Top 5 favorite NIN bridges?

[kolopsia]

I've always felt NIN has great bridges to their songs, what would you say is your top 5 and why?

[nowimdowninit]

I suppose a lot of non-musicians will call these "breakdowns."

But, my faves are:

1. Happiness In Slavery - half-time feel, glitchy, noisy, awesome
2. The Becoming - noise is good!
3. AATCHB - I'm referring to the pick up. Speaks for itself
4. The Great Destroyer - like for mostly the same reasons as HIS (NIN even mashed those songs up in 2007)
5. The Big Come Down - Particularly the live version - epic

Also, honorable mention: Closer. I did not officially add that one because that song really has more of an extended outro than a "bridge," for the most part. However, I think that everything that happens after the second chorus of "Closer" pretty much constitutes the best piece of electronic music composition ever devised. By anyone.

Also: How dare you start a new thread! (PS - I for one, like this idea for a thread.) ;)

[mfte]

HIS - as stated above its so noisy swirling from left to right, great buildup

Ruiner - I love how everything drops out except the bass and noise then turning into a wonderfull floydian passage

Kinda I Want to - common, congas and bongos. how often does that happen in a nin song

Im looking forward to.... - again i like when everything drops out except the bass and drums. then the layered vocals of screaming and whisper singing are a smart creative choice

Getting Smaller - this is my fav of all. I dont even like the song that much but when the breakdown hits with that key change and the desperation in the scream sung vocals, it gives me the chills everytime

[kolopsia]

Man I gotta agree with you, "Getting Smaller" is defiantly a weaker NIN track but the bridge is so in your face and rocked out, I like With Teeth a lot for I find it to be it their most rocked out album. It's got so much groove and this may sound off but some songs have a Queens of the Stone Age feel to them dare I say.

[screwdriver]

great fan-wanking topic -- NIN's bridges are great (when they're there)

1. The Fragile -- one of my favorite bridges of any song
2. We're in this Together -- the whole breakdown into solo is majestic
3. Gave Up - the breakdown into the super noisy bridge? rad. and then ending with that accent-accent-accent-accent (especially how they do it live)
4. Reptile -- gotta love the ambience there
5. THTF -- not the biggest fan of the song generally (don't hate it, but its alright), but that synth breakdown is damn cool
runner-up: Head Down -- its simple but effective

[eversonpoe]

in no particular order (and more than 5 because i'm terrible at lists)

• the perfect drug (the bridge into the whole end section of the song)
• with teeth (i love how quiet it gets and then SHAZAM! it's loud and in your face again with no warning)
• the only time (so wonderfully funky)
• last (i guess the end section "i want you to..." is what i'd consider the bridge)
• even deeper (all the slide guitar and the string samples...mmmm)
• the big come down (i'm a big fan of simple, noisy solos)
• i do not want this (once again, nice and noisy)

[OSLIN]

Top 5 Bridges
1. Heresy (the build up, the tension, the explosion) You're not a NIN fan if this isn't in your top 5 ;)
2. Head Down (bringing the worlds of WT and YZ together) Slip into something more uncomfortable.
3. Vessel (dance, you son of a glitch) I don't think I can last here!
4. Kinda I Want To (love the synth, guitars, synth guitars and the call back to down in it) Go back, take a listen.
5. AATCHB (the mushiest NIN bridge ever, but goddamnit I love every second) Need to play this live.

Honorable Mention
Ruiner
The Perfect Drug
The Wretched
The Fragile
The Becoming

[seasonsinthesky]

best topic i've seen in forever.

i can't order them in my head, so:

"Ruiner" — probably one of the most obvious choices. this song was built out of two separate ideas, which i assume applies to the massive difference between the dancy verses and the psychotic, halftime choruses. it's the yin/yang of those two, which basically work from one another in an intuitive-for-NIN kind of way, that allows the super weirdo, psychedelic bridge to work. there isn't a single other song that could incorporate it, and not just because of the guitar solo (since it's so non-NIN as a general thing) – the doubletracked live drums, the super weird panning, none of it would fit anywhere else on TDS or anything before and after. it's notable for that reason alone... and it's friggin' sweet in 5.1.

"Mr. Self Destruct" — i enjoy this one most out of all the songs that are generally loud as fuck and drop out to near silence in the bridge ("Suck," "With Teeth," etc.). it's got some of the catchiest melodies and most spaced-out guitar/synth collages in the whole catalogue, all wandering around that simple bassline... all of it so completely different from the rest of the track until the lyrics come in. it's not even that similar to much else on the album, really, and i always feel like it should be twice as long, or have become its own track.

"Terrible Lie" — this is undeniable, especially live (i'm gonna vote the AATCHB version as best, but take your pick). the way it drops to TR's lonely "don't tear it away from me..." and finally explodes out through "don't take it, no! HEY! GOD!" is so completely epic that i'd claim it as one of the top choices on the list of 'most intense NIN emotional moments ever.' that's a different list, though, so i'll instead mention how cool the chord changes are, and how cool Finck's guitar gets on AATCHB. the third verse immediately becomes the best of them all because of the bridge, and that's exactly the kind of impression you want the bridge to have on the rest of your song.

"The Perfect Drug" — another one of those 'million ideas mashed together' songs that somehow works out, maybe because the verse/chorus parts are so arresting, and the coda is so completely amazing in that hazed-out way. i guess it wears its influences on its shoulder more than the typical NIN track, but all the same, that bridge has some crack drum programming that sends it way over the top, out of the whole 'TR is trying to make jungle!!!' thing and into the "... whoa" category. he could have built a mountain with guitars and noise, he could have immediately dropped to the coda, he could have looped the beat and made a noise solo and gone back to the chorus like usual... but instead he writes the most intense drum freakout ever. as notable for that as how well it somehow works between the other two sections.

"Starfuckers, Inc." — sometimes i get the hate for this song and the idea of it not particularly fitting on TF, but mostly i think of the bridge as played on AATCHB (or extended out in one of the remixes) and how amazing it is. one of the best examples of TR finding the simplest, yet most amazing guitar progressions, much like TPD up there (in the coda), and also one of the best examples of TR just letting the simple, spacey part do its job without trying to make a whole song out of it or whatever. i guess it's kinda out of place inside the song itself but the thing needed some real tension and maturity, and it got it in the bridge... which is why it does fit properly on TF, i suppose.

special mention goes for "I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally" — love how the whole bridge becomes a huge study in tension and mostly builds with percussion, but never explodes, just pays off. a really underrated song made extremely satisfactory by its bridge.

[littlemonkey613]

Ruiner
Somewhat Damaged (if that one part im thinking of can be considered one)
Discipline. Love that kick. Love that piano.
The Fragile
And All That Could Have Been

[Indefinite_Cure]

Call me a bitch, but I love the corny bridge of That's What I Get

The Becoming's acoustic part is one of my favourite too

[perceptionnexus]

The middle part of A Warm Place, a.k.a. the only 20 seconds or so on TDS that conveys some sense of optimism, musically speaking. love it!

[telee.kom]

C'mon guys, just one mention of Mr. Self Destruct? This is the coolest breakdown in the history of everything

[dlb]

sunspots for me. I just love that swirling noise that appearently every one tends to make fun of. Underrated song IMHO.

[ComradeCornhole]

Great thread. Not much to add that hasn't been said already, except All The Love in the World. A very different song already, but the bridge that becomes the outro is very much its own special, hair-raising creature for me and a fairly unique experience in the catalogue. You want me to list the delicious ingredients, just in case you forgot or can't listen currently? No problem, chum: Electronic four on the floor that becomes kick drum (or is it being paired with a floor tom?). Some warm piano chords. Some great self-harmonization and American Idol-y vocals (dat falsetto!). A bass line that kicks like a mule and tamb-ou-fucking-rine.

[Ryan]

Call me a bitch, but I love the corny bridge of That's What I Get

haha same here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYjKlhy0GKc

[Maul]

I believe All the Love in the World is my favorite NIN bridge.It's so amazing.

[d-signet]

this one

http://24.media.tumblr.com/f4373bb964e778a6aafe71774bffcf60/tumblr_mjggo5i8JV1s726nxo1_1280.jpg

[GentlemanLoser]

The Bridge School Benefit.

[Amaro]

Eraser.

Put that in your bowl and toke it.

[NINfan04]

And All That Could Have Been
Ruiner
Terrible Lie
Mr. Self Destruct
Hurt

honorable mentions: Right Where It Belongs, Dead Souls, Burn, Happiness In Slavery, Eraser