"Capital G" is a song by American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

band

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

from their fifth studio album, ''

Year Zero A year zero does not exist in the Anno Domini (AD) calendar year system commonly used to number years in the Gregorian calendar (nor in its predecessor, the Julian calendar); in this system, the year is followed directly by year (which is the ...

'' (2007). It was released on June 11, 2007 as a limited-edition nine-inch vinyl in the United Kingdom, serving as the album's second and final single.

Music and lyrics

Though numerous reviews of the album speculated that "G" might refer to the first initial of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

has stated that the "G" stands for "greed".

Release and reception

"Capital G" was not released with a Halo number due to Reznor's increasing awareness of the overpricing of retail music, and his record label's alleged plans to overprice Halo releases to take advantage of Nine Inch Nails' dedicated fan base. Art collaborator Rob Sheridan confirmed this fact: The song was first played on radio on April 4, 2007. As of April 27, 2007, "Capital G" is listed on the

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

Jump! and Taking Off charts, which record the track's increase in radio airplay over seven days. "Capital G" officially became available for airplay on May 14–15, although it received the most adds in the alternative category during the week of April 27, according to ''

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

''. The song was available for download as an "exhibit" in WAV format at exterminal.net, a website within the ''

'' alternate reality game revealed by decrypting a binary code sequence on the ''Year Zero''s thermochrome disc when heated. On April 26, 2007, the official ''Year Zero'' website published the multitrack audio files of "Capital G" for

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

and

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a proprietary digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI sequencer software application for the macOS platform developed by Apple Inc. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software devel ...

, as well as WAV files for other applications. The song is available for download in the video game ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

''. "Capital G" is Nine Inch Nails' fifth consecutive top 10 single on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart.

Formats and track listings

*UK limited-edition 9" single :A. "Capital G" – 3:49 :B. "

Survivalism Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists, doomsday preppers or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, and other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, ...

" (

Dave Sitek David Andrew Sitek (born September 6, 1972) is an American musician and record producer, known for his work with his band TV on the Radio. He has also worked with bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, Foals, Celebration, Little Dragon, Wavves ...

Mix) – 4:30 *US promotional CD single #"Capital G" (edit) – 3:49 #"Capital G" (album) – 3:49 *US promotional CD single #"Capital G" (Phones 666 RPM Mix) – 7:23 #"Capital G" (

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

Remix) – 5:01 *German promotional CD single #"Capital G" (album) – 3:51 #"Capital G" (edit) – 3:49 *European promotional 12" single :A. "Capital G" (Phones 666 RPM Mix) – 7:23 :B. "Capital G" (Switch Remix) – 5:01

Credits and personnel

– songwriting, production, vocals *

Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...

– drums * Geoff "Double G" Gallegos –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

* Matt Demeritt –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Elizabeth Lea – trombone * William Artope – trumpet *

Atticus Ross Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and audio engineer. He is best known for his work with American musician Trent Reznor, with whom he first worked on the musical project Tapewo ...

– production

Charts

References