Trent Reznor's Uneasy Virtue: Looking Back on The Downward Spiral
Published May 02, 2005
At the time, I was a student of aesthetic theory and literature, and, I am somewhat ashamed to admit, enthusiastically immersed in egg-headed postmodern and feminist readings of everything from Victorian poetry to The X-Files. Needless to say, I dutifully set to work, using a full arsenal of academic instruments as forceps to hold "the text" at a safe, scientific distance, and made an effort to solve the problem of how a creature like Trent Reznor could menace and thrill me at the same time, and why he and his super loud art project made my skin crawl in the most delightful way.
Reznor's most pivotal topics, I determined, were power, and opposing it, absolute subjectivity. The Downward Spiral was obsessed with duality and control, but while the literal surface presented itself as a typical melodrama of beset masculinity, the contradictions to that reading came in waves. Reznor backed tearful vocals with the buzzing menace of devouring machines, or paired virulent resentment with a jazzy, soft-shoe rhythm, moving between silence and thunder with shattering digital precision, and leaving only a hair's breadth between a whisper and a scream. With its layer upon layer of almost literary sound, and constantly shifting foregroundings of literal and figurative sense, Reznor's noise never anesthetized, and as much as you were aching to respond to his gentle come-ons, he never let you forget that he was a dangerous, blood-letting animal.
Meanwhile, Reznor's narrative "i" systematically distanced itself from the archetypal powers of the Ultimate Object (all you out there who've ever read any postmodern or feminist theory will know the object of which I speak), and framed icky self-loathing and masochistic sexual stylings in so much raw competence and aggression as to manufacture a positively riveting relationship between itself and his audience. If the confluence of Reznor's literal and figurative sense rejected The Object and it's Powers, he was so clearly and impressively the master of them that his performances were a veritable exercize in penetration. It was that charismatic mixture of over-intended, pure, dominating egotism, and totally Julia Kristeva, Powers-of-Horror -worthy abjection that fueled the production of slavish armies of sweaty teenaged dominatrixes and boys in fishnets and eyeliner, each one feeling all naughty and conflicted, except in their desire to make sweet love to their cornstarch-coated rock and roll fetish doll: a reaction which placed Reznor firmly in a position of ultimate-object-bearing power, which only justified his legitimate reasons for nuclear weapons grade angst. Good shit.
- Trent Reznor's Uneasy Virtue: Looking Back on The Downward Spiral
- Published: May 02, 2005
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Writer: Jaime Nichols
- Jaime Nichols's BC Writer page
- Jaime Nichols's personal site
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I really enjoyed this article, especially as a lead up to finally hearing his new opus - "With Teeth" (not like he didn't have any BEFORE this). Often artists like Trent are not looked at by the masses as the figures they actually are. They are frequented by culty fans, banging heads and lifestyle copycats that are in it for the emotional rush and the communication that their less than happy lives have a powerful companion. And he has given them all those things and a good show to boot. Like Dylan, Trent's a (techie) "song and dance man." However, those who can lay down something truly unique, with great style and substance, and find a way to keep that up over time and distance by actually GROWING and MORPHING into a better artist and a better self (through the obvious ups and downs of an actual human life)are few and far between. The question is always "do they have it in them to actually jump into the crucible and come back out unscathed?" The weight you give in this piece to his previous work is well worth the read, and entertaining to boot. I can't wait for the next review from you of his new effort. Thanks.
The Ultimate Object = God? Or, Cock?
Stop using fucked up long confusing words..just get to the fucking point...god....u ppl,i was sitting here reading this huge long babbling lecture sounding like u detest againsed the guy,then at the end u like it?
like seriously...i dont get you!!...ugh your blogs suck the bone!!
ps:Trent is amazing at what he does,and he if extermely gifted ^.^(see now thats getting to the point, not your blog thinger that is making everyone in it look like complete jack offs...like MANSON!)
Steff(the one who gets to the point)
Steff..it seems as if the sequipedalian tendencies of some writes irks you due to what you perceive as a lack of elucidation and clarity
nonetheless, some find a distinction as well as a rareified sense fo satisfaction from placing persnickity prose in paragraphs
now..go to fucking dictionary.com and look shit up to add to yer feeble branipan before ya open yer pie-hole, twink...
Excelsior!
Steff, I thought I made it pretty clear in the first paragraph that this article was totally an appreciation of the way Trent Reznor is awesome at what he does.
Sorry I lost you like that...
Hopefully after Steff graduates from junior high school, she will like be able to like comprehend what Jaime is like saying. To me, it didn't seem like Jaime was "sounding like [she] detest againsed the guy" when she spoke of Trent Reznor, but was wondering why she was so fascinated with his music and lyrics.
Steph, if you think this is a "huge long babbling lecture," wait until you get to college (of course, I'm not holding my breath for that).
Sorry, I just have a low tolerance for ppl who cant spell or use punktuation an right in all lowercase and fucking use "fucking" all the fucking time cuz they cant find another fucking word in theyre vocabularry, so I guess I shouldn't spend that much time on the internet, right?
Anyway, in response to Jaime's post, I thought it was very interesting to read a review of this album from her perspective rather than the same-old "it wuz a dark heavy depressing CD that wuz really kool an made me want to slit my rists to feel trents pain" perspective. I'm curious to hear what you think about "With Teeth," so I'll head over to read your post that I just found on that.
I agree with u Steff. I thought your comment was very honest, trent reznor is amazing at what he does.
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Some very interesting perspectives in here... The performance element has always been a vital part of Nine Inch Nails' power and ability to connect with people beyond those traditionally suited to "that kind" of music, that to have the power roles happening within that Audience/Performer symobiosis broken down is some fascinating stuff.
Even more exciting is the notion that Reznor himself -- obvioiusly no stranger to Master/Slave relationships -- may have been on some level knowingly orchestrating this dynamic. I think there's definitely some evidence for this in his body of work, and the famed precision with which he designs and executes every single element of the presentation of NIN.
Now that Reznor seems to be in a healthier mental state then before, I would gather the parasitic flavor of that performance relationship would not exist in the "With Teeth" era. So what does he have in store next?