disco, saying that the song "eschews a typically monstrous chorus for an airtight industrial disco grind ventilated by an airy piano and falsetto cooing." Lyrically, Spin magazine wrote, "As is true of nine out of every ten NIN tracks, 'Discipline' is about submission and domination". Harvey compared "Discipline" to one Nine Inch Nails's first singles, "Head Like a Hole", saying "['Discipline'] comes from a long-established and now label-free artist trying to reflexively reassert his position in the pop landscape, on his own terms. [...] 'Discipline' evinces Reznor's desire for some sort of framework [...] In relative terms, 'I need your discipline/ I need your help' is sure a long way from the nearly 20-year-old 'Head Like a Hole' refrain 'I'd rather die/ Than give you control'." Release and reception "Discipline" was released on April 22, 2008, and was the first single from The Slip. The song was also the first single released from the band under Reznor's newly formed independent label, The Null Corporation. The ID3 tag of the downloadable track came with the message "Go to www.nin.com May 5", the day that The Slip would eventually be released as a free download. "Discipline" was only made available for airplay and download; a physical release was never issued. Though no music video was created for the song either, retail versions of The Slip included a DVD featuring a live rehearsal of the song by the Nine Inch Nails live band. The rehearsal video has since been posted on the band's official Vimeo and YouTube pages. Like the entirety of The Slip, "Discipline" was released under a Creative Commons attribution-noncommercial share-alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. "Discipline" reached number six and number 24 on Billboards Hot Modern Rock Tracks and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, respectively, earning the band their sixth consecutive top-10 song on the former. The song also charted at number nine on Billboards "iLike Libraries: Most Added" chart, which tracks total downloads over the iLike online service. Pitchfork's review of The Slip called the track "another solid pop song about constraint from the guy who, following Prince, brought kinky sex odes to strip-mall bars." Spin magazine's review of the album called "Discipline" "the most conventional tune" from The Slip. Charts References 2008