\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> was released shortly after Kurt Cobain
\nblew his brains out. As music magazines mark the tenth anniversary
\nof Kurt’s death, hopefully the anniversary of this album’s release
\nwon’t go unnoticed. While the album was basically geared to be
\nReznor’s breakout album, ten years later, it sounds like the most
\npolitically charged album for 2004.<\/p>\n
Think about it – in the age where radio giants like Clear
\nChannel are doing a far more effective job for censorship than the
\ngovernment ever could and the ridiculous blowup over Janet
\nJackson’s halftime antics, it’s hard to believe that
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> could even hit the airwaves in 2004. It
\nhas everything that is a hot button censorship issue: songs about
\nviolence, sado-masochism and drug use. It’s hard to believe that
\nwhen “Closer” was released as a single, the outcry was virtually
\nnon-existent, even with its memorable chorus: “I want to f**k you
\nlike an animal.” Sure C. Delores Tucker lumped Reznor in with Snoop
\nDogg, but most radio stations did not ban the tune. To add
\nrelevance to
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i>, John McCain (who may be part of a
\nhistoric bipartisan presidential ticket) is a self-professed Nine
\nInch Nails fan.<\/p>\n
It was unfortunate that it took a Johnny Cash cover of “Hurt” to
\nmake people notice that for all the noise, Trent Reznor is an
\nincredibly solid songwriter.
\nPretty Hate Machine<\/i> and
\nBroken<\/i> may have stuck with the same mood, but they became
\nstaples of the new industrial sound. However, much attention was
\nfocused on Reznor during the emerging alternative music scene, and
\nReznor knew he would have to incorporate more emotions than just
\nunadulterated rage.
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> had moments of beauty (the introduction
\nof the title track), vulnerability (“I Do Not Want This”) and even
\nhumor (the over the top “Big Man With a Gun”).<\/p>\n
In addition to some stronger songwriting, Reznor also includes
\nmuch more diversity on The Downward Spiral than either of his
\nprevious albums. The album was fans first exposure to David Bowie’s
\ninfluence on Reznor’s work. He would later take his Bowie fix to a
\nnew plane with his follow-up album, The Fragile.<\/p>\n
Some of the tunes failed to register with me in 1994 and don’t
\nregister today. “I Do Not Want This” sounds like a 30-year-old
\nthrowing a teenage-style temper tantrum and “Heresy” seems to
\ndeliberately try to raise the ire of the religious right, but comes
\noff as a loud whine. It wants to be a masterpiece. It would take
\nalmost five years and a looser approach to the music before Reznor
\nreleased an album that would justify that label of masterpiece.
\nStill, for all its imperfections,
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> is a bracing listen, and perhaps more
\nimportant now than it was in 1994.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5836],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-37911","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nine-inch-nails","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37911"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}