For the love of Trent

"i have a hard time laughing at nine inch nails. trent reznor is not one to be laughed at. keep in mind."
- a fanboy objecting to this NIN vs. Britney mashup

I haven't bought a Nine Inch Nails album since The Downward Spiral. True, I "purchased" a single or two from his last album, but that was as far as it went. And why is this? His first three albums - loved them. In fact, I feel TDS was seared into my psyche, there are parts of that record I still can't listen to.

Timing is everything. I was 26 (26 years - on my way to Hell*) and the album provided the soundtrack to the disintegration of my first marriage, my first theater company, and was the backdrop to a host of unsavory social behavior.

So ... how do you follow that up? If you've been truly, deeply feeling something so wretched and low, and make a connection to some piece of music that so entirelt expresses what you are feeling at that time ... what happens when you no longer feel those things? What if you become, say, happy?

I'm not saying I can't listen to that album, or Pretty Hate Machine. What I'm saying is that I an't listen to anything he's recorded since. Because Trent was so successful at expressing those dark and ugly things, what am I supposed to do with SHINY, BRAND NEW ANGST?

Maybe I'm missing out on something. They said The Fragile was the best album of 1999. Some liked With Teeth, but I just find it difficult to take Trent seriously anymore (fanboy notwithstanding.) He's this muscle-bound, joyless, metal-thug, like Rollins only devoid of any humor.

So I was not a little amused by Kelefa Sanneh's positive but ultimately condescending review of NIN's latest album, Year Zero in the NY Times. If I felt buying a NIN album would be like trying to connect to some part of my life that doesn't exist anymore, apparently recording it was much the same.

* Actually, a lyric from the Broken EP.