Trent Reznor Pissed Off With Apple Censorship

05/04/09 11:38am

Trent Reznor's romance with Apple didn't last long.

Less than a month after it was revealed that Apple would launch free Nine Inch Nails iPhone and iTouch applications, Reznor Tweeted on Saturday that "Apple rejects the NIN iPhone update because it contains objectionable content. The objectionable content referenced is 'The Downward Spiral.'"

It seems rather strange that Apple wasn't familiar with "The Downward Spiral" or the album of the same name it comes from considering it's arguably NIN's best-known record and has been around for 15 years.

Reznor posted Apple's response to the NIN application update on the group's message board, and followed it with his criticism.

"The Downward Spiral" apparently violates a section of the iPhone agreement that states: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."

While that seems like your basic dull contractual language, Reznor's rebuke is much more colourful. See for yourself:

"Now, 'The Downward Spiral' the album is not available anywhere in the iPhone app. The song 'The Downward Spiral' I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app.

"Thanks Apple for the clear description of the problem — as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid fucking standards?

"And while we're at it, I'll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and 'clean' versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart's standards of decency — because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you'll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart.

"My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any 'indecent' material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film 'Scarface' completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense?

"You can buy The Downward Fucking Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it. Geez, what if someone in the forum in our app says FUCK or CUNT? I suppose that also falls into indecent material.

"Hey Apple, I just got some SPAM about fucking hot asian teens THROUGH YOUR MAIL PROGRAM. I just saw two guys having explicit anal sex right there in Safari! On my iPhone!

"Come on Apple, think your policies through and for fuck's sake get your app approval scenario together."