I understand what you mean. There is something unique and special about that period of NIN, and indeed that era of music in general. The first half of the 1990s was truly a golden age for rock music (NIN, AIC, PJ, Nirvana, Soundgarden, RATM, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.), and I am so glad that i got to live though it and experience it when it was new and fresh. That said, I love all eras of NIN, with The Fragile being my favorite NIN album.
I know what you mean, too. Back when NIN was dangerous and it seemed like you could almost get a bad reputation just by being a fan. Wearing a NIN shirt at school was, like, the edgiest thing ever and it felt like being part of a dark little esoteric club. Yup, I miss those days.
yes. this. in rural southern idaho, no doubt.
i'll be 34 this november and became a fan at 13. i agree that it was a really special and important time for young fans. i remember knowing a senior that *knew* someone who went to self destruct in salt lake. i was in awe.
there are lots of distinct memories the years following tds, too -- waiting anxiously with my fingers on play/record for simon rex to debut "the perfect drug" (and quickly wearing that tape out), standing outside musicland with my best friend the day 'closure' came out so we could get (what we thought) was both copies they likely had in stock, etc.
it was fantastic and obsessive and (sometimes) scary, but just a lot of fucking fun.
If the Internet hadn't proliferated, if iTunes, amazon, and torrents were never a thing and people still had to go to an actual shop to buy music, I wonder if this feeling would still be with us now.
Buying a record is like making a statement. Going up to the counter and handing over something deemed to be controversial while the latest pop drivel blares in the background is a pretty big thing.
Music used to feel dangerous. Like you knew you weren't supposed to listen to something because society told you it was wrong. Now, all music has become 'safe'. The postman doesn't know or care what's in your unmarked parcel. They don't judge us with dirty looks; they simply smile and hand it over. You can't see it in their eyes.
The sad thing is, it's easier, more convenient, and cheaper to simply download an album from the safety of our own homes. Sometimes I wonder if that lessens the musical experience.
Of course, it's totally possible to find the one music store that still exists in your town or city and get this experience, but you really have to go out of your way. They aren't exactly easy to come across any more. Plus they're overpriced and only have as much stock as their inventory holds, so more often than not, you leave disappointed.
yep, you and i have had a similar NIN experience.
i am 34 and got into NIN when broken came out.
i remember seeing Wish on the headbanger's ball. It was like it scared me but i couldn't look away.
I saw them 2 times in dallas on FTDS (i THINK that was the name of the tour,) and it was SO incredible. I was about fourteen and i will never forget the vibe of the crowd, the sea of black clothes and angst.
I was 13 when TDS came out. It wasn't until the next year, when I was a freshman, that I was emerged into NIN. I remembering coming home from school and listening to the album with my sister and we would be creeped out, petrified and awestruck by it.
Long before I got into any musicians, I have actually wondered if I was going to be a fan of a very lauded, technical and meticulous musician of legendary status in the 1990s that had his works constantly discussed and analyzed, and a musician that also managed to make heavy and abrasive songs and mellow and smooth songs which often sounded crystal clear. Fast forward to 2002, and I got sucked into the world of Nine Inch Nails. But of course, this isn't to say that only NIN did all/any of that stuff, but it was as if I predicted my future in becoming a NIN fan. Even more ironic, aside from being mostly a gamer (I was never the biggest music fan, but at some points of my life, I didn't even really care for music at all.) most of my life was that I had that thought as far back as 1994.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 08-14-2014 at 01:09 AM.
What?! @Kris , i have read this post 3 times, and i cannot decipher its meaning.
Can you please explain?
Sure, no problem. I was basically saying that I wondered if I was going to ever become a fan of a musician like Nine Inch Nails (And not that I've heard of NIN at the time.) long before I even got into any musicians, and what I was imagining seemed to coincidentally and perfectly match his description. I hope that makes it clearer as I kept stumbling on my words from editing them a few times. (Oh crap, I'm doing that again, but I still hope that my point has been clarified.)
-Edit-
That was a lot harder to word than I thought.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 08-14-2014 at 11:57 AM.
I finally read that Rolling Stone article. Ended with this quote: "The next incarnation might be limited in scale -- not presented as rock band Nine Inch Nails but something else, flipped on its head. That feels exciting to me. We'll see how it goes."
I wonder if he's thinking of just touring as Trent Reznor. The entire concert could be a mashup of NIN material, HTDA songs, soundtrack material. I would personally love that.
Last edited by jessamineny; 08-14-2014 at 12:56 PM.
I kind of disagree -- I like the separate identities because I think its meaningful for a reason I can't quite articulate. Sure, he already sort of smashed that by playing HTDA songs with NIN in Europe.... but still, <blah blah blah illogical reasoning>
that said... more HTDA touring, pls?????? sweet jesus I still have amazing memories of that one(!) show I saw.
You know what would be kinda funny? If Trent were to sing some the mistaken lyrics.
Whose your daddy?
God damn, Julian.
Imprinted with a pomp ass.
i'm watching "beside you in time" on the live dvd of the same name. the part where trent "shatters" the screen is so rad. i remember at the salt lake city show, us spiral members (maybe 15 or 20 fans total) got to attend a soundcheck. it was still early in the tour, so trent played seven songs that highlighted the effects. he asked us to stand back so we could see how awesome that part of the show was.
such an amazing experience.
I only saw that once, at the Air Canada Centre show Nov. '05. At the other WT arena show I attended in Cleveland, they skipped it because the projector stopped working halfway through "Right Where It Belongs" and TR got really pissed off and yelled at the crew from onstage.
that tour was ripe with issues early on. jermoe's (*snicker*) exit, screen malfunctions, etc. the setlist was consistently awesome, though ("love is not enough" needs to come back).
the last show i saw of the tour was one of two that were filmed for the dvd. by the time the tour was ready to wrap, they had it down (of course).
i was at that cleveland show, botley. people around me were chanting "you're gonna get fired" to the crew. pissed me off they skipped Sin because of that. my first show. ah, memories.
They did play "Sin" right after the curtain came back up — and it was SO VERY ANGRY.
I'm drunk. Listening to The Perfect Drug. Damn that song is good.
I will never understand the reason why that song is not being played live.
The complaint was about the ending of the song... What the fuck is wrong with the current ending?
Just play the damn song as it was recorded.
/end of drunk rant.
I feel like The Slip would be a much better record if they didn't put Lights In The Sky, Corona Radiata, and The Four Of Us Are Dying in that order. Not that any one of those three are bad songs, particularly Lights In The Sky, but the record starts with a ton of momentum and then really slams on the brakes for almost 15 minutes.
I should try rearranging the tracks sometime . . .
@kleiner352 - I forgot your exact words, but didn't you say that listening to Still for the very first time was like a rite of passage for Nine Inch Nails fans?
If so, I certainly see what you mean, as every Nine Inch Nails fan I've met in real life never heard of Still before I met them and told them about it. This also makes me wonder if there were other NIN fans that met NIN fans that weren't even aware of Still's existence, yet again.
Last edited by Halo Infinity; 08-16-2014 at 10:22 PM.
That actually is almost exactly what I remember saying! It really is a surprisingly unknown release; it almost seems like it was put out as an after thought, considered a bonus disc, at the tail end of an album era, and somehow that understated release fits it extremely well.
Still has some of the most powerful stuff Trent has ever written imo.
Leaving Hope & And All That Could Have Been have been haunting me since the first time I heard them.
see, i was thinking the opposite direction — i think the end, if played without the sudden cutoff, would segue perfectly into a piano piece like "The Frail" or one of the piano-based Ghosts tracks. the trick would be finessing the transition, but TR somehow did it out of the madness at the end of "Piggy," so i think he can manage it.
TPD is the perfect threshold song to end the opening, fast-paced part of the set and usher in the quieter, usually darker second phase that often happens at gigs (with the screen coming down and whatever else). and if the surprise needs to be kept, it'd be the perfect encore song to introduce before moving onto "Hurt" or TDTWWA.
Just found out that my interpretation of The Four of Us Are Dying's artwork - I always thought it's a pretty clear representation of four clocks - is not shared by NINwiki. Strange. Feels like I've been living a lie.