OMG WTF NIN?
February 13, 2007 12:36 PM   Subscribe

 
This is all well and good, and if I had 26 hours in the day, I'd actually follow along. The real question is: Is the new music any good? I mean Broken and Fixed good.
posted by thanotopsis at 12:47 PM on February 13, 2007


Let's not do this anymore.
posted by tkchrist at 12:54 PM on February 13, 2007


You know that one Pink Floyd album with the blinking light on it? Just after it came out I was messing around with the cool packaging, and I noticed a tiny sticker, deep inside the outer sleeve. I was mesmerized. Clearly, it was a secret message from The Floyd, one that only I had found. With deep trepidation, I pulled out the inner card and read these eight sacred words:
"Warning: do not dispose of batteries in fire".

It was deep, man.
posted by vorfeed at 12:57 PM on February 13, 2007 [4 favorites]


SPOILER ALERT: the organized resistance is based out of a ski resort!
posted by taliaferro at 12:58 PM on February 13, 2007


i am trying to care
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 1:00 PM on February 13, 2007


i am trying to forget
posted by analogue at 1:06 PM on February 13, 2007


LOLNINFANS
posted by mr_roboto at 1:06 PM on February 13, 2007


Publius?
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:07 PM on February 13, 2007


These guys may not be drinking the water, but they've chugged the kool-aid. Anyone care to wade through and post a coherent summary?
posted by jtajta at 1:10 PM on February 13, 2007


Anyone care to wade through and post a coherent summary?

No.
posted by doctor_negative at 1:17 PM on February 13, 2007


a coherent summary?

Will sentence fragments suffice?

Concept album, shadowy backstory online.

Dystopian future. Nuclear war occurred. Christian soldiers fight campaigns (Syria, Chad, Kashmir etc). False flag bioterrorism justifies adding drugs to the water which makes people docile. New superdrug called Opal overtakes cocaine. War veteran conducts insurgency. Postal Service privatized.
posted by edverb at 1:20 PM on February 13, 2007


I'm getting "Outside" flashbacks. That can't be good.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 1:20 PM on February 13, 2007


Brief, brief summary, because I just wasted the last half an hour going through this all:

The govt. releases a drug called 'parepin' into the water. Govt. claims that it is an aid against bio terrorism, but there are a few that are insisting that it is govt. mind control.

trent reznor ensues.

Proifit!
posted by batty at 1:21 PM on February 13, 2007


er. Profit. The power of my words were lost on my typo.
posted by batty at 1:21 PM on February 13, 2007


It's an alternate reality game aimed at people who make NIN tribute sites?
posted by unmake at 1:23 PM on February 13, 2007


I'm way behind on my NIN, having lost interest years ago, but I think this sort of additional content is pretty neat for the fans. Give 'em a story, a mystery to figure out.

I'd like to think that if my own band ever got big, we'd do something along these lines rather than just a collection of mp3s plastic disc filled with songs.
posted by LordSludge at 1:23 PM on February 13, 2007


Too bad you didn't post this in the green. TEHN WE WOULD KNOW TEH MYSTARY.
posted by ninjew at 1:23 PM on February 13, 2007


Is this more interesting than the banana creme pie I'll be eating this evening?
posted by Pastabagel at 1:27 PM on February 13, 2007


Hey, Outside is great, if you ignore the pretentious backstory and interlude bits. Worth it for I'm Deranged alone.
posted by snoktruix at 1:27 PM on February 13, 2007


so basically, the concept album every heavy metal band in the 80s did when they got to that "taking ourselves too seriously" phase?
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:39 PM on February 13, 2007


Postal Service privatized.

OMG THIS IS THE END
posted by Mister_A at 1:39 PM on February 13, 2007


Somebody needs to do a Year Zero/Kilroy Was Here/Operation Mindcrime mashup. One stop shopping for all your distopian concept album needs!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 1:45 PM on February 13, 2007


In the midst of all this NIN confusion I just want you to know I thought this post and the cheating post above it were the same. I just spent ten minutes staring at the NIN stuff wondering what it had to do with cheating. "Boy," I thought, "these people hide their point so well I can't find it."

(I really need some afternoon caffeine, don't I?)
posted by routergirl at 1:49 PM on February 13, 2007


Tell me you're all not still 14 and lovin' this wanky shit.
posted by basicchannel at 2:11 PM on February 13, 2007


I wish there was an imaginary drug so strong it could make me believe that Nine Inch Nails didn't suck on ass.
posted by nanojath at 2:16 PM on February 13, 2007


There is such a drug, nanojath. I sell it for $39.95 a pill. It is called Placebo and has been clinically proven to be more useful than tits on a bullfrog.
posted by Mister_A at 2:20 PM on February 13, 2007


This is called "marketing" and is written about in fiction several years ago by William Gibson in his book "Pattern Recognition". It ultimately means nothing, and is a ploy to interest the pattern matching abilities in consumers who are focused on the works of an artist to hook them into buying a commodity that will be released for sale at a later date.

God I love my jeans with the labels ripped off.
posted by daq at 2:26 PM on February 13, 2007


You people. Sometimes you're too cool for your own good.

ARGs are an exciting new genre of entertainment. I spent hours wading through the AI hype, because it was really interesting and compelling, and made no less compelling by the deficiencies of the movie it was advertising.

Incidentally, there was a similar campaign surrounding Andrew WK's album Close Calls with Brick Walls, but no one really caught onto it.
posted by roll truck roll at 2:34 PM on February 13, 2007


Do these sites give us a glimpse into how browsers will render text in the future? Dystopic, indeed.
posted by treepour at 2:35 PM on February 13, 2007


Jeez. What a bunch of cranks round here. I mean, I too, don't have the time to pursue this sort of elaborate viral marketing/Blair Witch stuff beyond 20 minutes , but I like the subversive nature of it. If I was a teenager, I would be all over it. I'd want to join the anti-Parepin resistance or whatever it is...

Anyhow, NIN has a history of this sort of thing, Back in the late 80's, they pulled off a spoof with a camera on a balloon that had footage of what looked like a murder. They got a lot of free publicity from it (on Hard Copy). The band never admitted it was a publicity stunt, though and said they had been shooting footage for a music video of the song Down In It.
posted by Skygazer at 2:46 PM on February 13, 2007


That part where he sings about wearing a "crown of shit" and sitting on a "liar's chair"?

Dude. That's totally my life.
posted by gigawhat? at 2:50 PM on February 13, 2007


If I had any talent or time, I'd make an album hinting at a future where the RIAA was in bed with the gub'ment, and people were spending far more energy marketing music than actually making it. I'd release it through indietorrents and be the coolest person EVAR on the Internet.
posted by Bokononist at 2:56 PM on February 13, 2007


Man, take off that crown of shit. It's not making you any friends.



I'm just saying, is all.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:57 PM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]


Half-Life 2: Gordon Slits His Wrists
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:05 PM on February 13, 2007 [2 favorites]


Hey - my roommate ordered a bootleg copy of 'Down In It' thru USENET back in the day. ARGs, though - meh. It's been done.

Postal Service privatized.

Wait, Trent is touring with The Postal Service? That is news.
posted by GuyZero at 3:05 PM on February 13, 2007


Episode 9, of course.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:05 PM on February 13, 2007


I wonder what kind of rich themes this new record will explore.
Thats what I love about NIN.
Every record tackles such wildly different subject matter, like they're all made by different bands.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 3:14 PM on February 13, 2007 [2 favorites]


I hurt myself today.

Stubbed my toe on the damn filing cabinet!
posted by gigawhat? at 3:21 PM on February 13, 2007


Everything's blue in this site.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:23 PM on February 13, 2007


Just wanted to be perhaps the only voice of "Yeah, I still like NIN" on the record lest we get too wrapped up in our hipsterism.

I also loved "Outside", so there it is.
posted by abulafa at 3:24 PM on February 13, 2007


I don't love bees.
posted by Foosnark at 3:33 PM on February 13, 2007


I've always wanted to write a short story of an alternate future where The Ramones are played on oldies stations.
posted by drezdn at 3:41 PM on February 13, 2007


I can't tell if this is making me all excited about Nine Inch Nails all over again or extinguishing the last embers of any interest I had in their work in the first place. It's doing something, though. I can feel it.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:43 PM on February 13, 2007


I misheard the lyrics of "Down In It" for the longest time, and I thought that Trent was being uncharacteristically sociable and cheerful.

"How is everybody?"
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:01 PM on February 13, 2007


NeIN!
posted by davejay at 4:12 PM on February 13, 2007


I'm embarrased to say that I'm 22 years old and still giddy as a 14-year-old over the news about the new NIN album. I'm probably reaching the point where I can't say "stfu it makes me nostalgic" anymore, but ah well. As always, I'll just ignore the clumsy lyrics and take in the music (which will hopefully be fleshed out more than the good-but-not-great With Teeth).

I also immediately thought of Outside upon reading Trent's description of the album and browsing through the little viral site things. I really love that album, though I can understand people's dissatisfaction with it. It's worth noting that the original version of Outside was radically different than the final product; it was based on a short story that Bowie had written, and consisted mainly of Bowie, Eno, and his collaborators jamming and singing/rapping/chanting/speaking bits and pieces of the story. His label at the time wouldn't release it (so the story goes), so he returned to them with the album as it was released.

The segues clutter the album somewhat and the underlying story is a bit pretensious, but if you can get past that you're left with some of Bowie's finest songs of the 90s. No Control, I'm Deranged, The Motel, Through These Architects' Eyes, and the sublime reworking of Strangers When We Meet are all gems in my opinion. A shame he never created the promised sequel albums.

Aaaaaanyway, it'll be interesting to see what Trent comes up with. All signs point to Year Zero having a substantial narrative element, and Trent is almost certainly not the world's finest lyricist. Maybe he'll surprise everyone. It'll almost certainly be listenable either way.
posted by kryptondog at 4:26 PM on February 13, 2007


Commodify your angst.

It's been done. And quite often much more engagingly than NIN, IMHO.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:48 PM on February 13, 2007


My angst is like a blue, blue steel, that's newly bored and rifled. My angst is like a back-room deal, all hint of mercy stifled.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:55 PM on February 13, 2007


How is this different than, say, Operation Mindcrime or Paradise Theater? Concept albums are so....1987, in a way. And not a good way.

Oh, and your favorite concept album sucks.
posted by pdb at 5:12 PM on February 13, 2007


aaaaaand, my snark is derailed by incorrect linkage. Still a concept album, though.
posted by pdb at 5:13 PM on February 13, 2007


We're being used and fed
Like rats in experiments
No final outcome here
Only pain and fear

posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 5:50 PM on February 13, 2007


Bowie's Outside is a great album because even if you're not up for the story or the concept of the concept album, the songs present relatable and adult emotional themes that you can dig on without following the murky story. It's a genuinely clever record, not an artist leaning on a gimmick because he's got nothing to say.

I like nine inch nails and this looks like utter wank on par with Styx's Mr. Roboto.
posted by dong_resin at 10:08 PM on February 13, 2007


I want to sell stuff like an animal.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:31 PM on February 13, 2007 [1 favorite]


I want to sell you from the inside.

But now I'm down in it.

Oh no you don't think this sale is about you, the weigh-out is through a warm, dry credit card. Hey pig, pig, piggy pig.
posted by loquacious at 11:43 PM on February 13, 2007


Also, I wonder how much money I'd have to offer Reznor to get him to just rerelease the whole discography without him yowling all over it.

It'd be much more listenable without all those terrible teen angst lyrics and histrionics just getting in the way. Well, Down In It is amusing, so is Sin, but, eh, less yowling, please. I still listen to NIN occasionally, but all I can really stand anymore is the noisy/exp/instrumental bits.

La Mer and A Warm Dry Place are still some of my favorites of all times of all bands, but I'm unable to part from the subjective memories they bring..
posted by loquacious at 11:50 PM on February 13, 2007


I don't love bees.

Your favorite apid sucks.
posted by sparkletone at 3:24 AM on February 14, 2007


I take it back, as I just heard the new track "my violent heart" and I like it.
posted by dong_resin at 3:00 PM on February 14, 2007


Heh, I was just about to post about My Violent Heart. I'm loving it. I can't picture it swaying the opinion of people that dislike NIN to begin with, but if this is any indication of what the rest of the album will sound like, it could be the best thing Trent's done since The Fragile.
posted by kryptondog at 8:36 PM on February 14, 2007


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