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Originally Posted by guest
re: NIN, I find it really difficult to validate my distaste for reznor without going into a rambling, incoherent diatribe about how he destroyed industrial by being a disingenous, self-obsessed arsehole.
on a purely musical level, while I understand their cultural relevance 20 (!!!) years ago, eschewing all that (in my mind) his music is crap. his lyrics are horrible, his voice is like fucking babies crying to me, and for someone who has such incredible equipment at his disposal the sounds he conjures are interminably dull.
for a more idiotic, emotional exploration of my hate for reznor, please see here: http://www.tohereknowswhen.org/smf/i...p?topic=1610.0 |
His lyrics are definitely not great.
His music has been great, and it has been, at times, woefully and utterly lacking in originality.
His effect on industrial? I don't know that I can bitch about that much. He's like the Beck of the genre; went his own way, but insisted on continuing to support and collaborate with acts like Pigface and Ministry, and many of the next wave industrial artists, who blended their style with electronic music, owe Reznor a heavy debt for using Nothing as an imprint for Autechre and other artists that now stand on their own, and remain influential and productive.
He still uses his popularity to bring less well known bands on the road, like Health and (I some others I forget... Justice? Dammit, who else has he toured with from that pool of pitchfork flavor of the week'ers?)
Aside from being a brutish, what-if-Henry-Rollins-was-a-libertarian, kind of media presence, I think he's done a lot of good things for crossover electronic music, and I honestly do believe that The Downward Spiral is an album of OK Computer-level magnitude. It's pretty goddamn perfect. It is just as relevant and relatable to me as an adult as it was to me as a teenager. I still want to smash things and drive fast when I hear Mr Self Destruct, and I still (sometimes. Ok; always) cry when I listen to A Warm Place, or Hurt.
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Like I said, my love of NIN is mainly a result of nostalgia, and respect for an artist whose music has grown and changed with the people who listen to it. Very smart business move; many many artists would benefit from taking a page from the book of Trent. Unlike White/Rob Zombie, he hasn't confined himself to the "13-15-year-old and-pro-wrestling" demographic.
Also, Hesitation Marks is lyrically solid. Still room for growth, but there are no cringe-worthy lines about "your God" or "disease" or whateverthefuck. The best song is one of the bonus tracks (The "While I'm Still here" Breyer P-Orrige remix. Probably the most adventurous track ever released under the NIN name.)