May 04, 2005
I bought the new Nine Inch Nails album, With Teeth, yesterday - perhaps more for nostalgic reasons than anything else. It's not really a progression, but it's definitely good; as good as Reznor's ever been, in many ways. His talent for pulling beautiful melodies out of all that distortion is pretty unparalleled, and his lyrics, while simplistic, have always cut to a certain core. To wit: what other industrial rocker could have had one of their songs so beautifully adapted by Johnny Cash?
But his music doesn't cut to my core the way it once did. This record would have meant so much more to me when I was sixteen or seventeen, back when I listened to NIN religiously. I was never much for hard music, but Reznor's was so sincere and so personal, and so reflective; I was a little too young for Nirvana, but NIN provided the same musical outlet for me that Cobain did for the kids who carved his name into their arm when he died.
I suppose I've changed; I don't have any desire to sit alone in the dark and listen to With Teeth over and over and over again. Even with The Fragile, which came out when I was 18 and is the only of his records I listen to with any frequency these days, my wholehearted love was waning. It's certainly not because I don't get sad and depressed any more, or that I don't use music as an emotional salve; perhaps it's just that my horizons were broadened, my tastes were refined, and now I simply have more music to choose from.
While I'm sitting alone, of course. In the dark.
P.S. The album isn't being issued with a Creative Commons license - but it might as well be, since Reznor is making all the elements of at least the first two singles available for download from his website, for fans to do with as they please (outside of making money, of course).
Posted by David Lowery at May 4, 2005 10:39 PM
Comments
I disagree...I am now the big 3-0 in age and I think this is easily Reznor's best in 11 years. I have playing it almost nonstop.
I have an extremely broad/obscure taste in music and couldn't be more pleased with the album.
I thought The Fragile was way too sprawling/self-indulgent and didn't have nearly as strong songcraft going on as this one.
There are some NIN fans who are going to persistently whine about this one because Reznor refuses to simply scream constantly and remain their prince of darkness. Too bad for them. I can't wait to see the band live.
Posted by: Dave at May 5, 2005 11:36 PM
I think you've misunderstood me - I do think the record is very strong. And I don't care about him screaming, either - my favorite songs have always been the quieter ones (on this album, the first and last tracks are definite standouts).
It simply doesn't connect to me on a personal level the way his music once did.
Posted by: Ghostboy at May 5, 2005 11:48 PM
My fandom is unparalleled--I'm sure David can testify to this. And go further in saying that I'm just not impressed. I still say Pretty Hate Machine is his best. The Fragile being second. Broken third. And then The Downward Spiral. Everything else is filler--including this album.
Posted by: Just another anonymous kook at May 6, 2005 03:08 AM
No misunderstanding--I wasn't talking about your reaction specficially, but a cadre of fans who just want Trent to stagnate. But people's reactions are so subjective (of course) that some are claiming he stagnated on this album, which IMO is totally off-base.
The review I linked to using the URL function (click my name) gets it most right I think. Most people seem to still be carrying their Fragile/TDS baggage and aren't listening closely. It's also a really dumb and common practice to review a piece of music without repeat listens, which some people also are too eager to do.
Posted by: David at May 6, 2005 11:31 AM
I'd like to add that I think Trent's remix of KMFDM's Light and A Perfect Circle's Judith should go on the list of stuff that Trent's done that's fucking amazing.
Posted by: Just another anonymous kook at May 6, 2005 11:52 AM
For the record, despite what I said in my post, I have been listening to With Teeth pretty repeatedly since I bought it.
Posted by: Ghostboy at May 7, 2005 05:30 AM