NIN Sez Bite My Crank
Published May 10, 2005
In addition, Reznor, who takes almost full credit for the songwriting, production and performance (Jerome Dillon plays some drums and is in the NIN touring band), is becoming more experimental. He's flirting with soul and rap, he's humanizing some tunes with choruses, and he's applied some of the beautiful color from his tortured double album, "The Fragile," to tunes like "Sunspots" and "Right Where It Belongs." Who knows? This guy might be a romantic; sure sounded like that on parts of "The Fragile," the overripe, provocative but incohesive work NIN released in 1999.
To me, "Only" is the keeper. Not only is it funky, it's all over the categorical map even as it's sharply focused. Over a sharp, catchy drum beat, Reznor is talking to us here, telling us it's hard to distinguish inside from outside, himself from the object of his desire. It's so much easier to step outside himself and blame her/it/him/intoxication, to objectify. He's good at that. But on "Only," he's good at much more. He's stretching his referents, incorporating more than Ministry and the Beatles, piledriving, as usual, in order to dance, which is not NIN as usual. The message may be bleak, but damn, the beat is up.
As is always the case, this NIN album, too, bears repeated listening. Beautifully sequenced - this will perform like a dream in concert; all its dramatics need is staging - it's packed with texture even though it's uniform, and beautifully designed, in attitude. Listen to it all the way through; don't even let "Beside You in Time," a passing weird track toward the end that pits two melodies a woozy half-beat away from each other (is it hypnotic? Or is it airplane turbulence?) stop you. Then listen again; you won't be able to help yourself.
Carlo Wolff is the author of Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories and a long-time book and music critic. He works full-time as a business writer at Penton Media, specializing in articles about the hotel industry.
- NIN Sez Bite My Crank
- Published: May 10, 2005
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Writer: Carlo Wolff
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While I appreciate the author's voice and use of language to be sure, I must say I am rather mystified by his take on With Teeth as well. Yes, the word "love" is in the title of two different songs in the record, but this isn't an album about love. It's about rebirth, and the reclaiming of the potential of one's self. Anytime love is brought into the arena it is to illustrate the stripping away of the author's various coping/denial mechanisms as he finally comes to his epiphany (which is literally stated in "Beside You In Time"). Just as The Downward Spiral had elements of Religion ("Heresy"), Carnal Distraction ("Closer"), and Emotional/Relationship Sabotage ("Ruiner") it was not about those systems; they were mentioned only because they were being thrown away as the lead character in the album's narrative stripped himself down to his bare, quivering core.
Something similar is happening in Teeth, but it is the rejection of distraction and denial -- all the things that Reznor seems to have suffered through his addiction the past 10 years -- that are being discarded.
I also enjoy (and for the most part, concur) with the reviewer's look at the album from a musical perspective, though I must disagree with their take on "The Hand That Feeds" -- easily the most disposable song on the record (admittedly so, by Reznor himself), because it is musically nothing more than a power pop confection with the staying power of a scoop of Ben & Jerry's on a New Orleans summer day. (Plus, can we retire the term "death disco" and all thesaurus-influenced reiterations thereof please?)
And just on the factual tip, I'm sure the author is a big NIN fan for having the overall awareness to commit this infraction in the first place, but the lyric "You know who you are" appears nowhere on the record Pretty Hate Machine. It is printed in the liner notes at the end of the lyrics for "Head Like A Hole", but is never featured in the recording itself.
Being a huge NIN fan from way back, I think that the author's (as well as the repsondants) takes on the album are valid. Trent has gone through some major changes in the past 6 years and if you have seen him live on this tour you can see it for yourself. I have seen him live three times now; and I must say, the WIth Teeth tour is NIN at their best.
The new album is as stellar live as I find it on disc. No matter what the argument about the meaning or themes of the the songs - take them for what they are; great songs. This album shows an older, wiser Rezor who has matured as a songwriter and is willing to take more chances with his music, but in the end I think he is just looking for a connection with his audience through his outlet of music.
Carlo, great writing as usual,
This work of yours now has another venue for success, glory and taking control of the world :-) - and many more eyes - at the Advance.net Web sites, a place affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
Also please let your contact know, if you had one, that this article, is published at one more place. That helps a lot.
Thank you.
Temple Stark
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I'm amazed by this review that entirely misses the point of this record. The song With_Teeth is not about a woman, it's about addiction, and there is no whining on this record at any point. What there is is a battle between a monster that destroys and a man who creates, with the man getting the upper hand by the end. As for the pleasures of submission, this is the man who likes to yowl that he'd rather "die than give you control," and he left songs that are actually about the fine line between seduction and servitude behind in 1989, on the record he made when he was about 23 years old.
Also, while I'm at it, the song Closer is absolutely about love, though not a "love song", and there are no proper love songs on With Teeth, unless you include songs about learning how to treat oneself with love instead of destruction.
I'll give you that a brilliant pop sensibility meets the density of The Downward Spiral here, and it's insightful of you to have seen that The Hand That Feeds Him has long been depression, but other than that, I really have to tell you that you have not at all heard what is being said on this record. With Teeth is a singularly positive record about stepping back from the abyss: in one sense, a thematic departure from anything Trent Reznor has ever done, and in another, simply one possible logical progression from what he's always been about.
Finally, there is no Nine Inch Nails record on which Trent Reznor does not receive full songwriting credit. As he once famously printed on his liner notes, "Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor."