NIN: The Greatest Hits

[Wretchedest]

What movies do you what? What tv do you watch? Are you part of the problem with the big bad studios and the big bad networks?

Not being a dick, just querying. Why should music be any different, yknow?

The other side of the coin is what if we, as the minority, are just plain fucking wrong? What if NIN is absolute garbage (besides the "fuck you like an animal" song), and Miley Cyrus really is a musical genius, as are One Direction?

Ok, sarcasm aside, I feel sick writing that.

Those are really valid questions. If you want to know what movies and TV I watch you can check my post history and surely a list of thread titles and offhand comments will come close.

Am I part of problem? Definitely. I'm posting on the forum of a big label, big radio band. But I try, at least in part to be a part of a solution. Most of the music that I pay for comes from a totally independent label, and I try, as often as I can to buy albums cash in hand to the artist at their show.

I'm not actually suggesting that music ITSELF should be any different, I'm mostly referring to methods of distribution and consumption. If it were different maybe the playing field could be more level, whereas right now it's like your a millionaire or a hobbyist. There's a middle ground that people are reaching because its easier for people to distribute and promote music on their own. I think that's a good thing. I think it would allow for more creative space, more kinds of music, different kinds of success. It would probably also allow for some incredibly stupid bullshit, but ultimately I think it can be better.

[skullboy0]

RE: Going with a major label, this quote from the Spin article says a lot:

"He juts his chin out defiantly. "But I'm still competitive," he says. "If I'm going to do this, I want to win.""

I think he doesn't feel he can reach the broadest audience without a major label.

He's not "selling out", he made the record he wanted to make, he didn't make the Timbaland record like Interscope wanted him to do.

He just wants to use the resources of a major label to get that record exposed to the broadest audience he can.

[Dr Channard]

How about a post-90’s releases compilation album. My picks would look something like this,

1. While I’m Still Here-Black Noise
2. Meet Your Master
3. Survivalism
4. Echoplex
5. All The Love In The World
6. Adrift And At Peace
7. Head Down
8. Copy of A
9. All Time Low
10. In This Twilight
11. Right Where It Belongs V2
12. The Persistence Of Loss
13. 31 Ghosts IV
14. Deep
15. The Hand That Feeds
16. The Line Begins To Blur
17. Non-Entity

These should be able to fit on one disc. And I’m probably not the best at track ordering, but this looks like it would work reasonably.

[Reaps]

I'd sooner see an updated release of the definitive collection (singles/deep cuts/quiet/remixes etc..) Would make a nice boxset.

[thatguymark]

So, my girlfriend asked me to make her a NIN compilation. I wanted to represent the old and the new, the heavy and the soft, the hit singles and the stronger album tracks, maintain some feeling of flow from track to track, and have an order that was more interesting that simply chronological. The Hand That Feeds was the last to get cut for time. Yeah, it's a hit, but I couldn't justify using in place of any that I kept. This is what I came up with. Some of the transitions work better than others, but I think it's a fairly solid Best Of that all fits on an 80 minute CD. Also, it is a shame that I had to cut the Ghosts tracks, and Leaving Hope, but I couldn't find a way to make them fit without cutting something that seemed more essential to me.

1. Head Like A Hole
2. Terrible Lie
3. Right Where It Belongs
4. Just Like You Imagined
5. 1,000,000
6. The Frail
7. The Wretched
8. While I'm Still Here
9. Black Noise
10. And All That Could Have Been
11. Closer
12. Pinion
13. Wish
14. In This Twilight
15. Zero Sum
16. The Perfect Drug
17. Something I Can Never Have
18. Hurt

[hani]

NIN Greatest Hits 2017 edition

CD1


01. The Day The World Went Away (04:33)
02. Copy of A (05:23)
03. Head Like a Hole (04:59)
04. Wish (03:46)
05. We're In This Together (07:16)
06. Survivalism (04:23)
07. Came Back Haunted (05:17)
08. Deep (04:06)
09. The Frail/The Wretched (07:19)
10. The Hand That Feeds (03:31)
11. Terrible Lie (04:38)
12. Dear world, (04:07)
13. Closer (06:13)
14. Something I Can Never Have (05:54)


total time 71:25


CD2


01. 1,000,000 (03:56)
02. Every Day Is Exactly The Same (04:54)
03. March of the Pigs (02:58)
04. Discipline (04:19)
05. The Perfect Drug (05:42)
06. Vessel (04:53)
07. Only (04:22)
08. Burn (04:58)
09. Head Down (04:55)
10. God Given (03:50)
11. In Two (05:32)
12. Gave Up (04:08)
13. Hurt (06:15)
14. Burning Bright (Field on Fire) (05:50)


total time 66:32

[Tommy_Macbeth]

I would hope it would be a combination of singles/essential songs & fan-faves.
If I had to guess then it would look like this:
PHM: 2-3 songs
Broken: 3 song
TDS: 6 song (lots of fan faves)
TF: 8 songs
WT: 4-5 songs
YZ: 5 songs
Ghosts: Maybe a few tracks just to vary up the tracklist
TS: 3 songs
HM: 4-5 song
NTAE: 2 songs
And then maybe a few non-album tracks as well if we're really lucky
Or maybe 3 different "albums" that all have an overarching theme and contains songs from all kinds of different albums but go together nicely.

[neorev]

Disc 1
01 Dear World
02 Head Like A Hole
03 Wish
04 March Of The Pigs
05 We're In This Together Now
06 Only
07 Capital G
08 Discipline
09 Came Back Haunted
10 Closer
11 Sin
12 Happiness In Slavery
13 Deep
14 Hurt

Disc 2
01 Into The Void
02 Down In It
03 Copy Of A
04 The Perfect Drug
05 Survivalism
06 Starfuckers, Inc.
07 Burn
08 The Hand That Feeds
09 Gave Up
10 1,000,000
11 Every Day Is Exactly The Same
12 Dead Souls
13 The Day The World Went Away
14 Burning Bright (Field Of Fire)

[eversonpoe]

I've been meaning to do this since 2012, when this thread was posted.

So, instead of a traditional Greatest Hits album, I thought it might be more interesting to imagine something less commercial—in some places more abrasive, sometimes more delicate, often more oblique or inaccessible, and featuring almost nothing that played on FM radio. Something that might give casual listeners a better idea of the diversity and curiosity of the Nine Inch Nails catalogue.

I also think that, if Trent ever does drop this allegedly obligatory Greatest Hits album—it has always sounded very much, from the "Definitive" torrents that came from...somewhere in the ether...to the interviews he gave about the genesis of Hesitation Marks, as if he very much does not want to do this—that he should release it without a Halo number, so the people who'd feel most pressured to buy it (the hardcore fans he has made a point to try his best to not exploit) don't have to buy it to stay completists.

01. Now I'm Nothing (the hi-res soundboard cut we never got that entices the fans to buy the damned thing if they want it)
02. Terrible Lie (the And All That Could Have Been version is wonderful, works with the "Nothing" intro, and being live marks when NIN exploded—Lollapalooza)
03. Last
04. Gave Up (Fixed)
05. Closer to God
06. The Downward Spiral
07. Hurt
08. La Mer (Deviations 1 version)
09. Into the Void
10. Metal
11. All the Love in the World
12. In This Twilight
13. 37 Ghosts
14. The Four of Us Are Dying
15. Theme for Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
16. Copy of a
17. While I'm Still Here/Black Noise
18. Burning Bright
________________________
Runtime: 1:27


Whatcha think?

i think if he was gonna pass the 80-minute mark (thus eliminating the possibility of it fitting on a single CD), he'd go for a full-on double-CD compilation.

that said, it's a pretty good playlist.

[botley]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that after the next two new EPs drop and the vinyl reissues have been out in stores for a while, this will be the next NIN release in 2018/19 to celebrate the band's thirtieth anniversary.

A retrospective covering the Interscope era (1992–2007) on one disc and some live cuts and newer studio stuff on another would be an acceptable way to split it all up.

[Prettybrokenspiral]

I just want a comprehensive music video collection spanning their entire career. Throw some easter eggs on there like the HTDA videos, notable live performances and a few other surprises.

Everything past the Perfect Drug clip has yet to appear on a widely-available collection. If Depeche Mode can release three or four music video collections, I don't see why a NIN one would be unreasonable to hope for.

In the mean time, I own this near-complete collection, bought for $15 on eBay, which I guess will suffice..

http://www.musicvideoresource.com/pr...-2005-2-hours/

[Hyperpower]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that after the next two new EPs drop and the vinyl reissues have been out in stores for a while, this will be the next NIN release in 2018/19 to celebrate the band's thirtieth anniversary.

A retrospective covering the Interscope era (1992–2007) on one disc and some live cuts and newer studio stuff on another would be an acceptable way to split it all up.

i would welcome this.
the NTAE era so far from a release standpoint has been the worse in NIN history and so how does one transition from that? a greatest hits cd/vinyl with some very choice live cuts (yes alot of us want certain live cuts more than others) on one disc and newer stuff on another disc. that would make people happy after the fiasco that has been this release.

[ChipRock]

I can imagine the NIN camp as seeing a 'best of' as a redundant format these days, but other acts still release 'em, right? Something like Bowie is a bit different I guess, but the recent Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds set was quite an appealing retrospective that doesn't take away from the fact that the band are doing really bloody well right now. Being in a permanent NIN bubble it's hard to gauge quite how they stand in the wider public conciousness, but looking at the Twin Peaks appearance and the upcoming festival dates I guess they're still 'cool', and therefore a compilation would have a market. But yes, as long as they get the balance right between appealing to the masses and the hardcore fans (surely just a small handful of live tracks or alt mixes plus a really nice packaging would do? I'd also be keen on seeing a full DVD of videos) then I don't see why this wouldn't work. To be honest I just miss buying Nine Inch Nails CDs - Hesitation Marks was a long time ago now.

[Hyperpower]

also this just came to mind, recently i was listening to Now I'm Nothing (Clarkson, MI 2009) and well, a proper studio and a proper live version of this thing is almost a must as i see it.
if there is such a Greatest Hits release, please, please, PLEASE, include this tune in said release! thank you

[sonic_discord]

I can imagine the NIN camp as seeing a 'best of' as a redundant format these days, but other acts still release 'em, right? Something like Bowie is a bit different I guess, but the recent Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds set was quite an appealing retrospective that doesn't take away from the fact that the band are doing really bloody well right now. Being in a permanent NIN bubble it's hard to gauge quite how they stand in the wider public conciousness, but looking at the Twin Peaks appearance and the upcoming festival dates I guess they're still 'cool', and therefore a compilation would have a market. But yes, as long as they get the balance right between appealing to the masses and the hardcore fans (surely just a small handful of live tracks or alt mixes plus a really nice packaging would do? I'd also be keen on seeing a full DVD of videos) then I don't see why this wouldn't work. To be honest I just miss buying Nine Inch Nails CDs - Hesitation Marks was a long time ago now.

Agreed on all counts. I don't think TR is very excited by/interested in the concept of making a greatest hits album, but it COULD be done in a really cool way and if there's even one or two new bangin' songs on it (a good example is Tom Petty's greatest hits, which featured Mary Jane's Last Dance) and some really nice packaging with cool artwork, then it would appeal to a wide range of people, including the fair weather fans who'd appreciate having all of the singles in one package, as well as us diehards. Hell, maybe they could even make two versions of this thing: the standard 2-CD digipak, and a sweet deluxe coffee table book type of thing with a bunch of photos, stories from Trent, etc. and all of the music videos collected for the first time (like you said) on a Blu-ray in HD remastered quality (where possible). Maybe even some new videos (She's Gone Away from Twin Peaks and hopefully a couple more from the EP trilogy) or unreleased videos (like Everything or Every Day is Exactly the Same). If it were treated this way, this could potentially be a really cool release that would elevate it above and beyond the boring typical/expected greatest hits release that I feel Trent wants to avoid and it could appeal to people like us who already bought all of the albums.

[AVirtualMemoryOfficial]

Did this myself a couple years back post-HM with a bunch of the single/alternate mixes of each track for a nice stroll down memory lane:

CD1 [1989-1997]:

Down In It
Head Like a Hole [Halo 03 - Clay Mix]
Terrible Lie [Halo 03 - Sympathetic Mix]
Sin [Halo 04 - Short Mix]
Wish
Happiness in Slavery
Gave Up
Suck
Dead Souls
March of the Pigs [Halo 07 Mix]
Piggy
Reptile ["Liar" Demo Version]
Burn
Closer [Halo 09 Mix]
Hurt [Quiet Mix]
The Perfect Drug [Halo 15 Mix]

CD2 [1999-2014]:

The Day the World Went Away [Halo 13 Mix]
We're in This Together [Halo 15 - Extended Mix]
Into the Void
Starfuckers, inc. [Halo 13 Mix]
Deep
The Hand That Feeds
Only [Halo 20 Mix]
Every Day is Exactly the Same [Halo 21 Mix]
Survivalism [Halo 23 Mix]
The Beginning of the End
Capital G
Discipline [Single Mix]
1,000,000
Echoplex
Came Back Haunted
Copy of A [Live 2014]
Find My Way

Always thought something rather like "The New Flesh" or "Complications of the Flesh" would make for a nice title. Perhaps the former for CD1 and the latter for CD2.

[Tiger_Stealth]

Trying to fit this all into three albums/discs. Combining my own personal NIN taste with what would make sense for a realistic greatest hits album.

A:

1. Head Like A Hole
2. Down In It
3. Something I Can Never Have
4. Sin
5. Wish
6. Last
7. Happiness In Slavery
8. Gave Up
9. March Of The Pigs
10. Closer
11. Reptile
12. Hurt

B:

1. Somewhat Damaged
2. The Day The World Went Away
3. The Frail into The Wretched
4. We're In This Together
5. The Fragile
6. Starfuckers
7. The Big Come Down
8. The Hand That Feeds
9. Every Day Is Exactly The Same
10. Only
11. Right Where It Belongs
12. The Beginning Of The End

C:

1. Capital G
2. In This Twilight
3. Zero-Sum
4. 1,000,000
5. Copy Of A
6. Came Back Haunted
7. Various Methods Of Escape
8. Burning Bright (Field On Fire)
9. Less Than
10. The Background World
11. God Break Down The Door
12. Over And Out

[botley]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that after the next two new EPs drop and the vinyl reissues have been out in stores for a while, this will be the next NIN release in 2018/19 to celebrate the band's thirtieth anniversary.

I'm a big dum-dum

[Khrz]

I'm a big dum-dum

Weren't Satellite and Everything supposed to be included in a Best-Of of sorts initially ?

My theory : Reznor isn't against the idea of a Greatest Hits thing, but he wants to do it right, which means spending quite a lot of time on it. Time, on reflection, he'd rather spend creating new music.
Thus we'll never get a Greatest Hits album, not while he's alive.

[M1ke]

I always find it strange when a band puts out a greatest hits album but isn't done making music, and I don't think NIN is done making music.

I mean, I know it happens more often than the other way around, but it still feels odd to me. What if they release a Greatest Hits album, and then their next album contains their greatest hit ever?

A greatest hits album feels like the way to commemorate the end of something to me.

[allegate]

Weren't Satellite and Everything supposed to be included in a Best-Of of sorts initially ?

My theory : Reznor isn't against the idea of a Greatest Hits thing, but he wants to do it right, which means spending quite a lot of time on it. Time, on reflection, he'd rather spend creating new music.
Thus we'll never get a Greatest Hits album, not while he's alive.

the same reason The Fragile 5.1 is mia

Also: yes

"Satellite", along with "Everything", was originally written and recorded for a forthcoming greatest hits package for Interscope Records, but instead provided inspiration towards a new album.

[brotha52]

Weren't Satellite and Everything supposed to be included in a Best-Of of sorts initially ?

I totally would have forked over $$ for a double disk Greatest Hits album that had Satellite and Everything as the bonus tracks.
In retrospect I'm pleased that they went the torrent route. Shining a light on that distribution model was very timely.

[Tiger_Stealth]

I'm super happy that Trent and Atticus were inspired enough to make Hesitation Marks following the creation of Satellite/Everything. Both songs sound better in the context of the album.

I came up with an idea for a pseudo-greatest hits idea: what is the song on each album/EP that best represents the sound/vibe of the album as a whole?

PHM: Ringfinger
Broken: Last
TDS: Ruiner
The Fragile: Title Track
With Teeth: The Line Begins To Blur
Year Zero: Meet Your Master
The Slip: Head Down
Hesitation Marks: I Would For You
NTAE: The Idea Of You
Add Violence: The Background World
Bad Witch: God Break Down The Door

[TheBang]

I think the biggest reason we will never get a greatest hits album is because the record label is no longer interested. Greatest Hits compilation albums have largely gone the way of the dodo, because of digital and streaming. Streaming is the way the vast majority of people consume music now, and playlists supplant the need for a greatest hits compilation.

Labels simply don't do greatest hits compilations anymore. Deluxe album reissues, yes. Compilations, no. I think the early 2010's was kind of the inflection point there. If there were a time that kind of compilation were still viable, it would've been that period before Hesitation Marks. But because it didn't happen then, I don't think the label will ever demand it, and TR is not interested in it.

In retrospect I'm pleased that they went the torrent route. Shining a light on that distribution model was very timely.

And yes, you're right, this was absolutely prescient. The Definitive NIN torrent collections segued directly into the playlists, which, as I mentioned above, is what a greatest hits collection is today.

The other problem with putting out a Greatest Hits collection now is that Interscope only has the rights to material through Year Zero. There's been so much output post-YZ, that an Interscope Greatest Hits will seem incomplete, or they would have to pay money to license tracks from Null Corp, which wouldn't be financially viable.

[Khrz]

I think the biggest reason we will never get a greatest hits album is because the record label is no longer interested.

But weren't Everything and Satellite supposedly part of a contractual album ? I don't remember the details, but doesn't Reznor owe them an album of greatest hits at some point ?

[piggy]

But weren't Everything and Satellite supposedly part of a contractual album ? I don't remember the details, but doesn't Reznor owe them an album of greatest hits at some point ?

I can't recall exactly, but I feel like what Trent said was that Interscope has the right to release a hits album if they choose to, and that he hoped to be involved. My guess is that because hits albums are always the label's idea and never the artist's idea, that may have been sometimes misconstrued as being part of the contract.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Loads of articles published in 2007 were saying that his contract had been fulfilled, so that was confusing.

[TheBang]

But weren't Everything and Satellite supposedly part of a contractual album ? I don't remember the details, but doesn't Reznor owe them an album of greatest hits at some point ?

Yes, that's exactly right. The link was provided earlier, but the exact details are here:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...f-trent-reznor
"While touring with How to Destroy Angels, [Reznor] remembered he owed Interscope a NIN greatest hits. Keen to clear his debt, early in 2012 he set about penning two new songs for the collection, Satellite and Everything."

My argument is that Greatest Hits albums are a thing of the past, because of the way the market has changed with digital and streaming. They were a thing when the only way to get music was to buy a physical product, and it being in his contract is an artifact of the contract being signed in the late 80's. Labels don't release them anymore today because they're anachronistic in the era of all-you-can-eat streaming and playlists. They do not make any money. Therefore, I believe Interscope will never call TR on that obligation. They may even have quietly released him from it.

[fillow]

"While touring with How to Destroy Angels, [Reznor] remembered he owed Interscope a NIN greatest hits. Keen to clear his debt, early in 2012 he set about penning two new songs for the collection, Satellite and Everything."

Haha this quote actually makes zero sense.

[botley]

It would have been during recording for HTDA, not touring. Back in 2007 when Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D came out, TR said he was "free of any recording contract with any label", but perhaps that was just what his management and the then-current regime at Interscope were saying. His contract may have had another clause in it about a compilation that they had overlooked.

Maybe when they licensed the rights to Columbia for Hesitation Marks NIN's management worked out a deal to make that go away.

[Deacon Blackfire]

The fact that Trent's required new songs for a prospective "greatest hits" release via Interscope just led to him recording a whole new album in Hesitation Marks makes it pretty clear to me that there won't be a release of this kind anytime soon. The label probably doesn't want it anymore and as has been said previously, Greatest Hits releases feel like postmortems and NIN doesn't seem ready to pack it in yet. Who knows how many releases they have left but considering its been three years since Ghosts V-VI, almost five years since Bad Witch, and by this September a decade since their last traditional album, Nine Inch Nails is overdue for an artistic statement.

I know Everything has gone through a bit of a reappraisal lately, and while it has never been one of my favorites, its origin as a potential required "extra" new track on a Greatest Hits release along with Satellite has always been absolutely hilarious and makes its existence make so much more sense. Like the label required him to include something new so he wrote the most peppy and pop-punk-y song he could, probably the exact opposite of what they would have wanted. And he still liked it too much to let it live on a Greatest Hits album!