Everybody is always full of praise for Johnny Cash's version of HURT but to me, nothing beats NIN's original. It's dark, grim, mind-blowing, out of this world. This whole album is just totally depressing but so incredibly good. You can only imagine, what Trent Reznor felt like when writing this. Hope he's better now.
agreed, it just (pun intended) actually hurts to listen to. it feels like the character did end up actually killing himself (due to the gunshot at the end of the title track) and this is him just reminiscing on his life 6 feet deep
Yeah, it was crazy. I spent a couple months on the couch recuperating from some broken bones, and my late brother used to say that's why I'm the way I am. I don't think so, but there's nothing wrong with exploring yourself with the help of amazing industrial music.
Agree a million percent. I was recommended the Downward Spiral on RU-vid the week after my mom's passing. This album saved me and got me into Nine Inch Nails.
“How are you tonight? Having a good time? Ready to party? Have Fun? Yeah, well that was the last guys… Wrong fucking band. We’re here to have a bad time… Let’s fucking do this.” - Trent Reznor, 08/16/2013 Lowlands Festival
Ruiner and Reptile are my favorite tracks on this album. Both are so full and cinematic in the best possible ways. When I heard those tracks back in the day, my first reaction was "Trent Reznor needs to do film scores" and lo and behold, look at him now.
As depressing as this album is, it literally saved me as a teenager. I felt normal with all my conflicting feelings, anger, and sadness and this album offered me shared sorrow in a way it gave me hope.
Came to say something similar, when mentioning "don't listen to this album when going through a rough time", for me and a lot of others it actually helped us not going over the edge as we didn't feel so alone in these feelings anymore.
Same. Was 17 when this album dropped. This resonated with the vibrations in my head at the time. Every time I replayed it I felt like the sine waves balance and a straight line was formed
@@whelpthereitis2577 I just hope Trent realizes what he has really accomplished with his music. I really think that it has helped a lot of people. You would think that it would be the opposite and encourage these feelings but I do think it helps heal and give an outlet in an emotional path listening to his music that releases those feelings in a way so that the feelings are released in the expressions while listening so that they don't build to a critical level with disastrous results.
A Warm Place and some of the remixes on Further Down the Spiral are what got me into Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada back in the day. Ambient music can be incredible when done right.
That Aphex Twin tune on the NIN remix version of this album... yea, that led me to Aphex Twin Ambient Works Volume 2, which is just haunting kinda like NINs Quake soundtrack. Lots of beautiful stuff in the ambient genre, Brian Eno is the obvious influence there but newer artists are doing amazing stuff still
YESSS!!! You absolutely have to do The Fragile next, that entire first disk is genuinely flawless, I believe Trent has also said that it's essentially a sequel to The Downward Spiral
Masterpiece of an album from my favorite artist ever. Trent’s a legitimate genius. The trio of Eraser, A Warm Place, and Reptile on this album is really special, in my opinion. They just go together particularly well, somehow. Same with La Mer, The Great Below, and The Way Out is Through on The Fragile.
I was about your age when I first heard this a year or so after it came out. I had no reference point for it at all. There were synths in 80's pop and power chord rock in the 90's. It was so out of left field for me that I instantly recoiled and thought it was some strange form of musical trash. Then over the coming days daydreaming in class, sections of the songs would pop in my head and play on loop totally unprompted. When I sat down again to really listen it was completely transformative. Not hyperbole at all to say that and it effected the trajectory of my life in many ways after that point. It was like putting a spotlight on something that lived in my head in some dark corner my whole life that I was hardly aware of. It opened me up to a lot of things in many subtle ways. As I hear it today, I still can't believe this thing existed. Nobody has replicated whatever that formula was, not even Trent himself. It's just so unusual and strangely perfect. I usually don't like reaction videos at all but something made me click on this and I have to say I was taken aback by the depth of your insights on first listen. Pretty fascinating.
"A warm place" is the perfect tune when you just need to softly land and take a breather, before the fall and tumble down the spiral continues. I can see your struggle and inner turmoil going through this album. It leaves you exhausted. This album and "The Fragile" got me through my depression when they came out just because I could lay my emotions bare to the music. Reznor's old work is just a black tar pit of emotions, and I love it.
27:01 One thing I've never seen mentioned is the beginning of Eraser sounds like blowing air through a reed instrument like a saxophone and tonguing the reed but not playing notes and you can hear the reed squeaking, I'm not sure how many people would know that's what that is but maybe it's fairly obvious to anyone in band. I used to play that on my saxophone in school lol.
Oh... When I was really little, I heard my brother playing this and it always scared me. I'm a little older now and it still scares me. Hope your Christmas was great, Dave!
This is the first time I’ve seen your channel and had to check out this video when I saw the title. I’m 38 and have been listening to NIN since the mid-nineties. Yes….this was probably not a super appropriate album for a ten year old girl but hey I had a fucked up childhood 😂 I LOVE when younger folks discover nin because Trent had this unique way of being so ahead of his time…yet very much reflective of his time. My oldest is 18 and has heard plenty of NIN because it’s my favorite band and sometimes he is just blown away that a particular song was created by a twenty something year old dude sitting in a shitty apartment in the 90s. And the arc of the music over the last 40 years is just incredible to experience. Trent and Atticus create music because they love to create music, period. They are hands down the best live group I’ve seen, even nowadays as sober, healthy dads they put on incredible shows. Their performances are absolute meticulously perfect yet still very real and raw.
Very similar to me. I started listening to NIN in 1993 when they did a cover of Joy Divisions’s Dead Souls. Then I went to see NIN and David Bowie when I was 10, and no band has ever had a bigger effect on me in my life. I’m 39 now, and I’ve gone through so much music in my life but NIN is is the only one that never faded. I’ve been listening for about 30 years, because I think Trent Reznor is a genius. Made me so proud when he started winning Academy Awards. I feel like it’s validation for listening for 30 years.
Im so glad that tou enjoyed The Becoming. It is probably my all time favorite Nails tune. I was lucky enough to see David Bowie sing Reptile live. Amazing moment
Also, although I’d recommend the majority of NIN albums, you should absolutely listen to The Fragile front to back. While not as “cohesive” of a story as TDS, it’s an incredible album. My personal favorite.
Ok some sprawling interpretations of your interpretations. The expression in response to "doesn't it make you feel better" was absolutely perfect, I made the same face all those years ago. I love that you immediately clocked the "heart" of closer. "even the synth is bodily, in a way - I can tell this is gonna be gross." Thank you for articulating everything I like about the song. It's like introspecting necrosis and I love it. The morphing motifs, especially in the second half of the song - it's twisting. The Becoming: Electronic Beats To Watch The World End To. Amazing. This whole album has felt very introspective to me, and in that context it's the mental landscape, the self, Becoming that inhuman thing. Like coming out of a chrysalis, looking at yourself, and wanting to go back. Big Man with a Gun: helps me snap out of dissociation. Like if I approach it from a healthy mindset I get too hopped up on ego and power, but it's just screaming "I EXIST AND IT'S YOUR PROBLEM NOW" loud enough that it snaps me back in. Yes! Reptile is the soggiest song I've ever heard! It's the sort of song that looks back on bad relationships and says "do you really want wet socks again" The Downward Spiral (track) opens with that motif Closer closes out with then brings it back more piano-y, and I've heard different variations of it across the album... I feel like there's something to stitch together there. Suicide is the culmination of a downward spiral, and the nuance of building it in lyrics and style and repeated motif, each of which are simple enough to digest, creates a full and complex picture. Hurt: yeah, it sure does :) Sorry about this comment stretching to the proportions it has, but I had thoughts about your thoughts. I have a lot more thoughts about this album, but this is the first time I've heard someone else's. The "not reading others' interpretations on Genius" is real, it's such a personal album. Thank you for doing this review, I really liked hearing your thoughts and you articulated them well.
Kid, you don't even know what it was like to listen to this in the 90s. I'm so glad you clearly listened to its raw emotions through the whole thing, and this isn't even Trent's Masterpiece. That is, in my mind, The Fragile. It's at least 2 hours long, but worth it.
I absolutely love seeing younger generations experiencing my favorite bands for the first time, and NIN is at the top of that list. The Downward Spiral was my first time hearing NIN as well, almost 30 years ago. That was all it took to become obsessed. It opened my mind up to sooooo much music that I never would have listened to without this album as a gateway. I owe a lot to this record, and I hope you enjoy listening to this off camera, as well!
Thanks, this is exactly what I was looking for right now, this is one of my all time favourite albums from one of my all time favourite bands. This piece of art can reach so deep inside of your soul, it can hurt so much to listen to but listening to it feels somewhat freeing to me, I don't know. This album is a demented, disgusting, deprived but also so, so beautiful in such a raw way. Although no other album from NIN has storytelling as good and no other album can reach as deep as this one but they are all great, especially Pretty Hate Machine and The Fragile. You were really entertaining to watch too so thanks again
Great reaction, I can highly recommend the follow up to this record "The Fragile" To answer your question about the Pig in "Piggy" it's rumored to be about Richard Patrick, he and Trent were close friends and Richard was the first Guitar Player for NIN till he left the band in 1993 or early 94. Trent was pretty hurt about it. Richard Patrick went on to start the band Filter. Also Nine inch nails is technically not a band it's just Trent Reznor till 2016 when Atticus Ross (who he scores films with) joint him but he's more on a production side then actually writing.
@@nonamecha0s284 he started working with Trent on Nine inch nails stuff for With Teeth in 2004,that is true.(With Teeth was released in 2005) but he's an official member of Nine inch nails since 2016
@@johnmurphy4781 I think there is no official answer to this, could also be the case, that's why I said rumored. Richard Patrick talked multiple times about it. But I guess we never really will know 100% what the song is about.
The album came out when I was ten years old, and my brother was a huge NIN fan. He took me with him to the record store to buy it. Then we sat in his truck and listened to the whole thing before we went back home. This album completely changed my life. It changed the way I saw the world, and thought about myself. Still to this day I listen to this album at least once every month or two. I relate so much to his portrayal of the character Mr. Self Destruct. I spent the last twenty years of my life in the pit of addiction and self hatred. I've been sober for a few years now, and listening to this album from my point of view now is insane compared to the ten year old me, and the full blown addict me. It is a beautiful and twisted story of a man struggling with the Ruiner, his drug addiction, and the real him trapped inside. Watching you experience it all for the first time was a good time haha. Stay away from drugs, kid.
hands done best reaction video. Good quality, good editing, perfect interpretation. I hope to see more NIN! I reccomend the broken EP which was right before this one.
The crazy thing is that as perfect as this album is, it's not even the best NIN album. The Fragile is possibly the greatest album of all time. Whereas the downward spiral is more fictional than real, the fragile is Trent Reznor actually going through it and almost dying because of his drug abuse.
I think The Fragile being almost 40 minutes longer holds it back from being as great as The Downward Spiral. Songs like Even Deeper, Where Is Everybody?, and Starfuckers, Inc. are relatively weak IMO and bring the album down. It could probably do with a couple fewer instrumental tracks as well. Still a pretty great album overall though.
@@jd1800I think fragile had some of my more favorite songs individually (somewhat damaged as the opener omg), but I think TDS is just such an album, nothing tops it
2022 was a really bad year for me. Not going to into specifics but I was bed ridden because I got into a car accident and had issues with mental health prior and after the accident. This album and along with other nine inch nails albums really helped me and I felt like I could relate to something. There are other bands that I love but Nine Inch Nails will always have a special place in my heart.
Dope man! As some other people may have mentioned also, The Fragile is another album by NIN that you'd enjoy as well I feel. It's personally some of my favorite work from Trent both writing and instrumentation wise, it's so damn good
I'm in my mid 40's now, but I listened to this album almost daily during middle school back in the 90's. It does a lot to explain why Gen X is the way it is. The music of our youth shaped our attitudes, even 3 decades later.
Great analysis. I was about your age when I first heard this record when it came out in 1994 and it destroyed me in the best way possible. It's a masterpiece and I've always said that this record created as many problems for me as it solved. I hold it dear to my heart as a pure confessional dirge, it's hard to find artists being this vulnerable and open these days. It's brutal honesty on a scarred slab of shit and piss. If this is your jam then I highly recommend listening to The Cure's "Pornography" (I know you hated Seventeen Seconds, but Trent Reznor regularly said Pornography was one of the major influences for Nine Inch Nails)
As a depressed 90s teen - this album was how I learned music could be a balm, how letting the deep dark vibe emote could be a cleansing process and leave you finding yourself more centred than you expected - I miss this from music, I love Taylor, but it's not deep.... Art is supposed to take you deep, look at the nude self, and drink it in, accept your ugly humanity - that's art
I'm just going to spew into the comment here The evolution of your hair throughout this video sums this up well. It needs a time lapse. It's beautiful I see your interpretation of hurt and I'm glad you have your own. For me it's more bleak. It sounds like his final thoughts as he chokes his last breaths. Like he wishes it didn't have to be like this The work sonically between the two characters is immaculate. Driving chainsaw guitars, dirty synths and thumping drum machines is "the voice" and the peaceful but haunting piano is the main and they slowly change from seperate to distorted together. Truly a unique album This album got me through some dark days. It may put you in the shoes of depression and suicidal ideation (I'm not pretending to know you, just judging your words) but for me it gave me a safe outlet for the darkness. A place to go and feel it all and come out ok Great dive into this album mate you have an ear for it
Love when you take us along as songs like “Hurt” wreck you. Thanks for sharing your emotions on these things. Your Radiohead reactions are absolute as you get destroyed.
I love how in the beginning of the video you started off anticipating on listening to the album knowing what you're getting into but still cheery. Only for you at the end to be very affected by the album. You quite literally went on a downward spiral.
This album is a definitely a high point in 90s culture and much of material was written and recorded at the same house where the Sharon Tate murders took place. I went to one of the shows of the subsequent tour that followed its release. The lineup featured Marilyn Manson and the Jim Rose Circus (a non musical group of sideshow performers) as the opening acts. NIИ was still a relatively small band when the tour started, but as the popularity of the album grew, so did their fame as well as Reznor’s bank account. The backstage environment for the shows was like a big party each night, with Reznor and Manson both trying to outdo the other in terms of intoxication and debauchery. By the end of the tour, NIИ were household names and both Reznor and Manson had serious drug problems. Thoroughly in the grips of drug addiction and reeling from the recent death of his grandmother who had raised him, Reznor rented a house all to himself on the ocean cliffs of Big Sur, CA to write and record his next album, The Fragile. An hour away from the closest town, the isolation, the sadness, and the drugs all became too much for him to deal with. In an interview he gave years later, after finally beating his addiction (thanks in part to help from David Bowie, who had gone through a similar path in life in the 70s and 80s), Reznor said the following ‘10 years ago, I locked myself away in a house on the ocean, and I tried to... I said I was trying to write some music. But what I was really doing was trying to kill myself.’
Thats crazy. I always felt the first four tracks were just greats songs on an album but once you get to Closer its something different, some sonic journey that shouldn't be interrupted. Its cool to hear someone else have a similar experience.
just a note about things that seem surface level or cliche, this was 1994, and most of this was not commonplace, like being directly hostile towards religion was not a thing people did in public and having a track like heresy on the album was a big deal, even for an inner-city 12 year old kid like i was. idk, it was different time
To be fair, many albums were becoming more critical of Christianity in general around this time period, but I agree that Downward Spiral certainly helped push the boundaries of open criticism and voicing dislike of Christianity in the media of music.
WOW you are a good reactors. Such insightful commentary on the music, structure of the album and how it supports the meanings and such - and super concisely put too!
Great video! Love your reaction. For future reference Trent Reznor is one man behind this genius. :) He hires a band to perform live. He now works with Atticus Ross, but this didnt come until much later.
My favorite artist and album ever. There aren't any bad NIN albums so don't worry if you get differing recommendations. Nice that you appreciated a lot of stuff others miss. Keep up listening to artsy dark alt experimental artists like NIN and the like (e.g., Radiohead, Slowdive, Broadcast, Portishead)
I’ve always found it funny that Trent and the live band used mud that was probably contaminated from nearby portapotties and just got caked it in by the advice of their photographer who was on acid/shrooms. (On Woodstock ‘94)
"This is music to watch the world end to." -- Dude that is EXACTLY what I said when I first heard this album when it was released in 1994. And that's exactly why I fell in love with this music. You should listen to NIN's "Burn" from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack -- the day I heard it on the radio was the moment my life changed forever. First thing I said when I first heard Burn: "Wow, this music is the future."
I just watched this +I’m now worried about u! Don’t be depressed, reading the lyrics can be a bit much. Every song is about drugs, even Closer. Hurt is quite uplifting because at the end he wishes he could start again never having started, that’s where (hopefully) the listener is at. It’s not over, we can still make a choice. We didn’t go down that spiral with him. It’s also amazing to dance to in a club with lots of dry ice, goth and industrial tunes. (Yeah I’m old) Maybe try Ministry, dark but fun. Non apologetic drugged up maniac but heart of gold Al Jorgensen is brilliant and their side projects such class, like the cover of ‘do u think in sexy’ 💜🦇
to me the ending of hurt is so profound, its kind of a triumph over death, 'if i could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself, i would find a way" its almost like him accepting death, by not accepting it, don't how it works, Trent's a damn genius, i just have ears
"Music to listen to the end of the world to." I would HIGHLY recommend NIN's "Year Zero" album which is conceptually about...the end of the world. Fantastic beginning to end.
Was cool to get your thoughts on this album. Im in total agreement with you that it does an excellent job of building a world through sound( a twisted, dark world, but still). Ironically I dont revisit it much at all for that reason. Its kinda like the 'Requiem for a Dream' of music. Still, i consider a classic album. If you decide to do more NIN, please check out The Fragile, the followup to this. While still relatively dark, its nowhere near as crushing as TDS, and the soundscapes are on par with this, quite possibly better. Thanks for uploading
One of the classic industrial records…Trent ran so Model/Actriz could spazz. You should listen to Johnny Cash covering Hurt, but only if you want to be in your feels. He recorded it when he was at death’s door. Great reaction💕
One thing that always gets me with this album is knowing that is was mainly made by just one person (Trent Reznor) because NIN wasn't really a band (until 2016) because trent was the only official member and he worked on this project alone. its amazing how one person could write all the lyrics and music so perfectly to make such a phenomenal album.
fun fact: NIN mixes their albums in dolby. Especialyy on Ruiner you get the haunting sound of "the ruiner" entering the through the back of your head. Awesome stuff.
Fellow Industrialist here, you have just discovered one of the greatest albums of all time. There is only one other album which beats this for NIN and that is With Teeth. This is my 3rd favorite band of all time please do more I have subbed. Also, if you haven't already dude don't miss out on a band that sounds just like them. His main inspiration is this album and this band, the name of my friend's band is called Grand Folly (Album is The Noble Rot) Favorite tracks: Ruiner & Reptile
The Fragile might be my favorite. A bit long winded, but really good stuff. Im a bit biased since it was the first album I heard from them about 6 years back.
This album was a life changer for me in my depressed teens. I felt Trent gave voice to exactly how I felt. In my opinion it remains a masterpiece. Your analysis was intelligent and thoughtful too, so props to you!
Their comeback album after a long layoff, "With Teeth" is also worth checking out,. I am biased though NIN are one of my all time fave bands. Also for industrial on the more metal end of the spectrum check out Fear Factory "Demanufacture"
Not sure if someone has already commented, this album was recorded in the Manson Murder House, so the term 'Pig' was used a lot throughout the album as I'm pretty sure that 'Pig' was written in blood at the scene. Horrendous reference, but there we go.
Great ups. If we're using raw number of different sounds and layers as a criteria, my top 3 best mixed albums of all time: NIN - The Downward Spiral Mr Bungle - California Skinny Puppy - VIVIsectVI
The beating that starts the album is from George Lucas' first feature film, THX-1138. Seek out Trent, Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) covering Warm Leatherette ( by the Normal). P.S. the Pigs are police. Trent lived in the house where the Manson family killed Sharon Tate and her friends. Charles Manson told the murderers to write PIGS in blood on the door and walls to stear the police to blame Black Panther Party and start a race war. Yikes! "I want to break things. I want to fuck everyone in the world" - Dave's review 😉 NIN production was top notch. No wonder Trent Reznor went into movie soundtracks.
I keep coming back to this video to try to watch it - and it just inspires me to go LISTEN TO THE ALBUM! I've heard it a million times, I want to see the reaction! Why am I like this?
People probably already said this, but just in case, Nine Inch Nails is one person, Trent Reznor, who's a multi instrumentalist... He currently composes music for movies & has over 30 music awards for his music scores (which include Gone Girl, Watchmen series, Bones & All, Soul and so much more). Reznor's also bipolar, and being bipolar myself, hearing this album in high school made me feel like I wasn't the I wasn't alone in feeling like this Your analysis was perfect. This Album is what it feels like to be bipolar in a nutshell. Like you said, "it's an endless cycle" PS It's not just a bipolar album. It's also a bit of commentary on society, and he was also dealing with a heroin addiction. "The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting, try to kill it all away, but i remember everything"
Great reaction! I hold this album close to my heart. An equally amazing Industrial Rock album produced by Trent Reznor would be "Antichrist Superstar" imo. Marilyn Manson is a scumbag tho... I also really love the latest stuff by NIN i.e. the trilogy of EPs that are "Not the actual events", "Add Violence" and "Bad Witch". They are superb and Trent really still got it.
