I don't write about music much, but my second passion after software and computers is music. So, from time time I might talk about something that I feel is noteworthy or want to share with my friends who follow my blog. Don't worry. I won't bore you with any vomitous prose like you might find in Rolling Stone where authors try so hard to be cool and smart that you feel sick to your stomach (at least I often do).
I've been a fan of NIN since I was 17. Its scary to think that 16 years have passed and yet unwrapping "Pretty Hate Machine" from its shrink wrapper seems like only a couple of yesterdays away (certainly not 16 years ago). Back then $15 for a new CD was not easy to come by, and you could still buy cassette tapes for about $10. The "Pretty Hate Machine" album was an incredible piece of work which really opened my eyes to the Industrial genre. To date, this is still one of my favorite albums, not only because I think it is a masterpiece but because of all the memories I have when I listen to it. At the time, Trent Reznor (who is NIN) had just had a really bad break up and took all of his hurt and anger out in the studio. The result was an album that was both groundbreaking and at the same time very relevant to me as a teenager who like most was pretty rebellious and pissed off at the world.
I continued to follow Trent Reznor religiously, opening the follow-on EPs/Albums like "Broken" and "Fixed" with the same vigor as the first time I opened his first release. I remember really liking those two albums, but at the same time being disappointed. Additional albums followed like "The Downward Spiral" which was downright boring, especially since it not only paled in comparison to his early work, but was the album that actually made NIN popular. What followed from there was a series of drug and excess induced binge albums that got further and further away from the purity of "Pretty Hate Machine", but built a loyal, cult-like following across two generations nonetheless.
I realized some years ago, that most people have their one shining piece of work that not only epitomizes them as an artist, but is so perfect that it cannot be reproduced. For NIN, "Pretty Hate Machine" is that album. I think that for Pearl Jam it is "10", for Jane's Addiction it is "Ritual de lo Habitual" and for Clutch it is the self-tiled album which brought us "Big News 1 & 2".
Anyway, a lot has happened in my life in the last 16 years and it has all been overwhelmingly positive- much more so than what life was like when I was 17! The same appears to be true for Trent Reznor, who like anyone has had some ups and downs over the last two decades and has self-admittedly sobered up so that he can focus on what he loves most: writing and making music.
It seems fitting then, that has a token of his appreciation tohis fans, his latest album "Slip" is available 100% free of charge on the nin.com website, before it hits stores. While full presses of the album to both CD and vinyl are underway, the album was released on May 1st and made available first on the website.
This may not be the first time an artist has done this (I think Radiohead did the same thing), but it does say a lot about how far we've come over the last 16 years. If back in 1989 you would have told me that I could use my computer to get a NIN album over a wireless network at 6:30 am while sitting at my kitchen table while my two kids eat breakfast and my wife is asleep, I would have likely rolled my eyes in my typical "I know everything" fashion and dismissed that as ridiculous. Thanks God we all grow up (somewhat) eventually!