Also, this is far more abrasive and confrontational than Ministry.
I beg to differ. Once Ministry went full on industrial (post Twitch), there's nothing they did that was as MTV/radio-friendly as "Closer". I can't think of any other industrial artists who went mainstream after "Closer" but could be forgetting. Filter? They toned down the industrial aspects for their 1 hit single. Who else was there?
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 25 November 2019 22:30 (four years ago) link
Once Ministry went full on industrial (post Twitch), there's nothing they did that was as MTV/radio-friendly as "Closer".
Agree with this. Ministry's evolution was pretty fascinating: guitar-driven "industrial" halfway between Big Black and Slayer thrash (Land of Rape and Honey), a hodgepodge of sample-collage metal and postpunk dub-noise (The Mind...), full-on metal with samples (Psalm 69), grinding post-Unsane/Helmet noise rock (Filth Pig)... I never listened to Filth Pig until a year or so ago and it's surprisingly good, but there's no way I'd have predicted it as the next step after Psalm 69.
NIN, meanwhile, were occasionally noisy but always tended more toward minor-key melody; Reznor's a morose piano balladeer at heart, he just gets shouty sometimes.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 25 November 2019 22:42 (four years ago) link
NIN just released a "definitive" vinyl edition of With Teeth, btw. I can't really tell the difference (it was never one of my favorite NIN albums - it sounded like he'd been listening to a lot of DFA stuff), except there's one additional track that was apparently a B-side to one of the singles.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 25 November 2019 22:43 (four years ago) link
Comparing NiN to Ministry - in terms of who was more abrasive - is moot; or at least, I don't think that was what Josh' revive was about. NiN found their way into the mainstream (a miracle in itself) - surfing on the Grunge and post-industrial waves; became MTV stars, sold millions of records and got played on the radio world wide with a sound so abrasive and aggressive there was hardly a precedent.
I still think TDS is very powerful; it has lost some of it's impact, of course, but not nearly as much as a twenty years older me would expect it to have lost. And this is foolishly preaching from my generation to ThE kIdS of today, but I'd wager this record would, and does, still make an impact on young ears today.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 25 November 2019 22:49 (four years ago) link
Yeah, I didn't want to get into a comparison between the bands. I just meant that imo even if (like me) you were familiar with Ministry and Wax Trax and Pretty Hate Machine and lots of stuff short of maybe Einstürzende Neubauten, TDS is one super-abrasive, confrontational album, seemingly (at least on paper) one of the least commercial albums made. Even "Closer" is, for obvious reasons, super not commercial! The fact that the album (and songs) were hits and made superstars of NIN is really something. Usually the big major label commercial breakthrough goes the other direction.
Bands I'd say were influenced by NIN included Filter, Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson (obv) ... but more overtly I think a lot of bands were clearly *influenced* by NIN even if they didn't sound like them, and that included such veterans and Reznor influences themselves as Bowie and Depeche Mode.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:30 (four years ago) link
His recent instrumental release of The Fragile is pretty incredible. Also the remastered versions of TDS and The Fragile are pretty top notch, as is the aforementioned Deviations 1.
― octobeard, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:48 (four years ago) link
Very sad at the loss of production depth to NIN tracks after The Fragile. Those two 90's albums had just next level layering and atmosphere he'd never quite touch again. Must've been the drugs?
― octobeard, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:49 (four years ago) link
drugs and/,budget.I had no idea there was an instrumental version of the fragile available!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 25 November 2019 23:49 (four years ago) link
Agree with this 100%, and I feel like a lot of artists (especially Bowie) were standing there thinking, "Holy shit, you can get away with sounding like *that* and still have hit songs?"
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 25 November 2019 23:59 (four years ago) link
Just looked to confirm, but after The Fragile Trent Reznor starts to producing everything himself. Well, him, with Atticus Ross and Alan Mulder. It becomes much more in house.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 26 November 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link
xpost and of course the 1995 tour etc. And it's pretty clear that "Rush" by Depeche on SOFAD was their response song as such to NIN.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 November 2019 05:42 (four years ago) link
Thanks to this revive I listened to NIN for the first time in 20+ years. God I love Broken.
― Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Tuesday, 26 November 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
I've been getting into My Chemical Romance for the past month or so and have had NIN on the brain because Planetary (Go!) sounds like a sped-up version of the chord progression from Something I Can Never Have.
― ☮ (peace, man), Tuesday, 26 November 2019 15:11 (four years ago) link
I had a housemate that had some connections to MTV in London at the time and I recall her coming home one day with some promo VHS with the uncut (lol) version of the Happiness in Slavery video, it was such a big deal but ugh...
― Maresn3st, Tuesday, 26 November 2019 17:48 (four years ago) link
i listened to with teeth today. wildly underrated imo
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 November 2019 23:32 (four years ago) link
the dfa flirtations are limited to when “all the love in the world” transforms into a stomping house track (which is maybe the most amazing thing that happens in any nin song) and “only”’s groove, which is a cowbell away from the juan maclean. the rest of the record feels like the most band-focused nin record (outside of the slip which i haven’t heard since it came out so i might be remembering it wrong). grohl’s drumming sounds amazing throughout
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 26 November 2019 23:38 (four years ago) link
Does he play on the whole thing?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link
Regardless, I don't remember when, but I recall Reznor going to Albini just to track big drums. That's ultimately probably the best use of Albini's time.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 01:05 (four years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, November 26, 2019 6:03 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
little less than half of it
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 27 November 2019 02:43 (four years ago) link
“all the love in the world” transforms into a stomping house track (which is maybe the most amazing thing that happens in any nin song)
YES. I never really got into the rest of WT though.
― chap, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 11:44 (four years ago) link
in-fucking-deed. But all their noughties and post output has been adding up to a very compelling body of work.
― cpl593H, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 12:01 (four years ago) link
Bands I'd say were influenced by NIN included Filter, Stabbing Westward, Marilyn Manson (obv) ... but more overtly I think a lot of bands were clearly *influenced* by NIN even if they didn't sound like them, and that included such veterans and Reznor influences themselves as Bowie and Depeche Mode
This is true, and I'd also add the Dos Dedos PWEI to that list. I've always loved how all these bands/artists had already influenced Reznor in the first place. So there was a degree of feedback between them.
― cpl593H, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 12:10 (four years ago) link
One of my favorite things about Reznor is how he literally listed his influences in the "Pretty Hate Machine" sleeve.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:22 (four years ago) link
To be honest, I don't think Reznor has ever really released a dud. If anything, his body of work has been very consistent, very good overall but perhaps a bit too samey.
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
Ghosts was pretty boring.
― chap, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:33 (four years ago) link
I've said this before but I strongly prefer 21st century NIN over 20th century NIN. I don't love all of it (I'm lukewarm on With Teeth and actively dislike Year Zero) but The Slip and Hesitation Marks are great albums, and the three recent EPs are all great and show him really stretching in (somewhat) surprising ways. He's still a terrible try-hard as a lyricist - you can predict his rhymes with 95% accuracy - but the music itself keeps getting better IMO.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 27 November 2019 13:35 (four years ago) link
I never heard the side project with his wife.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:24 (four years ago) link
it's really good, you should! i like it more than the slip or with teeth, certainly.
― akm, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
Yeah, those records are pretty good. A little weirder/more abstract than NIN, less focus on big singalong choruses and more strange distorted noises.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Wednesday, 27 November 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
bad witch is such an awesome little record
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 27 November 2019 17:03 (four years ago) link
Yeah, it's not a rehash of anything he's ever done, either. I hope he continues in that direction.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 27 November 2019 21:19 (four years ago) link
i listened to not the actual events, add violence, and bad witch in order tonight, and wow, that might be reznor’s best work
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 November 2019 05:26 (four years ago) link
jesus christ hesitation marks is really fuckin good
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 2 December 2019 23:08 (four years ago) link
im working on a very funky remix of 'all the love in the world' rn
― davey, Monday, 2 December 2019 23:14 (four years ago) link
hell yeah
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 2 December 2019 23:18 (four years ago) link
i liked hesitation marks at the time but i don't think i realized the second half of it is all back-to-back amazing songs? "various methods of escape" and "i would for you" especially
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 2 December 2019 23:21 (four years ago) link
i've even seen "find a way" *twice* in concert and i'm kicking my own ass for not realizing how BEAUTIFUL it is
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 2 December 2019 23:43 (four years ago) link
Satellite is my jam on that one
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 3 December 2019 07:40 (four years ago) link
Yeah Satellite is the highlight.
― chap, Tuesday, 3 December 2019 10:52 (four years ago) link
― chap, Wednesday, November 27, 2019 6:33 AM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink
i disagree! it's not what i wanted from a nin instrumental record (that's still still) but if you treat it as a series of briefly gorgeous sketches spliced with even briefer instances of more industrial/perverse stuff and also listen to it while partially-distracted at work it really comes into its own imo
challopsy nin ranking ahoy including remix albums, i like all of them though, even things falling apart:
fixednot the actual events / add violence / bad witchpretty hate machinehesitation marksfurther down the spiralthe fragile / stillwith teeththe downward spiralcloser to godghosts i-iv / the slipyear zerothings falling apart
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 December 2019 17:59 (four years ago) link
lmao i forgot broken. put it above year zero, it's a great record but i prefer listening to fixed by a lot (and generally prefer listening to a mentally healthier trent reznor than the guy that appears on broken)
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 December 2019 18:01 (four years ago) link
what of Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D?!
― Simon H., Tuesday, 3 December 2019 18:02 (four years ago) link
oh whoops, some of the versions on that i like better than their year zero counterparts (ladytron) but it would also be hanging out at the bottom of the list
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 December 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link
The Fennesz remix of In This Twilight is all time and I wish they'd collaborate on an album.
― octobeard, Wednesday, 4 December 2019 04:01 (four years ago) link
Should've ranked releases using their Halo numbers to make sure nothing's missed. I like the Soft Cell cover on Halo 9.
― Vernon Locke, Wednesday, 4 December 2019 11:35 (four years ago) link
The “Get Down, Make Love” cover on the Sin single and attached to the re-release of Pretty Hate Machine fucking rips.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 4 December 2019 13:18 (four years ago) link
I like the Soft Cell cover on Halo 9.
― Vernon Locke, Wednesday, December 4, 2019 4:35 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
on the strength of "memorabilia" and "metal" trent should've put out a covers record already
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 December 2019 18:56 (four years ago) link
You could almost make your own, adding Get Down Make Love, Physical, Lost Souls, Crystal Japan, the stuff he did with Peter Murphy and TV on the Radio...
― Vernon Locke, Friday, 6 December 2019 08:35 (four years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/808mixtapes/all-the-love-in-the-world-daveys-remix/s-NQTtydisco trent
― davey, Monday, 9 December 2019 11:26 (four years ago) link
It's kinda annoying that there is no way to get hold of the Fragile Deviations 1 digitally without buying a $80 vinyl version.
― I am using your worlds, Friday, 13 December 2019 12:41 (four years ago) link