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Faceplams: *faints*Originally Posted by antediluvian
Just tickles my balls!
*faints*
Active Member
Really? What about it made you think of her? If anything, it sounds like an outtake from Year Zero.
Administrator
I don't think it sounds anything like YZ, if you forget the lyrics for a second and just listen to music
Flaccid Member
The vocal melody in the verse, mostly. I imagined it sung by Rhianna in my head pretty soon. On top, the sounds of the drums gave it a R&B-like feeling which it didn't help(it was Satellite, I listened it back)
sorry
Banned
The Hez Marks debate rages on..
I fucking love that album. It's my favorite album of his to listen to on headphones. It always amazes me how the songs sound so bare and simplistic on the surface, and yet there is a constant building up and breaking down of layers happening in virtually every song. Each track has a bunch of different things going on in it, but it never sounds too busy or like it's meandering aimlessly..
Active Member
Hesitation Marks >>>>>> Downward Spiral. HM is probably my third favorite record of theirs behind year zero and the fragile.
Throbbing Member
Hang on, this^ ranking can't be right because:
Hesitation Marks >>>>>> Year Zero
Throbbing Member
I think that Hesitation Marks was fantastic, but it belongs in the context of a history that no longer exists. A branch of our timeline that came crashing to an end a couple years later. The ideas that were expressed in it, of being able to look back at a destructive past and feel some sense of hope - at least enough at the possibility of change... it all feels weird in 2021. We have been through so much, had so much collective trauma, it can't possibly sit right anymore. It's like movies - we have a hard time with an adult movie having a happy ending anymore. We just don't believe it. Doesn't feel plausible. And Hesitation Marks is far from happy ending - the end in fact represents a feeling of coming doom. But the protagonist feels a sense of connection. A little but of "shit is coming down around me but i'm okay. But who can connect with "I'm okay" anymore. This is now the era of "Not Anymore". Mouth taped shut. Crippled and frozen with fear. If we were in better times maybe the Trilogy would feel weird.
Art is all about its context.
Banned
I am still trying to grasp the concept of a NIN fan not liking PHM.....To me it is like a Depeche Mode fan saying they don't like Black Celebration.....PHM is a fucking masterpiece. To bridge the dark industrial of bands like Skinny Puppy and Ministry with the more synth pop sounds of New Order and Depeche Mode.....with that VOICE on top of it. Perfection. "Something I Can Never Have" is the single greatest song TR has ever written. "Head Like a Hole" still sounds ahead of its time. I can't think of a single song in the NIN discography that comes off more intense in a live setting than "Terrible Lie". Yeah theres a song or 2 that sound dated ("Kinda, I Want To" specifically) but nostalgia is IN these days so even that song works well. "Thats What I Get" is the most underrated song in the entire catalog. Even by TR himself since it hasn't been played live since 1991. I am glad they went down darker terrain after this album but you would be hard pressed to find a band that released such a masterpiece as their debut
For the record
SICNH >>>>>> Hurt
Last edited by Helpmeiaminhell (is now in hell); 07-26-2021 at 12:47 PM.
Flaccid Member
I feel the same with The Slip. The whole concept of putting out an entire album in free download was not so popular those days for a famous artist, but nowadays it’s no longer applicable since you can listen to any album for free all the times you want. I also believe that the immediacy with with The Slip was created can be tied to this concept, it was kinda “Since it’s free you can’t really complain” even if it didn’t have concepts and/or sound design of the previous records.
Yes, Ghosts 5-6 were free as well but it has the *slight* difference of the world pandemic and it isn’t a “full band album” if you know what I mean
Last edited by antediluvian; 07-26-2021 at 02:40 PM.
Flaccid Member
Fwiw I’m not really a fan of synthpop-ish music, and PHM to me mostly sounds as such. As I said I love the studio versions of Head like a hole and Something I can never have, but I prefer by far the “updated” live versions of the others
Just tickles my balls!
I love everything about PHM. Play me Kinda I Want To and That’s What I Get in new live incarnations back to back any day. In fact, play it sequentially with its b-sides and top it off with a live version of the Opal mix of HLAH. Imagine that.
Stubby Member
Listening to NTAE for the first time will always be one of my all-time-favourite NIN moments for this very reason. After HM, I really thought we would see future releases continue down a similar trajectory -- more minimalist sounds, less of the harsh vocals, a continuation of the "reflectively optimistic" theme, immaculate production, etc. It honestly made sense to me; Ghosts > The Slip > HTDA > score work > HM all seemed to point towards a transition into a more toned-down electronic sound. If you would have told me that three years after HM I would be listening to a raw, violent, nihilistic, guitar-heavy NIN record, I'm not sure I would have believed it.
I still haven't quite wrapped my head around Bad Witch and I honestly have no idea where NIN will go from here, and that's hugely exciting.
Flaccid Member
Same! When NTAE went out, I hit play and I was SCARED
Active Member
I love PHM, but I feel like some of the songs are much better in a live arrangement like Terrible Lie and Sin.
Active Member
Personally, I've never felt that way about the album. I think people tend to see it as a lighter album than its predecessors simply because of the production, but to me, it's always felt like the production was designed to contrast the narrative of the album. There's this creeping dread that lurks just beneath the glassy surface, and the feeling that something may violently burst forth if it gets the chance to. These days, I feel like Hesitation Marks is a harbinger of the doom and gloom of the EP trilogy. It may not sound like those EPs, but there is a definite connection to them. It's like the calm before the storm.
Just tickles my balls!
I will blatantly and at every opportunity post my recording from 2009 of SICNH simply because he is so fucking intense in delivering it. And that vocal fade out he adds at the end gets me every time. He’s ferociously emotional for some reason. And that subtle little tapping of the mic stand…
In fact, because I missed recording the first line of the song, might anyone be able…. @TheBang, @ninlive @Jon…. or Matt @Leviathant… might anyone be able to grab an audio bootleg recorded of this gig and overdub it with the video footage? Maybe for the first line just leave it black and slowly fade the video in? I’ve wanted that done for years but always forget. I can upload the original raw file somewhere if you like. Actually @fillow , Jon said you might be able to do this? I think my raw .mov files are on the NIN drive.
edit: @Helpmeiaminhell, since we’re both fans of Dave Gahan and NO, did you read my anecdote about meeting Bernard and the rest in the Type O Negative thread? Check it out if you haven’t. Also, a favour to ask you: Depeche Mode haven’t been down here since… dun dun dun… 1994! Not once! Please convince them to come here on their next tour so I can die happily. Ta.
Last edited by Erneuert; 07-28-2021 at 11:17 PM.
Dis-member
HM sounds pretty damn cool on a good stereo- particularly if you like bass- I’ll give it that. Many of the songs are weak on their own though and don’t particularly care for how Trent presents his vocals throughout most of it. I get that age catches up with people, but still.
And yeah, PHM still kicks ass all these years later. Not every song is great but love the energy of it and can tell it came from someone “hungry” to make it. One of the best debut albums of all time.
Throbbing Member
you know, I think you are right about that actually.
Throbbing Member
I feel like something nin related is going to happen today...
Stubby Member
Anything in mind?
Throbbing Member
I like NTAE more than Broken
Throbbing Member
I guess another one would be is that I think that Pretty Hate Machine is easily the worst album, it is still very good but if I were to rank the discography it would go at the very bottom very easily, I still like it a lot though
Throbbing Member
Well I guess, nevermind... I woke up feeling like something was going to happen. New album/ song/ announcement... I don't know... It's the beginning of August and some shows are coming up and they said they where going to start working on new material... and as a kid Thursdays are when new releases came out... I don't know.
Flaccid Member
Honestly? I agree. As a debut album, PHM is very strong, and even good, but it doesn't have the same quality as everything that came after it, particularly when it comes to lyrics (then again, there isn't a single NIN album I dislike, so what do I know?).
Active Member
It's impossible for me to look at PHM objectively since I grew up with it starting at age 11. I'm pretty positive I would still rate it higher than The Slip and a few others if I was hearing them all for the first time, but my personal relationship with it makes it one of my favorite albums of all time.
Active Member
Almost the same for me. I grew up with it starting at age 15, and it still ranks very high.
Active Member
I've always felt that Pretty Hate Machine was the sound of a man divided. It has one foot in the synth pop sounds of the bands he was in before Nine Inch Nails came into being, and one foot in the hard rock/electronic sound that Trent would go on to refine over the next few albums. For that reason, it's never felt as cohesive as his other albums, which is why I still rank it at the bottom. It's a good album overall, but it's definitely feels like a transitional moment.
Also, Kinda I Want To and That's What I Get are total cheese dip.
Flaccid Member
I totally get this too. Considering HLAH, Sin, and Terrible Lie were written after his chunk of songs for his demo, I usually group those as his “oh wait I’m angsty I gotta write some angsty songs” afterthoughts and it’s an interesting separation between those two vibes.I've always felt that Pretty Hate Machine was the sound of a man divided. It has one foot in the synth pop sounds of the bands he was in before Nine Inch Nails came into being, and one foot in the hard rock/electronic sound that Trent would go on to refine over the next few albums. For that reason, it's never felt as cohesive as his other albums, which is why I still rank it at the bottom. It's a good album overall, but it's definitely feels like a transitional moment.
Also, Kinda I Want To and That's What I Get are total cheese dip.
Stubby Member
I talked some shit about Pretty Hate Machine earlier, and while no one's called me out specifically, I would like to clarify my thoughts and feelings on the album. It was the first NIN album I heard, so it's got that going for it (although it's not the album that got me into NIN - that would be The Fragile). But I think as I've gotten older, I've also grown less interested in pop music, and gotten way more into weird, experimental stuff. So that's probably why the last 3 EPs resonated more with me, because they felt a bit more unexpected.
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