And POLL That Could Have Been: ILM Artist Poll #119 - Nine Inch Nails - RESULTS

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11. Fixed
Halo 6, released 1992
58 points, 5 voters, 2 #1 votes

https://i.imgur.com/uXUhUh4.jpeg
10. Add Violence
Halo 31, released 2017
72 points, 7 voters

https://i.imgur.com/i2n2Vdi.jpeg
9. Bad Witch
Halo 32, released 2018
6 points, 8 voters

bad witch is pretty great the whole way through, my main issue with it is i want more of it

https://i.imgur.com/tzERRnT.jpeg
8. Still
Halo 17 CD2, released 2002
92 points, 8 voters

not that i have anything against it, but genuinely surprised someone had fixed at #1!

it was me, and one other person who outed themselves in the voting thread

I didn't know "still" existed. Listening right now for the first time.

https://i.imgur.com/o2S61vF.jpeg
7. With Teeth
Halo 19, released 2005
96 points, 12 voters

oh whoops bad witch had 76 points

https://i.imgur.com/si2pYZB.jpeg
6. Further Down the Spiral
Halo 10, released 1995
98 points, 9 voters, 2 #1 votes

i remember being let down by with teeth at the time. but in doing the poll i realize what a great album it really is. not sure why i was so dismissive of it at the time - probably more about where i was personally then and TDS and Fragile putting the bar so high. i also hated and still don't care for the title track. but i owe you an apology, with teeth, you're a good album.

Despite my best efforts at cramming over the last few weeks I don't really have a handle on year zero or with teeth and they kind of lump together in my mind. probably heresy to fans or detractors of one or the other.

I had both versions of ftds, I was never crazy about all those endless different coil remixes so much preferred the UK version with the charlie clouser remixes.

not having Clouser remix Closer was a missed opportunity.

https://i.imgur.com/GkCgj34.jpeg
5. Hesitation Marks
Halo 28, released 2013
148 points, 13 voters

Pleased to see Hesitation Marks land so high

ivy street teaming paid off.

https://i.imgur.com/9zD30BC.jpeg
4. Broken
Halo 5, released 1992
196 points, 15 voters, 1 #1 vote

my main takeaway from this has been that people didn't listen to the 2016-18 ep trilogy enough

His Song Exploder episode was really fucking good, my favourite one, and I was never that much of a fan.

i dunno. admittedly, nostalgia is a tough thing to overcome; but i gave them every chance - and while i loved Add Violence, i did not dig Bad Which at all. also they're EPs, which - obviously - means there's just less music to them. then there's context - those first 3-4 releases were p unique to what existed at the time and wildly influential.
xpost

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3. Pretty Hate Machine
Halo 2, released 1989
222 points, 17 voters, 1 #1 vote

https://i.imgur.com/jP9LpD0.jpeg
2. The Fragile
Halo 14, released 1999
230 points, 15 voters, 4 #1 votes

https://i.imgur.com/U6t1JZI.jpeg
1. The Downward Spiral
Halo 8, released 1994
306 points, 17 voters, 7 #1 votes

not really a surprise to have the downward spiral so far ahead of everything else

I’m really happy Further Down The Spiral is getting so much love in this poll

(I wouldn’t have imagine Fragile at #2 - wow!)

i didn't expect it either, but the total points was close. the #1 vote difference is what put Fragile ahead.

I guess I can understand being the only #1 for Pretty Hate Machine. It's not without its flaws, but I do think it's the most charming NIN album with the most memorable highs.

Every time I play PHM I’m somehow surprised anew at how gripping it is.

I wasn't sure which I was going to put first - I hadn't listened to either in a decade or more. phm may (arguably) have the 'best' (catchiest, most melodic. whatever) songs but the arrangement/production/sound palette on tds is in an absolute league of its own.

It was hard to work out where to rank PHM, it's probably the NIN release I've played the most in my life because I bought it (on tape) at a point when I only owned a handful of albums but I think it's been surpassed many times over (I had it at #8 in the end I think). Hesitation Marks kept creeping up my ballot, glad to see it so high.

I prefer the international Further Down the Spiral although I realised my favourite tracks are mostly the ones that appear on both versions.

MAYBE I'M ALL MESSED UP

Really happy to see the Fennesz remix of In This Twilight top the remix poll. It's truly a marvel and one of the best things musically that Trent's been involved with imho.

Surprised The Fragile: Deviations 1 and Ghosts didn't place on the releases poll! Excited for the tracks now.

do people want top 60 tracks or top 50? i can do either but only have images for top 50

i'll try to get through these quickly

60. In This Twilight
Released on Year Zero, 2007
88 points, 5 voters
Studio version
Live 2008

59. The Only Time
Released on Pretty Hate Machine, 1989
96 points, 3 voters
Studio version

58. Kinda I Want To
Released on Pretty Hate Machine, 1989
98 points, 2 voters
Studio version

this one was a surprise to see, it always seemed like a lesser track on phm to me

57. Dead Souls
Released on The Crow soundtrack, 1994
102 points, 3 voters
Studio version

i love Dead Souls so much

56. Running
Released on Hesitation Marks, 2013
106 points, 3 voters
Studio version

53. This Isn't the Place
Released on Add Violence, 2017
110 points, 5 voters
Studio version

53. Suck
Released on Broken, 1992
110 points, 6 voters
Studio version

53. Less Than
Released on Add Violence, 2017
110 points, 6 voters
Studio version/music video

51. Even Deeper
Released on The Fragile, 1999
112 points, 3 voters
Studio version
Live 2013

51. Leaving Hope
Released on Still, 2002
112 points, 4 voters
Studio version

i really recommend the live version of "even deeper" there

https://i.imgur.com/mRHVhiA.jpeg
49. The Great Destroyer
Released on Year Zero, 2007
116 points, 6 voters
Studio version
Live 2007
Live 2014

https://i.imgur.com/qi3irH7.jpeg
49. Shit Mirror
Released on Bad Witch, 2018
116 points, 3 voters
Studio version

https://i.imgur.com/7KL0Xt6.jpeg
48. Sanctified
Released on Pretty Hate Machine, 1989
124 points, 4 voters
Studio version
Live 2013

even deeper wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too low

https://i.imgur.com/lyRY0lC.jpeg
47. The Hand That Feeds
Released on With Teeth, 2005
134 points, 6 voters
Studio version
Music video
Live 2006
Live 2008
Live 2013

i really regret not managing to fit "even deeper" on my ballot after hearing that live version

maybe not quite the same hyper-layeredness but a couple of 90s albums that, for me, still stand out for their (idiosyncratic and or fresh/new/noticeable) production: Sparklehorse's vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, Eels' Beautiful Freak, DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, and why not, U2's Achtung Baby

the guitar on "we're in this together" sounds like the edge's playing on achtung baby

Regarding hyper-layered: first thing that came to mind was the PE/Bomb Squad stuff, as an antecedent. Trent mentioned 3 Feet High and Rising in the Rick Rubin podcast, so Prince Paul, Dust Brothers and other pre-sample crackdown hip hop production would've been an influence.

Failure's "Fantastic Planet" was the first thing that popped in my head.

i tried the first two tracks and this just sounds to me like standard grungy alt rock, sorry!

It's not 90's (though close) but the album I think of when I hear "hyper layered" is Since I Left You. Especially the original cut with all samples intact.

The sonic aesthetic does seem post-Bomb Squad in its layered approach. Prince Paul and The Dust Brothers (at least Paul's Boutique - I'd need to revisit Odelay again) feel slightly different to me, though I'm struggling to put my finger on why? Maybe it's that density never seems like the point of their productions. I can certainly imagine they might have influenced Trent in terms of their strategic use of sounds (sampled or otherwise) though.

The 90s albums that occurred to me as sharing that kind of vibe were New Kingdom's 'Paradise Don't Come Cheap', Disco Inferno's 'D.I. Go Pop', Ruby's 'Salt Peter' and Garbage's 'Version 2.0', though each of them is doing something at least slightly different.

I love seeing "The Becoming" so high. I thought it might have missed the cut. That would have been my top-ranked TDS track, most likely.

The Woodstock 94 performance of "Sin" alone might have made it my #1.

I know when I first heard it, a large part of the appeal of TDS was definitely the densely layered sound of it, but also that a lot of these sounds were things I'd never heard before, like blowing into straw thing from eraser. I feel like the only kind of stuff I'd heard that did that kind of stuff before was Depeche Mode (because of Flood maybe?)

Yup, I was about to say “Violator” and that era of Flood in general, but none of it is nearly at TDS levels of complexity.

I was a fan of Failure and never really thought of them as that hyper produced. Certainly not to the level of TDS.

In my mind, the only thing that came close the noise/sound layering of TDS was some of Foetus’s work, like Gash.

TDS also benefitted from arriving right as CDs were becoming the primary form of physical media. The level of dynamic range and clarity was unprecedented not only on the album itself but also the method in which I listened to it… I remember being gifted a pair of “good headphones” at age 15 (as opposed to the standard Sony Walkman issuances) and feeling like all the CDs I owned (and dubbed on to tape for mobile listening) were suddenly shocked into focus

The Flood discussion, and his contribution to the Downward Spiral, is very interesting to explore.

I recently read “Into The Never: Nine Inch Nails And The Creation Of The Downward Spiral” by Adam Steiner, which I would heartily recommend. Atrocious front cover, but some excellent and considered writing contained within.

In that book, there are was the suggestion was that Flood became increasingly uneasy and uncomfortable with the bleakness, particularly the suicide ideation, of much of Reznor’s lyrical content - especially a song that didn’t make the cut for the album proper - and bailed out after completing the album swearing he’d never work with him again.

most stuff that comes to mind is a bit more turn-of-the-millenium, reznor was really ahead of his time, but fantasma, ok computer, a few super furry animals songs here and there come to mind

Another comparison that occurred to me was the first Laika album together with the second and third Moonshake albums (the second Laika album might not fit here, even if it’s probably my favourite of the four) - stuff like “Hard Candy” on Dirty & Divine. Those albums came out in 94 and 96 (as did Disco Inferno’s second and third albums) so very comparable timewise.

And of course (“of course”) later on El-P’s production work in the 00s (but not really Company Flow earlier on) - at its best sounding like an attempt to split the difference between “The Becoming” and “By The Time I Get to Arizona”.

Kate Van Buren's channel is a gift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjqZ8RIiRLU

Well, that's "NIN meet David Crosby at Woodstock 94"