The Downward Spiral

Untitled

The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock recording act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide. The Downward Spiral features elements of industrial rock, techno, and heavy metal music, a stark contrast to the primitive electronic dance music style shown in Pretty Hate Machine (1989).

The album was a major commercial success that established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the 1990s music scene, particularly following the release of the single "Closer" and its controversial video. It has been widely regarded by music critics as Nine Inch Nails' best work. A companion remix album, Further Down the Spiral, was released in 1995.

Background

Reznor has discussed the background and inspiration behind the album:

The idea behind the album is of someone who sheds everything around them to a potential nothingness, but through career, religion, relationship, belief and so on. It's less muscle-flexing, though when I started it I didn't know what I wanted it to sound like. I knew I didn't want to be a full metal album, so I tried to address the issue of restraint. It was a long process.

Thematically I wanted to explore the idea of somebody who systematically throws or uncovers every layer of what he's surrounded with, comfort-wise, from personal relationships to religion to questioning the whole situation. Someone dissecting his own ability to relate to other people or to have anything to believe in...With The Downward Spiral I tried to make a record that had full range, rather than a real guitar-based record or a real synth-based record. I tried to make it something that opened the palate for NIN, so we don't get pigeon-holed. It was a conscious effort to focus more on texture and space, rather than bludgeoning you over the head for an hour with a guitar.

I was really into electronic music at the time. David Bowie's Low was probably the single greatest influence on The Downward Spiral for me. I got into Bowie in the Scary Monsters era, then I picked up Low and instantly fell for it. I related to it on a song-writing level, a mood level, and on a song-structure level...I like working within the framework of accessibility, and songs of course, but I also like things that are more experimental and instrumental, maybe.

Writing and recording

Despite a lack of knowledge to judge the musical direction of his project's next album, Reznor rented a house located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, California (where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Charles Manson-led Manson Family in 1969) and invented a studio space in the house which he named "Le Pig", after the message that was scrawled on the front door with Tate's blood by her murderers. Amidst the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there due to having found it intresting. "I looked at a lot of places," Reznor said. "And this just happened to be the one I liked most." Shortly after he entered the house, Reznor was potboiled by Patti Tate, who questioned, "Are you exploiting my sister's death by living in her house?". Reznor responded, "No, it's just sort of my own interest in American folklore. I'm in this place where a weird part of history occurred," and he retreated to another apartment, crying.

The first stage of production was the writing process. Reznor wrote several poems, then made a list of things and lyrical themes he will venture for the forthcoming album on paper.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman was afforded more studio time in than the 1992 Broken extended play, also recorded in Le Pig. Flood was hired as co-producer of several tracks on The Downward Spiral. A option of inviting a number of guest performers to record was created, including former Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros drummer Stephen Perkins on "I Do Not Want This" and progressive rock guitarist Adrian Belew on "Mr. Self-Destruct" and "The Becoming", who played in several bands, including King Crimson and the live band for David Bowie. Belew said of Reznor: "Trent [Reznor] has an astounding command of technology, old and new; he's such an intriguing person to work with, but that may have actually helped in some way. The music just lent itself to so many ideas that are in my realm." Perkins preformed a number of live drumming takes that were recorded live in the studio; these tracks were subsequently rendered into looped samples that were manipulated electronically using Pro Tools in a Macintosh computer. Reznor had a similar stint to recording audio existing of guitars, taping 20 to 25-minute long sessions of himself preforming with a Jackson guitar and a Zoom 9030 pedal on a hard disc recorder with a Studio Vision sequencer. He would cut out clips of the recordings he praised for later use. Many portions of the "stuff we do–even vocals–is recorded into the computer first. We get an arrangement together and then dump it to tape."

Reznor later explained of most of the equipment he used in 1995:

Usually I call up [a highlight from Digidesign's TurboSynth program] the 'waveshaper' function and click through a few of them, or use the 'convert sample to oscillator' command. A real low pitch can get you some insane sounds. I also might modulate a guitar or vocal sound with a real low frequency from the oscillator module, something with a bell tone or some odd harmonics – that can usually produce some awesome death-vocal or guitar sounds. Also, for [samples involving the] guitar, almost everything was put through a Zoom 9030. I don't like the distortion stuff in there – it's too traditional – but I really like the amp simulator. We also used a new Marshall rack-amount head, which sounded great. I'd take the direct out of that through the Zoom amp simulator for a pretty good, almost Pantera-ish power-metal sound. I use that as a basis, and since everything's recorded in the computer, it's easy to take it into TurboSynth and fuck around with it."

One of the songs written for the album, "Just Do It," made Flood speak to Reznor that he was dismissive of the final result. Reznor said of this: "There was another song that I didn't put on there called 'Just Do It.' It was a very dangerously self-destructive, silly little snippet. You know, 'If you're going to kill yourself, just do it, nobody cares at all.' But ['The Downward Spiral co-producer] Flood freaked out and said, 'No, you've gone too far. I don't want to be involved in that'." Reznor wrote what become his last straw on writing a song in the year of 1993, "Big Man with a Gun," afterwards. The album is widely seen as his finale with Nine Inch Nails' works, since he opted to work on various other albums like U2's Pop (1997), Depeche Mode's Ultra (1997), and The Smashing Pumpkins's Adore (1996).

Finally, Reznor moved out of Le Pig in December 1993, and demolished shortly thereafter. After recording was finished, The Downward Spiral entered mixing and mastering process. This was done at Record Plant Studios, the building where heavy metal band Black Sabbath recorded two of their albums (Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972) and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)), and A&M Studios. Both studios are located in Los Angeles, California (which Reznor hated). Alan Moulder, who later co-produced The Fragile (1999) and With Teeth (2005), mixed the album. On the other hand, Tom Baker mastered The Downward Spiral.

Themes

File:Closer Monkey.jpg

A common theme in The Downward Spiral is Nihilism. Parts of the Mark Romanek-directed music video for "Closer," such as this imagery of a crucifixed monkey, is a take on the theme.

There are numerous layers of metaphors that are present throughout the album, which leaves it open to wide interpretation. The album relays many concepts of Nihilism, such as the chorus line in "Heresy," which exclaims: "Your god is dead/And no one cares. If there is a hell/I'll see you there." As a whole, The Downward Spiral is defined by Nietzschean concepts and a prominent theme of existentialism. It is a concept album in which the overarching plot follows the protagonist's descent into his own inner solipsistic world, through a metaphorical "Downward Spiral", dealing with religion, dehumanization, violence, disease, society, drugs, sexuality, and finally suicide. This character can be understood as a representation of Reznor himself. During Self-Destruct, the visibility of controversy increased with religous protests, but before this point occured, Reznor did had the ability to consider himself "pretty normal. With The Downward Spiral, I can remember where I was in my head, what I was thinking, and I can remember writing that record, and the mindset. This record that was about an extension of me, became the truth fulfilling itself."

There 49 expletives included in The Downward Spiral. Inaugurating the majority of them heard on the album is "fuck," heard most commonly in "Big Man with a Gun." This led to a Parental Advisory Explict Lyrics sticker being pasted on most copies, as seen on many editions]].

"March of the Pigs" may have been inspired by Charles Manson and the murders he helped to contemplate, due to the words "pig", or "piggy" being written on the walls in blood after the murders. Two other people, deceased Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were also inspired by the album.

Its emphasis on transgressive themes has made The Downward Spiral's lyrics vulnerable to attack from American social conservatives. Sen. Bob Dole, then head of the Republican Party, sharply criticized Time Warner after a meeting between Michael J. Fuchs (head of the Warner Music Group), William Bennett, and C. Delores Tucker, at which Tucker and Bennett demanded that Fuchs recite lyrics from "Big Man with a Gun" because the politician thought the lyrics were an attack on the United States Government. Reznor claimed that the lyrics had nothing to do with politics:

The record was nearing completion. I had written those lyrics pretty quickly and I didn't know if I was going to use them or not. To me, Downward Spiral builds to a certain degree of madness, then it changes. That would be the last stage of delirium. So the original point of 'Big Man with a Gun' was madness. But it was also making fun of the whole misogynistic gangsta-rap bullshit. [...] I listen to a lot of it, and I enjoy it. But I could do without the degree of misogyny and hatred of women and abuse. Then, my song got misinterpreted as exactly that. It was probably a lack of being able to write. I've been taken out of context, and it's ridiculous.

Robert Bork also repeatedly referenced "Big Man with a Gun" in his book Slouching Toward Gomorrah as evidence of a cultural decline. The book incorrectly states that it is a rap song.

In 2009, Apple rejected the Nine Inch Nails application for the iPhone due to objectionable content in The Downward Spiral.

Music

The opening sounds of "Mr. Self Destruct" are a portion from the film THX 1138 in which a man is being beaten by a prison guard. The drum track for "Closer" features a heavily modified bass drum sample from the Iggy Pop song "Nightclubbing" from his album The Idiot. The loop of screaming voices heard at the beginning of "The Becoming" is again a sample from the cult film Robot Jox (1991), which grossed over 1 million $US1,000,000. The voice at the beginning of "Big Man with a Gun" comes from a studio-altered recording of a porn star having an orgasm. According to the album liner notes, this sample is titled "Steakhouse" and is credited to Tommy Lee. The mechanical clanks at the beginning of "Reptile" can be heard in the film Leviathan (1989), and the looping female voice at the end of the second chorus was originally used The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1975). The watery noise at the beginning of "The Downward Spiral" is sampled from Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). Japanese pressings contain a bonus track, the Joy Division cover "Dead Souls", originally released on The Crow original soundtrack.

Reznor regularly uses noise and distortion in his song arrangements, and incorporates dissonance with chromatic melody and/or harmony. These techniques are all used in the song "Hurt", which features a highly dissonant tritone played on guitar during the verses, a B5#11, emphasized when Reznor sings the eleventh note on the word "I" every time the B/E# dyad is played.

The frantic drumming on the end of "Piggy" is courtesy of Reznor himself. This is his only attempt at live drumming on a record, and one of the few "live" drum performances on the album. Reznor had stated that the recording was from him testing the microphone setup in studio, but he liked the sound too much not to include it. In contrast, the main keyboard track in "A Warm Place" is very similar to David Bowie's "Crystal Japan". The beginning of "Eraser" contains a sound often referred to as "straw blowing." This is the sound of somebody blowing air through a saxophone while manipulating the keys, but not producing any tones.

According to the liner notes of the album's lead-off single, "March of the Pigs" has a BPM rate of 269. The song's high energy (analogous to a previous NIN track, "Wish"), segued by two piano breakdowns, has made it a staple of NIN's live concert performances. It is also one of the band's shortest hit songs, clocking in at 2:58. "March of the Pigs" also uses odd time signatures, especially in the chorus.

Listeners of the album have noticed the obvious use of a chromatic trick known as "The Downward Spiral motif." "Closer" concludes with this motif, albeit in a piano form. and the same melody is debuted during the chorus of "Piggy", and then recurs on the title track. Another obvious track that stirred the technique is "Heresy" (not to be confused with Hersey). In 2007, Ladytron used "The Downward Spiral motif" in their remix of "The Beginning of the End" on Year Zero Remixed.

Packaging

Artwork and sketches for The Downward Spiral, "Closer" and "March of the Pigs" by Russell Mills were displayed at the Glasgow School of Art. He was commissioned to create the artwork for the record, beginning with the album's cover and booklet. He later made packaging to all of its singles (including "March of the Pigs" and "Closer to God"), the remix collection Further Down the Spiral, the 1997 videocassette compilation Closure, and the 2004 Deluxe Edition and DualDisc re-releases of The Downward Spiral (which was accompanied by several new Mills-concieved visual compositions downloadable from Nine Inch Nails' website), and various promotional materials.

These interrelated works contain Mills' heaviest use of organic materials to depict a multi-layered sense of grotesque and decay. Animal skeletons, teeth, blood, feathers, and dead insects are embedded in the canvases. In some pieces, materials have been affixed and then exposed to water or chemical elements, so that their decay is literally imprinted on the surface of the artwork. Mills explained the ideas and materials that made up the painting (titled "Wound") that was used for the cover:

I had been thinking about making works that dealt with layers, physically, materially and conceptually. I wanted to produce works that were about both exposure and revealing and at the same dealt with closure and covering. Given the nature of the lyrics and the power of the music I was working with, I felt justified in attempting to make works that alluded to the apparently contradictory imagery of pain and healing. I wanted to make beautiful surfaces that partially revealed the visceral rawness of open wounds beneath. The mixed media work 'Wound' was the first piece I tackled in this vein (no pun intended) and it became the cover of the album. It is made of plaster, acrylics, oils, rusted metals, insects, moths, blood (mine), wax, varnishes, and surgical bandaging on a wooden panel.

Promotion

Reznor performing during the Self-Destruct tour, circa 1994–1995

The album was anchored by two singles, "March of the Pigs" and "Closer", along with "Hurt" and "Piggy" which were issued to radio without a commercial single release. A total of four singles were spawned from the album. The music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek and received frequent rotation on MTV, though the network made extensive edits to the original version, which they perceived to be too graphic. A radio edit that censored the explict portions of the song's lyrics also received extensive airtime.

The Self Destruct Tour featured Marilyn Manson as the supporting act, who Reznor had recently signed to his Nothing Records label. At the time, Marilyn Manson featured bassist Jeordie White (then playing under the pseudonym "Twiggy Ramirez"), who would later play bass with Nine Inch Nails from 2005 to 2007. Despite Reznor's dislike of playing at large venues, the fourth leg of the tour was notable for ending with a mud-drenched performance at Woodstock '94, which was broadcast on Pay-per-view and seen in as many as 24 million homes, NIN's widest audience. Nine Inch Nails received considerable mainstream success thereafter, performing with significantly higher production values and the addition of various theatrical visual elements The inclusion of "Happiness in Slavery" in NIN's Woodstock gig earned the group a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1995. Entertainment Weekly described the band's Woodstock '94 performance by saying "Reznor unstrings rock to its horrifying, melodramatic core--an experience as draining as it is exhilarating". New Musical Express had a similar sentiment after the band's Lollapalooza performance in 1991, describing the show as "genuinely frightening", and asking the reader to "decide for yourself if it's choreographed chaos or unbridled grievous bodily harm". The fifth leg of Self Destruct was Further Down the Spiral Tour. This supported The Downward Spiral's remix accompaniment of the same name. Afterwards, Nine Inch Nails contributed to the Alternative Nation Festival in Australia. Five months later, Nine Inch Nails co-headlined the Dissonance Tour along with David Bowie. This lasted for 26 concerts, and was opened by Prick. This tour observed a format placing Nine Inch Nails as the opening act, transitioning into Bowie's set with joint performances of both bands' songs. However, the crowds reportedly did not respond positively to the combination.

The tour concluded with a three-night Nothing Records showcase called Nights of Nothing. The live preformances featured in the showcase were Marilyn Manson, Prick, Meat Beat Manifesto, Pop Will Eat Itself, and Nine Inch Nails, the latter of that put the concerts to closure with an 80-minute set Kerrang! described the Nine Inch Nails set during the Nights of Nothing showcase as "tight, brash and dramatic", but was disappointed at the lack of new material. On the second of the three nights, Richard Patrick was briefly reunited with the band, as he contributed guitar to a performance of "Head Like a Hole". After the Self-Destruct tour, Chris Vrenna, member of the live band since 1988 and frequent contributor to Nine Inch Nails studio recordings, left the band permanently to pursue a career in producing and to form the band Tweaker.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Blender
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	(B+)
Los Angeles Times
Pitchfork Media	(8.3/10)
PopMatters	(9/10)
Rolling Stone
Sputnikmusic
USA Today

The Downward Spiral was released in March 1994. The album debuted the following week at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. To date, The Downward Spiral has sold over four million copies. The album was well-received by critics. Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote, "every instrument, acoustic or synthetic, seems tuned to create the maximum aural abrasion." Pareles asserted that unlike other electro-industrial groups like Ministry and Nitzer Ebb, "Reznor writes full-fledged tunes; he knows his way around melodic hooks, not just riffs. And while purists accuse him of selling out their insular genres, he actually trumps them; the music is no less transgressive, and possibly more so, because it sticks in the ear." Rolling Stone awarded the album four out of five stars; reviewer Jonathan Gold praised the album as "music that pins playback levels far into the red", and concluded, "The Downward Spiral is music the blade runner might throw down to: low-tech futurism that rocks." Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+; reviewer Tom Sinclair wrote, "Reznor's pet topics (sex, power, S&M, hatred, transcendence) are all here, wrapped in hooks that hit your psyche with the force of a blowtorch." In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave the album an honorable mention () rating, indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy". Christgau commented that it is "musically, Hieronymus Bosch as postindustrial atheist; lyrically, Transformers as kiddie porn".

The release date of The Downward Spiral, March 8, 1994, coinicided with the day grunge band Soundgarden's highly anticipated Superunknown album was shipped into stores. At the Billboard 200, The Downward Spiral ranked second upon its debut week, only to have Superunknown preventing it from debuting at number one. There are some connections glued between the two records; both are placed at numbers 200 and 336 respectively on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, compiled in 2003, although The Downward Spiral's position was 136 ranks away from that album's position, and the very same magazine's 4-star rating given to The Downward Spiral was seen again in its review of the Soundgarden album. However, Superunknown had no association with all of the people involved in The Downward Spiral, is 5 minutes and 11 seconds longer in terms of length, and was more successful than The Downward Spiral. Both albums recieved 1994 Grammy Awards nominations, but "Black Hole Sun"'s (from Superunknown) win of the trophy for Best Hard Rock Performance alledgly turned The Downward Sprial into a Grammy Award-loser, and it was overruled by Soundgarden's from jackpotting any awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, although Nine Inch Nails would later be nominated for a buoy of two 1996 Grammy Awards, one was for "Hurt" in the Best Rock Performance category, and the other for the inclusion of Broken single "Happiness in Slavery" at the act's Woodstock '94 gig under Best Metal Performance, with the latter award delivered to the adforementioned track that won the honor.

Accolades

The album was placed 25th on Spin's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005 list; Spin also placed it 11th on their Top 90 Albums of the 90's; in 2010 the magazine placed the album 10th on their 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years list. JustPressPlay placed the album 10th on their Fifty Years of Great Music: The Top 100 Albums of the 1990s list. Blender named it the 80th Greatest American Album. It was ranked #488 in the book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time by Martin Popoff. In 2001 Q named The Downward Spiral as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time; in 2010 the album was ranked #102 on their 250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime (1986-2011) list. In 2003, the album was ranked #200 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The Downward Spiral was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

On August 23, 2009 at Webster Hall, Nine Inch Nails played the album in its entirety for the first time ever.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Trent Reznor

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Mr. Self Destruct"	4:30
2.	"Piggy"	4:24
3.	"Heresy"	3:54
4.	"March of the Pigs"	2:58
5.	"Closer"	6:13
6.	"Ruiner"	4:58
7.	"The Becoming"	5:31
8.	"I Do Not Want This"	5:41
9.	"Big Man with a Gun"	1:36
10.	"A Warm Place"	3:22
11.	"Eraser"	4:54
12.	"Reptile"	6:51
13.	"The Downward Spiral"	3:57
14.	"Hurt"	6:13
Total length:		65:02

Deluxe Edition (Halo 8 DE)

Disc one of the album's deluxe edition re-release is identical to the original version, although 1 dB louder mix overall, track anomalies are fixed (sounds from previous tracks creeping up on start of tracks), and it includes a stereo and multi-channel SACD layer. The second bonus disc is a collection of remixes and b-sides and also includes a stereo SACD layer in addition to the Redbook CD layer. The last three tracks on the bonus disc are previously unreleased demo recordings from the original album.

Bonus disc

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Burn" (from Natural Born Killers)	5:00
2.	"Closer (Precursor)" (from "Closer")	7:16
3.	"Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)" (from Further Down the Spiral)	4:03
4.	"A Violet Fluid" (from "March of the Pigs")	1:04
5.	"Dead Souls" (from The Crow)	4:53
6.	"Hurt (Quiet)" (from Further Down the Spiral, US version)	5:08
7.	"Closer to God" (from "Closer to God")	5:06
8.	"All the Pigs, All Lined Up" (from "March of the Pigs")	7:26
9.	"Memorabilia" (from "Closer to God")	7:22
10.	"The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)" (from Further Down the Spiral)	7:32
11.	"Ruiner (Demo)"	4:51
12.	"Liar (Reptile Demo)"	6:57
13.	"Heresy (Demo)"	4:00
Total length:		70:38

DualDisc (Halo 8 DVD-A)

The DualDisc edition of The Downward Spiral contains the same CD content on Side A as the Deluxe Edition, with a DVD-Audio layer on Side B. When played on DVD-Video players a Dolby Digital 5.1 multi-channel or Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix of The Downward Spiral can be selected, along with videos of "March of the Pigs", "Hurt" and an uncensored video of "Closer". There is also an interactive discography and an image gallery. When played on a DVD-Audio player a high resolution 24-bit/48 kHz Advanced Resolution Surround and stereo versions of The Downward Spiral can be played, allowing the user a similar high fidelity experience as the SACD layer of the Deluxe Edition. The DualDisc release does not contain the additional b-sides and demo tracks.

Personnel

• Trent Reznor – vocals, all instruments, arranger, producer
• Mark "Flood" Ellis – producer, hi-hat (on "Closer"), Arp 2600 synthesizer (on "The Becoming")
• Chris Vrenna – drums (on "Hurt"), programming, sampling
• Adrian Belew – texture generating guitar (on "Mr. Self Destruct"), ring mod guitar (on "The Becoming")
• Danny Lohner – additional guitar (on "Big Man with a Gun")
• Andy Kubiszewski – drums (on "The Downward Spiral")
• Stephen Perkins – drum loops (on "I Do Not Want This")
• Charlie Clouser – programming, continuity
• John Aguto – engineer
• Brian Pollack – engineer
• Sean Beavan – mixing

• Bill Kennedy – mixing
• Alan Moulder – mixing
• Tom Baker – mastering
• Bob Ludwig – high-resolution mastering (reissue)
• James Brown – 5.1 mix (reissue)
• Neal Ferrazzani – assistance (reissue)
• Russell Mills – paintings
• David Buckland – photography
• Gary Talpas – package
• Rob Sheridan – package, additional photography (reissue)

Chart history

Album

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Billboard 200	2
UK Albums Chart	9
Australian Album chart	12
New Zealand	23

Singles

Year	Song	Chart peak positions
		US Billboard Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream	US Dance Club Play	UK Singles	AUS ARIA
1994	"March of the Pigs"	59	—	—	—	45	—
	"Closer"	41	11	35	29	25	3
	"Piggy"	—	20	—	—	—	—
1995	"Hurt"	—	8	10	—	—	—
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

References

• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-74320-169-8.

External links

• The Downward Spiral at Discogs
• Album Review — By AbsolutePunk
• Album Review — By Alternative Press
• Album Review — By Time
• Halo 8 at NIN Collector
• Halo 8 at NinWiki.com