A Dissertation On The Downward Spiral
This is a lengthy interpretation of the album’s story written by two men back around 1998. Read it at:
- with feedback from several fans
- archive of the article on SickAmongthePure
As An Independent Artist
Following the release of Year Zero, Reznor announced later that Nine Inch Nails had split from its contractual obligations with , and would distribute its next major albums independently. In May 2008 Reznor founded The Null Corporation and Nine Inch Nails released the studio album as a free . In his appreciation for his following and fan base, and having no contractual obligation, he made “The Slip” available for free on his website, stating “This one’s on me.” A month and a half after its online release, The Slip had been downloaded 1.4 million times from the official Nine Inch Nails website.
In February 2009, Reznor posted his thoughts about the future of Nine Inch Nails on NIN.com, stating that “I’ve been thinking for some time now it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while.” Reznor noted in an interview on the official website that while he has not stopped creating music as Nine Inch Nails, the group will not be touring in the foreseeable future.
Video games
The from ‘s 1996 video game is credited to “Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails” Reznor helped record sound effects and ambient audio, and the NIN logo appears on the nailgun ammunition boxes in the game. Reznor’s association with began with Reznor being a fan of the original . He reunited with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for , though due to “time, money and bad management”, he had to abandon the project, and his audio work did not make it into the game’s final release.
Film composition
Formats And Track Listings
The version of “Closer” on the single is 13 seconds longer than the album version on the album, the piano tune at the end of the song is abruptly cut off in order to segue into the next track, “Ruiner”. On the single, the piano and background sounds of “Closer” are allowed to play out longer.
In addition, the U.S. CD single contains five guest remixes of “Closer”, a remix of its fellow The Downward Spiral track “Heresy”, an instrumental track “March of the Fuckheads” , and a cover version of Soft Cell‘s song “Memorabilia”, from their 1982 EP Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing. The UK single releases contain the same tracks split between two discs . A cassette single was issued in the U.S. and Australia, pairing “Closer” with the music video version of Nine Inch Nails’ previous single, “” .
The single’s cover artwork was done by photographer Joseph Cultice.
US CD
- TVT Records / Interscope Records 0694959052
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Ghosts Iiv And The Slip
In February 2008, Reznor posted a news update on the Nine Inch Nails website entitled “2 weeks”. On March 2, Ghosts IIV , a 36-track instrumental album, became available via the band’s official website. Ghosts IIV was made available in a number of different formats and forms, ranging from a free download of the first volume, to a $300 Ultra-Deluxe limited edition package. All 2,500 copies of the $300 package sold out in three days. The album is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution Non-Commercial Share Alike licence. The album was created improvisationally over a 10-week period and contributors included Atticus Ross, Alan Moulder, Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew, and Brian Viglione.
Similar to the announcement that ultimately led to the release of Ghosts IIV, a post on the band’s website in April 2008 read “2 weeks!” On May 5, Nine Inch Nails released The Slip via its website without any advertisement or promotion. The album was made available for download free of charge with a message from Reznor, “this one’s on me,” protected under the same Creative Commons licence as Ghosts, and has seen individual downloads surpassing 1.4 million.The Slip has since been released on CD as a limited edition set of 250,000.
British Subgenres And Trends Of The 1980s
developed out of late-1970s British . With a reputation as the “darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock”, gothic rock utilizes a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct “foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes”, and the subgenre’s lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism. Bands of this subgenre took inspiration from two British post-punk groups, and .’ debut single “”, released in 1979, is considered to be the proper beginning of the gothic rock subgenre.’s “oppressively dispirited” albums including cemented that group’s stature in that style and laid the foundation for its large cult following.
The key British alternative rock band to emerge during the 1980s was ‘s . Music journalist singled out the Smiths and their American contemporaries R.E.M. as “the two most important alt-rock bands of the day”, commenting that they “were eighties bands only in the sense of being against the eighties”. The Smiths exerted an influence over the British indie scene through the end of the decade, as various bands drew from singer ‘s English-centered lyrical topics and guitarist ‘s jangly guitar-playing style. The cassette, a 1986 premium featuring , and others, was a major influence on the development of and the British as a whole.
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St Century: Later Developments
Despite a change in style, alternative rock still managed to be mainstream. Post-grunge remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century, when bands like and became among the most popular rock bands in the United States. At the same time Britpop began to decline, achieved critical acclaim with its third album , and its follow-ups and , which were in marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with groups like and , were major forces in British rock in subsequent years.
Most references to alternative rock music in the United States past 2010 are to the genre, a term that previously had limited usage on alternative rock channels and media. Radio stations in the 2010s have been changing formats away from alternative rock, but this is mostly motivated by conglomeration efforts coupled with advertisers seeking more Top 40/Top 100 stations for sales. While there have been conflicting opinions on the relevance of alternative rock to mainstream audiences beyond 2010, commented on an article from the December 29, 2013 issue of the stating that rock is dead: “speak for yourself… rock seems pretty alive to me.”
At The Heart Of It All And The Beauty Of Being Numb
Aphex Twin‘s two contributions to Further Down the Spiral are not remixes but rather new works composed specifically for the album. Aphex Twin is the performance moniker of British electronic musician Richard D. James, who was quoted about his various “remixes” as saying “I never heard the originals, I still haven’t. I don’t want to either, or my remixes for that matter.” Both tracks would later appear in shortened form on Aphex Twin’s 2003 compilation 26 Mixes for Cash. “At the Heart of It All” shares its name with a Coil piece from their 1984 LP Scatology.
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American Underground In The 1980s
Early American alternative bands such as , , , , and combined punk influences with and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful their debut album, , entered the Top 40 and spawned a number of followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles’ revived the sounds of the 1960s, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as .
American indie record labels , , , and presided over the shift from the that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. bands and were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic. asserted that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and the more melodic, diverse music of that emerged. Azerrad wrote, “Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren’t antithetical.” The band also set an example by being the first group from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as “a viable commercial enterprise”. By focusing on heartfelt songwriting and wordplay instead of political concerns, the Replacements upended a number of underground scene conventions Azerrad noted that “along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked.”
Coil On Reznor’s Remix Files
In an interview from 1998, Coil describe the manner in which Reznor prepared the multitracks:
John Balance: “It’s good to get something Trent will send you because he’ll send you a really precise, clean, good sounding master tape where you can take all the sections out and you can rearrange it totally. You get spoiled because such a good clean master comes to you, and you can say “Wow!” and rip it to shreds and do whatever you want.”
“I think though, the last things we did for him, we actually got Studio-Vision discs, with everything already laid out. He is very organized by the way.”
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Criticism Of The Music Industry
In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning âthe parent company of the band’s record label, âfor their pricing and distribution plans for Nine Inch Nails’ 2007 album Year Zero. He labeled the company’s retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as “ABSURD,” concluding that “as a reward for being a ‘true fan’ you get ripped off”. Reznor went on to say that as “the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more.” Reznor’s post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention. In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to “steal” his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to “steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin’.”
In 2013, Reznor returned to Columbia Records for , the eighth Nine Inch Nails studio album. On the Columbia release of Hesitation Marks, Reznor has stated: “Iâm trying to make the best thing I can make… and I also want as many people as possible to be aware that itâs out there.”
Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral
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Popularization In The Early 1990s
By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock’s commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane’s Addiction, and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands.
The first edition of the Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For of who caught it near Los Angeles in an open-air amphitheater, “it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all”. The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: “by that fall, radio and and music had changed. I really think that if it werent for Perry , if it werent for Lollapalooza, you and I wouldnt be having this conversation right now”.
Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana’s success. had released its debut album a month before Nevermind in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on the album chart.’s album , ‘ and ‘ along with the album collaboration featuring members of and , were also among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted to nickname Seattle “the new “. Major record labels signed most of the prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success.
Dispute With John Malm
In 2004, Reznor’s former manager filed a suit against Reznor for over $2 million in deferred commissions. The suit alleged that Reznor “reneged on every single contract he and Malm ever entered into” and that Reznor refused to pay Malm money to which he was contractually entitled.Weeks later, Reznor filed a counter-suit in the U.S. District Court of New York, charging Malm with fraud and breach of duties. Reznor’s suit arose from a five-year management contract signed in the early days of Nine Inch Nails, between Reznor and Malm’s management company J. Artist Management. This contract, according to the suit, was unlawful and immoral in that it secured Malm 20% of Reznor’s gross earnings, rather than his net earnings, as is the standard practice between artists and their management. The suit also alleged that the contract secured this percentage even if Malm was no longer representing Reznor, and for all Reznor’s album . The suit also described how Malm had misappropriated the ownership rights regarding Nine Inch Nails, including the trademark name “NIД. According to testimony by Malm, Reznor gave him half of the “NIД trademark “as a gift”.
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Industrial Thrash And Death Metal
Industrial metal’s popularity led a number of successful groups, including , , and , to request remixes by “industrial” artists. Some musicians emerging from the scene, such as , , and , also began to experiment with industrial. Fear Factory, from Los Angeles, were initially influenced by the roster . The German band after their second album started to play industrial metal combined with elements of and until the album . Sepultura singer ‘s , a collaboration with Alex Newport, also practiced a combination of extreme metal and industrial production techniques. A lesser-known example of industrial death metal is Meathook Seed, made up of members of Napalm Death and the Florida death metal group . An industrial music fan, Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres suggested for , Obituary’s most successful album. The other band members’ refusal led him to form .
Appearances In Other Media
The song was released as a track for the video game Rock Band on February 26, 2008 for Xbox 360 and on February 28 for PlayStation 3. It was available as a standalone download or as part of the ‘Nine Inch Nails’ song pack . It was also featured on Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and the Wii, alongside the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
In a 1994 episode of Beavis & Butt-head, the boys watch the video for “March of the Pigs” and enjoy much of the song except for the piano parts. After Trent Reznor knocks over his microphone at the end of the video, Beavis says, “Thank you very much. We’re Nine Inch Nails.” somewhat dismissively, with Butt-head adding “Good night.”
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Collaboration With Other Artists
One of Reznor’s earliest collaborations was a side project in 1990 under the name of . Reznor sang vocals on a cover of ‘s “”. Due to legal issues with his label, Reznor’s vocals had to be distorted to make his voice unrecognizable. The band also recorded additional versions with doing vocals. While there is still debate as to which version is Reznor and which is Jourgensen, it has been definitively stated that Reznor’s vocals were used in the ‘ Black Box box set. He also performed with another of Jourgensen’s side projects, , in 1990. He said: “I saw a whole side of humanity that I didn’t know existed. It was decadence on a new level, but with a sense of humor.”
Reznor then sang the vocals on the 1991 Pigface track “Suck” from their first album , which also featured production work from . Reznor sang backing vocals on “Past the Mission” on ‘ 1994 album . He produced ‘s first album, , and several tracks on Manson’s and . “I went right into doing a Manson record,” Reznor recalled of the latter, “which was a way of staying on tour, mentally. Every night was some ridiculous scenario. When that finished, I was really in a low emotional place, disillusioned.”
Relations between Reznor and Manson subsequently soured. Manson later said: “I had to make a choice between being friends and having a mediocre career, or breaking things off and continuing to succeed. It got too competitive. And he can’t expect me not to want to be more successful than him.”
