Maybe one of these days we'll talk and it'll be OK, but it doesn't feel like it's a friendship, that's for sure. Though Reznor gave Rubin his blessing to have Cash cover "Hurt," he recalled to Alternative Press that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky to me," and that Cash's interpretation of his song initially "sounded … weird to me.". }; At its core, The Downward Spiral is an unflinching concept album that details falling down the rabbit hole of despair – a narrative as impressive as its genre-defying, era-defining music. The Downward Spiral features elements of industrial rock, techno and heavy metal music, in contrast to the band's synthpop-influenced debut album Pretty Hate M… ', "So on this record, 'Ruiner' was the hardest song to write. It wasn't until he saw Mark Romanek's video for Cash's version that everything clicked for him. “It was Hermione who got me writing for and on a specific person,” Bowie said. One theme is sex. "He was always so concerned about making 'real art' that he'd wrestle with the people-friendly aspects. The lyrics of the song introduce the antagonist of The Downward Spiral; who ominously calls himself "the voice inside your head." BANG. There are numerous layers of metaphors that are present throughout the album, which leaves it open to wide interpretation. "The Downward Spiral", thirteenth track on the eponymous album, is often seen as the final part of the story, in which the main character commits suicide with a gun. (function() { It sold quadruple platinum and made Reznor an uneasy megastar, but plunged … (2, 3, 5, 6)Another is self destruction. (C) 2012 Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment Featuring harrowing and uncompromising tracks like "Mr. Self Destruct," "March of the Pigs," "Hurt" and "Closer," which managed the difficult feat of being addictively catchy while also being unbearably intense, the densely layered record has sold almost 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, and influenced just about every dark and edgy metal, hardcore and/or electronic act that came after it. This term describes a depressive state where the person experiencing the downward spiral is getting more and more depressed, perhaps due to causes unknown. He represents the urges of sexuality, powers of addiction, and inescapable feelings of guilt and fear. It might seem that there wasn't a lot of thought behind what he was doing, yet he'd obviously been thinking about it for a long, long time and he would lay down maybe three tracks of the vocal without ever repeating himself. Still, he obviously reconciled himself to that line, because we kept it.". It is called a downward spiral because there is no way to stop it, its just going to get worse and worse... until the person crashes, and maybe finds their way back to happiness. The album depicts the protagonist's metaphorical 'downward spiral' and each song takes you through his own nihilistic solipsistic world culminating in an attempted suicide. So he urges the listener to "pick away at it, I want to watch it come down," being the pretence of our society, the need to be a follower. As soon as [lnterscope president] Jimmy Iovine heard 'Closer,' he said it was a hit. Reznor has insisted many times that he had rented the property before learning of its history. 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"The reason I was there is because it's a cool, nice house on this beautiful green mountainside that overlooks the whole city from the ocean to the downtown," he told Kerrang! "This time I wanted to make an album that went in 10 different directions, but was all united somehow," he told Guitar World in 1994. The word "Pig" had been written in blood on the door of the house by one of the killers, so therefore the song "Piggy" — with its chorus of "Nothing can stop me now" — was widely interpreted as being about a mass murderer and his "family." adunit_id: 100001411, The house was on its own, gated in, and once I realized I hated L.A., there was never any reason to leave. "I bring the girls across the hall into the Nine Inch Nails studio," Lee recalled, "lay them out on Trent's grand piano, say, 'Dudes, set up the mikes, get some grapes, roll the tape and have a seat. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his death by suicide. Songs from the 90s use to make you feel some type of way. You may still be expressing extreme emotions, but instead of loud guitars it's the silence of restraint. Here's Trent Reznor's best-known (and most highly regarded) work, The Downward Spiral, bulked up to include Dolby 5.1 surround and SACD mixes, and … David Bowie, Johnny Cash and the "squirter" in the studio, photograph by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images. This is the third part of my The Downward Spiral Series.Here are the links to the first and second parts if you need to get caught up. The girls take the grapes and stick them in the squirter's pussy only to suck them out and stick more in. Then it all made sense to me. "My nickname was Piggy. The Downward Spiral has a couple themes that recur and thread through the songs. It's not uncommon for recording artists to lose perspective on their work, especially after months and months in the studio. Country legend Johnny Cash's Rick Rubin–produced 2002 album American IV: The Man Comes Around featured new interpretations of country classics mixed with some stunning reworkings of contemporary material — the most stunning being Cash's moving cover of "Hurt," which received considerable airplay on both country and alternative radio stations, and earned the Country Music Association's coveted "Single of the Year" award in 2003. (5, 8, 9,12)Another theme is God. R&B music was almost written in code. Learn more. ", With its slamming industrial beats and glitched-out layers of sound, "Ruiner" is one of The Downward Spiral's most compelling tracks. Share. Whether it's in the past, like a suicide note, or whether its in whatever afterlife that the protagonist doubted the existence of. Tap to unmute. Indeed. The Climax of the Downward Spiral (19:1–21:25) Later, a second Levite arrives on the scene in order to retrieve his wife who has fled from him to the house of her father in Bethlehem. However, former NIN guitarist Richard Patrick (later of Filter) believes the song was actually about the dissolution of his friendship with Reznor. On March 8th, 1994, Nine Inch Nails released The Downward Spiral, a landmark not just for Trent Reznor's career, but for hard, electronic-oriented music in general. It's usually one part that's fucking the whole thing up. This form needs Javascript to display, which your browser doesn't support. Some-fucking-how that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure. "I pop the video in, and ... wow. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. All Rights Reserved. I got a copy of the first NIN album, Pretty Hate Machine, soon after Downward Spiral, and quickly decided that the later album was a kind of sequel to the song "Something I Can Never Have" — there, the speaker is "starting to scare myself", and in Downward Spiral, song after song is all about that scare: trying to express it, trying to escape it, being consumed by it. "I got into Bowie in the Scary Monsters era, then I picked up Low and instantly fell for it," he told Kerrang! General CommentI think this song deals with Reznor's hatred of a conformist society where everyone is forced to be the same, lined up in a great "march of the pigs" (kinda reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "The Wall"). It's incredibly flattering as a writer to have your song chosen by someone who's a great writer and a great artist.". Why is the song not happening?' I have such a bad vibe from that song now — from it sucking in so many different ways. It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. But the nice thing about the house, which I feel had nothing to do with what happened there, was that I wouldn't leave it for weeks. In fact, his theatrics on The Downward Spiral-- all the preening self-absorption and serpentine sexuality -- seemed directly descended from Jim Morrison. It is a concept album in which the overarching plot follows the protagonist moving through his own "Downward Spiral", dealing with religion, dehumanization, violence, disease, society, drugs, sex, and finally suicide. /* TFP - lyricinterpretations */ Allentown Billy Joel Billy Joel's song "Allentown" was written as "Levittown," which is the town in Long Island where he grew up. Interpretation. Then finally someone hits the mute button for that part and the song's good. I was about fifteen and an avid Manson fan. When Reznor finally delivered the completed version of The Downward Spiral to Interscope Records in late 1993, he was happy with the finished product — but also completely convinced that it was entirely devoid of hit potential. To be erased - and he did it. “The Becoming” An example of how melodic industrial music can actually be, a few progressive -- … Original lyrics of The Downward Spiral song by Discharge. "When I handed the record into Interscope, I recall apologizing to them because I thought it had no commercial, 'single' potential," he told Alternative Press in 2004. The Downward Spiral, released in 1994, is the second album by American rock band Nine Inch Nails, and the band's first full work following their shift from a darker, more mechanical take on synthpop and alternative dance (Pretty Hate Machine) to a harsher, angrier industrial sound (Broken EP).. Reznor didn’t think the album had any commercial potential, 8. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. Music video by The Shins performing The Rifle's Spiral. "There's always one song per record where you work and work and work, and it just takes a hell of a long time for the song to come together," he explained. The protagonist killed himself. Watch official video, print or download text in … On their way back, they spend the night in the town of Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin. document.write('
');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.clickfuse.com/showads/showad.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; I've gotta make it work.' })(); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); BANG. He's writing songs about me … you know, I wish it hadn't been so complicated and so weird. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps ... Wow. ", Most of the album was infamously written and recorded at Le Pig, Reznor's home studio at 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, the same address where actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child, and four other people were murdered by followers of Charles Manson. The introduction of the song contains a chromatic melody very reminiscent of the ending of "Closer" but in … This fuels a vicious downward spiral of self-hatred and hatred of anomalous others from which it is difficult for the political discriminator to escape. Like the albums of many '70s art-rock bands, it is a concept work with a definite and per ceivable story and development of ideas. in 1994. In Tommyland, his 2004 autobiography, Lee recalled bringing several porn stars (including a woman with a well-earned reputation as a "squirter") to A&M Studios — where Reznor was working at the time — as a "birthday present" for NIN bassist Danny Lohner. Reznor was originally unsure about keeping “Closer”’s most famous line, 6. Yet Reznor 's nihilism often seemed like a reaction against some repressively extreme standard of purity, so the depravity he wallowed in didn't necessarily seem that depraved. Song meanings ©2003-2021 lyricinterpretations.com. Reznor was initially weirded out by Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt”. The Downward Spiral means the world to me. About “The Downward Spiral” One of the final songs on The Downward Spiral and an extraordinarily disturbing treatise on suicide. A talented producer can make a song in ten minutes on a live stream. At that point Trent was right, of course. var opts = { More significant was the downward spiral of Bowie’s relationship with his actress girlfriend Hermione Farthingale. Things felt even stranger when he passed away. As a whole, The Downward Spiral is defined by Nietzschean concepts and a prominent theme of existentialism. "You captured the moment with him. The shoes are the telling detail, proof that the song's protagonist has slipped from stability into a downward spiral of apathy and self-abnegation. "That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it. The song's purpose shifted again. And you realize, 'Oh fuck, it's that part I love so much. "The music just flows out of Trent like no one else I've ever known," longtime NIN engineer and mixer Sean Beavan told Sound on Sound in 2012. "They reversed it and fucked with the tone of it," Lee explained. well, if you've been following along with the rest of the concept album,
has made "Closer" a favorite of strippers — and the bane of conservative pundits — for a quarter of a century. The Foo Fighters song "Everlong" isn't about Kurt Cobain, but a low point in Dave Grohl's life when he was broke and homeless. Most of Trent Reznor’s vocal and guitar parts were recorded spontaneously, 3. The Downward Spiral contains a variety of non-musical samples, including audio snippets from the films Texas Chainsaw Massacre, THX-1138 and Robot Jox. Recorded at a time when much of the rock world was looking back to Seventies punk and heavy rock for inspiration, Trent Reznor used David Bowie's moody and atmospheric 1977 masterpiece Low as a guiding light for The Downward Spiral. Many of the loops used on The Downward Spiral’s tracks were assembled using recordings of live drummers including Chris Vrenna and Stephen Perkins, which were then re-assembled and occasionally treated by adding synth and Pro Tools manipulation. The protagonist is bent on self-destruction. He'd always ad-lib stuff, and after you picked one of the takes he would never allow you to punch in anything less than an entire verse … To his way of thinking, whereas the rhythm should be perfect, the emotion should come from the voice and the guitar. Reznor didn’t think the album had any commercial potential. It's so hard to watch you see waning now for the n-teenth time like a slow motion train wreck happening now in double-time Raising up and then we see it's never so bad no it's never no and then we see it's never so bad Hard these downward spirals Oh such a never ending downward spiral I hope you can get some rest there's nothing that could lead me there I swear that I mean the best Hard these down downward spirals Oh such a never ending downward spiral … ", Said "squirter"'s moans of pleasure were picked up by the studio mics, and subsequently appended to the beginning of "Big Man With a Gun." "I related to it on a song-writing level, a mood level, and on a song-structure level … I like working within the framework of accessibility, and songs, of course, but I also like things that are more experimental and instrumental, maybe. Watch later. But Reznor admitted to Guitar World in 1994 that he wasn't satisfied with how it came out. He shot himself in the head, and Mr. Self Destruct, the antagonist introduced in the first song in the album with the same name, tells us exactly what happened, in not the most heartwarming way. It was a good version, and I certainly wasn't cringing or anything, but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else," he said. #5 The fifth song on The Downward Spiral album, “Closer,” is probably the most known Nine Inch Nail’s song.It was played excessively in the mid-90s and was know for its explicit chorus, “I want to fuck you like an animal.” "As with any great artist, there's a lot of procrastination, but while he's playing [video] games, his brain is still working and at any moment he could come up with something fantastic. So it's kind of surprising to learn that Reznor originally had severe misgivings about including the line in the song. "It's really quiet and secluded, yet it's also five minutes from the Whisky …", "If there was any sort of vibe then it was one of quiet, maybe sadness. Then when we grew up and listened to those same songs, they carry a whole new meaning. 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