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Nine Inch Nails Songs

How do I begin an article discussing my favorite musical project of all time?

There’s many avenues I could take, especially regarding frontman Trent Reznor’s highly eclectic and long-lasting progression throughout his verily ambitious and eminent musical career, all beginning with his debut LP, Pretty Hate Machine, which leaned towards a rock and synthpop fusion (with a lot of elements of darkness and angst), leading up to his more aggressive, vitriolic, and vastly influential records in the early ‘90s with Broken and, of course, more successfully, The Downward Spiral, which sort of codified industrial rock into the mainstream. After that, Trent’s work tended towards the experimental, with the highly ambitious double album (and my personal pet favorite) The Fragile… And then he got sober. And a lot of fans agree: his releases since have been lukewarm at best, but he still remains an important figure in the music industry, having become a respected and critically acclaimed film composer, with three film scores under his belt since 2010. So now that his latest NIN release, Hesitation Marks, has been out for a good year now, I thought it would be a good time to finally weigh in my thoughts on the record.

…But I changed my mind. Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love Nine Inch Nails, to the point where I get a little self-conscious whenever I bring it up, because I’m always afraid of people thinking that I must have some kind of obsession with Trent Reznor. Indeed, for the past two or so years, I would listen to NIN exclusively—religiously, even. I know all the words to every song he’s ever written, what each of them means to me, and I even considered writing a novel based on the story found within The Downward Spiral, but it ended up being too ambitious a project for me to handle. So, given my intense fandom of the project—I have to wonder if people get a little annoyed by it sometimes! So, to write up a review of Hesitation Marks a year overdue, when no one cares about it anymore, and everyone already knows my thoughts on it, it would seem quite redundant, wouldn’t it?

If anyone cares to know my thoughts on any NIN record, I’ll sum it all up here:

Pretty Hate Machine – 7/10

Broken – 8/10

The Downward Spiral – 9/10

The Fragile – 10/10 (favorite all-time record)

With Teeth – 6/10

Year Zero – 4/10

Ghosts I-IV – 7/10

The Slip – 5/10

Hesitation Marks – 6/10

I’m just at a point right now where talking about the merits and the weak-points of any individual NIN record kind of bores me, and doesn’t do anything for me, because I’ve already said all I have to say about them. I simply ask that you listen to the records for yourself and give your own thoughts—your thoughts are only worth a damn to me if you bother to give each album more than one listen, however.

So, here’s something a little different that I’ve been constructing over the past few weeks.

Through countless, painstaking revisions, I give you NOT your average list of the top ten greatest Nine Inch Nails songs—no, that would be too easy. Rather than talk about my own personal favorite songs, I’ve elected instead to examine every song that Trent Reznor has ever released, analyzing them all as objectively as I possibly could. Sound laughable? Perhaps it is, but I made an honest effort, and I’m pretty happy with how the list turned out. My efforts to take an objective angle on the list was a multifaceted decision: I’ve grown tired of seeing top ten NIN lists across the Internet where you always see the same songs—Head Like a Hole. Closer. We’re in This Together. The Perfect Drug—great songs, all of them. I listen to them all the time, and I thoroughly enjoy them. But are they truly the greatest works Trent has ever produced solely because they are his most popular? I certainly wouldn’t think so.

The other reason is incredibly self-centered. I’d like this to be the “be all, end all” of NIN lists (at least until he releases another record, whenever that may be). You will never see, until that new record in the unforeseeable future is completed (or maybe when that Fragile reissue comes out…) any more Nine Inch Nails content on this website, because like I said, I’ve said all I need to say about them, and I don’t want this web-zone to become too NIN-centric. So, as far as I’m concerned, this is the ultimate list. To give you a feel for the level of objectivity I’m going for in my list—my all-time personal favorite Nine Inch Nails song, “And All That Could Have Been,” a ballad found on the elusive Still EP, did not make the cut. Though I personally find it very emotionally moving, I have to concede that the instrumentation, combined with the lyrics and vocal performance given, it’s quite melodramatic—even my favorite lyric in the song can easily be considered a little too sentimental. “Happiness and peace-of-mind were never meant for me!” So, hopefully that gives you some perspective as to how seriously I took the making of this.

So, without further a-bullshit, I give you—objectively—the greatest Nine Inch Nails songs of all time. Feel free to disagree, but… you’re wrong.

10. Wish

“Don’t think you’re having all the fun—

you know me. I hate EVERYONE!”

Let’s start it off right. Coming off of the volatile Broken EP, we have the Grammy Award-winning single, “Wish.” This song is a swift and defiant industrial punch to the face that never lets up. Marked by its fiery intensity and anti-social lyrics, this song gave birth to one of the most iconic and infectious guitar riffs in NIN’s history.

9. Ruiner

“What you gave to me—my perfect ring of scars…

You know I can see what you really are.”

This is a bizarre song off of The Downward Spiral. As a concept album, it plays out like a story, following the narrative of a hedonistic man’s rise, fall, and eventual suicide. Themes of anti-theism are rife within a number of tracks on this record, culminating with this song, which actually details the protagonist’s clashing with and eventual usurping of God (heretofore referred to as “the ruiner”)—but only at the cost of his humanity. The mind-blowingly loud synthesizer chords that consume everything in the chorus are definitely the highlight of the track, evoking a sense of power and triumph. How many songs can you name that are about KILLING GOD?

8. The Great Below

“As I descend from grace... in arms of undertow,

I will take my place... in the great below.”

This is the first of what will appear a number of Trent’s more subdued, “quiet” songs. It’s the final track off of the left side of The Fragile, and it’s a song about lost love, and the feeling of emptiness or hopelessness that it creates like a void—though, a complacent note of acceptance is also present by the song’s climax (or would it be the nadir?). Very atmospheric and ethereal, the song makes you feel like you’re falling in slow motion, or slowly gliding across the sea. It’s very calming in a heavenly, sublime way—I often listen to it just before having to deal with some stressful situation to help me keep my mind at ease.

7. A Warm Place/Eraser

“The best thing about life

is knowing you put it together.”

Our first and only tie, because I feel like these two songs are too integral to one another to leave one of them out. “A Warm Place” is, without a doubt, the greatest and most emotionally provocative instrumental that Trent has ever produced. Given the context of its placement in the album’s narrative, the song is absolutely heart-wrenching, yet comforting at the same time—it could be considered the “eye of the storm” in the midst of all the intense tracks that border it. Listening to this song is analogous to receiving a hug from a loved one after some tragedy—it doesn’t make you feel “good”, necessarily, but it makes you feel… better.

…And the “Eraser” comes in. Musically antithetical to “A Warm Place”, “Eraser” is marked by its cold malice. The first three minutes of the song are just designed to take you OUT of the comfort zone that you were just put in, and immediately make you uneasy with this strange humming noise, along with what sounds like actual erasers scrubbing against a papery surface, almost like the warm place you were in is actually being erased. Suddenly, we’re introduced to this pounding drum pattern, and later, this broken bassline and an unsteadily tuned guitar that gradually builds and grows more and more intense as the song progresses.

“Eraser” is quite possibly the darkest song Trent has ever made—lyrically, conceptually, sonically. The lyrical content in particular is not only dark, but it’s also very threadbare, each line consisting of only two words, but they all follow sequentially—“Need you, dream you, find you, taste you, use you, scar you, fuck you, break you…” sung quietly, gently, and giving away to the shouted vocals and climactically distorted guitars, “LOSE ME! HATE ME! SMASH ME! ERASE ME!” and ending with “KILL ME!” which is repeated until it is drowned out by the horrifying cacophony of noise. Easily one of the most intense songs on any NIN record, but it might frighten off casual listeners with its harrowing, gloom & doom style.

6. The Fragile

“If I could fix myself, I’d—...

…but it’s too late for me.”

This song is a lot more digestible, fortunately, not requiring you to really read into the lyrics or the instrumentation too much to appreciate the song’s greatness. In a lot of NIN songs, there are some themes of loss, or a lacking of someone or something. This song is unique in that it’s actually about having someone—so naturally, it’s also going to be about protecting that someone at all costs. We’re given yet another example of an explosion that comes right at the second chorus, with Trent determinedly shouting the simple yet powerful line, “I WON’T LET YOU FALL APART!” in one of the catchiest and most adrenaline-boosting moments on any NIN record to date.

This song exemplifies Trent’s mastery when it comes to vocal delivery. You’ll notice how whenever he sing in the third person, he sounds gentle as he describes this person he finds precious. When he sings in the first person, however, he sounds jaded, almost wounded, but apathetic, which really just drives home the point of how much he cares for this woman. Some might call it a white knight anthem of sorts—and indeed, though the romantic overtones during NIN’s Fragile era may be overbearing for some, I think it’s perfectly executed here.

5. Something I Can Never Have

“Grey would be the color…

…if I had a heart.”

Now we’re truly in the very tippy-top tier of NIN’s music. It’s about time we get some Pretty Hate Machine representation, as well.

This is the song that started the trend of having the token sorrowful piano piece towards the middle or the end of every record. This one in particular is about, if you couldn’t guess from the title, an object of desire that Trent has in his mind, but can never materialize. It’s left ambiguous as to what this object is—a person, place, thing, whatever. Makes the song easy to relate to, which I know can be considered bad songwriting, but what I like about this song the most is Trent’s vocal performance and the instrumentation.

Vocally, this is Trent’s best vocal ever. Combining sorrow and resentment, every single line he croons is dripping with raw emotion—the likes of which he has never quite been able to emulate live, but is extremely evident, especially, in the version found on Still—except the Still version loses the synthesized bass chords and replaces the lonely piano melody with a quiet acoustic guitar riff, which isn’t quite as evocative as the original PHM recording. During the chorus, we also have these great, pounding thunderclaps during the chorus—probably my favorite part of the song, because it makes you feel hollow. I don’t care what anyone says about the lyrics, either—they’re absolutely brilliant.

“In this place, it seems like such a shame…

Though it all looks different now, I know it’s still the same.

Everywhere I look, you’re all I see.

Just a fading fucking reminder of who I used to be…”

4. The Day the World Went Away

“I’d listen to the words he say,

but in his voice, I heard decay.

The plastic face forced to portray

all the insides, left cold and grey.

There is a place that still remains.

It eats the fear. It eats the pain.

The sweetest price he’ll have to pay

the day the whole world went away.”

This list sure does contain a lot of explode-y songs. Michael Bay would be proud, if that joke hadn’t get old five years ago.

Anyway, this song is what the hip kids might call a “progressive rock” song, because of its discordant yet vibrant textures, general avant-garde instrumentation, and exhibits another unique vocal performance from Trent. I’ve also heard it described as a “shoegaze” song, whatever the flying fuck that means! Genres are dumb.

What makes this song “avant-garde”, apart from the obvious, is its total lack of percussion—there’s no drums at all. At the beginning, we’re introduced to this spacious soundscape that gets invaded by a loud and distorted guitar chord progression, the first strums of which might even cause some new listeners to jump, and the chords themselves evoke images of apocalypse, hence the title of the song. As Trent enters his verse, all the instrumentation drops out except for the ambience and, curiously, a mandolin. He sings about his reaction to the death of someone—likely his grandmother, who had died during the composing of The Fragile.

He speaks of a “place that still remains”—perhaps heaven, an uncharacteristically hopeful sentiment. The “he”, as he is referred in this song, is very unclear. Could be God, or whatever natural force took his grandmother away from him. Regardless, it’s as though without her in his life anymore, his whole world is now gone. Once the chord progression returns, a chorus of vocals begin chanting a wordless melody as the song gives way. Much of what makes this song incredible is its sheer attention to detail with its textures—I just can’t do it justice with words.

3. Hurt

“Beneath the stains of time,

the feelings disappear.

You are someone else.

I am still right here.”

I’m one of those rare NIN fans who actually prefers the original to the Johnny Cash cover. Both of the songs have been compared and analyzed ad nauseum—it is, and deservedly so, one of the most famous NIN songs ever, after all—so I don’t think I need to go too in depth about it here.

In this song, Trent laments the destructive drug addictions that ailed him during the record’s creation. A lyrical masterpiece, this song contains “Requiem for a Dream” levels of despair, and is required listening to anyone who has an inkling of an addictive personality.

2. Right Where It Belongs

“If you look at your reflection…

…is that all you want to be?”

In this grand piano-played With Teeth finale, Trent gets rather philosophical, crooning these armor-piercing yet introspective questions during the chorus—all of which contain existential themes such as illusion vs. reality and solipsism, both of which he has never really covered in a song before. But here, he does it SO WELL. I’ve praised the lyrics found on “Hurt”, and to be honest, they’re quite neck-and-neck, but I’d have to give this song a slight edge just because I find the piano melody just slightly catchier and more evocative. Especially during the second chorus, which is characterized by a sampling of a cheering crowd—it always gives me chills. A lot of NIN’s more subdued songs like this have spine-tingling moments, but none so potent as this song here. Between the excellent verses, the poignant message, and beautiful instrumentation, it’s a song that gives me pause every time I listen to it.

Every song on this list is a 10/10 song in my book, but I’ve never been so tempted to just say “fuck it” and give it an 11/10. This is the best song ever. And it’s only #2!

Obligatory Honorable Mentions Before #1:

Came Back Haunted—I really wanted to give Hesitation Marks some love, but I had no space.

Lights in the Sky—Beautiful piano piece from The Slip that just didn’t make the cut.

Please—The most underrated song from The Fragile, by far. “You will never leave me!”

Leaving Hope—From the Still EP. One of the most powerful piano instrumentals he’s ever done.

And All That Could Have Been—As mentioned, this is my personal favorite NIN song.

1. Reptile

“Devils speak of the way in which she’ll manifest…

Angels bleed from the tainted touch of my caress…

Need to contaminate, to alleviate, this loneliness…

I now know the depths I reach are limitless.”

This is not my favorite NIN song. This probably isn’t even in my top five favorite NIN songs. I do believe, however, that this is, on an objective scale, the BEST Nine Inch Nails song ever produced.

The song takes a literal minute to suck you in, for the first fifty-eight seconds consist solely of metal clanks and eerie, effervescent synth bubbles. Then the song takes a heavy industrial turn, darkening the scene with harsh, machine-like percussion loops and prowling guitar rhythm. Trent sounds absolutely bloodthirsty as he describes a prostitute. This is the final song before the protagonist of the album commits suicide, so the song could be interpreted as just his final sexual outburst before he ends his life—you gotta go out with a bang, after all. HAW HAW

What makes the song so fucking great, though, the repetitiousness of the instrumentation—which you’d normally consider a bad thing, but in here, it’s so catchy, and so immersive, it puts you in a sort of trance—everything around you becomes nil, and you pay all your attention to Trent’s lyrics, which are top-notch on this piece. I have everyone’s favorite verse featured up there, which is only a small sample of the utterly pulchritudinous sexual imagery that pervades within. I can go on and on about why this song is the best, but will I ever be able to truly say it’s the best? No.

As I finish off this list—and thank God. This is my tenth fucking revision—I’ve come to realize that attempting to create an “objective” list of an artist’s greatest material is, ultimately, futile. Let alone trying to explain why each and every song is objectively good. The bottom line is, no matter how objective I try to be, there’s going to be people who will see things differently than I, and what am I gonna do? Say they’re wrong? I can’t PROVE them wrong, or anything. I can try to have a discussion about it, but it won’t get anywhere. So what was the point of all this?

Well, you now have—especially if you listened/have listened to the tracks I listed—have a great insight as to what I look for when it comes to music. Particularly NIN’s music, because no one can do NIN better than NIN. I still feel like this list is pretty strong and well-calculated, even if I lack the ability to “prove” that they’re objectively good. They speak to me in ways that are difficult to describe—and no matter how you look at it, I think that speaks a lot for Trent’s musical acumen, if he’s getting people like me to analyze his music at all in appreciation for his place in the music industry. And I know it doesn’t really mean much, but I’m still pretty hyped over Nine Inch Nails finally making it to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. It makes me happy to know that Trent gets the recognition he deserves.

So, that’s my list. I hope you enjoyed it/found some agreement with it.

Recap:

10. Wish

9. Ruiner

8. The Great Below

7. A Warm Place/Eraser

6. The Fragile

5. Something I Can Never Have

4. The Day the World Went Away

3. Hurt

2. Right Where it Belongs

1. Reptile