I stayed up waaaay too late last night. This Beijing Olympics thing is gonna kill me. There's a part of me that knows I should be spending the time writing, but that gets overruled by the idea that this only happens once every four years. So instead of letting the words hit the page (which, admittedly, has been a struggle lately) I'm doing some crazy mediated multitasking: women's diving, track hurdle and relay races (maybe the U.S. men should use some Velcro on that baton?), men's beach volleyball, checking out the Springsteen/Nashville setlist page, and instant messaging with an Internet buddy (mostly about the Springsteen/Nashville show).
Late into the night this activity goes. A while before shutting out the light, the soundtrack to it all became Nine Inch Nails' Broken. Sure, it seems like an odd choice. The thing is, this was recommended to me recently and I'd only given it a cursory listen. Actually, what really happened was that I'd admitted to a friend that I'd never gotten beyond Pretty Hate Machine. As if by magic, Broken shows up on my doorstep. Yow! Reznor might have been an angry young man for Pretty..., but the legal battles he went through made the angst go thermonuclear. The addition of snarling guitar to the twisted electronics pushed the emotion meter over into the red — pure, adrenaline-soaked, pupils-gone-wide rage.
None of which actually matches up with last night's viewing and reading. That's what I like about it. The contrast is very sweet, in a way that's very difficult to describe. Oddball juxtapositions have always resonated with me. This morning, that's really what I get, as I have this slightly gauzy memory of the previous evening, today's plan (a trip to the ocean with my dad), and this seemingly out of place music. It's almost like my own private David Lynch movie.
Today the sky is clear and blue, the hummingbird is zipping between the hollyhocks, I'm grinning at the fact that Bruce played "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" in Nashville...and Trent Reznor is really, really pissed off.
Maybe I'll listen to The Downward Spiral during the Beijing closing ceremonies.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
I can't believe you've never heard this one. You obviously have to check out Fixed now. I think I've seen more "not for the faint of heart" reviews for this than any other mainstream release that I can think of. It doesn't sound anywhere near as out-there as it did when it came out, but it's surprisingly held up very well for a remix set.
I've been hooked on the Olympics as well, and I'm no sports nut of any kind. These are just more interesting sports - but I'll only watch these at the Olympics. Of course, the one thing I really wanted to watch last night I missed: Olympic BMX. Come on, that's a cool thing. I sat there watching for two hours waiting for it, then walked out of the room to jump on the computer to check something, and a few minutes later my wife gets out of the shower and says, "I think you just missed the BMX stuff." Of course. Well, there's always 2012.
2 - Mark Saleski
i never heard this because i quickly tired of the whole "i'm really angry" thing. that might have been because i was pretty angry myself at the time and didn't need any more angst in my life.
hell, i'm not sure that i do now, but i found this recording pretty exhilarating.
3 - charlie
You know Mark, come to think of it, I'm glad you wrote about this release because it just reminds me that one of my favorite NIN songs of all-time, "Last" is on it. It was (until their latest couple of albums) the heaviest tune in Trent's catalog, with some killer guitar breaks (which I just happen to play spontaneously sometimes while practicing). And you're right about the anger part of the EP: this was angry music when it actually translated into something original, listenable, and of course, truly ass-kicking stuff.