I still remember the first time I ever heard Nine Inch Nails. On
\na spring morning in 1992, I was getting ready for another day of
\nclasses in college. I had just been sent
\nBroken<\/i>, the then-latest release from Trent Reznor and crew,
\nfor review in the school newspaper. I grabbed the tape, popped it
\nin the Walkman, and headed out the door towards the academic
\nbuilding. As I hit the doors to the classroom, this wonderful
\nelectronic noise slammed the earphones into my head… and I was
\nhooked. I almost kept the tape on during Basic Microeconomics…
\nand seeing how much I actually learned in that class, I wish I
\nhad.<\/p>\n
Recorded at a sensitive period in Reznor’s life (he was fighting
\nwith his then-label TVT – he wouldn’t give them any more material,
\nand they said he couldn’t record unless they put it out), he banged
\noff these six tracks without permission from “the record company”,
\nas he put it in the press release. Whereas his first release
\nPretty Hate Machine<\/i> painted a bleak picture with an
\nelectronic but still pop vein,
\nBroken<\/i> dumped in more anger than one could believe, and
\nremoved any vestige of pop music left in his tortured soul.<\/p>\n
The worst thing I can say about
\nBroken<\/i> is that it’s too damned short. With only six songs
\n(two of those being instrumentals), you quickly find yourself
\nwanting Reznor to continue leading you on a guided tour of his own
\nprivate hell. Unfortunately, six tracks is all you get – but, oh,
\nwhat a wonderful selection of songs!<\/p>\n
The guitar feedback loops of “Pinion” quickly lead into “Wish,”
\none of the smashes off this album. Reznor again proves that he
\nknows how to hold a tune, even though his voice seems to be ready
\nto break under the hate-filled shouting he does throughout the
\nalbum. It’s one of the most intense few minutes I’ve ever heard in
\nthe world of rock music, but you can tell from every single note
\nthat this is pain and anger that is not being faked for the sake of
\nthe dollar. Reznor was pissed off and depressed, and he was going
\nto let anyone who cared know just how he felt.<\/p>\n
The intensity continues through the next two vocal tracks,
\n“Last” and “Happiness In Slavery” (hmm, a subtle slam against “the
\nrecord company”, using “slave” long before Prince?), the latter
\nbecoming a hit track. In a sense, it’s surprising to think that
\nsuch intense music could become popular in the dance halls and on
\nthe radio – but then again, it’s surprising to think of how many
\npeople felt a kinship to Reznor and what he was singing about.<\/p>\n
The remaining tracks – the instrumental “Help Me I Am In Hell”
\nand the vocal “Gave Up” – aren’t of the same superior caliber as
\nthe rest of the material on
\nBroken<\/i>, but they still hold their own quite well, and are
\nworth checking out.<\/p>\n
\nBroken<\/i> lives up to its name by breaking away from the pop
\ncore that was still at the center of Nine Inch Nails’s music around
\nthe time of
\nPretty Hate Machine<\/i>. Ironically, their next full-length
\nrelease,
\nThe Downward Spiral<\/i>, would bring Reznor pop success without
\nhim sacrificing his musical values. (I can’t say he’s done the same
\nin recent years, though.)<\/p>\n
\nBroken<\/i> still remains one of the most intense albums I’ve
\never listened to, and is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to
\nthe tortured world of Nine Inch Nails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5836],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39418","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-nine-inch-nails","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39418","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39418"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}