Atrocity Exhibition

Atrocity Exhibition opens Closer. It was among the guitar-driven songs written in the second half of 1979 and played live that year. It uses a Synare drum synth put through a fuzz pedal. The title comes from J. G. Ballard's 1970 collection of condensed novels The Atrocity Exhibition.

Hook said he was disappointed when he heard the final mix, because the abrasiveness of his guitar part had been laden with effects and toned down. Klein described it in Pitchfork as hypnotically abrasive, and the album begins with the line "This is the way, step inside". The rapper Danny Brown named his album Atrocity Exhibition after the song.