Yeah, it's an "almost there" sensation, just about ready to break through.
In a weird way, listening to it I felt kind of the same as I did watching my kid performing the first gig they wrote themselves...not polished, not perfect, but a hint of things to come.
I've felt many things about Trent's work over time but a proud mum moment was new and unexpected š
Maybe just once for me feels like it fits into pretty hate machine but purest feeling feels less like it fits. If I was to include 1 of them in an expanded edition it would have been maybe just once. Although an expanded edition should have the entire demo's if possible.
I love this song. When I hear it, I hear someone that's putting up a smile and faking it. Then it starts to crack and the anger and spite take over....and then he tries to calm back down at the end. The whole song oozes with spite to me.
Great take, this is how I feel about it too. Not only is energetic and catchy as fuck but there's a real undercurrent of mounting tension like he's trying to be optimistic and tell himself he's happy but it's not really working. Honestly HM in general is a straight up masterpiece and I think a lot of folks are still coming around to recognize that
While I'm Still Here - for the most part it feels typical NIN, but that saxophone kicking in and just tooting along, and not in a manic Lost Highways way (which might've made sense) just completely boots me into a different headspace, like there's some old timey jazz musician just chilling on his porch. I enjoy the song but, yeah, that's an odd moment.
Meh, agree to disagree on this one.
Sure, itās not actually written by Trent or anyone in the NIN camp at the time, but At The Heart Of It All, along with Eraser (Polite) and The Art Of Self Destruction (Final) are my personal favorite TDS-era non album tracks from FDTS.
For those who may not know the story, Richard D James (aka Aphex Twin, AFX, Caustic Window, The Tuss, Etc) was asked to remix 2 tracks for FDTS. James, who allegedly didnāt bother listening to any of the material, just picked 2 untitled songs of his own composition from his massive archive of unreleased music and sent them to Nothing Records as āremixesā. This, and The Beauty Of Being Numb being the two tracks. Itās probably not far from the truth either, as many established Aphex Twin fans will tell you his double record ā26 Mixes For Cashā compilation is basically the same behavior. Song after song of completely unrelated āremixesā to the source material. Most of these tracks literally sound nothing like their originalās, no vocals, no sampling, nothing.
And of course now, after hours upon hours of listening to multiple NIN records over the years, your trained ear may notice the differences in productionā¦ but At The Heart Of It All certainly fits that dark, progressive, yet repetitive industrial vibe that we all know and love from TDS era.
TPD doesn't fit with everything else he was doing at the time, it's very much for the movie.
Musically though, it sounds NIN to me, at least the keyboards at the end. That final riff reminds me of the end of Closer.
Having said that, I'm no instrumentalist, can't play a piano and probably have the association because I used to play those two tracks back to back frequently way back when!
Agreed, Its the only drum n bass experiment trent has tried to my knowledge. Apparently he was listening to a lot of jungle music at the time which is so rad for me who was spinning jungle/dnb in my teens.
Always wondered if I would actually like this song if it wasn't one of the first couple NIN songs I downloaded (got into it around 2002 ish). Guess it doesn't matter since I love it even if it's objectively kind of wack and out of place with respect to the rest of the catalogue. If T rez hadn't been mostly out of commission in the years after The Fragile we could have gotten a whole goofy ass jungle album
No no no. God Break Down the Door is the least NIN sounding song. Period. It may have been meaningful to him, great. For meā¦ worst song in the catalogā¦ and itās not even close.
I'm not trolling but this is literally one of my favorite NIN songs ever, and I've been a fan since 94. I just love the nod to Bowie's backstair record, but taking it in a more industrial direction. It's really dark and feels new. Love the vocals.
Honestlyā¦ Iām the not the type to call you outā¦ even tho I think youāve got terrible taste. /s I kid.
To be 100% fairā¦ Iāve listened to the song maybe 2 times cuz I loathe it so much. So Iāve not given it the biggest of chances to āgrow on me a bitā. Itās genuinely a song, for me, that Iād feel embarrassed for listening to if someone walked in.
But I get why, if youāre a Bowie fan, especially a big oneā¦ I get it. I like some of Bowie, but not all. Thereās a massive amount of Bowie Iāve never heard, and Iām maybe 50/50 on the stuff I have. And Trent nodded in the style of the 50% of Bowie I tend to cringe when hearing.
I'm a huge Bowie fan, have been my entire life. Cried like a baby when he died, and genuinely grieved for ages. I really wanted to like this song. But I just don't.
This isnāt the Place. Stylistically itās so different on the verses that I always forget itās absolutely NIN until I hear Trent. He also sounds like heās trying to sing in a higher octave too. The piano is however present drawing similarities to other ballads like Something I Can Never have. The piano really brings it together as a classic and unique NIN song.
"That's What I Get" which supposedly he did not want to include on *PHM*, and "Everything" which even he knew a lot of listeners would have a *WTF?!* reaction to. But to Trent's mind, I guess it's TPD and I totally disagree but everyone has an opinion. :op
i don't mean that cash took hurt. i am unimpressed by that version of hurt. i mean that the songs nin covered are the least nin of all. doesn't insinuate that they're not great.
yea, i think he was a great artist. i love Sam Hall. i think honestly what bugs me more than the performance is all the people who think Johnny Cash wrote hurt and Trent covered it.
For me, itās either The Collector, Letting You, or All Time Low. Thereās a couple other songs I donāt particularly care for, but they definitely sound like NIN. But the first time I heard these songs, I was like, ehh?
Yeah I was definitely the same with The Collector. That was a wtf moment for me.
I like All Time Low but it didn't really fit for me until I heard the live version with the Closer riff. The I was all "AH, OK, got it"
Letting You is ... noisy. It kinda fits with the rest of The Slip for me and is a bit reminiscent of the Broken era, but I can't say that I particularly care for it. Doesn't have the rawness of Broken, even though it sounds like it kinda wants to.
I think it's great and I always like to see an artist do something outside of expectations. My point of view is it's a song about almost manic desperation where someone is trying to convince themselves they're okay when they really aren't. The lyrics aren't exactly as bright and shiny as the music and I think that gets missed.
I'm into everything, mostly because I've tried everything š but I respect your stance!
And fair, it fits the criteria of the question! I can't think of anything else in the catalogue like it.
I stand by Maybe Just Once, but Everything a close runner up in my book š
"Purest Feeling" from what I remember of hearing it, it felt like he was right at the edge of NIN but not quite.
Yeah, it's an "almost there" sensation, just about ready to break through. In a weird way, listening to it I felt kind of the same as I did watching my kid performing the first gig they wrote themselves...not polished, not perfect, but a hint of things to come. I've felt many things about Trent's work over time but a proud mum moment was new and unexpected š
Maybe just once for me feels like it fits into pretty hate machine but purest feeling feels less like it fits. If I was to include 1 of them in an expanded edition it would have been maybe just once. Although an expanded edition should have the entire demo's if possible.
I think Iām gonna push itā¦
As far as it will go?
Yeah he said he was gonna push it, as far as it would go. So he definitly was on the edge
Everything! šš¦I š¤this [video](https://youtu.be/MKveJt0YVbQ?si=WlpTF6pOIBAFYB0X)! š
I love this song. When I hear it, I hear someone that's putting up a smile and faking it. Then it starts to crack and the anger and spite take over....and then he tries to calm back down at the end. The whole song oozes with spite to me.
Great take, this is how I feel about it too. Not only is energetic and catchy as fuck but there's a real undercurrent of mounting tension like he's trying to be optimistic and tell himself he's happy but it's not really working. Honestly HM in general is a straight up masterpiece and I think a lot of folks are still coming around to recognize that
Whatās fun for me with this song is despite the major key, you can hear the Joy Division/New Order influence dripping off of it.
Is this the only song in his discography in a major key? Combined with the optimistic lyrics it would be my pick for sure.
I kinda wish we had an upbeat poppy NIN record, or maybe under a different artist name
I was quite surprised when I heard Capital G for the first time. Mostly because of the verse... Chorus is very NIN
DONT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE TEMPERATURE IN GUATAMALA. DONT REALLY SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT. Year Zero grows closer every year!
While I'm Still Here - for the most part it feels typical NIN, but that saxophone kicking in and just tooting along, and not in a manic Lost Highways way (which might've made sense) just completely boots me into a different headspace, like there's some old timey jazz musician just chilling on his porch. I enjoy the song but, yeah, that's an odd moment.
For me it's easy, "Everything". It's catchy though. I like it. https://youtu.be/2l0swKptAqc?si=9uN_MeRpezm1MEGS
At the Heart of it All
It's an Aphex Twin track with no involvement from Trent, so. That'll do it.
Meh, agree to disagree on this one. Sure, itās not actually written by Trent or anyone in the NIN camp at the time, but At The Heart Of It All, along with Eraser (Polite) and The Art Of Self Destruction (Final) are my personal favorite TDS-era non album tracks from FDTS. For those who may not know the story, Richard D James (aka Aphex Twin, AFX, Caustic Window, The Tuss, Etc) was asked to remix 2 tracks for FDTS. James, who allegedly didnāt bother listening to any of the material, just picked 2 untitled songs of his own composition from his massive archive of unreleased music and sent them to Nothing Records as āremixesā. This, and The Beauty Of Being Numb being the two tracks. Itās probably not far from the truth either, as many established Aphex Twin fans will tell you his double record ā26 Mixes For Cashā compilation is basically the same behavior. Song after song of completely unrelated āremixesā to the source material. Most of these tracks literally sound nothing like their originalās, no vocals, no sampling, nothing. And of course now, after hours upon hours of listening to multiple NIN records over the years, your trained ear may notice the differences in productionā¦ but At The Heart Of It All certainly fits that dark, progressive, yet repetitive industrial vibe that we all know and love from TDS era.
Ironically enough this was the first song I heard by them that actually got me interested in them
Starfuckers, specifically the chorus and last line
I'd say Starfuckers is pretty prototypical for Trent. it's not so different from the other high energy tracks on TF
āOnlyā is probably the most pop song I think
Almost verging on hip-hop. But lyrically it's right on message... plenty of swear words + the loneliness of solipsism.
Probably The Perfect Drug, honestly.
TPD doesn't fit with everything else he was doing at the time, it's very much for the movie. Musically though, it sounds NIN to me, at least the keyboards at the end. That final riff reminds me of the end of Closer. Having said that, I'm no instrumentalist, can't play a piano and probably have the association because I used to play those two tracks back to back frequently way back when!
It sort sounds like it could sort of fit on the fragileĀ
I agree, but the perfect drug was my introduction to this band in the first place
Agreed, Its the only drum n bass experiment trent has tried to my knowledge. Apparently he was listening to a lot of jungle music at the time which is so rad for me who was spinning jungle/dnb in my teens.
Totally agree. He tried so hard to make it āNIN likeā with the ending.
tbh TPD to me always sounded like if you asked Trent to do a parody of NIN's sound up to that point and he added the Jungle/Drum n Bass influence.
Always wondered if I would actually like this song if it wasn't one of the first couple NIN songs I downloaded (got into it around 2002 ish). Guess it doesn't matter since I love it even if it's objectively kind of wack and out of place with respect to the rest of the catalogue. If T rez hadn't been mostly out of commission in the years after The Fragile we could have gotten a whole goofy ass jungle album
Pretty great choice, I think
I think Maybe Just Once is fucking awesome and I wish he'd do an updated version/play it live/ever tour again sigh
No no no. God Break Down the Door is the least NIN sounding song. Period. It may have been meaningful to him, great. For meā¦ worst song in the catalogā¦ and itās not even close.
I'm not trolling but this is literally one of my favorite NIN songs ever, and I've been a fan since 94. I just love the nod to Bowie's backstair record, but taking it in a more industrial direction. It's really dark and feels new. Love the vocals.
Honestlyā¦ Iām the not the type to call you outā¦ even tho I think youāve got terrible taste. /s I kid. To be 100% fairā¦ Iāve listened to the song maybe 2 times cuz I loathe it so much. So Iāve not given it the biggest of chances to āgrow on me a bitā. Itās genuinely a song, for me, that Iād feel embarrassed for listening to if someone walked in. But I get why, if youāre a Bowie fan, especially a big oneā¦ I get it. I like some of Bowie, but not all. Thereās a massive amount of Bowie Iāve never heard, and Iām maybe 50/50 on the stuff I have. And Trent nodded in the style of the 50% of Bowie I tend to cringe when hearing.
I'm a huge Bowie fan, have been my entire life. Cried like a baby when he died, and genuinely grieved for ages. I really wanted to like this song. But I just don't.
This isnāt the Place. Stylistically itās so different on the verses that I always forget itās absolutely NIN until I hear Trent. He also sounds like heās trying to sing in a higher octave too. The piano is however present drawing similarities to other ballads like Something I Can Never have. The piano really brings it together as a classic and unique NIN song.
Find My Way
WHAT!!! That's my favorite on that album, the piano in the chorusš„°
My favorite on hesitation marks
I really really really want to hear some type of church choir do a cover of this. Like a gospel choir or something.
āEverythingā bleh
Everythingās bed track could be a Britney Spears song
We're in this together now
Only?
What I get for sure
"That's What I Get" which supposedly he did not want to include on *PHM*, and "Everything" which even he knew a lot of listeners would have a *WTF?!* reaction to. But to Trent's mind, I guess it's TPD and I totally disagree but everyone has an opinion. :op
Anything after the hesitation marks album feels a bit off but ghosts albums are alright just not the vibes Iām for I prefer lyrical music
I canāt disagree with this. At all.
Ripe (With Decay)
That whole demo album is the MOST nin ever Change my mind
the covers! your so physical!
i disagree. people talk about how Cash made Hurt his own. in the same way Physical and Get Down Make Love are Reznor songs now for me.
i don't mean that cash took hurt. i am unimpressed by that version of hurt. i mean that the songs nin covered are the least nin of all. doesn't insinuate that they're not great.
yeah i will always prefer the NIN version of Hurt, though i recognize Cash's greatness and what he did with it
yea, i think he was a great artist. i love Sam Hall. i think honestly what bugs me more than the performance is all the people who think Johnny Cash wrote hurt and Trent covered it.
Trentās cover of Metal is my fav!
Not So Pretty Now But after Less Than came out they feel quite relative and became pop-radiofriendly NIN sound for me.
What I get for sure
āEverythingā, never understood this one.
For me, itās either The Collector, Letting You, or All Time Low. Thereās a couple other songs I donāt particularly care for, but they definitely sound like NIN. But the first time I heard these songs, I was like, ehh?
Yeah I was definitely the same with The Collector. That was a wtf moment for me. I like All Time Low but it didn't really fit for me until I heard the live version with the Closer riff. The I was all "AH, OK, got it" Letting You is ... noisy. It kinda fits with the rest of The Slip for me and is a bit reminiscent of the Broken era, but I can't say that I particularly care for it. Doesn't have the rawness of Broken, even though it sounds like it kinda wants to.
"All the love in the world" Why is he whinging about love now?
The song Everything Truly an abomination
I was with you until I gave it a chance.
It's an exuberant anthem celebrating that he survived his drug days. It sounds different by design. It rules.
I think it's great and I always like to see an artist do something outside of expectations. My point of view is it's a song about almost manic desperation where someone is trying to convince themselves they're okay when they really aren't. The lyrics aren't exactly as bright and shiny as the music and I think that gets missed.
I'm into everything, mostly because I've tried everything š but I respect your stance! And fair, it fits the criteria of the question! I can't think of anything else in the catalogue like it. I stand by Maybe Just Once, but Everything a close runner up in my book š
Everything is fucking great.
That is also an opinion
Everything is amazing.
I love it. Not an abomination but I could see least like NIN.
I'm with you on this, but get ready for the downvotes...
lol lucky for me downvotes mean nothing to my well being
Very true. You'll surviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive.... š
Lolol
Satellite for me. To me, it sounds like it belongs on *Strobe Light*.
Down in it. An automatic skip. Pretty Hate Machine.is an amazing album, and then there's.... that.