It's tied with La Mer as my favorite song of all-time. The lyrics summed up a pretty dark period for most of my 20s and still seem to be extremely poignant to my life now for different reasons. I love the build, I love the increasing intensity for the entire song--it's like one enormous build for the entire duration--I love the rage/hate/hurt that's always teetering on the edge of a full-blown meltdown, I love how it's evolved over the years to become almost a different song while remaining the same.Originally Posted by loopcloses
I'm going to take a stand and declare the December 1, 1999 performance from Brixton Academy as the absolute best version of the song. I feel confident stating that after listening to most, if not all, known recordings of Somewhat Damaged multiple times each. Like virtually every other NIN song, the live version's human element makes it feel more organic, visceral, and engaging. This performance is so intense that I can't help but whisper-scream along, getting entirely into the ever-building energy every single time.
The guitars are so thick and have that treble edge that's so iconically NIN. Robin's guitar work during the chorus is my favorite part of the entire performance. That little hammer on/off he does for the first two bars of the chorus is kind of a background layer to the song in the studio and even live but listen to any performance from 2006 or 2007 with Aaron on guitar. He doesn't play that part and the chorus legitimately feels empty without it. I almost cried I was so happy when I heard the first performance of the song in 2009 with Robin back on guitar.
While I wish Trent's vocals were harsher in some spots to be closer to or even surpassing the album's delivery, they're just about perfect--especially in the bridge, with Trent's voice naturally progressing from a soft croon to vitriolic scream before the entire band explodes into the unrestrained reprise.
Jerome's drumming is perfect. He's never been one to deviate far from the studio drumming but he adds just enough in his interpretation to make the studio version feel incomplete to me. The double snare hits and 4- and 8- hit rolls in the chorus are minor but so necessary after hearing them in there. The kick drum during the bridge build up to the reprise is anything but flashy but it's the perfect punctuation to the vocals and helps with that restrained build. I don't like Ilan's drumming during this portion of the song from 2009 on. He just doesn't bring the same sense of rising intensity and the fact he's doing a 4/4 kick/snare beat diminishes the impact of the drumming in the reprise. In Jerome's interpretation, it's all kick the entire build and the crack of the snare is perfectly timed with the "how" in "...then my head fell apart and where were you? How could I..." And then adding a kick on every beat for the final two bars of the reprise is such a minor thing but makes the final portion of the song feel even more frenetic and out of control.
This performance simultaneously makes me so fucking angry that Somewhat Damaged wasn't included on AATCHB. I legitimately cannot believe it was skipped over but thankfully this is an FM source so the quality is amazing.
EDIT: holy shit, I am a nerd.
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