Trying to cover as many different artists as possible, sometimes
\none forgets some of the moments that make you glad you love
\nmusic.<\/p>\n
Reader Anne Parks recently signed our guestbook, and mentioned
\nthat one of her favorite albums was Nine Inch Nails’
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i>. I read that, and flashed back to a day
\nin 1992, when I discovered Trent Reznor for the first time. I had
\njust been sent
\nBroken<\/i> to review, and had popped it into the Walkman as I
\nleft the dorm to go to my first class. And the sonic assault on my
\neardrums had me ripping the headphones off and asking, “Damn! Who
\nwas<\/i> that?!? That was incredible!”<\/p>\n
Jump forward to 1994, when Reznor’s second full-length release
\nfinally hit the stores, his first full-length album with a major
\nlabel. And while
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> contains some music which is just as
\npowerful as what I was first weaned on, it also shows that,
\nsometimes, smaller doses of Reznor are the best medicine.<\/p>\n
Recruiting King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew to help on a few
\ntracks, and again working with Alan Moulder and Flood, Reznor
\nquickly welcomed you to his version of hell with “Mr. Self
\nDestruct,” a feedback-laden number that continued the path of
\nnihilism and despair that Reznor had started on back with “Head
\nLike A Hole”. But Reznor quickly shows that he’s just as capable of
\ndelivering a message without the shouting and overamplification on
\n“Piggy”. (Pigs were an underlying theme of
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> – though I can’t explain why this is
\nso.)<\/p>\n
But Nine Inch Nails really began to find their market with
\n“Closer,” a song in which Reznor croons to his beloved: “I wanna
\nfuck you like an animal \/ I want to feel you from the inside”. Such
\nan unlikely song to be Reznor’s first true “hit”, it thrust Reznor
\ninto the limelight and into the world of hipness. (Another song
\nwhich didn’t get as much hype, “March Of The Pigs,” was just as
\ngood, and reminded me a lot of the
\nBroken<\/i>-era Nine Inch Nails.)<\/p>\n
But Reznor would truly earn his stripes with the single “Hurt,”
\nanother song which emphasized the ballad over noise, even though a
\nfair amount of ambient noise is in the background. Only problem is,
\nthis song got so overplayed that I soon got sick of hearing it.
\nFour years after the album came out, hearing it isn’t as bad, but
\nwhen some stations played it every freaking hour, it makes you want
\nto go postal.<\/p>\n
But the weakness of
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> is its own ambition. After being
\nsilenced for so long, it seemed that Reznor wanted to say
\neverything he had meant to in the previous five years. And
\neventually, the nonstop barrage on your ears gets to be a bit too
\nmuch. (This could explain why Reznor moved towards ballads
\noccasionally.) Some songs like “Ruiner” and “I Do Not Want This” do
\nstand out, but by the time you reach the title track near the end
\nof the album, you feel like Roberto Duran yelling “No mas” in the
\nboxing ring. In a sense, it’s almost as if Reznor runs out of gas
\nas he gets closer to the end.<\/p>\n
Oh, don’t get me wrong,
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> is still very much an enjoyable listen.
\nBut one wonders what would have happened, say, if Reznor had
\nchopped it into two albums. Quite possibly, some of the songs that
\ngot lost in the synthesized haze would have moved closer to the
\nfront, and have received more attention. Instead, Reznor just tried
\na little too hard.<\/p>\n
Nine Inch Nails fans, of course, will treat this release like
\nthe Dead Sea Scrolls, and it’s definitely worth adding to your
\ncollection. But just like you don’t eat the whole chocolate bar in
\none gulp, it’s better to bite off bits of
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i> at a time.<\/p>\n
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