah, you'd be surprised who they get to do game music. I know that the original singer from Adema did the music for Doom 3, and I'd bet it actually happens like that for a lot of games.

 

[pantsoffdanceoff]

Maybe they have a problem with the song "Closer"?

Okay here you go for people who don't know the lyrics for this song.
[spoiler/]You let me violate you
You let me desecrate you
You let me penetrate you
You let me complicate you
(Help me...)
I broke apart my insides
(Help me...)
I've got no soul to sell
(Help me...)
The only thing that works for me
Help me get away from myself,

I wanna fuck you like an animal
I wanna feel you from the inside
I wanna fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to God

You can have my isolation
You can have the hate that it brings
You can have my absence of faith
You can have my everything

(Help me...)
You tear down my reason
(Help me...)
It's your sex I can smell
(Help me...)
You make me perfect
Help me become somebody else

I wanna fuck you like an animal
I wanna feel you from the inside
I wanna fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to God

Through every forest
Above the trees
Within my stomach
Scraped off my knees
I drink the honey, inside your hive...
You are the reason I stay alive...[/spoiler]

Objectionable content indeed.
Aren't these the guys who's music was used to torture prisoners at Gitmo?

 

[williamjg]

still its just a song people can put far worse on their ipod themselves, its their choice if they wanna have the app...

 

[CyberKnight]

He did the music for Quake?

0_<

What, you thought it was a coincidence that the in-game box of ammo for the nail gun was the NIN logo?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I'm not a fan, but they pulled an app meant for fans of the band, because it referenced an album by the band?

That's so stupid.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

Maybe Apple had a brain glitch and forgot what they were doing. Wouldn't suprise me, my iPod can go from full charge to dead after waking it up from sleep every other full moon.

 

[BlackavarEbor]

Objectionable content indeed.
Aren't these the guys who's music was used to torture prisoners at Gitmo?

Yes, and Mr Reznor was apparently extremely angry about it; short of politely asking them to stop, however, he's got no legal recourse.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

i downloaded it this morning, not sure if they've pulled it since tho

 

[Tiamat666]

I don't intend to spoil the fun, but how is this game news? I thought that was what this site is about... you know, games?

I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan by the way. It's just that news from other sites, such as Slashdot or BoingBoing, seem to be spilling over the Escapist alot lately, causing alot of redundancy in my RSS feeds.

 

[Aura Guardian]

I don't intend to spoil the fun, but how is this game news? I thought that was what this site is about... you know, games?

I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan by the way. It's just that news from other sites, such as Slashdot or BoingBoing, seem to be spilling over the Escapist alot lately, causing alot of redundancy in my RSS feeds.

It's in The News Room, not Gaming Discussion.

 

[goodchild]

It's not just Closer that might be objectionable (and this is coming from a huge NIN fan here) - if looked at in certain ways, the whole album could be construed as such. A track called HERESY repeats, over and over, "God is dead, and no one cares - If there is a hell, I'll see you there". Reznor's music usually has a very anti-religious message in it, so that could be it.

 

[Tiamat666]

It's in The News Room, not Gaming Discussion.

Well, yeah. But there's no swine flu, war in Pakistan or Obamas news conference in the "news room" either. Most likely, because this is a game related website.

Whatever... I just went a little WTF after I saw this story on FOUR of my RSS feeds. The Escapist being the most implausible occurence.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Well Tiamat666, the Ipod/Iphone has been going about saying "we can do games and stuff!" so it's slowly being accepted as a handheld game platform.