I love EVERYTHING Numan does. There are some more recent things that I have to be in the mood for, but there’s a certain emotional content to it that just… well it’s raw. And granted, I don’t always want to hear it like Pleasure Principle or something like that where I can fit it in anywhere, in my day, or outdoor playlist, or whatever. But it has substance that is pretty undeniable.
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I am also ALL about poking a bit of fun, or adding playful stereotypes to musical discussion. I have a pretty wide (and sometimes even dark) sense of humor. I love all the discourse I’ve seen in this thread!
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I absolutely loved NIN when I was 19-21 years old and The Downward Spiral had just come out. After that masterpiece the next album Fragile seemed like a let down. It had none of the flair and great songs that it’s predecessor had had. I stopped listening to NIN.
This seems to be a bigger tendency in my music listening. I love the first two or three albums of a band, then I kinda become disillusioned with them and stop buying their albums. Some bands deserve it some don’t. Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Eels, Björk etc. spring to mind.
For years I lived my life happy without listening to NIN but then I as a journalist had to write a review on How To Destroy Angels and I liked it a lot. After that came Hesitation Marks and I loved that too. Had the opportunity to go and see NIN for a gig review and they absolutely blew me away. I was in love again.
Now I had a 15-20 year period of unbought NIN albums to catch up to. I love that. Finding an old favourite again and getting to catch up on what they’ve done recently. Nowadays I even love Fragile. I can’t understand why I didn’t love it back then, it’s a great album.
Kudos to Trent for using the Digitakt, he’s a smart dude.
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March of the Pigs was one of my favorites then.
Living in Seattle, I would go to the NIN/Ministry laser show any time that I was bored. 
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I too am not fond of Reznor’s voice or singing.
I would have loved to enjoy it. Cause his sound is tight!! Real tasty distorsions, metallic clangs and sharp cuts, industrial at its best.
I don’t know if Trent Reznor is the inventor of industrial music, but definitely the most iconic industrial musician ^^
And I like how he despises music industry. Got Ghosts I for free… Sent him money for the rest.
I really love this album btw, I’ll definitely look for more NIN instrumentals.
I’m also a big fan of Cortini. And Atticus Ross (check The Book Of Eli OST, lots of Reznor sound in there).
But yeah, Reznor’s singing, not my thing.
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He didn’t invent it. He’s the one that brought it to the masses. So, he’s good if not the best, BUT, there is so much more to the industrial movement.
Check out Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, Front 242, Coil, Revolting Cocks, Ministry, My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult, KMFDM, Laibach, 1000 Homo DJs, and so many more… In fact, my “primer” to the scene was the WaxTrax Black Box.
I won’t go into the dish that introduced me to this entire scene, but, even she had this or that to say about NIN. But in the end, I made the decision that, NIN, and its affiliates, etc. were as valid if not the forerunners of the industrial scene, cool or not.
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Sorry to go off into my own perspective on all this. However, look back at Trent’s history.
We have the EMAX sampler, things like the Microwave XT, up to modern day Buchla 200e.
IMO, the pinnacle(s) of synthesis, samples, and other digital/analog are used throughout some of the most influential albums of the last couple of decades.
Well, some of the tools were a pain in the ass to use, and still good music did spill forth.
Ok.
I give up.
I’ve had nearly a fifth of the prevalent whiskey of this area, three cigars, and perhaps I just have an unfounded love for a guy/band that successfully navigated me through my teens. (Or, I wandered out of the intoxicated thread…) 
(Until I discovered the cult-like bliss of the rave in ‘93+)
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Their light show is always wicked too, lighting guys really know their stuff. And the strobes, never been strobed so much in my life! 
@Wolf-Rami I did exactly the same. Went off them for ages after downward spiral, then a few years ago got into the newer stuff, now I love it.
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I found what Trent wrote about Bowie after he died to be rather poignant and sweet.
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listening to hesitation marks right now. Some really great songs. Was not so much into it when it came out.
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Yes hurt was a good song.
So wait… the song is about shooting heroin, so did he used to use heroin? I didn’t think he got down like that?
Reznor’s struggles with addiction continued until the end of The Fragile tour. He experienced an overdose in London on “China White” heroin that he mistook for cocaine.
“I was going to just drink myself or drug myself out of it. I got back to New Orleans after the Fragile tour, and I’d pretty much lost my soul. I just felt like nothing.”
After coming home from the tour, Reznor still did not seek out drug and alcohol rehab initially.
“Somebody telling me I had a drinking problem was not something I wanted to hear.”
But after some time passed, and Reznor experienced more tragedy in the death of a close friend and studio technician. Reznor entered a rehab facility in 2001, successfully completed it and has lived a sober life since.
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I didn’t know it was cool to hate NIN at any point but I guess I’m not surprised since they were/are so popular. While people were probably hating on them, I was 15 and doing my best to get through the awkwardness of high school, and NIN was often playing through the headphones I wore as often as I could to distract myself from the fact that I exist in a society lol.
I haven’t paid attention much since With Teeth but I will always have admiration and respect for Trent Reznor, especially seeing how he turned out compared to some of his peers.
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Great album
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with-A teeth-A
Just listened to it today, great record indeed
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I still think OK Computer is one of the best rock albums ever! No small opinion here lol
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Just think of what Trent will accomplish with song mode. Finally release some tracks maybe.
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rec.music.industrial was lousy with boring “NIN vs FLA [frontline assembly]” boasting which in practice was much more about which take on the “industrial” category was more manly and who were “poseurs” for not liking the right successful band.
I don’t miss the dullwitted rivethead machismo of the 90s, how many humorless Combichrist clones does the world really need? When I re-listen to a lot of what was pushed at the time, Trent’s work holds up far better in songcraft and sound design. And while I’m still a babe in the woods, getting nerdier into theory gives me all the more respect for the blues/jazz/prog nods. Hell, contemporaries on Waxtrax like Sister Machine Gun/Chris Randall and KFMDM were also integrating gospel-blues elements, but didn’t get the same hate (probably because they weren’t “too mainstream to be of worth”)
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I saw nin twice during the With Teeth tour. He and his band are just outstanding performers and of course the lights and visuals are always interesting. I loved Aaron North’s energy and he was great with nin, the way he would get so violent and practically make love to the feedback coming out of his amp, but I always regretted the fact that I never got to see Robin Fink in person. What a tall and majestic man he is.
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