Even Deeper # 3-Fragility Part 1
Mar 11 '02
The Bottom Line 1996-1998 represents Reznor's post-Downward Spiral/pre-Fragile period as he worked on Manson's "Antichrist Superstar", "Lost Highway" and several other projects.
Even Deeper # 3: The Fragility Period 1996-2002
The following is a five-part series chronicling the Nine Inch Nails’ history during the period of 1996-2002 where NIN leader Trent Reznor and his number of cohorts create the album for “The Fragile” along with several recordings during this period. This piece was made as a precursor to an upcoming review for “The Fragile” along with reviews of the “Things Falling Apart” remix EP and the deluxe version and DVD for “And All That Could Have Been”.
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thevoid99
Introduction (1989-1996)
When Nine Inch Nails and its leader Trent Reznor emerged in the Alternative Rock music scene in 1989 with their debut album “Pretty Hate Machine”, Reznor and his cohorts help lead the industrial rock sub genre out of the underground and into the mainstream after stealing the show at the inaugural Lollapalooza festival in 1991 with Jane’s Addiction headlining. A year later in 1992, NIN released an abrasive and powerful EP called “Broken” to rave reviews and ended up selling a million copies. In early 1993, NIN won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance for the song “Wish” and heightened anticipation for his second album. “The Downward Spiral” released in March of 1994 debuted at number two in the Billboard 200 Album charts to rave reviews and on August of that year, NIN stole the show at that 25th Anniversary version of the Woodstock Music Festival back in 1969 which helped the second NIN album to sell two million copies by mid-1995. Later in that year, Reznor received a phone call from rock legend David Bowie who wanted NIN to open for him to promote his 1995 release “Outside”. Reznor and his NIN cohorts accepted the offer and the NIN/Bowie tour was a success for both NIN who won respect from the rock legend and for Bowie who reached a new generation of fans. By the end of 1995, Trent Reznor had established himself as one of the new leaders in Alternative Rock and had also become one of brightest young producers after helming the project for the soundtrack to Oliver Stone’s 1994 film “Natural Born Killers”. In the next phase of his career, Reznor would find disillusionment, frustration, death, and the realities of being an artist in a business that is about commerce rather than art.
Coming Out of The Spiral and Entering The World of Fragility: 1996-1998
In early 1996, Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor had everything many rock stars wanted: money, women, respect from his peers and rock legends like Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and most notably David Bowie; an entourage that is all over him as if he’s a god, and a nice house in the city of New Orleans where he resides along with a studio in the middle of the city that used to be an old funeral home. While Reznor accomplished many of those things with his 1994 album “The Downward Spiral” that would end up selling five million copies worldwide, he found himself burnt out and confused about his success. It had been two years since the release of “The Downward Spiral” and there were those in the industry including the executives at Interscope Records that wanted a follow-up album right away. Reznor however didn’t want to do one right away and he didn’t feel like making a new album so instead, Reznor decided to focus on small projects to keep himself away from Nine Inch Nails.
One of the projects Reznor worked on in early 1996 was a collaboration with the live members of NIN that included guitarist Robin Finck, keyboardist/programmer Charlie Clouser, guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Danny Lohner, and longtime NIN cohort and original drummer/assistant Chris Vrenna. The project known, as Tapeworm was a project Reznor did where this time, he listened to other people’s ideas and stuff and coming for the project on vocal tracks were Pantera singer Phil Anselmo, Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, and Helmet singer/guitarist Page Hamilton. While Reznor served as a director for the project, the real main musical forces behind Tapeworm were Charlie Clouser and Danny Lohner who found their roles to be vital and more important to Reznor as the two suddenly became key members in NIN. Robin Finck however, wasn’t feeling useful in the project and felt he wasn’t doing anything in New Orleans, which led him to leave NIN in early 1996. Finck would do a stint for the Circus Du Soleil as a musical director in 1996 and by 1997 became the new guitarist for hard rock icons Guns N’ Roses replacing guitar hero Slash who was fired by singer Axl Rose.
Along with Tapeworm, Reznor worked on another soundtrack project for independent filmmaking icon David Lynch who was about to make his first new film since 1992’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” called “Lost Highway”. Reznor worked on music for the film along with a new song that was credited to Reznor, Clouser, Lohner, and Chris Vrenna called “The Perfect Drug”. While working on projects, the influence of NIN had become apparent in the music world starting with a sample of the song “Hurt” that appeared in the album for the California-based hip-hop group Westside Connection that was led by rap icon Ice Cube. Another big NIN influence came from new wave icons Devo, who Reznor called a huge influence in his music, covered the NIN classic “Head Like A Hole” for the soundtrack to the Jackie Chan movie “Supercop”.
While there’s good in the influence that NIN has created, there were also some bad things in the wake of the success of NIN. When Alternative Rock broke big in the early 90s, record companies started to take notice and find bands that fit in that Alternative Rock mold. When grunge acts like Nirvana and Pearl Jam became successful, that led record companies to sign bands like Bush, Silverchair, Seven Mary Three, and other acts that became big and sold records but didn’t get the respect from those who saw them as imitators and cash-cows. When NIN became a mainstream act-of-sorts in 1994, record companies started to find bands that sounded like NIN so they can cash in on the success of NIN. The most well-known imitator that came in the wake of the success of NIN was Stabbing Westward whose 1996 album “Wither Blister Burn + Peel” became a hit in 1996 that featured drummer Andy Kubiszewski who was a former band mate of Trent Reznor back in the late 80s when the two along with Chris Vrenna were in the Exotic Birds. Other imitators included Gravity Kills, God Lives Underwater, Econoline Crush and many other bands that had taken the harsh industrial sound NIN had became successful with. Another band that sort of benefited from the success of NIN was Filter that featured former NIN cohorts Richard Patrick and Brian Liesegang. Unlike most of the NIN imitators, Filter had a unique sound that wasn’t totally rooted in industrial music but instead was moving away from the industrial sub genre and going further into territories of pop, electronic music, and hard rock.
While the new industrial upstarts gave attention to the sub genre, the downside was it marked a huge decline to the industrial music movement. Industrial music icons from Ministry to Skinny Puppy were starting to fall apart or disband and for fans of the music, it was in some ways the beginning of the end of a sub genre that helped fused metal and pulsating electronic minimalism. For Trent Reznor who was a leader of the sub genre, it was time for him to move on and venture into other territories.
While working on the projects for the “Lost Highway” soundtrack and Tapeworm, Reznor decided to work on the sophomore release for his protégé Marilyn Manson titled “Antichrist Superstar”. By early 1996, Manson had became the 90s version of Alice Cooper with his scary look and shock rock antics. Already produced his debut album and a remix EP for Manson, Reznor along with former Skinny Puppy producer Dave “Rave” Ogilvie took controls for Manson’s new album. While the sessions for “Antichrist Superstar” produced some of the best hard rock music of the 1990s, the experience of making the album wasn’t a pleasant experience for Reznor, his entourage, and Manson himself. During the sessions for the album, there were numerous excessive parties involving drugs and alcohol that made the sessions troubling and Reznor himself became involved with the partying that was becoming a part of the session. By the time the album was in the latter stages of completion, the party got out of control and by the time “Antichrist Superstar” was finished. Relationships started to dissolve completely. Marilyn Manson guitarist Scott Putesky (aka Daisy Berkowitz) left Manson’s band and Reznor had a falling lout with engineer Sean Beaven, who he worked with since 1992, and another fallout with Marilyn Manson.
Reznor’s friendship with Marilyn Manson was starting to become troubled after the “Antichrist Superstar” sessions and by February of 1997; the two split and went their own ways. In the early fall of 1996, Reznor decided to put a showcase for his Nothing label at the CMJ Music Festival in New York City where he was going to promote upcoming products from industrial rock pioneers Meat Beat Manifesto and Marilyn Manson. NIN also did a performance for the festival that included special guests Kevin McMahon of Prick and former Pop Will Eat Itself singer Clint Mansell where he announced that Pop Will Eat Itself has disbanded during a special Nothing records broadcast on MTV’s 120 Minutes. Manson, Meat Beat Manifesto, McMahon, and Reznor also talked to MTV about their new products or what’s coming for them. Reznor however, talked about the label and dodged questions about a new studio album from NIN.
After a brief club tour with Meat Beat Manifesto, Reznor returned to New Orleans feeling disillusioned over the sessions he did for Manson’s “Antichrist Superstar” which became a big-selling album when it was released in October of 1996 and put Manson into the rock stratosphere and ended up becoming a huge celebrity to the public eye. For Reznor, Manson’s rise to stardom was a mixed blessing because even though he was happy that he became successful, he was also afraid that success was going to change him into a person he doesn’t even know anymore.
While looming over the fallout he had with Manson, Reznor was finishing up compiling soundtrack music for David Lynch’s “Lost Highway” that featured not just a new song from NIN and a couple of instrumental pieces from Reznor but score music from Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson and songs from Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Lou Reed, and the Smashing Pumpkins. In early 1997, Reznor shot a video with his NIN band mates for the song “The Perfect Drug” with “Closer” video director Mark Romanek. The video that featured images from illustrative writer Edward Gorey that was reminiscent of the Gothic/Anne Rice’s “Interview With The Vampire” images. After the video was finished, another relationship in Reznor’s life was starting to dissolve. Since the late 80s when NIN was starting out, Reznor had always gotten help from his friend Chris Vrenna for his music and guidance. By early 1997, Vrenna wanted out of the NIN mold to focus on a career as a solo artist and Reznor felt it was time to dissolve his professional relationship with the one person who had helped created NIN from day one.
While Reznor was distraught over the split with Vrenna, he was greeted with some more unexpected accolades as Time Magazine put him as one of the 25 Most Influential People in America in early 1997 along with a cover story from Spin magazine where they named him as The Most Vital Artist in Music where gave an interview about the burgeoning electronic music movement, MTV, the NIN imitators, and his plans for a new album where Reznor told Spin magazine contributor Neil Strauss about his writer’s block and his uncomforted feelings about becoming the new icon of rock. For Reznor, becoming someone who might be in the pantheons of Elvis Presley or John Lennon was overwhelming and uncomfortable. Since Reznor was not feeling good about his new fame and how thing were going professionally for him, then things that he was in were about to get worse.
Early in 1997, Reznor got more unexpected news when the grandmother who raised him as a young child died all of a sudden and for Reznor; it was a very personal blow to him. Clara Clark taught the young Trent how to play piano and was one of the first people in his family that introduced him to music. Her death got Trent Reznor further into depression and for a brief period went to a psychiatrist over his depression. In the first half of 1997, Reznor kept a low profile even though he released a maxi-single for “The Perfect Drug” in May of ’97 that was an exploration of the burgeoning electronic music movement that featured mixes from Meat Beat Manifesto, new Nothing artist Plug, Spacetime Continuum, the Orb, and a remix from Reznor and new engineer Keith Hillebrandt. He also was seen on MTV News attending the opening date of U2’s Popmart tour with friend and rap music icon Dr. Dre.
While mourning the death of his grandmother in mid-1997, Reznor got a call from Def Jam Records co-founder and Red Hot Chili Peppers producer Rick Rubin where the two discussed about Reznor’s depression and writer’s block. Rubin suggested that Reznor should stay in Big Sur, California for a month and see if he can be inspired in his writing. Reznor took Rubin’s advice and stayed in Big Sur for a month but Reznor ended up not writing anything and felt he was going nowhere in California. He then returned to New Orleans feeling he gained nothing and feeling depressed all over again.
In the fall of 1997, Reznor received a phone call from rock legend and new pal David Bowie. In early 1997, Bowie released a new album “Earthling” that explored the new electronic music movement. Although Bowie was 50 that year and wasn’t the groundbreaking artist he used to be back in the 70s, the album was a hit with critics and fans who felt that Bowie was on his way to a comeback. Bowie called Reznor to remix his next single for the song “I’m Afraid Of Americans” that led Reznor to get back to work and he along with Charlie Clouser, Danny Lohner, Dave “Rave” Ogilvie, and new NIN engineer Keith Hillebrandt to make five remixes of the song including a vocal contribution from West Coast rap icon Ice Cube. Reznor then joined Bowie to do a video shoot for the song that was inspired by Reznor’s state of mind at the time since during his months of depression, Reznor had been watching the Martin Scoresese classic “Taxi Driver” starring Robert DeNiro. The video which was about Bowie being chased in New York City by a deranged fan, played by Reznor, who is making Bowie’s life hell as he’s being surrounded by people pretending to hold guns and shoot each other.
Though the video and Reznor’s collaboration with Bowie was a nice break, Reznor was becoming unsure of himself on what to do for his next album and he was also getting a lot of pressure from the press and fans on the release of the next NIN album. In November of 1997, NIN released a two-video set titled “Closure” that featured a video collection from NIN and a tour documentary on the band’s 1994-1996 world tour. “Closure” marked the end of an era for NIN as Trent Reznor was finally ready to move forward into his next project. In December of 1997, Reznor talked to Alternative Rock magazine Alternative Press about Chris Vrenna’s departure, the death of his grandmother, and beginning work on his new album in which he called it “The Fragile”. Alternative Press put Reznor along with several artists including Marilyn Manson, the Breeders, Hole, Korn, Filter, and several more into a list of the 25 Most Anticipated Albums of 1998. For Trent Reznor, it was a new world where he was ready to move forward but would find bumps as he works on his most ambitious project to date.
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