I think NIN should put out a rock album with songs on it; structured songs and less abstract.
Not sure why but I was blasting 'Bullet The Blue Sky' by U2 the other day in my car, and then I started thinking about The Cure and how TR praised them.
I know TR isn't U2 or The Cure but.... I wouldn't mind some rock songs (Deep, The Collector, Piggy, Demon Seed, 1,000,000.....)
Doesn't this apply to most of NIN's catalogue?
TR seems to like doing something different every album. With Teeth was his straight-up rock album. Hesitation Marks also had plenty of structured songs. At least half of Bad Witch follows this idea, too, with Shit Mirror, Ahead of Ourselves, and God Break Down The Door.
I'm not sure about structure. Of course every song needs some form of it but I do find it to be quite formulaic. Turning on the radio and listening to the current hits is the same now as it was 20 years ago. The sound is different but the songs are essentially the same old same old. It can get tedious when you know exactly what's going to happen in the next 3 minutes.
All I'm looking for is TRAR to keep doing what they're doing. Surprise us. Make us think. Give us more music to fuck to. Or whatever.
So it's been...Jesus, almost six years since Hesitation Marks was bestowed upon us. I re-listen to it now, and it's such a weird bird.
At the time I saw it as this radical, daring departure, different and somehow familiar, and there's no doubt in my mind the Russell Mills art had a lot to do with that. I'm not alone in this, but for a little while there it was my third-favorite all-time NIN release under TDS and TF. But going back now, and especially in light of the EP trilogy, it's really hard for me to not look at it as, I suppose, a very safe release overall (Everything aside), coming from a guy who maybe wasn't sure what NIN was anymore.
I still do enjoy a good number of the tracks, but that middle section is really all over the place, I think. The fact that Everything and Satellite were written for a greatest hits package kinda seems obvious in retrospect, they stick out like a sore thumb.
I suppose what I wish the most about it is that it had hit just a little harder. I can't be down on TR for the many standout drum machine bits since that was the genesis of the album, but also I can't help but imagine how much having more of a live drum presence would have lifted the album by quite a bit.
Didn't stop me from picking up the vinyl the other day which I'd meant to do since release.
HM is not one of my favorites. The trilogy sounds way more inspired and diverse IMO.
For now, I just wanted to say that I'm sometimes reminded about how the names Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor seem to not just look and sound so good, but also roll off the tongue so well. It's also one of those cases, as least to me, where the musician's actual name looks and sounds just as good as the stage name itself.
As much as the music can and has spoken for itself, even without the videos and live performances, even the names are chock-full of win right there.
Re:HM-there are definitely tracks I LOOOVE on that record: specifically, Copy of A, All Time Low, CBH, and WIST.
There are other tracks that I think are wildly interesting and well crafted, but, I honestly just didn't LISTEN to them enough times.
All in all, I was utterly fascinated with that record, and the new direction in which it went, BUT, at the same time, it didn't encapsulate a lot of things I love about NIN. It may sound cliche, but, a lot of it just wasn't dark/noisy enough. So, I respected it more than I actually LIKED it.
It's a damn fine record, and, if it were the only NIN album, I'd still own it. And, hell, I think I would like it MORE, were that the case.
But, yeah, some of this trilogy stuff seemed like a "return to form."
@Shadaloo , I'm not so sure that HM was INTENTIONALLY "safe, and, also, in a way, I would say that, by being safe, it WASN'T safe, because of how different it was.
But, I feel what you're saying.
I think HM lost a lot of shine after Not the Actual Events came out. Sort of like, when something not all the way satisfying is all you have, it looks pretty good. But then something way better comes along, and the thing you had before starts to look like shit.
I don't think it's that extreme, not for me personally anyway, but I definitely liked HM more before the trilogy came out. It feels very mellow overall, which wasn't something I thought when it first came out.
The EP trilogy has more variety to it, which makes it feels a little fresher when you listen to it. Hesitation Marks is still good in my opinion, but it's a very uniform album with a singular focus. That's not a bad thing per se, but it's definitely something you have to be in the right mood for.
i think that's a good way to describe it. it's like...for several years, the dessert section of the freezer was empty, and then all of a sudden, there was ice cream! and that ice cream was good, even though it was just vanilla, and the ice creams we'd had before were all sorts of different flavors. so we got used to the vanilla and enjoyed it, until the peanut butter fudge brownie showed up with a bottle of sprinkles and a can of whipped cream, and it was kind of like "fuck the vanilla, gimmie dat!"
i haven't slept enough this week, but i think i've made my point. and now i want ice cream.
It is, but I was also going by the credits. I like Michael too, but seeing it start with Trent seemed to give it that type of edge. If I remember correctly, he decided to go by Trent as to not confuse Michael for his father or grandfather.
My memory failed me right now. (But I still remembered that he really is Michael too.)
Demon Seed should be played live
Last's bassline is really badass and it's a shame that it's mixed so low you can barely hear it.
I never really liked Last as it seemed too straightforward of a rock song, now I think about it that doesn’t really make sense as a reason, I should probably give Broken a proper listen all the way through which I haven’t in years
Absolutely agree here, especially about adding some live drums which is something I've been saying for a while and would have helped give the album more edge. I find the album stays leveled throughout, never really feels like it peaks or troughs, just stays flat and I become a bit bored. The drum machine angle gets a bit stale after a while and verses/choruses/bridges begin to blend into each other. I do like In Two. Tracks sound much better live and I wish we got more of that band feeling in the studio. Release studio versions of the live performances of tracks and I will enjoy it much more.
we've been spoiled by the constant flow of new music from trent in all it's forms. been a little while now & i am totally jonesing for new stuff!
TNT’s Animal Kingdom comes back for a new season next month, which has previously featured The Background World and I’m Not From This World in recent episodes, not to mention the theme song (Welcome To The Jungle) being done by TRAR. They should totally step it up a notch and write a full-fledged song for the series, IMO.
Was playing planet coaster and i think NIN should open a fun park, wouldn't you want to ride a roller-coaster called the downward spiral? Get lost in the Perfect Maze or make a decision to go up above it or down into the rather nice but unpleasant Pretty Hate Machine? Try and keep on your feet in The Slip? Avoid getting green goo on you riding on 'The Deep'? Take a terrifying walk around the house with 36 ghosts? Not being able to ride 'Broken' because it's broken.
Sorry, too much coffee today.
Last edited by Reaps; 04-16-2019 at 06:42 AM.