best extracurricular project from the 'downward spiral' era

I'm Afraid of Americans.

portrait of an american family, bubblegum industrial groove metal with corny movie dialogue samples. basically the good version of neurosis

halo 10: further down the spiral ep

voting for this one, it's a real fucked up trip

Further Down was my first CD, my first exposure to Aphex Twin, lotsa good sounds, lotsa memories.

Smells Like Children is pretty much the only thing I listened to back then that creeps me out too much to listen to in my dotage.

the video for "the perfect drug" almost merits its own entry for being silly

i rewatched it the other day, it's ridiculous

like did mark romanek think "oh, this is a music video for a song written for a david lynch movie, so today... I am david lynch!"

and then somehow that translates into the goofball absinthe scenes and too many shots of trent holding a dagger (?) as a giant fan blows his cape (!)

the little mustache/straight line goatee look

i think mark romanek did the usual mark romanek thing, i.e. "wow i am super obsessed with [x] and am going to make a video just like that," x in this case being edward gorey

feel like reznor loathes both the song and video lol

He openly loathes the song iirc? It rules, obviously, and I was upset when I picked up a physical copy of The Blood Brothers' March On Electric Children and the amazing sample of it had been removed from "Kiss of the Octopus"

yup!

On April 6, 2005, while presenting the late-night BBC Radio 1 Rock Show in the UK, Trent Reznor responded to the question, "Which piece of your own work are you least satisfied with and why?" by saying:

"The only thing I think I really don't like that much is "The Perfect Drug" song. It was one of those things where you have a week to do a track for a movie, the mindset that you kind of adapt in that situation, or I did, was 'let's go in and experiment and see what happens, and it's not, y'know, whatever comes out of it, it's not the end of the world'. And I think what came out of it, married with a bloated, over-budget video, feels like ... the least thing that I would play to somebody if they said play me, y'know, the top hundred songs you've written, that probably wouldn't be in the top hundred. I'm not cringing about it, but it's not my favorite piece."

i love "the perfect drug" too, the impossible collagist drum solo was the first thing that ever made me want to play drums

It's definitely one of my least favorite pieces. I distinctly remember that years-long post-Downward Spiral stretch of waiting for new Reznor material and when it finally came it was...a crummy commercial? a wack-ass cod-jungle track? GTFO, Trent. Just GTFO.

Natural Born Killers soundtrack was so huge for me at the time, although I always had a tough time with the Patti Smith song and I don't listen to it any more.

I'm not a huge NIN fan so make of this what you will but 'The Perfect Drug' is one of his greatest achievements.

I'm kind of suspicious he was wacked out of his brain during the production and might want to not think about it

yeah that is also my theory for why he dislikes it so much

I'm curious how opinions split on 'Perfect Drug' based on whether or not one was aware of jungle before hearing it.

either that or he's just that mortified by the video xp

i was sort of aware of jungle or at least knew what that drum solo was gesturing toward, and i still think it's awesome

it had six remixes on the ep, and in the usa it didn't even include the original song! -- presumably due to the movie soundtrack album having the sole release rights

(meat beat manifesto, plug, nin self-remix, spacetime continuum, and the orb)

Video is totally classic as well.

Maybe it's just a context thing. I was listening to many varieties of edm at the time so it came off as a fairly amateurish attempt on Reznor's part to enter that world.

a wack-ass cod-jungle track? GTFO, Trent. Just GTFO.

tbh his whole career is cod appropriations of queer electronic dance music

plus funk via prince and a really great pop songwriting sensibility

I was in my early teens at the time and knew next to nothing about edm or d&b and my favourite band was Depeche Mode so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

also there's a whole lot going on in "The Perfect Drug" besides Trent riffing on jungle!

i also agree with that

Yep, otm.

The Perfect Drug is great. Sometimes impulsively firing something out in a week can lead to better work than laboring over it for years (see: most of The Fragile).

Also perhaps contextually, the soundtracks for the Gifford-penned films are my least favorite Lynch soundtracks by a country mile (the bulk of the rest of them being in pretty constant iTunes rotation). I dug what Reznor did with Natural Born Killers but Lost Highway...not so much.

The drum break on The Perfect Drug changed my life (probably).

But Further Down the Spiral was actually the first NIN cd I actually owned, and I really listened to it like a record. So much weird noise and ambiance with bits of familiar songs poking through.

Probably the best way to frame my general disfavor (although not outright dislike, tbf) of 'The Perfect Drug' would be to drop the video in the middle of an episode of MTV's AMP from the same time period (assuming it wasn't actually featured at some point, which is possible).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaeZYPDNmzE

Further Down The Spiral introduced me to both Aphex Twin and Coil. I think I actually like it more than Downward Spiral.

I remember really liking the Quake soundtrack too, though I would need to relisten to that.

halo 10 or halo 10 v2 though?

(v2, for the charlie clouser versions of heresy and ruiner)

Further Down The Spiral introduced me to both Aphex Twin and Coil. I think I actually like it more than Downward Spiral.

I remember really liking the Quake soundtrack too, though I would need to relisten to that.

― silverfish, Wednesday, December 4, 2019 2:04 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think this may be the connection I'd forgotten which explains why I eventually adopted SAWII as my default Quake soundtrack (highly recommended, btw).

halo 10 or halo 10 v2 though?

― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, December 4, 2019 1:05 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

(v2, for the charlie clouser versions of heresy and ruiner)

― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, December 4, 2019 1:06 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, though they're both great

Agree with Old Lunch about "The Perfect Drug"; it's a weak song and the d 'n' b elements are hilariously bolted-on.

The best thing Reznor did in this era, from my POV, was license Warp titles to Nothing for US distribution. Being able to find Autechre's LP5 in the CD store I went to on a weekly basis back then was huge. I'll probably wind up voting for the NBK soundtrack, though. There was some good stuff on there.

he did some great distribution work!

I need to relisten to the Quake soundtrack but can still remember all of the intro (theme?) track and that track with the creepy whispering

it had six remixes on the ep, and in the usa it didn't even include the original song!

That was a bummer for sure.

Seemed made for disappointment. Remember almost picking it up at the record store and having an older friend being all “Dude don’t bother, the actual song isn’t even on there. It sucks.” Was definitely the least desirable Halo of our times.

the video for "the perfect drug" almost merits its own entry for being silly

My introduction to how you properly drink absinthe!

you have to wear a funny hat iirc

I have almost no recollection of the video but is it 'steampunk'? Because it feels like it probably was or should have been 'steampunk'.

I def remember the video, left quite an impression on me. Lot's of green and purple in there. And crows.

It's not steampunk.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/66801f0325b1217e93a08c6cf05eda47/tumblr_pw5nosVsTd1yt6k8zo2_500.gifv

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3bZ7ePzWwhs/hqdefault.jpg

definitely Edward Gorey-style goth and not steampunk

I dunno, I have a distinct memory of Trent on a dirigible sporting a goggle-festooned tophat and cranking a brass d&b automaton into phat drum-playing action.

Bowie's "I'm Afraid Of Americans" is glorious in all it's versions. The video is hilarious as well, "Oh no, a coked up Trent Reznor is chasing me!".

That would be a considerably scarier prospect now than it was then.

OL, I think you're conflating goggle-eyed Reznor with the top-hatted black gentleman from the 'Closer' video, which does indeed gesture towards the steampunk aesthetic.

https://format-com-cld-res.cloudinary.com/image/private/s--CrjEpf8P--/c_crop,h_441,w_663,x_0,y_0/c_fill,g_center,h_506,w_760/a_auto,fl_keep_iptc.progressive,q_95/v1/5dac64362a1f2b3a44c5e107bb44bd0d/Trent-Reznor.jpg

I love TPD but it's just as much warm memories of the two months of my late teens that were good

I was very into jungle and d&b at the time and I loved "The Perfect Drug"

(I was also very into Panacea's Low Profile Darkness and Third Eye Foundation's Semtex at this time)

Halo 5 thru 11 were very fun to collect bc they were all $4.99 or $5.99 (aside from Broken and DWS). The marketing of the "halo" designation made them all feel like part of an important collection. However $6 felt like a lot of money at the time, so Halo 11 definitely felt like a huge waste aside from the complete-ist aspect.

i already voted for further down the spiral but antichrist superstar deserves something

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4d/Sen._Orrin_Hatch_holding_a_copy_of_Antichrist_Superstar_beside_Sen._Joseph_Lieberman_at_a_Senate_hearing_on_the_negative_effects_of_violent_media.jpg

Halo 5 thru 11 were very fun to collect bc they were all $4.99 or $5.99 (aside from Broken and DWS). The marketing of the "halo" designation made them all feel like part of an important collection. However $6 felt like a lot of money at the time, so Halo 11 definitely felt like a huge waste aside from the complete-ist aspect.

Knew that was a Fragile one, but had to look it up. We’re in This Together. Love how Disc 3 has The Perfect Drug on it lol.

Halo 12: the VHS halo. Of course I had to have it.

HALO 10. Didn't even have to think about it. No idea how to decide whether the US or UK version is better, though. (But yes I bought all of these at the time and played them over and over. This was probably my NIN/Reznor fandom at its most intense.)

I picked “Further...” aswell, as that’s how I first discovered Aphex Twin.

Further Down the Spiral seemed to be the most ubiquitous NIN album in stores in the late 90s for some reason. Like the one most likely to be found in Walmart. Maybe because it was less PARENTAL ADVISORY than the proper albums.

Iirc - it came out right about the same time Hurt got crazy popular. I have a specific memory of seeing a jock-y looking 12 year old wearing a hurt t-shirt at the mall and feeling a little violated.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I was the deciding vote! *fist pumps*

When I caught them a little over a year ago they did an amazing "Perfect Drug" so I guess he figured out how to love the song again.