>sheepdean's stream of consciousness
It has connected with fans because it's fucking good. Also, it represents a journey of a man in a depressive, suicidal and obsessive state which people can connect to on any part of their mental health journey, rather than focusing on just aggression or sadness as many similarly themed albums do.
♪Downward Spiral motif♪
Hersey is not anti-God or religion, Closer is not [just] about fucking, Big Man is critical of the attitudes represented. There are a couple of interviews that talk about the sampling done then which I love - and as a resource, try
http://www.nin-pages.de/interviews.htm
The only album to be performed in its entirety live (and more than once), Soft Cell influence is fascinating as there's themes from Last Night In Sodom and a SC song was covered in single releases.
And, if at any point you find anything about Just Do It, hit a man up because that's a fascination for me. Also but lesser so The Beauty Of The Drug.
Piggy was Richard Patrick's nickname (apparently) so read into that as you will
The cover art is a painting called Wound