Released July 25, 2005 Length 4:22 | Format 9"12"CDDVD Label IslandInterscope | |
Recorded September – December 2004 Genre Dance-rocknew wave revivalsynth-popdance-punk | ||
"Only" is a song by the American artist Nine Inch Nails. It was released as the second single from Nine Inch Nails' fourth album, With Teeth. "Only" reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, where it stayed for seven weeks. It is the second successful release that Nine Inch Nails has had in the U.K., peaking at number 20.
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The song is regarded as a fan-favorite and has been a staple of Nine Inch Nails live performances for several years, placed by setlist.fm as the artist's twentieth most played song live.
Recording and release
"Only" was the last song completed for With Teeth.
Like the previous single, "The Hand That Feeds", "Only" was only widely released in Europe. European releases include a CD, a DVD, and a 9" vinyl. The only United States release is a vinyl format—a remix record with mixes from Richard X and El-P.
Like "The Hand That Feeds", "Only" was released as a GarageBand multitrack file, as well as for DigiDesign Pro Tools, Ableton Live, and Sony ACID Pro. A fan remix community page was set up on MySpace.
Music
"Only" has been labeled as "dance-rock, dance-punk, new wave revival and synth-pop."
Music video
The music video for "Only", directed by David Fincher and relying almost entirely on CGI created by Digital Domain, shows various objects in an executive's office coming to life with the propulsion of the song and was released on July 12, 2005 at NIN.com.
The main focus is Trent Reznor's face appearing on the novelty Pin Art that sits on the desk. The only non-CGI components of the video are a person's hand (Fincher's, who owns the PowerBook in the video) and the cars in the background.