"Only" is a song by Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

. It was released as the second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 from Nine Inch Nails' fourth album With Teeth

With Teeth

With Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...

. "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 UK, peaking at number 20.

Recording and release

"Only" was the last song completed for With Teeth.

Like the previous single, "The Hand That Feeds

The Hand that Feeds

"The Hand That Feeds" is a song by the American industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, released as the lead single for the album With Teeth . It is the highest charting song by Nine Inch Nails on all charts except for U.S...

", "Only" was only widely-released in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. European releases include a CD, a DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

, and a 9" vinyl

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

. The only United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 release is a vinyl format—a remix record with mixes from Richard X

Richard X

Richard Philips, best known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for artists including Annie, Kelis, Liberty X, Rachel Stevens...

 and El-P

El-Producto

El-P is an American hip hop artist and entrepreneur from Brooklyn, New York City. Originally a member of Company Flow, El-P has been a major driving force in alternative hip hop for over a decade. He is the co-founder, owner and CEO of the Definitive Jux record label...

.

Like "The Hand That Feeds", "Only" was released as a GarageBand

GarageBand

GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package on Mac OS X.-Audio recording:...

 multitrack file, as well as for DigiDesign Pro Tools

Pro Tools

Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...

, Ableton Live

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...

, and Sony ACID Pro

ACID Pro

Sony ACID Pro is a professional digital audio workstation software program. It was originally called "ACID pH1" and published by Sonic Foundry, but is now developed and sold by Sony Creative Software....

. A fan remix community page was set up on MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

.

Music video

The music video for "Only", directed by David Fincher

David Fincher

David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...

 and relying almost entirely on CGI created by Digital Domain

Digital Domain

Digital Domain is a visual effects and animation company founded by film director James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross. It is based in Venice, Los Angeles, California...

, 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

Trent Reznor

Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...

's face appearing on the novelty Pin Art

Pin Art

Pin Art or Pinscreen is an executive toy patented by Ward Fleming. It consists of a boxed surface made of a crowded array of pins that are free to slide in and out independently in a screen to create a three-dimensional relief. Other similar product names are "PinPressions" and "Pinhead"...

 that sits on the desk. The only non-CGI components of the video are a person's hand (Fincher's, who owns the PowerBook

PowerBook

The PowerBook was a line of Macintosh laptop computers that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1991 to 2006. During its lifetime, the PowerBook went through several major revisions and redesigns, often being the first to incorporate features that would later become...

 in the video) and the cars in the background.

Track listing

Promo

• Interscope Records INTR-11468-2 - CD

1. "Only" [(Radio Edit)] – 4:01"

UK single

1. "Only" – 4:24
2. "The Hand That Feeds" (The DFA
   DFA Records
   DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI....
   
    Remix) – 9:01
3. "Love is Not Enough" (Live at Rehearsals) – 3:50
4. "Only" (music video) – 4:27

UK single/DVD

1. "Only" – 4:24
2. "Love is Not Enough" (Live at Rehearsals) – 3:50
3. "Only" (music video) – 4:27

UK 9" vinyl

1. "Only" – 4:24
2. "The Hand That Feeds" (The DFA
   DFA Records
   DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI....
   
    Remix) – 9:01

9" vinyl and promo CD

• Interscope Records
  Interscope Records
  Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
  
   B0005465-11 – 12" vinyl with remixes

1. "" –
2. "" –
3. "" –
4. "" –
5. "" –

Chart positions

Chart	Peak position
Austria Singles Chart Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...	87
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	20
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...	34
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	90
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	22

Song Meaning

Listeners have suggested a variety of meanings for the song:

1. The concept of referring to oneself as "you" in one's inner mental dialog. The logical construct which refers to oneself as "you" can become very critical (e.g. "You are so stupid"). If one thinks of oneself in terms of "me", there is less of a tendency for self-attack. One may develop the "you" construct when trying to see oneself through the eyes of others. There is then the danger of internalizing the construct, leading to potentially damaging self-critical and self-aggressive thinking. The song discovers that the construct referring to oneself as "you" is not real. The only thing that actually exists is "me". Hence the chorus, "there is no you, there is only me."
2. The song's lyrics may focus on the concept of solipsism.