The Fragile : First Impressions
Alternative Press Magazine September 1999
John Pecorelli scrawls his initial reactions to several-tunes Trent Reznor played for him.
"The Day The World Went Away":
Very unusual. Heavy synth intro leads back in time to glam guitar then further back to
psychedlia. Almost symphonic arrangement not overtly dark, but certainly no walk in the
park.
"Somewhat Damaged":
Back to the known a bit-driving, screaming, skull-smashing, death-metal industrial dance,
even with off beat rhythms.
"Into The Void":
Full of cellos, odd percussive sounds, space-rock guitar and a string arrangement,
Obviously not the Sabbath song of the same name.
"Starfuckers, Inc.":
All jungle drums and booming bass morphs into monolithic guitar noise with a chorus
that Manson would kill for (Marilyn, that is). The obvious hit, except for the title and
lyrics.
INSTRUMENTALS
"La Mer":
Written in "songwriter isolation" at Big Sur, California, this bears no resemblance to
typical songwriting. Stark piano and bass are attacked by loud beboppy beats before a
dense but peaceful noise turns everything vaguely oceanic.
"Pilgrimage":
Absolutely huge death-metal-plus crunch-bigger than KoRn. Some sort of Greek melody
is buried in a growing wave of odd combinations of organ notes; this tune seems to have
upped the sonic ante and all "new metal" bands big time.
"Ripe":
A quiet acoustic track is subverted by massive bass that actually threatens the studio
monitors. Beautifully crafted, highly colorful sci-fi nightmare-where Pink Floyd's
"Interstellar Overdrive" left off, this begins.
How to pressure cook a rock star:
In 1997 Time magazine wrote that Trent Reznor taught a "lesson as old as Robert
Johnson's blues" and then named him one of the 25 most influential people in America.
Months before that, Spin had called him the most influential man in music. Then he was
Musician magazine's artist of the year. And later, A.P. dubbed his upcoming record No.1
of the 25 most anticipated albums of 1998. When it didn't surface that year we redubbed
it one of the most anticipated of 1999. Or 2000. Or whenever it would come out.
Regardless, with clambering fans left on the back burner for half a decade, and with
critics the world over frothing in anticipation, a new Nine Inch Nails album has become a
very big deal.
"Yeah," says Reznor. "And if you remind yourself of that and are then like, 'Now let's go
in the studio and make some music,' you can't do anything without second guessing and
thinking, 'Is that important enough? I have to save rock! I'm the most important guy ever
in the history of --ugh!' Believe me, it doesn't add to your creative spirit."
Yet still we've been waiting five years since the last proper Nails album. Five years.
That's longer then it takes Guided by Voices to release nine (or so) albums. Longer than it
takes to get a degree in biochemical engineering. Hell, give a fertilized human egg five
years and it'll have sprouted legs, developed the ability to use language, and maybe even
started to beat up other humans. Five years. What the hell?
"Because it's hard," Reznor says bluntly. "It's fuckin' hard." Sitting back on a black leather
couch in his New Orleans funeral-parlor-turned-recording-studio, the shockingly
short-haired Reznor relaxes between sessions for his upcoming record with a cup of
strong black coffee. Dressed in Levis, a black t-shirt and sneakers he looks more like a
guy you'd see at a Louisiana tackle shop than the industrial-goth para-metal kingpin he is.
And you'd hardly notice the weight of half the rock world draped over his shoulders,
either, that Kong-sized monkey shouting, "When?! When?! When?!"
"I can't tell you how many times I sit down at the notebook or that keyboard or that piano
and walk away defeated," he says. "That's just part of the territory, but it is not fun
because more often than success is failure. I got myself in a Catch-22, a self-fulfilling
prophecy: Afraid to write? Well, just put it off. Then I'm more afraid to write, so I toy
around and fuck off. But you add in a little life crisis and it isn't a healthy environment.
But the way out of it, and through it, was just addressing it. Not being a coward. Seeing
what was there. And what was there was little twinkle saying, 'Remember? This worked
last time, every time. You are worth something. You have a purpose; you have a gift. So
use it.'"
Reznor's face darkens, and a touch of anger sears his words. "I sound like a fuitcake
sitting here saying all this shit. But that is really what's going on--not to mention the fact
that every time I pop my head out there someone's like, 'When? When? When?' It's better
than nobody caring, I guess, but this takes a fuckin' long time the way I do it." He takes a
sip of coffee and straightens up. "And I am not trying to make excuses.
Are the fans still going to be there? We're trying to be realistic about the climate, and the
climate's changed. It's been a while since our record's been out. It's been longer than I
wish it had been. Another way to look at it: Maybe it's good because we've avoided a big
shit stain--I don't think there has been much good music in the last few years, really, Um,
in certain genres anyway.
Maybe that's one of the reasons rock is no longer dominating the charts as it once did.
Well what options do you have as a 15-year-old kid now? Korn. What else? There is
more than that, obviously, but I don't know. I'm older then I was; my thoughts have
changed in ways. Is music less good lately, or am I more cynical? A lot of times we sit
around here and talk and comment, rarely is it, "Wow! I can't believe how good that is!"
It's usually like, "Oh my God! What's happened to the world?" I can sit here and bitch
about how bad music is, or I can go make it better.
So that's my strategy. And I certainly hope people like it, and I hope to get some new fans,
but at the same time we've approached the whole launching of the new record with
humble expectations. I'm going to get the best fuckin' live show I can get together and see
what happens. And if suddenly no one cares, no one cares. We'll do it at whatever level
we can do it at. It's unhealthy for me to play the second-guess game. I don't know. I cut
my hair now, and nobody recognizes me. It's that whole thing I was bitching about
earlier--"I can't go anywhere without someone pointing"--and now it's like, "Hey! It's me
man!" I'm standing in the "N" section with my laminate on and covered in mud [laughs] I
just can't get a response anymore.
The main control room of nothing studios houses a NASA-looking arsenal of tech
equipment: sound processing gear and computer banks, as well as enough sophisto
recording equipment to put together a tune with 120 tracks. This is the main recording
room Reznor shares with co-producer Alan Moulder; there are also four in-parlor backup
studios where Reznor farms out work to cohorts Danny Lohner, Charlie Clouser, and
Keith Hillebrandt. All are connected via a computer network so that sound samples can
be instantly telecommunicated from floor to floor, studio to studio.
But if you think the high-tech environs have resulted in icy music, think again. The
Fragile is plenty Reznor, of course: Intact are his trademark, nearly 3-D production
values--the sounds seemingly jumping out of the speakers--and tracks like "Starfuckers,
Inc." and "Pilgrimage" are as darkly aggressive as anything you'll find on Broken. But
perhaps "this machine is obsolete," as Reznor sings in the equally harsh "Somewhat
Damaged," because so much of The Fragile is very experimental--some of it emotionally
ambiguous, and most of it brimming with fully developed ideas and unexpected blasts of
strangeness. One thing's certain: Taken as a whole, The Fragile is unlike anything in
Reznor's back catalog. While he describes the album as "organic"-sounding, that, of
course, is relative (after all, this is nothing, not Windham Hill). And while proponents of
three-chord Neanderthal rock might dismiss The Fragile as a piece of self-indulgence on
par with, say Yes' Fragile, Reznor's latest might be more aptly described as hate-pop's Pet
Sounds: bizarre, disorienting and strikingly accessible.
"My aspiration is to make something that is digestible, but that you have trouble
processing," Reznor explains. "You're intrigued, and you let it get in. I'm also aware that
with a record of this length, it needs to be presented in the right light to be as subversive
as I want it to be. Rather than, like, 'Fuck that!' I wanna suck ya in a little more before i let
loose the toxins...."
Do you think a record this fundamentally different from your previous work will alienate
fans? I don't really know. I can say this, though: I've thought that I would [alienate fans]
every time I've put a record out. But I'm a different person now than I was a year ago, let
alone five years ago.
Is it gonna piss some people off? Am I gonna lose some fans? Probably. At one point I
thought this record was so different from everything I've done that maybe I've fucked
myself up by trying. Then there's other times I listen to it where I think, "It sounds like
Nine Inch Nails. Is that good or bad?" I've approached this in my head the right way...
because it's true to what I am right now, and that's the only criteria I've had in the past.
And it works.
Is there a chance for radio play? Could I possibly gain you new fans?
I really don't know what's going on. I can guess what people might still think I'm like, or
how interested they are still, but there's been a sizable amount of time. Rock has
evaporated its presence a bit in the meantime, and alternative doesn't exist anymore
because major labels convinced everybody that fuckin' Barenaked Ladies are alternative,
that R.E.M. are still alternative somehow; and it's all confusion and bullshit, and hip hop
took over. I could go mad thinking about it. I think I've made a good, complex album that
is rewarding and very challenging at the same time. And that's all I can hope for. I like it.
And I'm not saying that like, "Oh, I like it, really. I think I do." I fuckin' think it's the best
thing I've done-and it isn't for lack of trying on the fucker! [Laughs.]
I didn't notice much synth noise, and this is by far your warmest-sounding album-any
relation?
This record is mostly guitar, but it doesn't necessarily sound like it. I knew this record was
going to be about systems failing, about things falling apart, about things being broken
along the way. And just when a song's about to be right, something's fuckin' up and
spinning out of control, and you're trying to piece it together like you're finishing the
sentence of the song, but it doesn't let that happen. Sometimes maddening, but generally
just showing a sense of fragility and not all fitting nicely. So I chose guitar or stringed
instruments because of nature they're imperfect.
I switched up instrumentaion quite a bit. And a lot of it's made with computers, but I'm
not using that many synths. If I hear a melody line, instead of instantly reaching for what I
would normally use, this was more about trying it on a real instrument and then
processing it. What would come from that would be an organic, distressed quality. And
we started realizing that we'd get more sound out of like ukuleles and slide guitars and
stuff I don't really know how to play. But I could get sounds out of them that were
interesting; it was like getting a cello and figuring out how to make sound on it.
And again, those are all reasons that things take a long time. Kinda when we knew we
were in for the long haul, we allowed ourselves to go down some of those paths. Those,
to me, sound like experiments in the studio because the studio's the instrument in a lot of
those. But I also didn't wanna come out with a real overproduced blob of pretentiousness,
you know? I tried to keep an emotional quality about everything. I don't really know what
I've done here....
A lot of it might be tough to carry out live.
Yeah, it will be. But also, the core of the songs I'm considering playing live lend
themselves to be a lot more open and played live than shit we did in the past with tape,
[which was' very rigid. I can see some of those expanding a bit-not like some kinda jam
situation, but having it be more fun to play-but not at the expense, hopefully, of the
listener. I can't see it degenerating in a Rock Wakeman type thing.
If it does, remind me. Please. Throw something hard at me. [Laughs.] Anyway, the
decision to do this was not one of: 'Look what I can do! I can make a double CD." It's just
that a lot of the songs sound better when they're supported by other songs, if that makes
sense. When we tried cutting it down, if kinda just scattered; it didn't seem to make sense.
You need to be in for the long, couple -hour sit-down to get this.
So you think it should be heard as a whole, not track by track?
Um, yes, and it's a substantial time commitment. What I've always been about is trying to
make an album as a full experience, more than: "Here's a good song. Here's some shit we
just randomly three together." I'm really into the sit-down experience of the whole thing.
The idea of a record that's a record, or the side of album that's great, that has always been
something I've enjoyed as a fan. And that's what I aspire to do now, although I don't know
how popular it will be in the near future. And I don't care.
As groundbreaking as The Fragile appears to be, and as acclaimed as Reznor's career has
been since Pretty Hate Machine debuted a decade ago, the amount of self-deprecation the
man still emanates is puzzling. At time he almost resembles Dostoevsky's
hyper-intelligent Underground Man, first answering a question, then positing an opposing
hypothesis as equally plausible, and finally concluding his answer with a thoroughly
nonplused "I don't know." And that's not even taking into account statement made to the
press in the past (I'm not proud to say I hate myself", as well as records made in the
past-specifically 1994's toxic The Downward Spiral.
The Downward Spiral because the blueprint by which Reznor lived his life in the years
immediately following its release. Years of touring took their mental toll (Check him out
in full nihilist mode in the fascinating NIN video documentary Closure), which was
immediately followed by a yearlong stint in the studio with Marilyn Manson recording
Antichrist Superstar. ("Not a good way to reintroduce yourself to the real world after a
tour, "Reznor says with a chuckle.) The resulting void, and amassing pressure to make
another NIN record, among other things, led him to the brink of emotional breakdown.
What did you expect?
Well, it's like seeing behind the curtain. And now I'm innately cautious any time I meet
anybody, like, "Okay, what do you want?!" You get used to it. You get fucked by enough
people, your friends, and shit like that... Whether it be reading something shitty about you
that wasn't true, or whatever. It just kept piling up.
What was driving all that negativity?
I found out I'm depressed for real. I'm not just saying that as a joke, which I've done my
whole life.
A clinical depression?
Yeah. Mild, not crippling. But present. I'm always a quart low. And I think even just
knowing that and accepting it explains a lot of things, you know? A lot of my behavior
makes more sense to me now that there may be some explanation. If you found out you've
acted or felt a certain way and there is actually a clinical reason, it's not just that you're a
piece of shit or you don't have any friends and you don't want any friends and you never
stay in a relationship. You realize, "All right, there is a reason I've felt this way, and I'm
not a bad person." I feel like I'm more equipped to deal with the situation, although I've
opted not to deal with medication or anything like that.
Is it something you maybe embrace a bit-like a source of artistic inspiration?
I've been down that path. I've thought of it as a resource, as a way of forcing you to deal
with things because you can't pave them over. But when you keep doing it and it's still
there, that's when it's not that romantic a notion. Another rainy day when you fell like just
feeling shitty and watching another sad movie, that's all well and good occasionally. But
when it's there all the time, suddenly its not as fun to flirt with; it's not as romantic. It's
dangerous. It's like thinking you're getting through something and there's always light at
the end of the tunnel, and there isn't. You get to the end of the tunnel, and it's still dim.
There's no light anymore; you don't even know where you're going. That, and I had to
deal with some shit. An important person in my life died.
Your grandmother?
Yeah...... it was a catalyst that kinda made me [pauses] shit or get off the pot. It was either
figure out what's going on in your head or, you know, exterminate. Not say that I've got
all my shit figured out and every day is great now, but I've got a newgound kind of energy
to go at things. And a positively-no, I don't wanna say positively. Blech! I can see records
returning in droves! "Oh, no!" No. I just spiritually feel better about where I'm at right
now. That can all change later today, but generally I've got my head on a bit straighter.
Can you elaborate? What’s your philosophical take now?
Well, I don't have any concrete system that I adhere to now, as far as what I believe in.
And there are things I'd like to research when the pressure of saving all of music isn't on
my head. [Chuckles.] I don't wanna sound hippie or anything; there's just a sense of
purpose that I've had from time to time that I have my own personal views on. It helps me
feel like there's some sense and order to the chaos. Not like I've got it figured out, but I do
feel a lot better than I used to. And that's not from anyone sitting me down and training
me to think a certain way. It's just from getting a good look at the bottom and realizing
with better self-esteem and a better sense about me that... there is reason behind the, um...
I don't know how to explain this well. Hit me again with this tomorrow. I'll memorize an
answer.
With that Reznor smiled, we called it a day, and we never did get around to discussing the
issue again. Not to say there's a Hollywood ending, that this is all just an episode of
Behind The Music, the exhausted clicke' of an artist pushed to the brink of disaster only
to return triumphant. As the man himself puts it, "There's rarely a happy ending to an
artist's career. It rarely ends on a high note- it usually has a down-the-drain kind of effect
to it."
But by the looks of things right now, the drain is quite a ways off.
Parasite Lost
For years there's been talk of mysterious noises emanating from nothing studios- sound
constructed during the making of NIN records that wasn't right for those albums and yet
was too cool to let die. A.P. extracts the true about the Tapeworm project.
"Trent's joke was that it was a parasite feeding off the bigger organism."
Tapeworm: rumor or fact?
Trent Reznor: Fact. The ever-present Tapeworm project. We've got some things done,
and there are millions of tracks waiting for vocals from a few different people from
Maynard [James Keenan] from Tool to Page [Hamilton' from Helmet; from Phil
[Anselmo] from Pantera to myself. Danny [Lohner] and Charlie [Clouser] are the main
musical force behind that.
What are the origins of Tapeworm?
Charlie Clouser: When we're listening back to our rough racks you can immediately tell
when something is not NIN. There's a certain tonal flavor to the stuff, even though the
textures have changed since the last album. And when we listen back to a lot of our stff
we go, "This is cool. We'd like to use this, but it's obviously not NIN." In theory,
Tapeworm will provide that [outlet].
Whose brainchild was it?
Danny Lohner: I had these songs that I had started, and Charlie was gonna do his thing.
The actual name probably came from Trent, but we were just trying to get something
happening and wanted to it with Trent.
What's the name all about-there's not much actual "tape" in this studio, is there?
Lohner: There's joke was that it was a parasite feeding off the bigger organism. But, yet,
there's zero tape involved, actually.
How far back does this stuff go?
Clouser: There's tons of shit all the way to when Manson was doing Antichrist Superstar,
I think '95 or '96. That's kinda when we first moved into the studio. While Trent was
involved with the Manson people, we would be generating song ideas.
Was anyone else involved?
Lohner: Yeah, 'cause when we did the last tour, there was five of us: Trent, me, Charlie,
and two other guys; Robin Finck and Chris Vrenna-and they've since left. We had hoped
to involve those two guys, as well.
What's the general sound like?
Clouser: From heavy stuff and hip-hop stuff to Kate Bush songs- it remains to be seen.
But the thing we did with Maynard-more electonicky but with heavy guitars-is the
blueprint. But it was has to be defined as something different enough from NIN for Trent
to be involved.
So is Trent actually playing on most of this stuff?
Lohner: Well, he does the odd guitar here and there, and he's got vocal melodies, but he
hasn't actually sung the words. Whether that means he uses his voice or gets someone
from another band to come in and do it...
Clouser: It could potentially provide Trent with a way of being creatively involved in
writing and production without necessarily having to micromanage every aspect of it in
the same way that he does with NIN. We may contribute various aspects to NIN songs,
but it's very much under his guidance and subject to his review and tweakage. This might
provide a way for him to not necessarily get in there with the tweezers.
Lohner: I think he would welcome that. Because he seems to certainly enjoy the one song
that we've finished. [Bursts out laughing.]
Credit due conservatively to: Seems Like Salvation News
