The Perfect Drug

“The Perfect Drug” is a 1997 song by Nine Inch Nails. It was written for the David Lynch film Lost Highway and originally appeared on the Lost Highway soundtrack. Remixes of the song were released in an EP, “The Perfect Drug” Versions (also known as Halo 11).

Though “The Perfect Drug” Versions acts as a single for the titular song, the original version does not appear on the American single. A slightly extended version of “The Perfect Drug” has also been included on the foreign singles “We’re in This Together, Part 3 (Halo 15)” and “Into the Void”, but the only audio release of it in North America has been on the Lost Highway soundtrack. The music video for song was directed by Mark Romanek, and is on the Closure video compilation and The Work of Director Mark Romanek.

Despite being a single, “The Perfect Drug” has never been performed live. On the official NIN website, “Sara” asked whether this is because “the drum solo would make Jerome’s arms fall off.” Then-drummer Jerome Dillon replied that they “never rule out the possibility of playing any of the songs live.”

On April 6, 2005, despite its fast-moving worldwide success, while presenting the late-night BBC Radio 1 Rock Show in the UK, Trent Reznor stated that “The Perfect Drug” was his least favorite creation. His reasons were the short production time and the “overblown” video.

“The Perfect Drug” was released as a track for the video game Rock Band on February 26, 2008 for Xbox 360 and on February 28 for PlayStation 3. It is available as a standalone download or as part of the ‘Nine Inch Nails’ song pack along with “March of the Pigs” and “The Collector”. It is viewed as one of the hardest songs to play on drums in the game. It later appeared in Rock Band Unplugged.