High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "Mr. Self Destruct" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. Written by frontman Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood and recorded at Le Pig in 1993, it is the opening track off The Downward Spiral (1994), and predicts the album`s ugly aesthetic and mostly angry tone. The song also gives a lyrical background of the album`s protagonist.