Purest Feeling > Pretty Hate Machine
Hands down.
Broken is awesome, Fixed is even better and the one I find myself putting on the most.
Downward Spiral and accompanying remixes/b-sides was golden era, only period I would call groundbreaking. Not all of it strikes as forcibly upon listening today, but oh my, THE BECOMING? RUINER? Foetus remixes of Mr. Self Destruct? That is some gnarly shit.
Everything after? Eh. It ain’t terrible. Some toe tappers here and there.
Somewhat Damaged and We’re in this Together are my two picks from The Fragile.
PHM is teen Trent expressing himself before all the crazy kicks in.
PHM is teen Trent expressing himself before all the crazy kicks in.
PHM is Trent walking in on his best friend and his fiancé. Fucking RAW. cain’t top it.
Late,
grmpysmrf
I fear that grmps is wrong. PHM is far from the best. It’s very adolescent, less walking in on best friend and fiancé and more getting let down easily after a one week fling with a girl you met at art camp and taking it waaaaaaay too hard.
Yeah ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ is definitely the most immature IMO and also if there is any album where he can be written off as a “rip off” of Ministry, Skinny Puppy, etc. it’s that one.
But there’s something to be said for the naked honesty of that debut and it’s definitely a classic. I prefer when he got weirder/more “fucked up” but without that album as a solid foundation for the b®and he wouldn’t have had the freedom to explore other places on subsequent releases…
And of course on that album and every other he would display a pop instinct, musicianship, and melodic flare beyond the other “Industrial” acts of the time, which is the real reason NIN took off.
Whoever said NIN is “talentless noise” is delusional. You don’t have to like it but if you genuinely believe that you are deluded…
There is nothing to fear. grmps is not wrong. Carry on.
Late,
grmpysmrf
Yeah, I gotta agree with everybody except Grmpy on this one.
PHM is the last gasp of '80s synthpop and it shows. TDS is NIN’s true classic.
I understand being right is sometimes a lonely trail.
It’s not a problem I know my journey.
Late,
grmpysmrf
Sorry grmpy, I’ve got to side with the broken/fixed guy as i was too young to have been in any real relationship (could’nt relate to the lyrics at the time) but could relate to “teen angst” plus when you combine it with fixed,which is way underated imo and is much more than just a remix record,it’s audio murder. I remember it being almost torture to sit through,screaming slave, after that any music i listened to all just seemed a lil’ limp after that,hell i used to put on psalm 69 on the headphones and go to sleep!
Totally agree with Broken/Fixed. His breakout period with some really cool sounds haven’t really heard before. You really needed to be in that time period to understand how different the music was. His queen cover has awesome too. PHM/purest feeling second for sure. Classic Trent and nothing sounded like it until you dig deeper. TDWS a close third.
i agree that trent is really good as a sound designer.
i must also agree with majority that his latest stuff was kind of “eh…”, less intense, and well - just different i guess
“fixed” was the thing that got me exploring other ‘true’ industrial bands (coil and whatever else there was at that time) altho i fuckin hated “screaming slave”. still do.
fragile i was playing constantly when it was released.
i dunno, i just got sort of tired of nin after like 2008 i guess.
year zero was ok as experiment and had that whole ARG gimmick to it, some songs off it were kinda shit on the album but live they were great (great destroyer especially). lights in the sky tour had most amazing visual tech with those fukin sensors and lazers and leds etc…
After the perfect drug, it went down hill.
A The Fragile tour would be fairly weird because it doesn’t merit such honouring. Half the album is not good enough for a live set list. The Fragile was the Great Anti-Climax.
PHM was nice but it’s a little bitch compared to Broken and Downward Spiral. A tour doing a full run of the Downward Spiral and/or Broken would be grand.
One day it will hit you. TDS Pure fakery! PHM TRUE RAW emotion put to sound!
Late,
grmpysmrf
One day it will hit you. TDS Pure fakery! PHM TRUE RAW emotion put to sound!
Late,
grmpysmrf
“How can you turn me in to this? After you just taught me how to kiss… you!”
Yup, pure raw emotion, and not embarrassing teen journal material.
Anyone else with a favorite cringe line?
[reply]One day it will hit you. TDS Pure fakery! PHM TRUE RAW emotion put to sound!
Late,
grmpysmrf
“How can you turn me in to this? After you just taught me how to kiss… you!”
Yup, pure raw emotion, and not embarrassing teen journal material.
Anyone else with a favorite cringe line?[/reply]
It only reads like teenage journal material, It’s a metaphor for how he was left empty and dejected by the person he loved so much… not actually about kissing, duh!
besides, no single lyric on PHM can compete with the opening lie that is hurt. “I hurt myself today to see if I still feel”
Superficial bullshit to sate the superficial cutters.
Stopping living in the cave, PHM is the best NIN album ever. Come out an bathe in the light!!
Late,
grmpysmrf
You know it was records like fixed and actually some luxa/pan stuff (hey asshole) that had the whole 3 sec loop for 8min thing. It would put you in a trance-like state i can’t remember the fixed song it’s just the drums during the bridge looped for 8min.Actually luxa/pan mastered that,look at finger licken’ good. The last time ministry did something like that was ‘impossible’ which was a fav. of mine
I think people read into PHM way too much. It was a pop album from the 80s. Personally, I love it. The lyrics are silly, but the music is catchy and very fun to listen to. And lyrics were/are never Trent’s strong suit. He’s a composer/sound designer/producer. That’s what I enjoy and look for in NIN releases. No need (for me at least) to dissect what the songs are really about.
At the very least, the lyrics add more of a rough outline/extension to what the songs represent. Of course, that’s just my opinion.
You know it was records like fixed and actually some luxa/pan stuff (hey asshole) that had the whole 3 sec loop for 8min thing. It would put you in a trance-like state i can’t remember the fixed song it’s just the drums during the bridge looped for 8min.Actually luxa/pan mastered that,look at finger licken’ good. The last time ministry did something like that was ‘impossible’ which was a fav. of mine
leper <3.
I think people read into PHM way too much. It was a pop album from the 80s. Personally, I love it. The lyrics are silly, but the music is catchy and very fun to listen to. And lyrics were/are never Trent’s strong suit. He’s a composer/sound designer/producer. That’s what I enjoy and look for in NIN releases. No need (for me at least) to dissect what the songs are really about.
At the very least, the lyrics add more of a rough outline/extension to what the songs represent. Of course, that’s just my opinion.
You’re closer to brilliant than the rest of these misguided fools!
Late,
grmpysmrf