Controversial Nine Inch Nails opinions

[clarktrent]

Besides the last 3 tracks, With Teeth is not only a bad NIN record; It's just a plain old bad record on its own. Though, those exceptions are important, as beside You In Time is one of the best songs that NIN has ever released

[snichols]

i love closer, always have. closer to god is great as well and i would love to see it live next year. also, i think with teeth is a great album, aside from a track or two.

[HWB]

With Teeth is an amazing record and extremely underrated by the fan base

[nmitchell86]

With Teeth is a amazing record and extremely underrated by the fan base

Totally Agree... now on to other more blasphemous opinions... but this one is directed at some FANS and not Mr. Reznor and company.

All the bitchin about "perfect" vinyl. Seriously? I'd like to point out that the major majority of NIN fans that are complaining are bitching about slight bumps and dings to vinyl jack cover's corners, for the most part make the jacket cover imperfect. Is any physical thing perfect? They made claims like "I'm never ordering vinyl from nin.com again!", etc. etc. (please don't, let me get my order in and filled.) Many demanded and got replacement jack covers; some multiple times. Really? I under stand if the record was broken into pieces. I under stand if the jack cover looks like it was dragged behind a truck. But really? Some of these replacements screwed others out of their orders. Some of these replacements provided eBay stock, speculators cashing in on procrastinators equating to many who ended up with "free" records whiles others "funded" some one else's purchase and compensated their time and effort to receive and send out product.

SMH

But is it NIN fans acting like bitches about this or is it vinyl snobs who happen to also like NIN music? Feel free to have a real discussion about this controversial opinion. I got my vinyl from nin.com direct, some has bumps and dings on the jacket cover corners, delivery took a while but the records play flawlessly. No replacement claims here, what's the problem?

(Hope this isn't to hard hitting to warrant a ban.)

[Kyle]

Agree and disagree. On the one hand I think there is an unnecessary level of nitpicking. On the other, this really was an epic clusterfuck and people are getting replacements they never asked for, legit damaged items etc

[Kyle]

For EDIETS, Trent should have recorded the word "day" once and spliced it in at every line that had it so that every "day" really would be exactly the same.

Is that controversial enough?

[Pbgut]

Closer To God is better than Closer.

Closer To God is part of the unofficial "sex is terrifying" trilogy, along with Memorabilia and Get Down Make Love, which is the only song I've heard that makes sex sound like a SWAT raid. (There should be more.)

[neorev]

Not The Actual Events made me excited for Nine Inch Nails again. It had anger. It had edge. It was raw. Then Add Violence came along and my excitement for future NIN was immediately dashed. Add Violence is Year Zero/Hesitation Marks/Welcome Oblivion all over again. It's bland. It's sterile. It feels safe. Less Than is Trent's Only/Discipline/Came Back Haunted, the safe radio single.

[katara]

Not The Actual Events made me excited for Nine Inch Nails again. It had anger. It had edge. It was raw. Then Add Violence came along and my excitement for future NIN was immediately dashed. Add Violence is Year Zero/Hesitation Marks/Welcome Oblivion all over again. It's bland. It's sterile. It feels safe. Less Than is Trent's Only/Discipline/Came Back Haunted, the safe radio single.

While I agree that Less Than is safe, the rest of the EP is decidedly not. It parallels NTAE in so many ways. They work well as companion pieces.

Also, Only is anything but a safe song. With the bottled drum machine, stripped-down elements, and a video featuring a desk toy, it's intentionally sterile (I can't say the same for Discipline, though).

Also also, Year Zero and Welcome Oblivion are excellent. Hesitation Marks has moments of brilliance.

[BRoswell]

I agree that Less Than is definitely a radio-friendly single, but Trent also admitted that as well and said that it was pretty much an accident on their part. That said, Add Violence doesn't sound like Year Zero or Hesitation Marks or Welcome Oblivion to me. The mixing is different, as are some of the sounds used. It may be more electronic in nature than Not The Actual Events, but I don't think that automatically means it sounds like those other albums.

[Kyle]

Not The Actual Events made me excited for Nine Inch Nails again. It had anger. It had edge. It was raw. Then Add Violence came along and my excitement for future NIN was immediately dashed. Add Violence is Year Zero/Hesitation Marks/Welcome Oblivion all over again. It's bland. It's sterile. It feels safe. Less Than is Trent's Only/Discipline/Came Back Haunted, the safe radio single.

i think you're equating "safe" with "less guitars."

There's nothing wrong with preferring a certain style but I would argue With Teeth is much safer than Add Violence.

[Ribbitman]

Shit am I the only one who likes Add Violence more than NTAE? I love Burning Bright and She's Gone Away, and the other 3 are enjoyable listens. But on Add Violence, I love 4 of the 5 tracks and The Lovers is a really good song still

[Kyle]

The nursery rhyme in Down in It is less corny than almost any lyric in That's What I Get

[implanted_microchip]

A poppy apocalypse track inviting oblivion followed by a schizophrenic spoken word verse nightmare followed by a quiet mournful dirge with minimal vocals followed by a noisy abrasive off-kilter bass-wrecked punch to the soul followed by a cry at the end of the simulated world that collapses into degrading tapelooped noise for like ten minutes isn't what I think of as safe.

NTAE suits my day to day tastes more but AV is a fantastic piece of the puzzle and both make the other better -- NTAE is the aggressive, manic end of the NIN spectrum reacting to the same emotions that Add Violence does, but Add Violence is the depressive, poignant side. If NTAE is an embrace of the same old sickness taking hold again (I've been here before and I don't care/I'm going back, of course I am) then Add Violence is a lamentation of it (I thought we had more time/I know you saw it too, and I will keep myself awake, I know what's coming). Each embody different eras of the band and seem to have given the third part permission to do whatever the fuck it wants no matter what and it is the most excitement I've ever felt around this band.

[Kyle]

A poppy apocalypse track inviting oblivion

while I agree 1,000% with your description of the EP I would like to remind you that the above described song can still have large amounts of mass appeal

[HWB]

Just because something is accesible doesn't mean it is not complex or great. Less Than is perfect example, I am really warming up to the singles recently, Discipline is amazing as well. Less Than may be accesible but it has layers of sound, you've got strange guitar in the background, the hook is probably one of the best I've heard from NIN, this song really grows on you, it manages to be accesible listening, yet it has so much beneath the surface that it can appeal to both people who just want to listen to music or people who want to listen carefully.

And, as a whole, I think Add Violence is less accesible listening than NTAE when taken in as a whole, just thanks to tracks like "The Lovers" which are pure anxiety fuel and "This Isn't The Place" which is mostly instrumental that builds itself, then you've of course; got The Background World. Add Violence feels much scarier and unpredictable to me personally. Keep in mind this doesn't make it better, nor worse. A lot of people seem to believe that this determines the quality of music, which it doesn't.

If I were to say which EP I favour more, it's incredibly hard to say, they have actually a lot in common, but their moods are very different; while NTAE is angry, brooding and loud, AV, retains the anger and angst, but it adds in great deal of sadness and anxiety (ton fuck of anxiety, jesus fuck) into the whole thing and it is lighter, that is until you get into Not Anymore.

They are both huge acomplishments in my eyes as they both give me huge emotional impact, both in different places, but they hit real hard. I don't see how you can call Add Violence boring or mundane same goes for Year Zero.

[Krazy]

Outside of Less Than, which is a decent "radio friendly" NIN track, I can't get into AV. Sounds like more of the same old with Atticus in there- could be passed off for a HTDA EP or if it was broken down without vocals could be more soundtrack stuff.

And holy fuck that last track. It literally gives me a head ache once it does that skipping thing.

[BenAkenobi]

Discipline is as good as The wretched. There are more outstanding songs but songs of this kind provide necessary context and ground to stand on. Other examples: Love is not enough, Please, Ruiner, The good soldier, The only time, Disappointed.

[Ribbitman]

Discipline is as good as The wretched. There are more outstanding songs but songs of this kind provide necessary context and ground to stand on. Other examples: Love is not enough, Please, Ruiner, The good soldier, The only time, Disappointed.

Ruiner is too good for words to describe

[Pinkocracy]

Shit am I the only one who likes Add Violence more than NTAE? I love Burning Bright and She's Gone Away, and the other 3 are enjoyable listens. But on Add Violence, I love 4 of the 5 tracks and The Lovers is a really good song still

I'm with you on preferring AV to NTAE. Something about the lyrical composition on AV really grabbed me from the beginning. I also love 4 of the 5 but in my case Not Anymore is my least fav, and even then I never skip it and get a lot out of the song.

Don't get me wrong, though - I greatly dig NTAE as well. After Hesitation Marks failed to grab me I was worried about my future as a NIN fan, but the "trilogy" has brought me back into the fold.

[Pinkocracy]

Zero-Sum and Lights in the Sky are easily two of my favorite NIN songs, and I often feel weird about that since they're so antithetical of the larger catalog. I wanted to post that in this thread because I don't often see a lot of love for these songs and I wondered if they're reviled or just ...meh... to most.

Maybe it's because I lost my mother during that era, but man. Both of those songs pack a wallop, even just taken on their sonic merits. The piano hook from Zero-Sum is haunting.

[eversonpoe]

Zero-Sum and Lights in the Sky are easily two of my favorite NIN songs, and I often feel weird about that since they're so antithetical of the larger catalog. I wanted to post that in this thread because I don't often see a lot of love for these songs and I wondered if they're reviled or just ...meh... to most.

Maybe it's because I lost my mother during that era, but man. Both of those songs pack a wallop, even just taken on their sonic merits. The piano hook from Zero-Sum is haunting.

i like zero-sum (despite not being a big fan of YZ), but lights in the sky is my least-favorite song on the slip (which is an album i generally really like).

[HWB]

Zero-Sum and Lights in the Sky are easily two of my favorite NIN songs, and I often feel weird about that since they're so antithetical of the larger catalog. I wanted to post that in this thread because I don't often see a lot of love for these songs and I wondered if they're reviled or just ...meh... to most.

Maybe it's because I lost my mother during that era, but man. Both of those songs pack a wallop, even just taken on their sonic merits. The piano hook from Zero-Sum is haunting.

Lights In The Sky is such a beatifully hunting song, I love it as well, same for Zero-Sum, these two songs are wonderful, haunting and so sad, they have some of the best lyrics from NIN discography as well. Really powerful stuff.
I am sorry to hear about your mother.

[Ribbitman]

I'm with you on preferring AV to NTAE. Something about the lyrical composition on AV really grabbed me from the beginning. I also love 4 of the 5 but in my case Not Anymore is my least fav, and even then I never skip it and get a lot out of the song.

Don't get me wrong, though - I greatly dig NTAE as well. After Hesitation Marks failed to grab me I was worried about my future as a NIN fan, but the "trilogy" has brought me back into the fold.

The Lovers is really growing on me

[polski]

CONTROVERSIAL: I feel like the VIETNAM score is fairly slight compared to their other filmscore work.

But also I understand that it's a documentary dealing with real, serious history so it might have been a purposeful backseat to the primary content. I just think it's weaker as a standalone listen.

[ChipRock]

And holy fuck that last track. It literally gives me a head ache once it does that skipping thing.

If you don't listen to The Background World in full every single time there's something wrong with you. Maybe looped noise stuff isn't to everyone's taste, but even if it's just on principle, y'know?

[burnmotherfucker!]

Zero-Sum and Lights in the Sky are easily two of my favorite NIN songs, and I often feel weird about that since they're so antithetical of the larger catalog. I wanted to post that in this thread because I don't often see a lot of love for these songs and I wondered if they're reviled or just ...meh... to most.

Maybe it's because I lost my mother during that era, but man. Both of those songs pack a wallop, even just taken on their sonic merits. The piano hook from Zero-Sum is haunting.

Zero-Sum is also one of my favorite songs NIN has ever done! For me, it always brings up ideas about determinism and the individual becoming aware they aren't really in control. Even though it feels like they are and the uneasiness, as well as the freedom, that comes with that realization. Come to think of it lots of NIN songs bring these ideas to the front but this one does so perfectly using the narrative of year zero.

I've always thought Zero-Sum never got much hype because of the fact the vocals are buried so deep in the mix so maybe some people never really find a way to connect to the bare bones of the song. I'd love to hear a version that is akin to something off of Still so the words and theme could shine a little more, plus that piano riff would be excellent in that context.

[burnmotherfucker!]

If you don't listen to The Background World in full every single time there's something wrong with you. Maybe looped noise stuff isn't to everyone's taste, but even if it's just on principle, y'know?

I may very well be crazy but I actually do legitimately enjoy that loop every time i listen to it. The first time i heard it i didn't see it as something worth returning to but when i'd listen to just the song i would miss it. There is something meditative about it, idk

[Pinkocracy]

The lyrics/vocals in Zero-Sum really make it different for me. It’s cynical but it’s still so optimistic, it’s just very... human. And far the whisper/spoken delivery really drives home the determinism (great way to phrase the theme of the song btw, I agree). There’s something about the way TR delivers “I guess I just wanted to tell you, as the lights start to fade/you’re the reason, that I’m not afraid”... a line like that could be so cheesy, but the delivery destroys my cold, cold heart every time.

[Pinkocracy]

I may very well be crazy but I actually do legitimately enjoy that loop every time i listen to it. The first time i heard it i didn't see it as something worth returning to but when i'd listen to just the song i would miss it. There is something meditative about it, idk

Agreed; the song really is built to include that loop, not just use it as a postscript. The live version totally proved to me how hollow the song seems without it. God I fuckin love The Background World with all its sonic decay.