Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
I think a lot of 90s youth angst was cosmetic.
Their favorite bands arch-nemesis was plain old Middle America.
Thats a boring villain.
The punks fought political upheaval.
Rappers fight for their lives.
Disaffected teens fought stasis and conformity.
Their sharpest weapon was shock.
Transgressive art resonates as response to the very specific social sensibilities of the times in which it is created.
He was always just a great glam guy in elaborate corpse paint.
Its ludicrous that this made people as upset as it did.
Some of the corniest shit you’ve got the option to do is trust the government.)
Trent Reznoris one of the enduring figures of that era because he is a man out of time.
The beating heart of those records is Reznors unnerving directness.
He sold prickly messages about the state of the world by accessing the unbridled human desire animating them.
Use machines, but dont trust them.
Use drugs, but dont love them.
Reznor had an easier time with the former idea than the latter.
It is also an exercise in art imitating life.
Hurt approached the subject with the chilling resignation of a last kiss.
You could almost smell what would happen next.
Getting clean over the next few years changed Trent Reznors entire trajectory.
Drums were outsourced to Dave Grohl; Marilyn Manson alum Jeordie White played bass on tour.
In this decade, Trent Reznor and Atticus RossareNine Inch Nails.
The pair releases new music at a steady clip, and most of it is quite good.
The Jesus and Mary Chain is the support act.
JAMC makes pretty melodies sound hard; Nails makes harshness seem pretty.
In concert, Nine Inch Nails is dizzying, prickly, sensual.
The back catalogue is dense, and the band dives far.
One night fans were treated to the whole of 1992sBrokenEP.
Another was peppered with deep cuts fromThe Fragile.
Theres no predicting what happens in between.
The possibilities are endless.
Openers for the tour are cherry-picked from different corners of dance music history.
Others get funky dance pop from Gabe Gurnsey of the DFA Records duo Factory Floor.
Cold and Black and Infinite is an exercise in great taste.
Some bands stay alive by rehashing the hits.
Others stay adjacent to whatevers new and popping.
