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NIN20 Pt. 3: The Fragility PeriodSep 21 '09 (Updated Sep 27 '09) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line NIN Releases The Fragile as Trent Reznor Faces Failure and a Near-Death Experience.
Part III: The Fragile, the Fall of NIN, & And All That Could Have Been (1998-2002) After a period of huge success, fame, and admiration that also brought controversy, criticism, and a dependency of substance abuse. Trent Reznor was now about to embark on what would become his most ambitious project yet. After coping with the death of his grandmother and counseling over his depression and substance abuse. Reznor was ready to start work on the next Nine Inch Nails album entitled The Fragile in late 1997 after releasing the 2-VHS video compilation Closure that featured the band's video collection and a documentary on the Self-Destruct tour. Reznor gave an interview for Alternative Press about his ambitions for the project while earlier in 1997, he took a trip to Big Sur, California from the suggestion of Rick Rubin that didn't go so well. Yet, Reznor did get an idea of what to do from his trip to Big Sur about what not to do. Part of this new approach for Reznor was to get away from things he had done before. Among them was using the computer to help him write songs. At the same time, he decided to stray further away from everything else he had done before by using more guitars, pianos, and other string-based instruments. At the same, rely less on electronic instruments like keyboards, synthesizers, and sequencers. It was a risk Reznor would take while it allowed him to experiment more on what he wanted to do. Helping Reznor in shaping the new record is Alan Moulder. Moulder, had previously worked with Reznor as an engineer and mixer on The Downward Spiral as he was selected to co-produce the album with Reznor. Also helping Reznor were live members Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser along with key NIN personnel like engineers Brian Pollack, Leo Herrera, Keith Hillebrandt, and Dave "Rave" Ogilvie. Reznor also got help from Adrian Belew, who contributed guitar tracks for The Downward Spiral, as he contributed more intricate parts to the record. The record also called in people Reznor hadn't worked with on past NIN albums that made it a star-studded affair of sorts as Helmet's Page Hamilton and former Chic drummer Tony Thompson made contributions along with ex-Pop Will Eat Itself vocalist Clint Mansell, former Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin, producer Steve Albini, David Bowie pianist Mike Garson, and renowned hip-hop artist/producer Dr. Dre. From late 1997 to mid-1999, Reznor spent a lot of time working on The Fragile while taking the time to work on other projects from time to time. Among them was contributing vocals for DJ Josh Wink's album Herehear album, remixing a single for Nothing Records act 12 Rounds, and producing an album for former Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford's new project 2wo with future Marilyn Manson guitarist John Lowery. The 2wo record was something Reznor later admitted, he wasn't proud of as Halford got more publicity in coming out of the closet as a gay man while the record tanked in the charts. Another project Reznor got involved that got him lots of scrutiny was remixing a track for hip-hop producer/artist Sean "Puffy" Combs for the song Victory. Though Reznor later revealed he did it for money, the move would later have Reznor and Combs be spoofed in an episode of MTV's Celebrity Death Match were they fought to a draw. While Reznor spent a lot of time working on The Fragile, the music scene around him was changing at a rapid pace. Alternative music had now become extinct as bands like Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M. faced dwindling album sales. Soundgarden had broken up and lots of bands were playing a safer version of grunge rock that was called post-grunge that was dominated by more mainstream acts like Third Eye Blind and Matchbox Twenty. At the same time, hip-hop became more popular than ever that would later lead to the rap-rock hybrid of rap-metal led by bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock. With troubles brewing over rock, many in the industry and music press were hoping for Reznor to save rock music but the problem was that Reznor wasn't interested. While alternative music had lost its meaning, the genre that Reznor helped popularize in industrial music had finally lost its edge and purpose. Destroyed by capitalism and bands that sounded like NIN. The genre that started out as an avant-garde musical style from the world of punk was now filled with cliches as bands like Motley Crue tried to update their sound by being industrial. At the same time, acts who had helped develop the genre into an underground sensation had fallen apart. Skinny Puppy had disbanded in 1995 due to creative tension and substance abuse that later led to the death of Dwayne Goettel of a heroin overdose. Ministry, notorious for their own drug abuse, was mired by their own drug abuse. Other acts of the genre moved towards electronic music. Aware of the genre's decline, Reznor decided that he couldn't repeat himself nor make an industrial record as he experimented. Yet, this would delve into Reznor's own problems as a perfectionist and as a songwriter. While Reznor had dealt with writer's block when he made The Downward Spiral, making The Fragile was even more difficult as some believed he had a hard time trying to say something he wanted to say on record. The difficulty in making The Fragile along with pressures from Interscope and the music press finally led the record to be delayed. Originally set for a 1998 fall release, the album was then pushed to quarter periods in 1999 over and over again. In September of 1998 at the MTV Video Music Awards, NIN released a teaser commercial featuring audio clips of tracks that would later revealed to be La Mer and Into The Void. During this time as Reznor and NIN worked on The Fragile, the Internet had emerged in connecting billions of people all over the world through the computer and a phone line at the time. Yet, it allowed NIN fans to start their own Internet community often called the Ninternet. News sites like Seems Like Salvation and the NIN Hotline along with fan sites like Burning Souls and Painful Convictions were emerging. The NIN Hotline also had a humor columnist under the name Meathead who would create funny stories and cartoons relating to NIN. The NIN Internet community would allow fans to communicate with each other while sending news to news sites as it would keep everything up to date on NIN and anything related to NIN including Nothing Records. Nothing by this time was still reveling in the success of Marilyn Manson while becoming the U.S. distribution link to the famed U.K. electronic label Warp Records until 2001. By early 1999 as production for The Fragile was still in the works. A huge moment in the music industry occurred that would bring trouble to Reznor and his association with Interscope. The merger between Polygram music and labels from the MCA Entertainment Group that would become the Universal Music Group. The merger would allow the Universal Music Group to take huge percentage of profits in the industry against other companies like Time Warner, the BMG Music Group, Sony, and EMI. The shake-up in the merger allowed smaller acts with limited commercial potential to be dropped while big name acts to have more money. For NIN, this shakeup would be trouble as Reznor would now have to talk to people who know less about music and more about business. While trouble was brewing around Reznor's business dealings with Interscope whose bosses are the people of the Universal Music Group whose boss is Seagram, a company that sold beverages that was bought by the media company Vivendi. Reznor was still in work mode for The Fragile as anticipation for its release grew high with record executives becoming more tense for a release date. By the spring of 1999, Reznor acquired a new member to the NIN camp in Jerome Dillon. Dillon had previously played in the pop-rock band Howlin' Maggie as a drummer as Dillon flew to New Orleans to audition in being part of the live band. Dillon would eventually contribute live drums to a track on The Fragile as the album was nearing completion. By late spring/early summer of 1999 with several tracks finished, Reznor called in the services of Bob Ezrin. Ezrin, who had gained fame for producing albums for Kiss, Alice Cooper, and landmark albums like Lou Reed's Berlin and Pink Floyd's The Wall, helped in the sequencing for which track should be in the record where the result would be three versions of the album in its various formats at the time. By the summer of 1999, the album was complete as Reznor announced the release of the album's first single The Day The World Went Away for July 20, 1999. The song marked a change in direction for NIN with shoegaze-style guitar drones, swooning synthesizers, and despaired lyrics as the single became a surprise singles hit making it NIN's only top 20 song in the Billboard Hot 100. The song also featured a remix, another of which appeared in a vinyl version, and a B-side that would also appear in The Fragile. The B-side for the song Starf*ckers, Inc. featured a line similar to Carly Simon's You're So Vain as the song co-written with Charlie Clouser was not only an attack towards the alternative music scene and what it had become. It was also an attack on Reznor's former protegee Marilyn Manson who the year before released a tell-all bio that featured stories that portrayed Reznor in an unflattering light. The book entitled The Long Road Out of Hell was later revealed to be filled with exaggerations, half-truths, and lies relating to Reznor as he felt angered by Manson's comments about him and such. With The Fragile finally completed, the biggest challenge for the record for its September 21, 1999 release was to see how it would hold up against the current climate of the music scene. 1999 was a huge year in music that saw the resurgence of teen-pop through boy-bands like the Backstreet Boys, ‘Nsync, 98 Degrees, and LFO with pop princesses like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Hip-hop also found a new star in white rapper Eminem with support from Dr. Dre as he was about to return with his first studio album in 7 years. Rap-metal was now big thanks to bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock as everything was becoming about flash and big budget videos. 60s music icon Santana was scoring a monstrous hit with his superstar-filled album Supernatural featuring the likes of Rob Thomas from Matchbox Twenty, rappers Wyclef Jean and Everlast, and many more. Latin music also became big thanks to people like Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Marc Antony, and film actress Jennifer Lopez. For an act like Nine Inch Nails, it seemed like they just arrived into an entirely different world where everyone is partying, having fun, and being happy. In the world of angst-ridden rock, there was still teen angst and everything but the rap-metal acts and newer hip-hop acts were garnering an audience of frat boys where some of the songs delved in misogyny. A lot of which was shown in a very negative way in Woodstock ‘99 in July of that summer where several rapes were reported. Aware of the climate that was going on, Reznor moved ahead with preparations for the upcoming world tour. With new drummer Jerome Dillon as part of the live band, Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser returned to the live line-up after helping Reznor work on The Fragile. Also returning to the NIN camp following a three-year stint working with Guns N' Roses is Robin Finck as the band went to the Bahamas to hold rehearsals. During the rehearsals, NIN got asked by MTV to play at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards which they accepted while Reznor granted an interview with MTV's Kurt Loder where he revealed what happened to him in the past few years along with his thoughts on the current music climate. On September 9, 1999, Nine Inch Nails played at the Metropolitan Theater in New York City where they were introduced by actor Johnny Depp as they played the dramatic title track to The Fragile. Though the performance stood out amidst a sea of rap-rock, teen-pop, hip-hop, and R&B, it seemed like NIN was coming back. Even a teaser commercial for The Fragile was released with new audio clips while the band's official website was starting to come around with lyrics to The Fragile. With another cover story for Rolling Stone and anticipation reaching breaking points. The Fragile was finally released on September 21, 1999. The two-disc collection filled with moody instrumentals, fragmented songs structures, experiments with ambient music, and art rock textures with sonic production. The record was a departure of sorts from anything Reznor had done though it would have the harsh, industrial rock bite in some parts. With the cassette featuring extra material on one song while the vinyl version has different edits of tracks plus two other songs. The record really showed Reznor at his most ambitious or some would say, at his most pretentious and bloated. Another single was released around the time for We're In This Together which was a mid-tempo rocker with a guitar-driven chorus with a video reminiscent of Fritz Lang's Metropolis directed by Mark Pellington. Critical reception for the record was very positive initially with USA Today giving the album four out of four stars and other critics rating it very highly. Yet, the overall reception would be ranged from mixed to positive. While some enjoyed the atmospheric, experimental approach of the album. Some felt it was pretentious and overblown while Reznor didn't stray too far lyrically as he delve into the same trappings of his previous work. Years later, Reznor would admit that The Fragile was flawed as he wished he had more time into making into something less bloated and more condensed. The album debuted at #1 in the U.S. album charts selling over 220,000 copies in its first week. For a moment, it seemed like everything was great as Interscope was happy as was Reznor. However, that moment of celebration would hinder Reznor's state of mind after being sober for a couple of years where he celebrated with alcohol. The demons suddenly returned with a vengeance. One week later, something unremarkable happened as The Fragile dropped to #16 in the album charts as Interscope dropped all plans to promote the album and fund the upcoming world tour. Though the album would eventually sell two million copies in the U.S. overall, it was labeled as a commercial disappointment to the people in the music industry as Reznor was now faced to having to do a full tour with his own funding. The single for We're In This Together was released in November of 1999 as a 3-CD import single with unreleased remixes and the tracks from the vinyl version of The Fragile. Though NIN manage to have a loyal fanbase worldwide, the public's infatuation with the band was gone as reaction towards The Fragile was mixed with audiences though some fans listed it as one of their favorites. The tour entitled Fragility officially began on November 14, 1999 in Barcelona, Spain. The first leg for the 1999 European section plus early 2000 dates for Australia, New Zealand, and Japan was called Fragility v 1.0. The European section featured a smaller but similar production approach from the Self-Destruct tour with sheer curtains for visual elements that were directed by David Carson, the man who did the album sleeve for The Fragile. The European leg of Fragility v 1.0 was successful as MTV held a special on the tour with help from Nothing Records while on the night of its premiere in early December, Trent Reznor held a chat for Yahoo. In January 2000, NIN released the third single Into the Void as an Australian import with a video directed by Walter Stern and Jeff Richter that was considered groundbreaking for its extreme close-up images of band members skin and hair. Around the same time, NIN played Japan for the very first time for five dates while doing six dates in Australia and New Zealand as part of the Big Day Out tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters. While the Asian/Oceania tour was successful, Reznor was struggling with his sobriety behind the scenes as well as with the disappointing reaction towards The Fragile though it was named Album of the Year by SPIN magazine. Reznor took a break to work on tracks for an upcoming remix collection as well as plans for the upcoming Fragility v 2.0 tour in the U.S. and Canada. Opening for NIN in the Fragility v 2.0 tour was A Perfect Circle. A side project formed by Tool's Maynard James Keenan with former NIN guitar tech Billy Howerdel that featured renowned drummer Josh Freese, who had played in various bands including the Vandals, Devo, and had been working on drum tracks for the upcoming Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy with Robin Finck. The Fragility v 2.0 was a modest success due to its staging that included 3 vertical LCD screens for theatrical presentations of the show. Yet, the tour did receive mixed reviews with critics who felt that despite the energy of the show. The band was starting to lose relevance to the public as Reznor's tortured persona was becoming more and more cliche. While NIN went on tour in the U.S., Reznor was now getting attention for different reasons other than his music and his persona. Since the fall of 1999, Reznor found himself embroiled in a feud with Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst over comments Reznor made in Rolling Stone about Limp Bizkit's infamous appearance at Woodstock ‘99 that was remembered for chaos and riots. The two traded insults though Durst would end up have more trouble as he was also feuding with bands like Creed and Slipknot. The feud came to an end of sorts when Durst got permission to sample Closer and The Perfect Drug for the title track to the band's 2000 album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water where Reznor got money from the sales of the album. On May 9, 2000 at a sellout show in Madison Square Garden in New York City, NIN brought a surprise guest during the closing bars of its new single Starf*ckers, Inc. in none other than Marilyn Manson. Manson, who had been in hiding since the Columbine school shooting massacre in Littleton, Colorado in the spring of 1999 made his first public appearance as he also sang The Beautiful People with NIN. The video for Starf*ckers, Inc. re-titled Starsuckers, Inc. for its commercial release was co-directed by Manson that featured a fat woman pretending to be Courtney Love while the video took shots at nearly everyone including Reznor and Manson themselves. Though the two reconciled, they would later fall out again in 2001 as Manson's own substance abuse would make Reznor uncomfortable among other issues. In late May of 2000, MTV2 held a five-hour marathon of Reznor's favorite videos with an interview in between while showcasing a two-hour special on the band's U.S. tour with clips from their show in Chicago in April of 2000. With the tour winding down, Reznor had hired a film crew to film shows for a DVD project but Reznor was unsatisfied with the results. Turning to the band's official website director Rob Sheridan and other NIN personnel, Reznor had his team film shows for the last dates of the Fragility v 2.0 with digital cameras for their own DVD project. With the U.S. tour winding down in June of 2000. NIN took a brief break before setting off to Europe in late June for a series of festival dates. The tour however, would involve a series of problems. During a performance at the Roskilde festival in Denmark by Pearl Jam on June 30, 2000. Nine fans were crushed to death on muddy grounds as Pearl Jam tried to calm things down before the incident happened. NIN played the night before without incident but were shaken by what happened as Pearl Jam nearly broke up because of the incident. At the same time, Reznor's substance abuse was worsening when a planned show on July 1, 2000 was suddenly cancelled. The official story was that Jerome Dillon fell ill to a stomach flu. Though A Perfect Circle was touring with the band and Josh Freese was considered to be a suitable replacement for Dillon. Reznor made up stories that he had doubts about Freese playing with a click track. Fans were upset over the cancellation as many wondered what really happened. In 2005, Reznor revealed what really happened on that day was that he had accidentally snorted heroin believing it was cocaine in his hotel room. Reznor then suddenly overdosed and was taken to the hospital through paramedics privately through the hotel laundry room. At the hospital, Reznor woke up having no recollection of how he was at the hospital while learning he had snorted heroin which he had never done before. The incident plus the cancellation of the show in London was a wake-up call for Reznor. Four dates followed as the European festival leg of Fragility v 2.0 ended on July 9, 2000 in Monza, Italy. After the tour, Charlie Clouser officially left NIN to embark on a successful career as a composer for TV shows and films, notably the popular Saw franchise. Reznor and the NIN camp retreated to New Orleans and Nothing Studios to work on tracks that was inspired by a radio session on April of 2000 in Chicago where NIN played stripped-down, acoustic versions of their songs. After those brief sessions, Robin Finck left the band again to rejoin Guns N' Roses as they were about to embark on some shows in early 2001. In November of 2000, NIN released the remix collection Things Falling Apart to lukewarm reviews as it featured outtakes, remixes, and a cover of Gary Numan's Metal that later became a popular live staple. While Reznor began to compile work on his upcoming DVD project, Reznor took part in a magazine interview for Revolver with legendary Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist/songwriter Roger Waters where the two talked about art rock and ambitions. In early 2001, Reznor did an interview with Alternative Press revealing plans for he wanted to do next. Among them was a live DVD project that would include a live album and the side project Tapeworm. Reznor also praised the British art-rock band Radiohead for their music as he became a fan of theirs as Radiohead later revealed months later in an interview with the same magazine that they're fans of NIN. Throughout 2001, Reznor along with Rob Sheridan and several personnel in the NIN camp worked on the DVD project while Reznor took breaks to work on various projects. Among them was remixing a track for the Neptunes' project N.E.R.D. while contributing piano pieces for Clint Mansell's score for the Bart Freundlich film World Traveler. Reznor also worked on score pieces of his own for director Mark Romanek, who was making his own feature film debut with the suspense-drama One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams. The score pieces were later rejected by Romanek though he gave Reznor a thank you credit in the film as the pieces Reznor created would later be part of an accompanying music project for the DVD. During this time, Reznor was struggling to maintain his sobriety following the incident in London as he was aware that he had a problem. In Spring of 2001, NIN released a song for the film soundtrack to the action film Tomb Raider called Deep. The song was accompanied with a music video in which had Reznor and a woman rob some money from a bank where the boxes featured toxic paint. Reznor later admitted the video was not one of his favorites while embarrassed at his attempt to try and act in a video. Then in the summer of 2001, a Nothing studio technician named Rodney Robertson was found dead in a gang-related crime in New Orleans. The incident horrified Reznor that finally prompted him to seek treatment over his own addictions where on July 2001, Reznor entered rehab. During his stay, Reznor endured cold turkey symptoms and withdrawal that horrified him. After his stint, he returned to Nothing studios and finished work on the DVD project which he dedicated to Robertson. Entitled And All That Could Have Been, the two-disc DVD was released in various versions. A VHS version and 2 DVD versions for audio formats. One in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound and the other in 5.1 DTS Surround Sound. The live album was released in two different versions. A single-disc version of the live album and a limited edition two-disc set. The second disc called Still featured material Reznor wrote for One Hour Photo plus stripped-down, deconstructed songs along with a new song in the DVD's title track. Still was also released separately through the band's official website. Released in January 22, 2002, And All That Could Have Been marked the end of another era for NIN as it received excellent reviews and modest sales. Though Reznor would later reveal that the concert footage of the band wasn't NIN at their best. He was relieved that the Fragility period was over. Newly sober but burned out, Reznor accompanied the DVD project with a TV special for MTV2 and MuchMusic USA where he gave an exclusive interview to MuchMusic at Nothing Studios that showed Reznor sporting a beard. Reznor revealed the events of the past few years as he seemed weary of all that had happened as he was uncertain about what is next for Nine Inch Nails. After a five-year period in which Reznor saw failure, faced death, and deal with a troubling music climate. Reznor somehow, through all of this survived but barely. In the next few years to come. Reznor would put NIN on hiatus while delving into different projects that would never come to fruition. At the same time as he struggled to regain his confidence as a musician and songwriter, Reznor would face betrayal from the last person he expected prompting him to make one of rock music's most unexpected comebacks. NIN Reviews: Pretty Hate Machine/Broken Era (1989-1992): halo 1 - halo 2 - halo 3 - halo 4 - halo 5 - halo 6 The Downward Spiral Era (1994-1997): halo 7 - halo 8 - halo 8 DE - halo 9 - halo 10 - halo 11 - halo 12 The Fragile Era (1999-2002): halo 13 - halo 14 - halo 15.1 - halo 15.2 - halo 15.3 - halo 16 - halo 17 DE - halo 17 DVD With Teeth/Year Zero Era: halo 18 - halo 19 - halo 20 - halo 21 - halo 22 - halo 23 - halo 24 - halo 25 Ghosts I-IV/The Slip Era (2008): halo 26 - halo 27 Soundtracks/Miscellaneous: The Crow - Natural Born Killers - Lost Highway - Nine Inch Nails: Self-Destruct - Tomb Raider - The Limitless Potential - Strobe Light - Metal Machine Music: Nine Inch Nails & the Industrial Uprise - Definitive NIN-Heavy Tracks Promos: seed 1 - seed 2 - seed 3 - seed 4 - seed 5 - seed 6 Live Shows: NIN/Bauhaus/TV on the Radio-6/7/06 Atlanta, GA Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater - NIN/Deerhunter-8/13/08 Duluth, GA Gwinnett Arena - NIN/Jane's Addiction/Street Sweeper Social Club-5/10/09 Atlanta, GA Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater Bootlegs: Purest Feeling - When the Whip Comes Down - Live Hate w/ David Bowie - Quake OST - The CRC Sessions - Where Darkness Doubles, Where Light Pours In - Bridge School Concerts NIN20: Pt. 1 - Pt. 2 - Pt. 4 - Pt. 5 20 NIN Favorites - The Beginner's Guide to NIN  |
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