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Faceplams: Oops, my mistake--I'm drunk and apparently too lazy to check the last couple of pages...Originally Posted by Magrão
Hairy Member
Oops, my mistake--I'm drunk and apparently too lazy to check the last couple of pages...
Flaccid Member
Thirded. I do like Welcome Oblivion the track, but that was about it. Thought the EP was a lot more interesting in every fashion
Active Member
- Year Zero Remixed has the best NIN remixes.
- Closer is so damn boring, especially the album version. How can anyone listen to that? The live version with the breakdown from The Only Time is the only one I don't fall asleep while listening to it.
- I like the sound of With Teeth (album), and I think it has the best individual NIN songs, and the most diverse ones within the same album.
- I like Gave Up, but the studio version of it is worse than Closer. Who mastered that shit?
- I'd turn gay for The Fragile-era Trent. I want to look like him...
- He should re-record PHM, because I want a decent studio version of songs like Terrible Lie and Head Like A Hole.
- Ruiner and Sunspots should be staple songs performed live.
Hairy Member
Closer is a solid example of Nine Inch Nails. Not the lyrics, but the music is fucking genius.. dat progression
Stubby Member
Rehearsal tracks are decent enough for my taste.
Stubby Member
The Remastered version is a perfect studio recording of PHM, not decent , PERFECT, you can hear everything cristal clear
Active Member
Yes, I can hear the poppy Terrible Lie perfectly, but I'd want something similiar to the live version.
Throbbing Member
Most of the songs from the Downward Spiral sound weak performed live. Shadows of their former selves. I understand it would be impossible to replicate live the complex sonic architectural majestic mind boggling soundscapes of The Downward Spiral in a live setting.
To me hearing those songs live, is like when you go and see a hip hop act or a dance/electronic act perform live with instruments, something does not feel the same.
Hurt, March of the Pigs work well live and the current version of Closer is the best ever, this tour is the first time in my opinion they have sounded good live but the other's not so much. Reptile has always sounded clunky, awkward with something vital missing in a live setting. Woodstock 94 is only performance of it i like.
Pink Nails
That's weird because I think Reptile keeps getting better live over the years. That song truly never ages. I love how the chorus sounds "emptier" than the verses, there's almost no bass. And no doubt why David Bowie and Peter Murphy chose to sing it. Lyrics make it sounds like a classic.
Last edited by Inkë; 08-31-2013 at 08:39 AM.
Administrator
Closer sounded insanely good on Fragility tour, with everyone playing synths on top of Robin's guitar and with full ending (not like the shorter one they've been playing since WT).
Stubby Member
You're on your own there, for sure.
Much can be said about Closer by now, but nothing will ever take away my recollection of being 12, in 1994, hearing Closer on the FM radio riding amid South Georgia cotton fields. The dropping of the f-bomb, the synths, the whole aesthetic made my eyes open wider than they ever had before.
Closer may be compulsory for NIN by now, but it'll always be a definitive track.
Flaccid Member
I didn't really like Mike Garson's contributions to the live tracks back in 2009.
This doesn't mean I don't like Mike Garson. He is an amazing musician, I've never seen anyone play a piano like him, but I felt they took away from the songs rather than complimented them.
I will admit, though, I did quite like his parts on Just Like You Imagined because he kept quite faithful to the album recording.
Also Closer's live incarnation is missing the amazing synth part played just after the chorus - in the past it has been played as a guitar riff and sounds weak, on the 2013 tour the sample is played but it just doesn't sound right. To me that synth part MAKES Closer, and since it's absence I've just not been able to enjoy the live version.
Active Member
Closer>Closer w/ TOT breakdown, forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever...evermore.
Throbbing Member
They also rhyme in the oddest places, contain more grammatical errors than my students' papers and rely quite heavily on the same three images (decay, isolation, body fluids). When you judge lyrics merely on how well they are crafted, as little musical poems, Reznor's fall quite short of the mark. He ain't Cave, Cohen, Dylan, Mitchell or Smith, for instance. Hell, he's not even Michael Stipe, and we all know he improvises most of his stuff.
That said, I do love them terribly. Probably because they're very simple and effective, and I guess a tiny bit because he seems so self conscious and worried about them. He could easily ask someone else to write them, or put poems to music or just make all instrumental tracks, but he chooses to put them out there, which I find quite brave and endearing at the same time, which in turn is quite horribly patronizing of me but whatever. I love them. But they're not good. Effective, and moving, but not good.
[Like a kid's drawing of his family, where everything has the wrong colour and the people are taller than the house and the dog looks like a cow. Objectively, it's an insult to the art of drawing. It's probably also amazingly beautiful if that's your kid / your family / your cow.]
[That was not at all a controversial NIN opinion though. Sorry. I'll try to shut up now.]
[Also: Closer FTW. It's only boring because you know it so well that you don't listen to it properly anymore. Just turn the volume way, way up and listen to it. It's divine.]
Last edited by Elke; 08-31-2013 at 11:13 AM. Reason: I suck.
Stubby Member
I hated how during the "Wave Goodbye" tour that Trent had all the guests. He could've really played more rare tracks instead of a bunch of cover songs.
Josh Wink was on HLAH
..but the cover songs are rarely, if ever played. making them rare.
Down, but not out.
As much as I actually like both versions, it sometimes just makes me wish that he'd play The Only Time. It's such a tease.
Active Member
Absolutely. The Only Time is the shit.As much as I actually like both versions, it sometimes just makes me wish that he'd play The Only Time. It's such a tease.
It'd probably mean the reintroduction of the real Closer, too.
Throbbing Member
Sometimes I think Trent's 'emo hair' doesn't look too bad...
There, I said it! Face palm away!
Down, but not out.
I really liked the undercut he used to have as seen in the Head Like A Hole video. I have a hard time choosing between that hairstyle and the one he had in The Perfect Drug video. But from the looks of it, I think the top three favorite hairstyles had to be the hair he had during The Downward Spiral era, the buzz cut he had during the later part of 2005 up until now, (Although, he did let it grow in a little bit more and more, and I think he even had a buzz cut in 1990. I saw it in a picture of him being with the Revolting Cocks.) and the hairstyle he had during The Fragile era, which can sort of be similar to the hairstyle he had in 1991.
I also liked how he mentioned his "bad haircuts playing an important role in his career overview" in a slightly jocular manner when he received the ASCAP Golden Note Award.
So in terms of haircuts... perhaps it can be controversial to like the undercut too? It is in fact one of my favorite hairstyles on him.
Flaccid Member
I posted my thoughts in the Hesitation Marks review thread, but now that I've had a few exchanges with people and thought about it more I can sum up my thoughts and post them here because it seems like the perfect place: I don't agree with the decision to bring back NIN and I'm not a fan of the concept behind Hesitation Marks. He should stick to doing excellent soundtrack work and pursue HTDA further. I don't hate Hesitation Marks, I just don't think it's very good. The whole thing seems like a step backwards...except for the new live show. That's amazing. So why not do that with HTDA? Keep moving forward with that.
Maybe, ultimately and ironically, Hesitation Marks will end up killing NIN for good and he will indeed pursue those other projects further. Maybe that's his intent..?
Active Member
I remember an interview with him, but I forget where, where he said that he missed the buzz of being onstage and had never replicated that - I imagine it is very intoxicating to perform live, but of course not wanting to do a 'greatest hits' thing, he brought back the music. I imagine they will still do htda on the side.
I couldn't disagree more about the album, I think its the best one since The Fragile - but of course will have to wait and see if it stands the test of time
Stubby Member
I love Closer, every single version of it. Probably my favorite song period.
Flaccid Member
When viewed from that angle, I guess I can't fault him for wanting to come back. Still...do it with HTDA. It looked like HTDA was going to be the post-NIN anyway and of course it would contain elements of the previous work. It happens all the time when artists kill off projects and start new ones. But the surprise return of NIN right after the first HTDA album emerged leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The album being self-aware and addressing this very topic doesn't sway my opinion either. It just seems like he was on a certain trajectory with HTDA and the soundtrack work and now...those won't be given a chance to grow.
Active Member
I think that NIN has a very definite shelf life, particularly live, as it is so intense (and aggressive) so personally I think it makes sense to do more with NIN earlier rather than later, after all he has the rest of his life to do soundtracks in the studio and the less aggressive HTDA
Stubby Member
Regarding TR's lyrics: I think he writes with the intention of being very open to interpretation and giving every possible listener a sort of clear canvass onto which they can project their own experience. Also, I think the simplicity of the lyrics is a deliberate juxtaposition with the complexity and difficulty of the musical backdrop. I think he is very aware that this often results in his lyrics being called "poor". But my thought is that he considers what is best in service of the song/album and the listener's ability to connect and identify with it. It isn't as though in interviews and whatnot that he isn't well-spoken or possessing a limited vocabulary. Tl;Dr: TR knows what he's doing with his lyrics and could write "better" lyrics if he thought it would better serve the music.
Active Member
That's a very favorable way to look at this. I'm not sure if this is true or if he's simply not that good at it. Signs strongly point to the latter. Unless you can provide some links. Thx in advance.
Last edited by r_z; 08-31-2013 at 05:05 PM.
Stubby Member
Well, ComradeCornhole, that's one way to be an apologist.
But seriously, I just wanted to address someone as "comrade cornhole" just once.
Down, but not out.
I was actually thinking about something along those lines myself. I also don't mean this as a jab to anybody, but perhaps some people were expecting his lyrics to be something like what you'd expect from Depeche Mode, Tool, Radiohead, or Tori Amos. (Which I could actually understand to start with.) It's merely a guess on my part.
Stubby Member
I've got nothing to back up what I'm saying beyond the way he speaks normally. That point being: He seems intelligent and well-spoken enough --not to mention VERY well-versed in great musicians who DO have "great" lyrics-- that he knows what many consider to be "good" lyrics and could approximate something like them if he thought it was in the best interest of the listener's ability to connect. I'm trying not to grab at any string I can to be an apologist for his lyrics. Really, I roll my eyes at his apparent fondness for exact rhyming at every turn and what appears to be a relatively short vocabulary list as much as anyone. I just find it difficult to believe that someone as meticulous and self-aware as he is isn't doing it for what he believes is a good reason. As I said before, he is an admitted fan of several great songwriters, and I'm sure he knows what their lyrics look like next to his and isn't so obtuse as to not see the differences. He either views the way some will see his lyrics as a necessary sacrifice for connecting in a very visceral way with more people, or.... well, I dunno... how would you all account for it all? That he really isn't self-aware and has never really noticed his lyrics next to Bowie, Byrne, Keenan, Amos, etc... and that he actually thinks his stuff is objectively as "good"?
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