Where should I start with Nine Inch Nails?

  On 3/26/2012 at 7:02 AM, Popemobile v2 said:

Shit do I ever approve of that cartoon. Only on WATMM.

http://afxaventurs.tumblr.com/ In case you didn't know already.

yea like some folks say, if you like his soundtracks recent stuff - check out Ghost.

and also How to Destroy Angels has a similar sound pallet.

You can't mess with The Downward Spiral tho.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwUL-MSFGBw

production is immaculate.

Yeah I remember buying Downward Spiral blindly because I'd heard about NIN but never had any way of checking out any songs/samples (ah, pre-internet days!). The closest thing I'd heard before that was Gravity Kills, but not even they could prepare me for the assault that Mr. Self Destruct would hit me with. I remember sitting in front of my parents' CD player in the loungeroom and not getting up until the album finished. Melted my mind!

I got super obsessed with NiN in the last year. Downward Spiral is now by far one of my favourite albums, but it's a tough listen. Still, I've listened to that album more than anything else in the last year I think.

I agree with those that say it is his best but I dunno if it's the best place to start... I think The Fragile is a lot easier to listen to but in a good way.

Also, I quite like Year Zero. It's a little bit samey but there's a lot of good tracks on it. Definitely his best post-Fragile release.

  On 3/26/2012 at 7:38 AM, modey said:

Yeah I remember buying Downward Spiral blindly because I'd heard about NIN but never had any way of checking out any songs/samples (ah, pre-internet days!). The closest thing I'd heard before that was Gravity Kills, but not even they could prepare me for the assault that Mr. Self Destruct would hit me with. I remember sitting in front of my parents' CD player in the loungeroom and not getting up until the album finished. Melted my mind!

while we're on the subject of first time TDS listenings...

I had gotten into NIN via MTV2 / Quake. I had already bought The Fragile and had been rinsing it, and had Pretty Hate Machine (although this was lost on me at the time). I was doing a training course with a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) provider and had brought my CD player in with me. One of the trainers there (can't remember his name), really smartly dressed, short cropped hair, very business-like....well he noticed I had my CD and then we started chatting about NIN. He asked me if I had heard The Downward Spiral, and of course I hadn't yet.

next day he brought the CD in for me to borrow, and I was able to give it a listen on the way home.

Walking through an underpass to get to my bus stop, those opening thuds from THX 1138 came on...and then the track started proper.

I will never forget that moment.

You should start by cutting your wrists

from the start?

  On 3/26/2012 at 1:21 AM, oscillik said:

  On 3/26/2012 at 1:18 AM, kokeboka said:

Yeah, and none of them are particularly good. Trent himself also does a great version of The Frail on Things Falling Apart (it's mostly the song played by a string quartet, but it still sounds great).

 

I think it was actually Benelli that remixed that.

 

The only remix contributions that Reznor had on that album were the first 2 tracks, Slipping Away and The Great Collapse

Yeah, that's right - Benelli. I used to be massively into NIN and know all that off the top of my head, but it's been such a long time since I mulled over a NIN album for days. Maybe it's a good moment to revisit their music; the other day I happened to pop in their live album (And All That Could Have Been) and just had to crank it all the way up.

Anyway, to the OP: like cryptowen said, Ghosts and The Fragile are the more soundtrack-like albums. The Quake soundtrack as well as the Lost Highway (Trent also did solid tracks for Natural Born Killers and The Crow) are also interesting listens.

"I made a 3 hour ambient album"

"Oh wow so did my dishwasher"

I think With Teeth/Year Zero is the best Electronic music to Nine Inch Nails transition, you can go Pretty Hate Machine and Downward Spiral after that.

The question is, where should you STOP with NIN - basically anything after Further Down the Spiral, IMO. The Fragile, WIth Teeth, Year Zero, etc. just doesn't stand up well compared to pre-1994 NIN.

well i would start & stop with the Aphex remix...

  On 3/26/2012 at 5:34 PM, k h o v said:

well i would start & stop with the Aphex remix...

WATMMest response so far

Also I never bothered to seek out any Marilyn Manson albums but I know T-Rez produced a few, so are any worth checking out?

  On 3/26/2012 at 5:39 PM, Cryptowen said:

Also I never bothered to seek out any Marilyn Manson albums but I know T-Rez produced a few, so are any worth checking out?

i'm not a huge manson fan by any means, but 'portrait of an american family' is pretty cool. it is manson's debut album and does sound pretty dated in retrospect. nonetheless, good album. 'antichrist superstar' has got some decent stuff on it as well.

don't bother

Last time people listened to Marilyn Manson there was pow pow bang bang and trenchcoats. Listen at your own risk.

If you can get it, the VHS tape from their early live gigs. Halo 12.

Also Halo 17, live dvd. The live album on that is great.

If you never saw this band live before, or on the fragility tour you kinda missed the boat. Anything more recent then that was just, meh. The ghost tour was interesting because of all the graphics but eh, that's about it.

My favorite EP/LPs?

Things Falling Apart

The Fragile

Further Down the Spiral

Pretty Hate Machine

Oh yeah, and proper NIN is really all about the earlier gigs I think. Not even the albums. There's something on those videos on Closure that's totally lacking from any later output.

I'm hoping the next NIN album is either more Ghosts, or better yet a regular NIN album influenced by Ghosts, sorta sounding like The Fragile but with less-emo lyrics & the wider range of instrumentation he's shown since then (banjos, Tom Waitsy live percussion, minimalistic synthpop, the surprisingly light-hearted moments like

i also went a big fan during an year or two around the double cd album, then i realized that industrial/rock/electronic makes me sick

except for this album by orgy lol

[youtubehd]51DEzX0lLY4&ob[/youtubehd]

and some marilyn manson

lol sounds like Korn

  On 3/26/2012 at 5:39 PM, Cryptowen said:

  On 3/26/2012 at 5:34 PM, k h o v said:

well i would start & stop with the Aphex remix...

WATMMest response so far

 

Also I never bothered to seek out any Marilyn Manson albums but I know T-Rez produced a few, so are any worth checking out?

If you (like me until last year) thought that NiN produced tracks just for angsty middle class teenagers who have nothing to get angry about apart from their parents, I suggest checking out both of the semi-official compilation albums: Quiet Tracks & Still. They're both bloody ace !

  On 3/26/2012 at 8:36 PM, oscillik said:

lol sounds like Korn

fuck i can never recall this expression, what do you call to things you love but are ashamed to???

  On 3/26/2012 at 9:03 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

  On 3/26/2012 at 8:36 PM, oscillik said:

lol sounds like Korn

yes they were sponsored by them and even had some collabs lol

 

 

fuck i can never recall this expression, what do you call to things you love but are ashamed to???

guilty pleasure?

  On 3/26/2012 at 9:04 PM, oscillik said:

  On 3/26/2012 at 9:03 PM, THIS IS MICHAEL JACKSON said:

  On 3/26/2012 at 8:36 PM, oscillik said:

lol sounds like Korn

yes they were sponsored by them and even had some collabs lol

 

 

fuck i can never recall this expression, what do you call to things you love but are ashamed to???

 

guilty pleasure?