Controversial Nine Inch Nails opinions

[Halo Infinity]

Were there really people here saying that Hesitation Marks was better than The Fragile?That has to count. Then again, I also recall opinions stating that With Teeth was also better than The Fragile. Not that I'm trying to argue, but it was shocking in some ways, and well, mission accomplished, since that's controversy for you.

Oh yes, and like my opinion regarding the original versions of Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral, perhaps it's best to just check out the regular version of Hesitation Marks first. I also forgot to mention With Teeth the last time as well. I guess I just think it's better to have the regular albums grace the ears of first-time listeners.

[mindviolation]

- The Fragile > TDS by 100 miles
- God Given and Head Down are some of my favorite tracks post Fragile era
- We're in this Together is the best NIN single ever
- I love TF but I really hate Pilgrimage. I can never like it.
- I really like The Slip
- I am sick and tired of listening to Hurt live. I think the NIN closing song should be Leaving Hope
- I love The Collector
- I am getting tired of Wish being played live also.
- I went to the final Wiltern show during Wave Goodbye and told everyone I knew who went to the Echoplex show (which was originally the last show) to go suck it cause my show became the last one.

The end.

[somewhat_]

I'm not sure how controversial this is:

This setlist needs to change for the Tension tour! While I appreciate certain variations of tracks they are performing and I have been spoiled to see 20 shows since the year 2000, I'm going to be fairly disappointed to only have the new HM songs and Sanctified as the only new material I witness on the 3 upcoming shows I attend.

[sheepdean]

I'm not sure how controversial this is:

This setlist needs to change for the Tension tour! While I appreciate certain variations of tracks they are performing and I have been spoiled to see 20 shows since the year 2000, I'm going to be fairly disappointed to only have the new HM songs and Sanctified as the only new material I witness on the 3 upcoming shows I attend.

I disagree so much. The band isn't playing the show for the dozen people who are going to every show on the tour, they're playing it for the people who are only going to one, the people there, that night. So they'll play the new songs that work best, the ones people want to hear. It'd be great for bootleggers and crazies to have new stuff every night, but harder for the band, harder for the production team and most fans wouldn't appreciate it and instead wish he'd played Closer, Hurt, THTF or whatever he had to drop to fit in Videodrones; Questions.

[somewhat_]

I disagree so much. The band isn't playing the show for the dozen people who are going to every show on the tour, they're playing it for the people who are only going to one, the people there, that night. So they'll play the new songs that work best, the ones people want to hear. It'd be great for bootleggers and crazies to have new stuff every night, but harder for the band, harder for the production team and most fans wouldn't appreciate it and instead wish he'd played Closer, Hurt, THTF or whatever he had to drop to fit in Videodrones; Questions.

I'm not really looking for a varied setlist from night to night. I understand that the production will probably limit the setlist being changed up every night. I should have made my point more clearly; The setlist for Tension 2013 needs to be somewhat drastically different from the setlist from NIN2013.

Here is an example of songs that are somewhat rare or could make their live debut:

Sunspots
And All that Could Have Been
Leaving Hope
Happiness in Slavery
Please
The Perfect Drug (I know it's not going to happen)
My Violent Heart
Demon Seed

Hell, the setlist itself will be longer this time around and there are plenty of songs that could be swapped out without getting rid of all the "greatest hits".

[sheepdean]

A song making its live debut isn't as important as a show being good though. Why do Leaving Hope if he wants loud arenas? It would be lost. And remember, having a song played only once or twice still means dozens of hours of rehearsal time for that track, both by band and production team. So long as he wants the (gorgeous) stage effects, he'll not be able to do as much variation.

[Dethbryte]

i think aaron north was nin's best live guitarist and i love the extra flair he added to songs.
especially seen in closer.
(why yes i'm listening to the with teeth rehearsals all over again)

[Halo Infinity]

As much as I'm with the overall idea of introducing most first-time listeners to Pretty Hate Machine through The Downward Spiral and/or The Fragile, I also thought that it's also a good idea to throw With Teeth into the mix as well. And from the looks of it, sometimes Broken and The Downward Spiral seem to drive first-time listeners away from NIN, and Pretty Hate Machine, The Fragile, and With Teeth seem to be better starting points. Year Zero and anything beyond Year Zero seem like they'd be better to get into after all the older stuff, but of course it also depends on the first-time listener's tastes as well.

Perhaps there could also be a thread on introducing NIN to new listeners. I'm not sure if there already is one though, but if not, perhaps I'll make one.

[digshake]

Haven't I been hearing about some new album something something hesitation something?

Call me crazy but I'd like to see those songs debuted during the upcoming tour. I know we've gotten a few already but I'd like to see him play half the album or more at each stop.

[chroipahtz]

Haven't I been hearing about some new album something something hesitation something?

Call me crazy but I'd like to see those songs debuted during the upcoming tour. I know we've gotten a few already but I'd like to see him play half the album or more at each stop.

Well, there are 3 weeks until the next show (2.5 weeks until that rehearsal show), so hopefully they are spending this time learning some new songs for the tour. (Cross your fingers.)

[mindviolation]

I'm not really looking for a varied setlist from night to night. I understand that the production will probably limit the setlist being changed up every night. I should have made my point more clearly; The setlist for Tension 2013 needs to be somewhat drastically different from the setlist from NIN2013.

Here is an example of songs that are somewhat rare or could make their live debut:

Sunspots
And All that Could Have Been
Leaving Hope
Happiness in Slavery
Please
The Perfect Drug (I know it's not going to happen)
My Violent Heart
Demon Seed

Hell, the setlist itself will be longer this time around and there are plenty of songs that could be swapped out without getting rid of all the "greatest hits".

Honestly if he just added We're In This Together and In Two live, I would be happy. I think he should play either Disappointed or Find My Way and not both of them. They are both kind of similar in terms of pace. I want to see more of the faster songs from HM such as In Two or Satellite. I already love Copy of A live. And no, TPD won't happen lol.

[somewhat_]

A song making its live debut isn't as important as a show being good though. Why do Leaving Hope if he wants loud arenas? It would be lost. And remember, having a song played only once or twice still means dozens of hours of rehearsal time for that track, both by band and production team. So long as he wants the (gorgeous) stage effects, he'll not be able to do as much variation.

You might be right about Leaving Hope being lost in loud arenas.

My hope is that they had already rehearsed a fairly different set list for the Tension tour (based around the different production) before the NIN2013 tour even started, especially since they only have three weeks to rehearse between tours.

I'm still somewhat hopeful:

TR:

"But you can get comfortable playing to your own audience all the time. We're about to embark on an arena tour in the U.S. here — that will be our audience. And what's good about that is I feel we can get away with more things, we can stretch your attention span further, I can play songs that I feel are more challenging. But you're also walking into a home-court advantage every night. Sometimes it's humbling and can be beneficial in a sense that you still have something that you have to prove."

[Transfixed]

He could play In Two 15 times in a row and I'd call it a kick ass show.

[joplinpicasso]

Copy Of A and In Two are two of the finest, smartest NIN songs ever.

Into The Void taught me, on a personal level, that I can dislike and loath certain negative aspects of myself but I could dance them away and everything would be alright. It's such a cheeky yet dark song, I think it's nearly the perfect NIN song. Done.

[Emil Dorbell]

Copy Of A and In Two are two of the finest, smartest NIN songs ever.

No doubt about it.

[slave2thewage]

i think aaron north was nin's best live guitarist and i love the extra flair he added to songs.
especially seen in closer.
(why yes i'm listening to the with teeth rehearsals all over again)

Aaron made me realize how painfully banal Robin's playing is.

[dlb]

The whole with_teeth tour went on for too long IMHO eventhough I love the record. I'd rather have a live DVD of the club shows together with more rehearsal footage than a documentation of the winter 2005 and especially summer 2006 tour.

Looking back it also was damn time that Josh Eustis joined the band! No band member has managed it to catch my attention as quickly as he did. He fits in perfectly!

My dream lineup right now would be:

TR (wait, what?)
Eustis (look above)
Freese (I find it pretty admirable how many instruments Ilan can play and how he fits in the show, but on the drums you can't go without Freese)
Cortini/Clouser (guess I'd go with Cortini, but Clouser I hold dear, also: theremin!!!)
Finck (there are certain songs where I enjoy North's playing more, but Finck is my overall choice)

In the long run Trent has always made the right choices when it comes to the lineup as each era demanded a different setup and fit his needs. Guess that's another reason why live NIN is so special as I would have loved to see every lineup at least once. Hence why the current line up is always "the best one yet" among fans. :P

[r_z]

In the long run Trent has always made the right choices when it comes to the lineup as each era demanded a different setup and fit his needs. Guess that's another reason why live NIN is so special as I would have loved to see every lineup at least once. Hence why the current line up is always "the best one yet" among fans. :P

So far it's rather been "the best one yet" among Reznors.

[nemesiswontdie]

I really think that Terrible Lie should have been the first single instead of Down In It.

[slave2thewage]

Oh, if we're doing dream lineups:

Alessandro Cortini, Josh Eustis, Josh Freese, Aaron North, Trent Reznor, Ilan Rubin (cello/synths/add. percussion).

[Amaro]

My dream lineup came true, though I only got to see it once: WT club era. (Yes, hold the Freese. Le controversy.)

And to boot, Trent was on a special kind of fire then, so it's like...right, I've lived the dream.

[Failure]

My optimal lineup would be Trent with Richard Patrick, Danny Lohner, Josh Freese, and Chris Vrenna (synth, keys). I love all the incarnations though, except for the one with Alex Crappytime.

[chroipahtz]

Freese doesn't fit. He's too cheery.

And I want Cortini to be involved with everything Trent does. Based on all the reviews I've been reading, if Trent wants to go back to his electronic roots, then he needs Cortini at his side. Alessandro is a synth wizard. I also want this so I get to hear him pursue darker/more distorted synth work.

[tony.parente]

They dropped the ball on the packaging/merch this album cycle.

There is nothing appealing enough about the physical packaging on this album for anyone to go out and buy it in a physical format unless you are a hardcore fan or collector.

The deluxe version should have been the standard, there's nothing deluxe about it.

The vinyl packaging is boring.

The packaging is about 1/10th as exciting as the music.

Seriously though, everything about this album physically has been a major fail IMO.

Music is a 9/10 though.

[goingincirclez]

They dropped the ball on the packaging/merch this album cycle...

AGREED on all counts. Although the WT era was pretty lackluster as well.


You know what would have been fucking awesome? Take the Deluxe Edition packaging, blow it all up to 12x12, and replace the cds with Vinyls. FUCK that would be a g o r g e o u s package, worthy of a coffee table presentation or something. I'd pay a good chunk o change to have something like that.

[sheepdean]

You know what would have been fucking awesome? Take the Deluxe Edition packaging, blow it all up to 12x12, and replace the cds with Vinyls. FUCK that would be a g o r g e o u s package, worthy of a coffee table presentation or something. I'd pay a good chunk o change to have something like that.

Agreed ... but only as a deluxe, still have a standard release. It pissed me off no end that the vinyl for TGWTDT was deluxe-only, some of us love vinyl but don't have $300 to drop on an album.

[goingincirclez]

Actually on the subject of packaging, my own separate opinion: I *HATE* (loathe, despise, abhor, detest, etc etc) digipacks! There is nothing "premium" or value-added about them. In fact to me they seem downright cheap. In the NPR interview Trent says he's trying to spare fans the aggravation of opening a plastic case, but shit: you can tear or fuzz the edges of a cardboard sleeve while removing the shrinkwrap just as easily as you might crack plastic. At least if you crack a standard case, replacements are a buck a dozen. Digipacks wear out noticeably, don't always fit media shelves well, and his only truly creative use of them was Broken which I admit was clever. And maybe TDS' booklet was an easier fit, but that still required a slim jewel case. Maybe The Fragile gets a pass here too, since it was a double album and most double-disc plastic cases suck. But I wish all the other single-disc releases wish were in standard cases.

[Sutekh]

I think what he meant by jewel cases exploding is that they're more likely to get damaged in transit than digipacks (so all the bits fly everywhere when you take off the shrinkwrap). But yep digipacks look cheap IMO, always thought it was a shame that the With Teeth packaging was basically the same level as the "every day..." single. TBH I would prefer just digital downloads and the artwork in a book sized hardback book ala the special edition of Amnesiac or the deluxe edition of "journal for plague lovers" by the manics

[Khrz]

To be honest, I looked at the regular edition of HM (jewel case in France) and without a booklet, it looks cheap as hell too. And it would hurt a bit to introduce the new plastic member to the whole rest of the NIN digipack family (yeah remixes don't count)...

[Amaro]

Umm...I think the Deluxe Edition has merit... Not perfect, but hey.