Controversial Nine Inch Nails opinions

[Elke]

Dude, WITH_TEETH is awesome. If for no other reason than it marks the rebirth of the Treznor.

But seriously, that album has a lot going for it. Yes, it's poppy and accessible and whatever. I've never been one for too much TDS wank, and compared to that everything is light entertainment, inlcuding Hesitation Marks. The only song on W_T that I never really got was Love Is Not Enough, but I can still appreciate it as a solid song. It probably has some of the best lyrics Trent ever wrote (or definitely, if you prefer the glass half empty approach, the least bad lyrics), just technically speaking [break out the flip-flops to contradict that]. It has some beautiful sonic landschapes (the second half of ATLITW, Sunspots, BYIT, RWIB]. It has some stuff you can actually vacuum to, that doesn't make you want to kill yourself, like THTF or The Collector. It has some actual singing, which is always a bonus. It has real drums, played by Dave Grohl. Also awesome. It has Home (at least my version does), which is fucking beautiful. It has really nice artwork.

I guess it just depends on what your entrypoint was into NIN, whether you like certain songs or albums, or not. If you get hard listening to Fixed, W_T's probably not going to be it for you. But on the whole, it's not bad. It's definitely not a whole album of Deep.

[Amaro]

oh nos double post

[Kyle]

It has some beautiful sonic landschapes (the second half of ATLITW, Sunspots, BYIT, RWIB]. It has some stuff you can actually vacuum to,

Mostly because of the vacuum cleaner solo in Sunspots.

[Amaro]

I dunno if it's because I've always been in love with the beat, or what, but Love Is Not Enough is an essential With Teeth track for me. From the moment I first heard it, till today. It's simple, and seething, Trent's vocals being a huge part of that. The production is ace too.

For you to go and take THIIIIIIIIIS...nnnmsmash it apart...

Love Is Not Enough factoid: It was the first song written for With Teeth.

Also on the subject of With Teeth--apparently a great deal of the album's songs (if not all?) were originally written on piano.

[accelestar]

I *hate* Piggy. I always skip it when listening to TDS or any live album. I think it's such a boring waste of time that I get physically angry when they devote a spot to it in a setlist. I can't place exactly why I hate it so much, but I just find it far too boring and uninteresting to spend any time listening to.

[Krazy]

I *hate* Piggy. I always skip it when listening to TDS or any live album. I think it's such a boring waste of time that I get physically angry when they devote a spot to it in a setlist. I can't place exactly why I hate it so much, but I just find it far too boring and uninteresting to spend any time listening to.

Agreed. Outside of the physical copy of TDS it's deleted from everything else. The 'Nothing Can Stop Me Now' live version is pretty damn good though.

[ninedead]

ok so i guess this will be a controversial opinion but it seems like 'While I'm Still Here (Breyer P-Orridge 'Howler' remix)' is trent showing us that he can still put out a song that could fit on TDS but he just doesnt want to haha. this is nothing against HM or any other album but this song is just so good and i wish we could get a whole album like this again.

[kel]

"vessel" and "my violent heart" are completely unlistenable. also, "reptile" has always sucked.

and i would have LIVED for the briefly possible aaliyah-reznor collab.

[Elke]

"vessel" and "my violent heart" are completely unlistenable.

Oh dear me, if only I'd known that before, I'd have stopped myself from playing them both on repeat for days when they first came out!

*cough* Seriously. What's wrong with them?

[screwdriver]

I can't tell -- is it controversial to like With Teeth or to NOT like With Teeth?

I fucking love that album. Just speaking sonically, nothing else sounds like it and I think it gets ignored for how rad the production is. It merged garage drums, modular synths, piano, and super harsh guitars, and the whole thing works way better than it would if most anyone else tried that. I just fucking LOVE the way that record sounds.

Coincidentally, the songs that I'm really blasé about from that record these days are the ones he's still playing -- THTF and Only -- which are also the ones that don't sonically fit what I just described.

I think the lyrics for the most part are pretty fuckin' ok, with some clunkers (The Collector UGH) but also some moments of real crystaline beauty. I think there's something really raw about the fatalistic terror of YKWYA that gives me shivers, even though it's really 'simple' lyrically.

I can't really rank NIN albums, because they're so varied sonically it's a different day of the week thing, but I think this is an excellent entry.

[Akuratyde]

I can't tell -- is it controversial to like With Teeth or to NOT like With Teeth?

I fucking love that album. Just speaking sonically, nothing else sounds like it and I think it gets ignored for how rad the production is. It merged garage drums, modular synths, piano, and super harsh guitars, and the whole thing works way better than it would if most anyone else tried that. I just fucking LOVE the way that record sounds.

I agree. It's nice to see some people praising "With Teeth". I see a lot of WT hate on here and don't really understand why. Personally, it's one of my favorite NIN albums. I think ManBurning makes a great point about looking at the tracklists and thinking about how many songs you like on a given record, but I also think you need to take into account how much you like those songs.

[Butterscotch]

You know, I've only been here for a few days, and I can already tell that this thread definitely lives up to its name.

[steelnails95]

I love You Know What You Are

[pigpen]

People who say they can listen to The Fragile 100 times and hear something different in each track, each time are full of shit.
It's a great album, but come on..

[kel]

People who say they can listen to The Fragile 100 times and hear something different in each track, each time are full of shit.
It's a great album, but come on..

y'know, there are times i think it's immersive and great, but others it's just indulgent and almost boring.

[Leviathant]

People who say they can listen to The Fragile 100 times and hear something different in each track, each time are full of shit.
It's a great album, but come on..

So in the ten years that between The Downward Spiral and the 5.1 Deluxe 10th anniversary edition of The Downward Spiral, I probably listened to the album more times than there are days during that span. Figured I knew it front to back, and knew every tiny little sound that could possibly be on that album. And then the surround version came out, and at first I thought, there must be new stuff he added in here, since he had all the multitracks kicking around. And while for Big Man with a Gun, I'm pretty sure they re-recorded parts of that track, the rest of the album - all the 'new' parts that I thought had been added in... were there on my old CD, all along.

The Fragile takes that and multiplies it by at least fivefold. Have you ever inverted the phase on Just Like You Imagined, to where you can hear Mike Garson punching the piano keys, and the lower frequency synth buzzing that is otherwise unnoticeable in the thick of the mix? Or heard the flute in Starfuckers? The multitude of layers in TDTWWA - even if it's just tracks upon tracks of guitars and vocals, modulating in the stereo field.

There's stuff buried in The Fragile that you definitely hear better in high fidelity, that would be more audible in a surround mix.

[pigpen]

So in the ten years that between The Downward Spiral and the 5.1 Deluxe 10th anniversary edition of The Downward Spiral, I probably listened to the album more times than there are days during that span. Figured I knew it front to back, and knew every tiny little sound that could possibly be on that album. And then the surround version came out, and at first I thought, there must be new stuff he added in here, since he had all the multitracks kicking around. And while for Big Man with a Gun, I'm pretty sure they re-recorded parts of that track, the rest of the album - all the 'new' parts that I thought had been added in... were there on my old CD, all along.

The Fragile takes that and multiplies it by at least fivefold. Have you ever inverted the phase on Just Like You Imagined, to where you can hear Mike Garson punching the piano keys, and the lower frequency synth buzzing that is otherwise unnoticeable in the thick of the mix? Or heard the flute in Starfuckers? The multitude of layers in TDTWWA - even if it's just tracks upon tracks of guitars and vocals, modulating in the stereo field.

There's stuff buried in The Fragile that you definitely hear better in high fidelity, that would be more audible in a surround mix.

I'm not saying it's not there.. And you kind of illustrated what I was getting at.

[pigpen]

I wouldn't exactly call it boring, it's a beast of an album and to me wastes not a single moment.. It's just not the endlessly complex
record that everyone builds it up to be.
I actually can't believe it when I see people call it bloated and that it should have been cut down to a single record.. FOR SHAME!!!
There's never been an instance where I wished there was LESS nine inch nails material in existence..

[Sarah K]

I fucking love With Teeth. And all of PHM.

I want to violently molest Ilan.

HM has been super disappointing after the first couple of listens - this could change.

I agree with the earlier statements of Pilgrimage. I cannot fucking stand that shit. One time I may or may not have been under the influence of some weird ass shit, and listening to that song literally made me start gagging. It was one of the most fucked up experiences of my life.

[eversonpoe]

I want to violently molest Ilan.

you know, you could have gone with "i want to make sweet, sweet love to ilan" or "seduce him" or something...but you had to go with a rape joke?

[tony.parente]

you know, you could have gone with "i want to make sweet, sweet love to ilan" or "seduce him" or something...but you had to go with a rape joke?

You mirin her controversial nine inch nails related post in the controversial nine inch nails opinions thread brah?

[BenAkenobi]

reading all the fragile talk, i started wondering, if (Left) and (Right) were released separately (perhaps a full year apart), would it benefit Trent? would it benefit listeners? for 5 years now i play it one CD at a time, randomly. feels alright, not too diluted or bloated as others pointed out. i think (Right) can take the title The big come down.
--edit--

...Pilgrimage. I cannot fucking stand that shit...

How old are you?

[Khrz]

reading all the fragile talk, i started wondering, if (Left) and (Right) were released separately (perhaps a full year apart), would it benefit Trent? would it benefit listeners?

I started to think so a few years back. Trent already mentioned he probably should have gone the Radiohead route and make a Kid A/Amnesiac release instead of a double album, and yeah, I think so. The right side especially would have benefited from one more year of pondering, I think. Left is very coherent, while I consider Right to be a bit all over the place (damnit Starfuckers, you really fuck it up, I love you but it's true).

[Halo Infinity]

When considering and listening to Trent's previous endeavors and influences prior to NIN, Everything wasn't surprising to me at all. And aside from liking it, I think that's also why it didn't bother me at all too.

[eayost]

While The Fragile has more individual highs than With Teeth, I think when considered as a total package, With Teeth is a better album. :/

[nowimdowninit]

Trent needs to go ahead and go all Ozzy and get a teleprompter so he can get all the words right in at least one show.

[Fred]

I don't like Hurt very much. I love the Johnny Cash cover and the duet with David Bowie, but the Nine Inch Nails version mostly bores me, and yes. I already knew the original by heart when Cash covered it.

I've also always found Something I Can Never Have incredibly dull. More so than Hurt. Would someone just give him what he thinks he can't have so he'll step away from the confounded piano and play... I dunno, Reptile or something? It's not that Trent can't write quiet songs. I like Right Where It Belongs, Lights In the Sky, Find My Way and everything on Still. Except, of course, for that one song. Sigh.

Both songs have gotten infinitely better on the 2013 tour, though. In fact, the Outside Lands version of SICNH is the only recording of it I actually like. And as for Hurt, I love that they've been ditching it at more than a few European gigs this time around. Because, you know, maybe there are other ways of ending a gig than with drunken singalong and lighters/mobile phones ablaze?

[Sarah K]

I meant it in a BDSM consensual nonconsent way...

[Ichiro]

Why, oh why does Pilgrimage exist? If there ever was a single NIN song I could elide from an album, this disruptive blighter would be the one.

Nonetheless, I've come around to Even Deeper, a track I had never much cared for.

[Butterscotch]

Does disliking Pilgrimage count as a controversial opinion anymore? Because it actually seems to be a common opinion in this thread.

(for the record, I think it's an okay song)