NIN Question

[U2Fan101]

Not a premium member, so I can't search for previous NIN threads.

Question for NIN fans, as I have just gotten into them recently -

I want to get the basic albums and anything else that has songs that sometimes played life. Like Broken/Fixed according to Allmusic.com is not an actual album but I have that one and at least for the first six or seven songs I consider that an 'album.'

I have Pretty Hate Machine and Broken/Fixed. Aside from getting The Downward Spiral, The Fragile, With Teeth and Year Zero. Incidentally, I read up on the whole background on the album which is really fascinating. Which other NIN singles/EPs should I get?

Also was curious as to what your likes and dislikes are of these albums. So far every song I have heard I love. My friend showed me a life DVD which is on Blueray, I think. I believe the tour was in support of "With Teeth". I had a listen to that album and thus far it's my favorite. Of course I've only listened to Pretty Hate Machine, With Teeth and Broken/Fixed. if you count that one, so it may be premature to call With Teeth as my favorite at this point.

 

[FitzChivalry]

The Downward Spiral was their (his, since NIN is mostly Trent) breakthrough album that launched them to stardom. It's a great album start to finish and probably my favorite.

Though Pretty Hate Machine is great too, and has some WONDERFUL songs (Down In It, Sin, Something I Can Never Have), aside from the --IMO-- overrated Head Like A Hole.

I'm also a BIG fan of With Teeth. I really, really like that album and think it's also very solid start to finish. A bit mellower than the others, if "mellow" is an adjective one can use to describe NIN.

Broken is their hardest record. Though it's only an EP it's there's so much INTENSITY packed into those few songs. Gave Up is great as well as Wish (a NIN classic).

My least favorite is The Fragile. For some of my friends this is their favorite album, but it's my least favorite (again, with the caveat that I haven't heard Year Zero yet). To me it tries for the scope, cohesion and breadth of The Downward Spiral, but fails in it's reach. Perhaps it would have been better as a single cd, but at 2 discs (to me) it runs out of ideas well before the end.
Having said that, I do absolutely LOVE "We're In This Together" and it is probably one of my Top 3 all-time favorite Nine Inch Nails songs.

I don't have a lot of the Remix or live albums (Further Down The Spiral, Closure etc.), but I have seen Beside You In Time, the DVD for the With Teeth tour, and it is AWESOME!!! It's a GREAT DVD and I would recommend it to anyone wanting an introduction to NIN.

Just my $ .02

 

[indra]

What I like best from NIN depends on how depressed I am. When I'm not depressed I don't listen to it at all. When I'm seriously considering offing myself I listen to The Downward Spiral (definitely a must for NIN fans) and Pretty Hate Machine. When I'm not quite suicidally depressed I like The Fragile. I find the songs on it prettier and substantially more hopeful than on the other two.

I don't have anything newer than The Fragile from NIN because I haven't been depressed enough to need it.

 

[cobl04]

Wow, I thought they (is there more than one or not?) were a heavy metal thing... I didn't know they were depressive... (is that even a word?)

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I stopped paying attention to NIN after The Downward Spiral...

But I would have to echo others in this thread the TDS is truly an epic album - probably one of the best of the 90's imo. I really like how dense it is in terms of layers and his use of recurring tunes and themes through the album. I would liken it to his "Dark Side Of The Moon"...

Broken is my next favorite album after that - it was one of the first CDs I ever bought. Not only is it a cool package and concept (99 tracks) but also the songs are incredible (especially live).

Pretty Hate Machine is up there as well, keeping in mind that this was released in 1989, think about the musical landscape at the time. While I'm not crazy about the synth-pop influences that creep in (which is more my personal taste mind you) it's still a strong album.

I also have Fixed (which is a remix of Broken) and Further Down The Spiral (remix of TDS), which are ok, but I would only recommend them to die hard fans...

I've also seen them in concert 3 times (at Lollapalooza in '91 and twice during TDS tour) and they are incredible live.

 

[Aardvark747]

I'm so into With Teeth at the moment. After not listenin to it for over a year, i'm really enjoyin it.

Pretty Hate Machine still my fave album of theirs tho.

 

[The Sad Punk]

Wow, I thought they (is there more than one or not?) were a heavy metal thing... I didn't know they were depressive... (is that even a word?)

NIN are kind of a mainstream industrial thing. Far as I know, there's other members but Trent Reznor is like 99% of what's going on.

Also, heavy metal can be depressing, but often not for the reasons intended.

What's the song from the Fragile with the lyric "I won't let you fall apart" in the chorus? Is it the title track? I really like that one. Though I think the Downward Spiral is his/their most solid work overall.

 

[U2DMfan]

Year Zero is pretty damn good, especially the top half or the first several tracks. After that, you can tell he sort of rushed the thing together. It's probably right on par with 'With Teeth' although stylistically maybe a more bit like the Fragile. Sonically, it's all pretty similar from TDS to the present, with slight variations.

I don't think there is any question he peaked in '94 with TDS.

Overall, outside of those studio albums, I can only recommend the song 'Metal' from Things Falling Apart. It's the only track on that "album" or EP to deserve to be heard. The rest is questionable remixes etc. just like 'Fixed' and Further Down the Spiral. Although, I do really really like one remix on Fixed, the rest I could never hear again. Further Down the Spiral is sort of nonsense.

Also, the song "The Perfect Drug", I think it's on the Lost Highway soundtrack, which is pretty cool but you might try and just download it. The Joy Division cover 'Dead Souls' is a must have as well. Recorded at around the same time of TDS, it's on 'The Crow' soundtrack. Both of those are really good soundtracks. He had a song called 'Burn' on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. which was cool as well.

So, those 3 from soundtracks and 'Metal'.
That's 4 recommendations.

I don't have any B-side/remix material from With Teeth to the present, so I can't say. Outside of maybe a dozen songs, I haven't really been all that impressed with Reznor since 'The Fragile'. There's a couple on Year Zero that are worthy though.