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Faceplams: Ugh, sadly I’m too old to have ever listened to NIN at high school, I got into them right from the first album in 1991/92 and I was already 19.
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Ugh, sadly I’m too old to have ever listened to NIN at high school, I got into them right from the first album in 1991/92 and I was already 19.
Down, but not out.
I was also a teenager when The Fragile came out and it actually held my attention and interest much more than Pretty Hate Machine, Broken and The Downward Spiral. I have also thought about that as well, with Nine Inch Nails and music in general. People in general tend to be fans of music that came out before they were born, during their childhood or adolescence, or their early 20s and not a day over 25 at the latest.Originally Posted by eachpassingphase
And while this is common sense in some ways, I think that's why it was nearly impossible for me to find Nine Inch Nails fans born any time beyond 1995 or 1999. From the looks of it, the youngest Nine Inch Nails fans as of the 2010s are usually still older than The Downward Spiral. And not that they don't exist, as I've seen a few fans here admit that they were younger than The Fragile, but it's still just much more rare, since the majority of fans on ETS seem to have been born in the 1970s and 1980s. Even then, it also seems like most of the fans born in the 1980s were also born before 1985, and it's even much more likely to find fans born before 1970 than after 1990-1993 as well.
As for Pretty Hate Machine, it's still one of my favorite albums of all time, but I could still very much understand and accept why it would be far from a fan favorite for some. The lion's share of fan love still goes to TDS and TF anyway.
There's just a thought that I could've been a fan if I had a chance to listen to The Downward Spiral when it came out from any friends if such a thing every happened around ages 9 to 11 at the very least. I'm sure I would've loved it back then in elementary school, but no such chance ever occurred to me. Most people I knew used cassettes more than CDs so I sometimes like to imagined what it would've been like to have checked out TDS on cassette back then. (And then Broken and PHM.)
That was almost the case with me as I was also very late to the game. I even had a chance the check out The Fragile when it first came out, or at least any time during 2000. I wish I had the chance and was encouraged by the very same friend that got me into NIN in 2002 as I just turned 17. He admitted he just wasn't to sure if I would be into it, but I'm so thankful he gave me a chance to know about NIN after he knew that I ended up like Marilyn Manson in 2002.
But the thought of it yet again, just like with my imaginary younger self when TDS came out at the time ironically fills me with regret and imaginary joy/delight at the same time. Back in 2000, I had many fond memories listening to Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock and Eminem a lot. The Fragile would've been easily the perfect album to have me put through into that year, just knowing how much I'd have a blast checking out the discography in reverse with PHM, Broken and TDS. It would've been absolutely and unequivocally more than ideal for my 14 year old self.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 09-15-2019 at 01:40 PM.
Throbbing Member
There are younger fans on the NIN subreddit. I think single-topic message boards like ETS tend to skew older, while places like Reddit have a more diverse age range. But yeah, the fanbase seems to predominately be folks born in the late 70's/early 80's (people who would have been teens/young adults during TDS).
I definitely saw a lot of older teenagers at the Memphis show for most recent tour. I was REALLY excited for that, because when I saw them in KC for the With Teeth tour, I was one of the youngest people there and I was 18 at the time. I remember waiting in the early-entrance waiting area for Spiral members and feeling like a dopey little kid. There weren't as many girls/women then as there seems to be now either.
I'd be interested to see if the audience continues to morph with Trent's recent influx of pop cultural influences (Black Mirror,
I was nobody. Nothing.
I THINK it will, in terms of age, at least, what with NIN becoming more visible.
I also think it's already happening to some extent.
Like, I'm pretty sure there are middle schoolers who are the weird kids listening to Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana and NIN, thinking they were born in the wrong generation, in the same way that, in the early nineties, I was INSANELY obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Rush, and listening to old Heart and The Police and whatnot.
Throbbing Member
r/nin seems to be quite varied yeah, too bad the mods there don't organize anything within the community, there's a lot that could be done with all those types of people in one place. A weekly sticky goes a long way to make people.. talk.
Head like a head
It was unofficially T-Shirt Time for a while there.
*it’s t-shirt time*
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Active Member
What the fuck is the world coming to?
Stubby Member
just came from the future and just wanted to tell you that tomorrow's post at nin.com about the fragile turning 20 years was/is a little plain
Throbbing Member
Come on, tell me you at least love that bass.
Hairy Member
Well, this is the controversial NIN opinions, so here goes... 20 years ago when The Fragile was released, I remember a very strange mixed feeling of "Yeah... this sounds awesome (I was an aspiring sound engineer at the time) but it kinda misses the point..." I found at the time - and my opinion hasn't really changed - that the songs had really good production but didn't talk to me on any level like the three previous records did. TDS, PHM and Broken had a huge influence on my life (TDS is the reason I became a sound engineer), those records helped me through some nasty personal stuff. But somehow, I always felt disconnected when listening o The Fragile. I understand some of the themes, but a lot of this record seems too "obvious" lyrically and the layering of sounds lacked the poetry and forceful impact of TDS. I really didn't want TR to repeat the same record, don't get me wrong, and I didn't have special expectations : I was just really happy to listen to new NIN material. But somehow I could never click with The Fragile as a work of art - although I still recognize all of its musical and technical merits.
Then a few years ago, I discovered the instrumental versions (Deviations) and suddenly I felt deeply impacted by the music and sound layers, the profound madness behind the "production" (a word still strangely used to talk about the construction of the emotional impact of a song). Of course, the passing of time and the experience of growing up plays a role in the change of perception, but I also realized that I thought the record was better to me without lyrics, as if TR's discourse hit me way more musically than lyrically.
Active Member
I've always felt that NIN was never that strong lyrically. The overall sound is more important to me, while the words are secondary. Vocals are like another instrument.
Deviations 1 suffers from a lack of voice. On the original album, the vocals helped to hide the repetitive loop-like nature of how many of the songs are constructed. I find myself getting bored listening to the instrumentals.
Throbbing Member
I will agree that Trent's lyrics aren't his high point, I think many agree with that even with the lyrics improving, especially on The Trilogy, it isn't the main draft of the band, but Trent's vocals are incredibly important and it is one of many things that seperate NIN from its peers, other Industrial Rock/Metal bands had a very different approach to the way they treat their vocals, being far more muffled, distorted, while Trent's vocals tended to be far clearer, even when distorted and muffled they are still far more in the front or would eventually become clear in the chorus (Cease in point; Burning Bright). His vocals are an important part to NIN's music as it is the human element that makes so many people connect to it
Also, the way sings those lyrics is what sells those emotions more than the lyrics themselves
Active Member
TDS does not need Big Man With A Gun on it and would actually work better without it.
Throbbing Member
I that NIN is definitely a music-over-lyrics band, but, while the lyrics aren't exactly beautiful poetry and clever wordplay, TR excels at making songs that are almost solely about a theme. He seems to go through pretty great lengths to keep his lyrics separate from a strict narrative. All of his songs words describe a feeling as opposed to a scenario in which that feeling is felt. I'm never going to gush about his lyrics the way I do people like Stephin Merritt or Conor Oberst, but his ability to write around the narrative instead of writing the narrative outright is pretty impressive.
Throbbing Member
I am going to completely disagree about Trent not being a great lyricist. Some of the best poets use “simple” language to powerful effect. Honestly, it was always his lyrics that I was most drawn in by. He’s always been more confessional, rather than pretentious. It’s not like he isn’t capable of being more obtuse, it’s just not what he’s going for. That’s my take. That said, I’m not going to submit Kinda I Want To for a literary prize, but Hurt? Yeah. It’s poetry.
Active Member
I feel like I should rephrase what I've said before about him as a lyricist. I don't think he's a bad lyricist at all. His words have had a profound effect on me over the years. It's more that his lyrics aren't the main focal point of his work. For the most part, they don't stand out from the music. His music is more about the cumulative effect rather than lyrics over sound, which is a good thing. Some might say that actually DOES make him a good lyricist, and maybe they're right. For me, it just means that he's more concerned with the overall feeling of the track than just the words on the page.
Throbbing Member
Love Is Not Enough is an amazing song, gets over-looked a lot and people barely talk about it, shame, has a lot of impact, that guitar's heavy as hell
Trollhunter
The live version, especially when it opened the With Teeth tour sets, was a fucking killer.
Active Member
This will always stick with me since that 2005 tour was only my 2nd through 5th time seeing NIN, and that 2005 club tour is now the clear return of NIN as an active, bit time project/band. And hearing LINE kicked it all off.
Throbbing Member
The rehearsal version off "Beside You In Time" is also worthy of a mention
Dis-member
LINE should’ve been the first song on WT, too. Yeah that was a great live opener for that era and glad it got pro shot captured.
Since this is the controversial thread and I just typed the above, ATLITW is the weakest opener of any NIN album and WT would’ve been better served with LINE.
Throbbing Member
I do like ATLITW, I feel like it's a nice opener as a distraction, you wouldn't expect.
But I feel like You Know What You Are might have been just as strong as an opener if not better, I don't know, I think a kick in the face from the get-go without any build-up would be awesome, kinda like how Alice In Chains' Dirt opens up. Just imagine starting With_Teeth and those fast-paced drums being the first thing you'd hear.
I guess it makes sense for ATLITW to be an opener thematically, to set up the melancholic, lonely feeling of the album.
The only Nine Inch Nails album which actually does this is Bad Witch, funilly enough, every other album builds-up to that aggressivnes, even Broken does this, interesting. I think it could have worked nicely with With_Teeth too.
Active Member
Do you really consider it weaker than Pinion, 999,999, or The Eater of Dreams?
Throbbing Member
Man, I love those short instrumental openings, they set up the pace really nicely and amazingly transition into the next tracks, 999,999 into 1,000,000 is amazing.
They're nice dark ambient tracks. They need the following track to work though.
Dis-member
I consider the “intro” songs part of the first song (ie Pinion and Wish are the beginning of Broken) for the album.
Some work well as a standalone, like Pinion “live” (it’s pre recorded). Others like TEOD needs it’s accompanied song to work properly.
Just tickles my balls!
Or how the CD version of AATCHB opens up.
Flaccid Member
I kinda feel this. I remember hearing the instrumental of "Somewhat Damaged". There's a synth in there starting at 0:27 that wasn't on the original release. Something about that sound and the way it skews in pitch made my stomach turn the first time I heard it and gave me a whole new respect for that album. Then I go back and listen to the original without it and it's not nearly as captivating and unsettling.
Instrumental link:
Hairy Member
Them Bones is the greatest album opener in the history of rock.
So cold it can sting.
ARGs are so 2000s.
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