I want to f*** you like an animal! - The obligatory Nine Inch Nails thread

[Fronzel Neekburm]

A bunch of people like they‘re stuff...

Everything after Year Zero With Teeth sucked.

Discuss!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhhwkvJT28

 

This live performance from '94 makes me cum hard! Self-Destruct-era NIN = best NIN. And this is Self-Destruct-era NIN at their bestest! Reznor must‘ve done a whole trainload of coke backstage, the guy‘s on fire here. The recording ain‘t half bad either. Highlights include complete and utter carnage during „Happiness In Slavery“, some guy from the audience getting his 15 seconds of fame by shouting abuse at the rest of the audience during „Down In It“ and some dumb bitch blocking the view during „Head Like A Hole“.

If only I had been old enough to witness this glory for myself... I‘d probably be deaf today, but it would‘ve been worth it!

 

edit: First user to link to the Broken movie wins a cookie!

 

edit 2: Edited my post for further edge and because Frede didn't give me a like!

[Frede]

Considering you're Fronzel and I'm Frede, this'll come as no surprise: I disagree.

 

Nine Inch Nails have been pretty awesome post-"Year Zero". "The Slip" as an album was so-so, but the tour following it was absolutely awesome. And I sincerely think "Hesitation Marks" is the finest Nine Inch Nails album since "The Fragile". I love "Year Zero", but the Alternate Reality Game that accompanied it was a major part of the experience for me. I don't think the album would've had the same impact, had it not been for the websites sent back through time. In fact, I was on the Exhibit 24 website back when that was still online. I even have some fan-made dog tags lying around with my online nick and number on 'em, stating that I am "At large". It was a truly fascinating time to be a NIN fan.

 

The 2013-2014 tours were also awesome. 'Nuff said; any tour that has Pino Palladino as part of the line-up is bound to be good. The dude replaced John Entwistle in The Who, so he knows his shit. I like how NIN post the "Wave Goodbye" tour has focused on musicianship rather than pure aggression. The "Self-Destruct" tour cycle will always be fantastic, and it'll never, ever be topped. But I'm happy Reznor has continued to rejuvenate the NIN live experience. It'd be pretty embarassing watching a balding, married dude pushing 60 breaking his keyboard while whispering his way through "Happiness In Slavery".

 

Ultimately, I love the NIN of 1994 and I love the NIN of today. But they're different entities. I wish I was old enough to have experienced the classic constellation in concert, but that obviously wasn't meant to be. But, having attended gigs on the 2009 and 2014 European tours, I can safely say that Trent Reznor is still a musical force to be reckoned with.

[Fronzel Neekburm]

Considering you're Fronzel and I'm Frede, this'll come as no surprise: I disagree.

Meh, at least you could‘ve given me a pity-like for linking to that awesome concert, you stingy fuck! :P

 

Maybe just once, I‘ll not argue your opinion. Me not getting into the Atticus Ross-era stuff is mostly due to personal preference. The new albums just sound too MacBook-y to me. But I was a massive fan from 2005 to 2008 and went to quite a few of the Year Zero-themed concerts. I still have those merch tees that I never wore, but at least they‘re taking me back to that fun time in my life. The Year Zero alternate reality game was awesome, as was Reznor leaking a bunch of his older stuff on the Bay. Year Zero remains a great piece of Bush-era angst and IMHO constitutes Reznor‘s most successful attempt at rejuvenating NIN. This was followed up with him falling out with his label and releasing Ghosts. I still really dug NIN during this experimental phase. Then came The Slip. I don‘t want to dog on this one, as it was released as a freebie. But it felt like a massive step backwards - the lyrics felt like someone trying to write NIN stuff, but not quite getting it right, while the music delved further down into MacBook territory (this musical style was perfectly suited for Year Zero, but I wouldn‘t want "The Downward Spiral" to sound like this). And I have to admit that I didn‘t pay too much attention to anything that came afterwards. The remaster of PHM was a massive letdown, I listened to the 30 second samples of Hesitation Marks on amazon and figured this wasn‘t for me.

 

But in this particular case, I‘d still say that diff‘rent strokes applies.

 

PS: To make the connection to the Zappa thread: Didn‘t Reznor (try to) team up with Adrian Belew on one of the more recent tours? I seem to remember that they had planned that Belew joins their live line-up, but he couldn‘t for some reason...

[Frede]

Meh, at least you could‘ve given me a pity-like for linking to that awesome concert, you stingy fuck! :P

Achievement unlocked!

 

Maybe just once, I‘ll not argue your opinion. Me not getting into the Atticus Ross-era stuff is mostly due to personal preference. The new albums just sound too MacBook-y to me. But I was a massive fan from 2005 to 2008 and went to quite a few of the Year Zero-themed concerts. I still have those merch tees that I never wore, but at least they‘re taking me back to that fun time in my life. The Year Zero alternate reality game was awesome, as was Reznor leaking a bunch of his older stuff on the Bay. Year Zero remains a great piece of Bush-era angst and IMHO constitutes Reznor‘s most successful attempt at rejuvenating NIN. This was followed up with him falling out with his label and releasing Ghosts. I still really dug NIN during this experimental phase. Then came The Slip. I don‘t want to dog on this one, as it was released as a freebie. But it felt like a massive step backwards - the lyrics felt like someone trying to write NIN stuff, but not quite getting it right, while the music delved further down into MacBook territory (this musical style was perfectly suited for Year Zero, but I wouldn‘t want "The Downward Spiral" to sound like this). And I have to admit that I didn‘t pay too much attention to anything that came afterwards. The remaster of PHM was a massive letdown, I listened to the 30 second samples of Hesitation Marks on amazon and figured this wasn‘t for me.

 

But in this particular case, I‘d still say that diff‘rent strokes applies.

Different strokes for sure, but I can definitely tell what you mean by "too Macbook-y". I also agree with most of your observations here, actually. I still recommend that you give "Hesitation Marks" a proper listen. The Reznor/Ross/Moulder sound is a part of it, but it's also got a more organic quality to it. Partly because Pino Palladino lends his bass chops to a lot of songs on it. Try "Various Methods of Escape" if you're looking for one good song off it. It sounds like an extension of "The Fragile".

 

I've read in an interview of Reznor that he was also aiming for "The Slip" to be very organic-sounding; every instrument on that album was output through speakers and mic'ed to try to give it a raw live sound. But in retrospect, the man himself thinks it sounds "weird". I like the album, but I'm inclined to agree that it's not their best. The way it was released speaks in favour of it, much like the ARG speaks in favour of "Year Zero" to me.

 

Also, you do know that The Downward Spiral was made with a then-state-of-the-art Mac, right?  :P I'm not sure how much of it was recorded digitally, but the story goes that everything went through that computer.

 

PS: To make the connection to the Zappa thread: Didn‘t Reznor (try to) team up with Adrian Belew on one of the more recent tours? I seem to remember that they had planned that Belew joins their live line-up, but he couldn‘t for some reason...

Yeah, Adrian Belew was briefly a member of the live band in 2013, but was ultimately let go because, according to himself, "it didn't work". I'm not sure if it happened acrimoniously, but 2013 was not the year of that guy. Imagine being booted from Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson within the span of one year! I think some guy crashed his car as well.

 

Speaking of Zappa, there's a funny little scene in "Closure" where the band is listening to, and singing along with, "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" in the dressing room.

[pcj]

Sorry to have to censor the title but it can appear on the main page and I just don't think it's appropriate to see there.

[Frede]

But if it had been "I want to f*** your dead body like Mark Crowe", I bet it would've flown, right?

[Fronzel Neekburm]

Sorry to have to censor the title but it can appear on the main page and I just don't think it's appropriate to see there.

Actually, I should be the one apologizing. I only put that line in the title so that either you or MusicallyInspired would have to come clean up after me.

 

Yup, I'm that much of an asshole!

[Troels Pleimert]

I have been a Nine Inch Nails fan since high school. I remember being introduced to The Downward Spiral in 1997 when I was an exchange student at Chittenango High School in New York.

 

I can't pick a favorite 'cos they're all so damn good. I'll admit I don't listen to Ghosts or the remix albums that often, though; I prefer the "proper" albums.

 

Oddly, I have so many positive memories associated with Spiral, even though it's such a depressive album. In contrast, The Fragile became the soundtrack to the ensuing depression that followed my return from the States. And, much later, Year Zero perfectly mirrored my glitchy, blistering rage and disillusionment at the state of the world around me as I went to university.

 

Now, as a slightly more calm and composed individual, Hesitation Marks tickles me in some very good spots, although I will say it's a bit exhausting listening to it from start to finish.

 

My prize possessions are my vinyl records of Broken, Spiral, Fragile, The Slip and Year Zero. I regularly bust them out whenever I'm in the vinyl listening mood.

 

I still dream of one day recording my own version of Gave Up.

[Frede]

Huh, I thought you'd been a fan for longer than that. That's funny. I became a fan in 2002. First of all because someone I knew off the #sq IRC channel mentioned Reznor's "Quake" soundtrack and the fact that the man himself was pretty awesome. Then I saw this cool-ass photo from Woodstock 1994:

 

 

While the story might seem to be taking a slight homoerotic angle at this point - I realise that "I saw a photo of the band" usually leads to girls swooning over One Direction - bear in mind that I was 14 years old at the time, so anything that oozed teeny angst was gonna be attractive to me. I chose to download a song from the band, and the unlikely candidate became "Into the Void", merely because I knew that Black Sabbath and KISS had written songs with the same title. Could've been a cover of either, I thought.

 

It, fortunately, was not a cover, and it's still one of my favourite songs of theirs. It sounded very cold and electronic, but it also had a really cool jazzy edge to it because of the vocal harmonies. And thus began my own Downward Spiral. I became a fan, I got my grubby, KaZaA'ing hands onto everything NIN I could find and I got in line to wait for "Bleedthrough".

[Fronzel Neekburm]

I got in line to wait for "Bleedthrough".

I know what you're talking about, which makes me an advanced-level NIN fan, I guess. ;)

 

the unlikely candidate became "Into the Void"

I'm more of a movie guy than a music guy. So most of the bands I listen to I got into because I heard one of their songs in a film and liked it. Same here, the song that lured me in was Closer (Precursor) AKA the SE7EN main titles song.

 

 

I remember being at a local electronics store, looking for that particular song on one of the CDs. That's how I found The Downward Spiral. I remember wondering whether I should take the regular edition for €12 or the Deluxe Edition for €22. Ultimately, I settled on the Deluxe, because I figured there's a 99% chance that the version I was looking for might be a remix that would NOT be on the cheaper disc. And whaddya know, I was right!

 

At first, I didn't care for the album proper at all. I skipped through the songs and figured that this was not for me at all. It was only when I took a look at the booklet that I decided to give it a second try. Then I realised what these songs were going for: The music worked perfectly as soundscapes that illustrated the album's bleak lyrics. And then I was hooked.

 

I still consider The Downward Spiral my favourite NIN album, probably one of my favourite albums ever.

 

Broken is a close second. That one was the one NIN record that felt the most "accessible" to me.

 

 

My prize possessions are my vinyl records of Broken, Spiral, Fragile, The Slip and Year Zero. I regularly bust them out whenever I'm in the vinyl listening mood.

Consider me officially jelly! I browse ebay for those on occasion (well, for Spiral and Broken mostly). I remember the guy who ran a site called nincollector auctioned all his stuff not too long ago. I had a bid on a huge collection of his music cassettes, but didn't win. :(

 

I still dream of one day recording my own version of Gave Up.

Let's have it then! Maybe Ken Allen will also participate.