NIN -- _Year Zero_

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I have a friend who's been trying to sell me on NIN for some time. I love Reznor's sound, but I have the same hangups Brainwasher does.

The Reverend Rodney J. Greene is false metal! (R. J. Greene), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Growth in lyrics = overrated.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't care about "growth" so much as "sounds like sadsack high schooler in middle age".

The Reverend Rodney J. Greene is false metal! (R. J. Greene), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Trent as lyricist hits the same levels as Martin Gore has, in otherwards simultaneously brilliant and limited. They are both masters at broad strokes, not subtleties, except by default or accident, and that only isn't a problem, it's probably exactly what was needed.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:49 (seventeen years ago) link

i was just bummed by the fragile. it just felt so fussed over and inert. i wanted to love it cuz i loved the downward spiral. and i loved the perfect drug! i was so hoping the fragile would sound more like that. maybe i will get with teeth if i see it used somewhere.

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Trent as lyricist hits the same levels as Martin Gore has

oh COME ON

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 05:22 (seventeen years ago) link

this is cool. i dunno if its from a dvd or what, but it sounds cool:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=DYq3NPD7TVk&mode=related&search=

scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:22 (seventeen years ago) link

http://tn3-2.deviantart.com/300W/images3.deviantart.com/i/2004/155/1/f/Closer.jpg

Sometimes, only sometimes...

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 05:29 (seventeen years ago) link

oh COME ON

It's one of the most obvious things he took from Depeche, actually.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm sorry Ned, I just don't see it. The connection via the industrial synth-pop instrumentation and the bondage-goth getup is certainly more obvious to me.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 05:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, that's part of it. But it's also the combination of standard sex and death tropes handled via emotional bombast as well as sometimes forced and usually pretty straightforward rhymes. Neither are by any stretch of the imagination complicated in their lyrical vocabulary.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Martin L Gore tends to yearn towards God in his lyrics. Trent tends to reject and shun God in his lyrics. Both have a relatively naive, obvious approach to allegory that simultaneously appeals to a broad base and repells an equally broad base.

The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:41 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah but shared simplicity != Trent trying to emulate Martin. Martin may be a grown-up teenager but he's not an angry grown-up teenager. To me NIN's lyrics just seem completely removed from Depeche's: different subject matter, different treatment of the subject matter (even when they're both talking about wild animal sex Trent's thinking "Closer" and Martin's thinking "Master and Servant"), different attitude, NIN less ironic and certainly less romantic. Maybe I just haven't heard enough NIN.

xpost Well yeah Dan but that describes about two million other lyricists don't it? It doesn't take a rare genius to write naive poetry! But like I'm saying, Martin and Trent are coming from completely different worlds of naive poetry!

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 05:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Curtis, I think you're looking for a more complicated explanation when an easier one exists! It's pretty easy to apply Occam's Razor here.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 05:48 (seventeen years ago) link

I agree that yeah, they both do this:

the combination of standard sex and death tropes handled via emotional bombast as well as sometimes forced and usually pretty straightforward rhymes. Neither are by any stretch of the imagination complicated in their lyrical vocabulary.

But I just think that's a really really loose connection when we're talking about Martin Gore's lyrics being the most obvious thing that Trent Reznor took from DM. I guess in the context of industrial/synth pop Trent's lyrics are closer to Depeche's than, say, Skinny Puppy's. But in a wider context I don't think it's any surprise that two grown-up angsty teenagers can write sex/death tropes with straightforward rhymes and uncomplicated lyrical vocabulary without one directly borrowing from the other.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 05:56 (seventeen years ago) link

But I just think that's a really really loose connection when we're talking about Martin Gore's lyrics being the most obvious thing that Trent Reznor took from DM.

I said *one* of the most obvious things. Not the sole one, not the most important one. You're looking for an overriding connection I did not argue, and I'm starting to get frustrated with this willful misreading, frankly.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 06:07 (seventeen years ago) link

sorry, I did misread it! Never mind, then.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 15 January 2007 06:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Goth fite! Goth fite!

Trayce (trayce), Monday, 15 January 2007 06:40 (seventeen years ago) link

One you rock the target.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 06:40 (seventeen years ago) link

Ned Versus The Students

You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:52 (seventeen years ago) link

one of the best songs on the album! though i guess the lyrics do kinda blow.

This describes almost any NIN song. Dude's lyrics are atrocious, but I'm not going to fault the guy. They sound like the bad diary-entry monosyllabics that a 13-year-old would find amazing. And--guess what--that's who the target audience is! So, more ["YOU KNOW ME... I HATE EVERYONE!] power to him. (PS, I found his lyrics amazing when I was 13)

Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:39 (seventeen years ago) link

R.I.P. your inner teen

StanM (StanM), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Okay seriously, how many people over the course of musical history have written good or great lyrics? Six?

The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Two. (DJ Scooter and the Raunchy Young Lepers.)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link

The lyric issue feeds into my larger stance on music, of course (as is probably all too well known by now). If it's ever coming down to a battle between, I don't know, Trent doing another nursery rhyme equivalent of 'life sucks' and the Decembrists doing some sort of five-part minioperetta laden with allegedly elegant metaphors about a Iraq veteran named Carl the Wonder Boy, I vote the first because the music will actually be interesting and because I'm not listening to music for freakin' deep and poetic truths in a self-consciously literary sense! And if I was I'd listen to spoken-word poetry, which would prompt me to kill myself.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

otm. also, at least with NIN you can almost always guarantee it will at least SOUND great

latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I never related to NIN's lyrics, which seems to be the draw for a lot of people. I listened for the music, which blew my young mind. I never listen to lyrics, anyway.

Ivan G (Ivan), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link

he peaked with his first band, Option 30

timmy tannin (pompous), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Ok, let's say his next album is written especially for YOU. Gripes about his boss, traffic, the weather, neighbours, ailments, kids, the wife. Would that be better?

I don't get the lyrics issue at all. What do you think about vocals in a language you don't understand?

StanM (StanM), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Maybe people want the singer to believe in what he's singing, so the whole teenage angst lyrical bent sounds off coming from a popular artist who's on the wrong side of 30. If it was coming from some 16 year old, it might scan better, you know?

Viz (Viz), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm sure he feels those ways sometimes, he's just expressing them in a way that an eighth grader thinks is mind-blowing. He's speaking the language of his audience. No gripes there.

Seriously, would you want a whole album about how you're too busy playing Halo 3 to go score with models?

Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:32 (seventeen years ago) link

We already have a Scott Storch thread.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:32 (seventeen years ago) link

the other half contained crap like the title track and "Only".

WAHT

I'm by no means a NIN fan, haven't even heard all of With Teeth, but "Only" fucking rules. It's like Trent's version of LCD Soundsystem.

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:34 (seventeen years ago) link

reznor has HALO 3 already??

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:40 (seventeen years ago) link

He released Halo 3 a long time back.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:43 (seventeen years ago) link

reznor has HALO 3 already??

Who else would?

Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, I used to love the whole halo concept until they did the three versions of starfuckers and i was off being a NIN completist for good

Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 15 January 2007 20:47 (seventeen years ago) link

LOL "Starfuckers Inc".

The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:27 (seventeen years ago) link

The best version of that song was the one on the original "The Day the World Went Away" single because of the Kiss sample at the very end -- which was of course nothing but Paul Stanley shrieking at an audience.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:28 (seventeen years ago) link

The best version of that song is one that I never have to hear ever again.

The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, you mean the mime karaoke.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:38 (seventeen years ago) link

(That's on Buttfuck Acoustic Time.)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:38 (seventeen years ago) link

i kinda like starfuckers, inc! it's goofy fun.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

I overstate somewhat; I don't hate the song but WOW is it not really my cup of tea.

The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Monday, 15 January 2007 21:42 (seventeen years ago) link

"Only" fucking rules. It's like Trent's version of LCD Soundsystem.

I'd say it's more like Trent's version of "New Sensation" but it does fucking rule (if he ever made a whole album of pottymouth INXS I'd kiss him on the lips).

Zwan (miccio), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:38 (seventeen years ago) link

haha actually it does sound a lot like LCD Soundsystem.

Zwan (miccio), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:40 (seventeen years ago) link

if he ever made a whole album of pottymouth INXS I'd kiss him on the lips

OTM! he really needs to just let his death-disco muse go nuts!

latebloomer aka freedom williams sr (latebloomer), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Which is why that remix EP for "Only" was such a good idea.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:51 (seventeen years ago) link

I think "Only" might capsulize everything I love and hate about NIN. It sounds amazing, but "There is NO FUCKING YOU, there is only me": STFU already. My friend was asking me how I can complain about Reznor's lyrics and like "My Humps". I guess bad lyrics that are aware of their own frivolity don't bother me, but bad lyrics that think they are deep and poetic and stuff annoy me shitless.

The Reverend Rodney J. Greene is false metal! (R. J. Greene), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:57 (seventeen years ago) link

I dunno, you might want to choose a better counterexample than Fergie when it comes to self-awareness.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 15 January 2007 23:59 (seventeen years ago) link

ok, this is pretty great.

StanM, Wednesday, 14 November 2007 20:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Lol, Universal.

http://www.nin.com/index.html#1125746261486643743

StanM, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:40 (sixteen years ago) link

(in short: letting fans download the individual tracks of his songs for remixing is okay, hosting the fans' remixes is a DMCA violation, so the remix site stays offline)

go trent.

StanM, Tuesday, 20 November 2007 20:44 (sixteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Picked up the remix disc, like it well enough so far. Pirate Robot Midget of "My Violent Heart" = pretty good!

Ned Raggett, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:29 (sixteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

So I've been playing the shit out of this remix disc because it is mind-bogglingly superior to the original album on almost every level. "The Great Destroyer" and "Capital G" on here are so fucking tough.

Like sicking a little bit of water into my mouth (HI DERE), Tuesday, 7 October 2008 21:25 (fifteen years ago) link

I need to give it a relisten. Great way to kiss off the majors at least.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 21:34 (fifteen years ago) link

i never heard this but i downloaded a 24GB Nine Inch Nails file with everything you can imagine on it.Took about 2 months to get it all.They were amazing in concert this time around but didn't draw a very big crowd.Glad i went.Anyway i'm on to listen to the remix thing.

captain groovy, Tuesday, 7 October 2008 23:09 (fifteen years ago) link

one month passes...

more people need to listen to this remix album to revel in its glory with me

I will freely admit the original version of "God Given" is way more effective, though

Black Seinfeld (HI DERE), Friday, 21 November 2008 21:10 (fifteen years ago) link

Year Zero is my least favorite NIN album and I don't care about the remixers on this. Should I bother anyway?

dumb pseud (some dude), Friday, 21 November 2008 21:28 (fifteen years ago) link

eight months pass...

several months later, but YES (esp. "The Great Destroyer" and "Capital G")

Four-TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! (HI DERE), Monday, 3 August 2009 15:51 (fourteen years ago) link

three months pass...

so a random song came on the Last.fm station I created based on my Sony music festival and I am sitting here going "who is this super cool A Perfect Circle tribute band, this is a v v pretty song" and it is Modwheelmood, the dudes who did my favorite remix on the Year Zero remix album

a Barbie-like nub where he provates should be (HI DERE), Thursday, 12 November 2009 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

Trent Reznor says HBO and BBC Worldwide Productions are moving forward with the development of “Year Zero,” the grim sci-fi epic that Reznor has chronicled in his music as well as in a celebrated Alternate Reality Game (ARG).

“We are in [the development phase of] pre-production with HBO and BBC [Worldwide Productions] to do a miniseries,” Reznor said Monday. “It’s exciting. I probably shouldn’t say too much about it except that I understand that there’s a thousand hurdles before anything shows up in your TV listing. It’s been an interesting and very educational process and it cleared the HBO hurdle a few months ago and now we’re writing drafts back and forth. So it’s very much alive and incubating at the moment.”

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2010/09/28/trent-reznor-and-hbo-moving-forward-with-year-zero-sci-fi-series/

James Mitchell, Thursday, 30 September 2010 11:36 (thirteen years ago) link

nine years pass...

btw this album is great

brigadier pudding (DJP), Thursday, 17 October 2019 17:10 (four years ago) link

Yes! I always had a soft spot for Capital G even though it’s dated af lyrically now but My Violent Heart and Survivalism are still up there.

gyac, Thursday, 17 October 2019 17:19 (four years ago) link

Also, The Great Destroyer

brigadier pudding (DJP), Thursday, 17 October 2019 17:27 (four years ago) link

The Fennesz remix of In This Twilight is all time for me. Should have been the version on the album proper imho

octobeard, Saturday, 19 October 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link

Yeah I think I liked the remix album better than the original

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 20 October 2019 06:49 (four years ago) link


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