Ashley O - On A Roll

Danette and I are late in watching Black Mirror, and we just recently watched the 2019 episode "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too", which featured Miley Cyrus playing a fictional version of herself (in a dystopian, sci-fi Black Mirror idiom, of course).  In the course of the episode, the "Ashley O" character performed a cleverly rewritten, up-beat synth pop version of Nine Inch Nail's "Head Like A Hole", retitled "On A Roll".  At the end of the episode, once her character has been freed and rebranded as "Ashley Fuckin O", she performs an actual cover of "Head Like a Hole".  

The full story of how this song and episode came to be, as well as Trent Reznor's reaction. are detailed in a 2019 GQ article.  I particularly enjoyed this episode because I remember when "Pretty Hate Machine" came out in 1990 and the impact it had on popular music. Sure, there had been bands like Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, etc., but NiN was the first to have genuinely catchy songs and find a cross-over audience.  They had popular impact, and when they were played on the radio/MTV, they sounded nothing like anyone that had been played before. Listening to "Pretty Hate Machine" now, it sounds relatively tame -- but that's not a not a knock against NiN, but rather a testament to Reznor's impact: the reason why "Pretty Hate Machine" sounds conventional now is because for the last 23 years, artists have strived to replicate, incorporate, and in some cases just straight rip-off their sound.  That's real impact.  That fact that "Head Like A Hole" was 1) chosen and 2) works so well for this "Hannah Montana-in-an-alternate-universe" episode is just further illustrates this point.  Also, the song just simply rawks.

Ashley O - "On A Roll"

Ashley Fuckin O - "Head Like A Hole"

Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like A Hole" (studio, live 2013)