Apple Music Rank: 74
Album: The Downward Spiral
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Year: 1994
Genre: Alternative
Was I familiar with Nine Inch Nails? Yes
Had I heard The Downward Spiral? Only the song “Closer” which – until this listening – I was certain was called “Animal”.
Thoughts on The Downward Spiral: I think most people would consider their “college years” their peak music listening years. For me we’re talking mid/late-90s. Somehow I’ve been aware of the existence of Nine Inch Nails all of these years, but escaped hearing anything from them except for the ubiquitous, aforementioned “Closer”. I know Trent Reznor is the frontman/leader/whatever you want to call him of Nine Inch Nails. Is he Nine Inch Nails? Is this a Kevin Parker/Tame Impala situation? Or, is there more to NIN than just Trent Reznor? I really don’t know. Again, despite the fact that this album fell right into what would be considered my peak music discovery years, I had never heard this record until now.
And now I know why.
This album is dark, folks. Yes, I’m back in my familiar role as Captain Obvious. I was listening to Boyz II Men, Beastie Boys, and A Tribe Called Quest when this album dropped. You know…music that doesn’t make me want to hate-fuck Satan, then crawl in a hole and die. This wasn’t in my wheelhouse. During my The Downward Spiral listening session I read the Apple Music notes on the album and the first sentence mentioned that when Trent Reznor submitted this album to Jimmy Iovine at Interscope he attached a note that said, “Sorry.” He referred to this record as “a celebration of self-destruction.” I refer to it as the music playing at a club full of sexy vampires. For some reason all I could think when I listened to this album is a dark, sweaty club that looks like an old castle full of long haired white dudes and goth Victoria’s Secret models writhing around on a dance floor. Under no circumstance is anyone in that club smiling or having fun. Picture the Club Hell scene from Bad Boys. That’s all I could think when I listened to this record. This is sexy vampire music. I wanna see the Venn diagram of people who love this album and have enjoyed multiple viewings of The Crow movies. I’ll bet it’s just one perfect circle.
I don’t have much of an opinion on this album, to be honest. Yeah, it’s dark. My limited knowledge of NIN told me that already. I didn’t learn anything listening to this that I didn’t already assume. It sounds dated as hell. The Downward Spiral belongs in the same category as that Massive Attack album I wrote about a few months ago. It was groundbreaking at the time, but hearing it for the first time now I respond to it the same way I would’ve responded to a Glenn Miller album 30 years ago. I see why people found it appealing at the time, but I’m not going to add it to my rotation. I’m too late to the party.
I do have one potentially insightful take on The Downward Spiral. I love the album as an art form. Not this specific album. Albums in general. I fear albums are fading away – if they haven’t already – and if that happens it’ll be a dark day for me. Yes, I make mixes and occasionally listen to singles on their own, but my preferred listening experience is consuming an album from start to finish. I assume most artists are meticulous about selecting exactly which tracks go where when creating an album. The singles exist to attract the listener to experience the album in its entirety…at least in my mind. When listening to The Downward Spiral I found the ordering of the tracks so jarring that I looked at my device more than once to make sure I didn’t accidentally shuffle the album. I guess what I mean more concisely is that this album lacks flow. One minute I’m being screamed at while some kind of industrial work – jackhammering? – takes place and the next it’s creepily quiet. There didn’t seem to be a lot of transition. I’m assuming it was intentional, but it hurt the album for me.
Favorite track: Hard to pick a favorite here. This was 65 minutes of straight anger. I’m going to go with “Eraser“. I appreciate the slow buildup of “Eraser”. At least at the start it doesn’t sound like the rest of the album. The 6/8 time signature is slightly disorienting. More layers are added to the track as it progresses. The synth. The guitar with notes bending out of tune. I’m a sucker for songs that continue to add elements as they go. The climax of “Eraser” happens about four minutes in with a lot of distorted electric guitar and Reznor screaming “KILL ME” at the top of his lungs, and it kind of ruins the rest of the song for me, but the buildup is cool.
Will I listen to The Downward Spiral again? Only if I become the music supervisor on a movie about 1990s Dracula.
Would I buy it on vinyl? No
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