"RUINER" musical analysis/breakdown | Nine Inch Nails (The Downward Spiral)
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- Опубліковано 12 кві 2021
- TW: Suicide
KEY: A minor
BPM: 116
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EXTENDED PIANO COVER NOW AVAILABLE for download on Bandcamp along with all piano covers from The Downward Spiral! iximusix.bandcamp.com/album/t.... Beefed up the "guitar" solo section!
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SPECIAL BIG PIG THANK YOU to my Piggies! (Patrons):Victoria Hogg, Dario Cotti, Duncan Edwards, Benny Ruiz (last name pronounced 'Roo-eez'), Zachary Stevens, Darius McCaskey, John Kirkilis, Ada Cohen, James M. Bowers, Beguile, Philip Sharp, Kevin Meyer, Eric Blum, richchupac, JTScott Gentzen, Dustin Sinkey, Justin Owens, Michael Fisher, Ste McFreeman, Shane Gartner, Davey Cadaver, Andrew Hussey, Jeff Hamm, Katie Murphy, Tyler Shaw, brandon, Tim Moore, Bradley Kemp, Melissa M Reynolds, echothirteen, Patrick LaRue, Fernando, John Schadegg, Brian Gunn, Jake Cole, louis_ricks, Kyle Krull, Marc Jeray, Giorgio Tidei, Vesuvian, Luc De Brouwer, snettles1143, Justin Montgomery, Erik Hermansen, 5-MeO-DMT, Jerry Langwell, Andrés Fernandez, Brian Hard, Max Hodges, Travis Ames, Joseph Martin Giralt, Noah, Gaven Cornaby, Matt Shepcar, Midwinter Minis, Michael Thomas, Kent Overtreet, Devon Lee, Sid Sothoth, Steve Marseille, Victor Howard, Matt Standish, Toney Vecchio, Shane Welch, Michael Elliot, Brian, Stephen Marsh, Christophe, Simon Evans, Jonathan Tackling, wolfheart, Nick Teague, Sam, Daniel Baer, Adam Chmielowiec, Chris Power, Daniel McGauley, Matt Spurlin, Kai Ellis, Rory Wilson, Arenow, yalehneb, Forrest Karbowski, Dan Kelly, Skippityboo, Nate Beckman, Chrifis, Andrew Stimson, Joseph Souder, Kondrad P-Kala, Grant McManus, Brian Gunn, Jake Cole, Seth Startix, Etvid, and Wesley Griffin. - Розваги
You had me at “trentdency” and “intrentional”. Well played.
Thanks for watching - this was another elephant of a video! Speaking of, I've been informed the ghostly wind sample is from the movie The Elephant Man by David Lynch: ua-cam.com/video/vHswu1Ad_wI/v-deo.html. Also, did I say "Adam" Moulder? Definitely meant Alan. Sorry Alan, that was not intrentional. I guess I have a problem with names! Oh yeah and here is the link to the multitracks/surround mixes: www.nindestruct.com/remix.html - enjoy!
p.s. sorry for the clipping/distortion on my solo at the end. Made a booboo I didn't catch before uploading but that just means I'll have to release it as its own video now doesn't it?
Thanks! Gotta watch that movie. I spy a bandaid, did you get Vixinated? Also might want to pin this, good information up in here.
@@DMVoak Thank you, pinned! Yes I'm half vixid now! I am becoming...
I KNEW it sounded like screaming!
Once again, an amazing in depth analysis of one of my favourite songs.. But the outro blew my mind!
One of your best breakdowns ever ixi! Sorry I haven't caught up to your latest efforts lately. Work has taken up my days and nights this week.
I want to make a pun about how this is BECOMING my favourite YT channel but we're already there.
Like
(Didn't push the thumb, to preserve your 69...alap anyway)
*Evillaugh
@@thENDweDIE well SOMEONE did..anger
@@notLL5 ...and these are the breaks...
How'd you get so big? : This Video
How'd you get so strong? : Ixi Music
How'd it get so hard? : My thirst for learning
How'd it get so long? : This video
Man, I wanna go to bed, but now I have to spend the next 45 minutes watching this instead. Oh well.
yup
Just seeing it now. I'm supposed to go in a meeting in 30 mins. They'll have to postpone
So mesmerizing lecture! I don't know much about music theory but i had to watch whole thing from start to finish. She also has very beautiful singing voice.
sorrry everyone it's not intrentional! The videos just swallow me up whole. If you all get sick or fired because of me you can call me the Ruiner.
@@viktorrietveld Guess so. NIN first!
I don't know what us little piggies did to deserve these videos but I thank the Trent for them everyday.
I really hope trent actually sees these videos. I wonder if it pisses him off that people are digging into his music so much or makes him feel honored that someone is getting so deep into it haha
Not sure but he keeps talking about how he doesn't feel relevant anymore even tho he defined so many people's taste in music
I feel like young Trent would hate it and current Trent would think it's cool. So many people try to break down sounds and gear but no one was really doing these type of music theory, rhythm and vocal breakdowns.
@@richthevirtuoso That makes me so sad. Music itself is no longer relevant in this age. THAT'S what has happened.
I would imagine he feels more like the latter (though I can understand the former as that’s a common demon amongst the creatives). After all, he has nothing (ha!) to be ashamed of as everything he’s made has been honest and on his own terms. Furthermore, he was inspired by people who came before him and wanted to make something on that level.
Ill bet hes watching every one on day one in secret
I am so here for your entire thesis on Trent Reznor's use of the flat 7. That would be awesome
TRENTdency and InTRENTional have now officially entered my vocabulary.
Reznor-ssured, they’ve entered all our vocab
Haha yessss!
yes i will now eat some TRENTomatoes
@@gglovesgorillazmj7784 oh my God this was terrible
@@VuotoPneumaNN I KNOW I REGRET IT NOW 😹😹😹 “TRENTomatoes” sounds so cringe holy fuck-
I love singing that "covet what was mine... Didn't you?! OH!" part. Every time.
Yesss so good!
The synth underneath “the ruiner’s theme” is a melodic anticipation of the next track, “the becoming.”
The “ruiner’s theme” is also interwoven into “a warm place.”
This track is kind of a lynchpin in the album and coalesces some things that have come before and what else is to come. (Paused vid @ 29:15 to make this comment- apologies if you go on to state this later.)
I think the outro of the song is supposed to be THAT moment when the protagonist has completely been taken over by what they conceive to be the ruiner. Becoming everything they’ve hated about the ruiner previously
Same. Then the next song is very self aware about what's happening to them, followed by the fear and panic about becoming this thing, followed by almost a manic overcorrection into this persona and then finally a slow slide into the ending for the next few songs. It's really well crafted. Like, insanely well crafted.
I've always had this idea that the Ruiner is something external in the world, not the protagonist himself. And the protagonist, in an effort to protect himself from the Ruiner's destruction, tells himself that nothing can hurt him, nothing can stop him, and builds up a defense mechanism to shield himself from pain. The part where the song stops is in my opinion the moment where he realizes that he has become entirely devoid of feeling, compassion, humanity. Went so far to protect himself from pain that he numbed out all other emotions with it.
That's at least my interpretation, which is why this song and album are so great, it's so personal yet so open to individual meaning.
I agree 100%. And I think the biggest indication of that is the super abrupt ending. It reminds me of those scenes in movies where the antagonist is reciting their plans to a trapped & pleading protagonist. And without listening to a word they say, they shut the door on them and you just *know* something bad is about to happen.
I've always kind of considered this album to be broken up into what I call the manic half and the depressive half. Everything up till the Ruiner outro has this air of "fun" to it -- like a "punk rock attitude" that got out of hand -- whereas from The Becoming and onward is so much more desperate, seething, and hopeless. You can *feel* the protagonist is giving up by this point and is about to relinquish himself to total self destruction and become the very thing that ruined him.
@@neilkristjansson8477 Yes! I think that the first half (piggy - ruiner) is very aggressive and focuses on defeating and hating the ruiner but only getting more nihilistic as the album goes on. March of the pigs feels like an enhanced version of the themes of piggy and the intro of god on heresy implies that god may be a part of what the ruiner is to the protagonist.
I feel like something happens to the protagonist in the bridge of ruiner and then the outro implies he’s been corrupted by everything he hates. The becoming and onward is when he becomes slightly self aware of this and starts to self loathe and become numb to their feelings.
@@rohanbeer1654 I would agree with your statement, however, I feel that there are two more moments where the protagonist actually reflects on what he's become:
In 'I Do Not Want This' - 'Two (Ten?) feet below the surface I can still look on your wavy face and if I could just reach you then maybe I could leave this place'
And 'A Warm Place' - I understand it as a mourning over lost humanity and sanity.
Then there's also 'Hurt' but I think we all know the meaning of this one.
I knew i stayed awake for a reason. Ruiner is where this album really takes off for me. After establishing the themes and the novelty of god, the media, and sex are dealt with in Heresy, March and Closer we finally start to go further down the spiral into more abstract ideas. It's the point in the album where you start to zone out and really pay attention forgetting what you were just doing.
Yes! The songs get better and better
I like that you acknowledge the metal influence found throughout The Downward Spiral. A lot of people like to call this only industrial rock. But honestly this album is heavier than a lot of metal albums, especially at the time it was released.
Your analysis makes me feel so understood and like I finally have a friend to talk to about all the little nothings (definitely not nothings to me) trent does that hold so much weight. Every little observation I made I felt like I was gonna have to keep to myself and take to my grave because no one would care enough about all of it like me. I felt so burdened by that because I think about these things all day every day and that's almost not even an exaggeration. Ruiner is probably my favorite from this album because it, and especially that outro, is the bubbling epicenter of the whole bipolar mania this album shows you. I just know that anyone who knows, knows on a level that's just way too disturbing. I was thinking in that same headspace of "nothing can stop me now, cuz I don't care anymore" for a while even before I heard this album. The highs can literally make you feel that invincible, but it's only a little bump on the road in this downward spiral. The lows will take more out of you than you ever once thought you had.
I still can't help thinking sometimes things like "this album is about me, it was written for me because there's no other way it could be so simultaneously specific and accurate." As I saw another commenter say, your videos are a reason to live and so is all of trents art for me. So thanks so much for making me feel so fundamentally understood and helping me think this kind of obsession just might be normal lol.
Just some more that's so crazy to me about this experience, I don't now anything about music theory. I know less than nothing about the technical side of music but again, I can still fundamentally get all of it and still enjoy listening to you analyze all the notes and stuff. Like how that chorus just says power power power. When I first heard that I was so astonished by how clearly that message was conveyed through a few sounds and I still haven't stopped being impressed by it. Also I want you to know how beautiful your voice is when you actually try to sing the little pieces :)) the confidence sounds a lot better than in the beginning when you would just get through it
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Probably my favorite NIN song. Top 5 if not the number one. Been waiting for this one, thank you!
Do you like the remix version from FDTS ?
@@praszu I do... but I still prefer the original by far.
One of 3 songs from TDS with the "nothing can stop me now" mantra.
1st on Piggy, then here on Ruiner, and then on Big Man w/a Gun before the release and most intense vocals of the album. Ironic since the version on Piggy is probably the softest vocal delivery on album
I'm blown away by your talent and analytics. Your channel will go very far. Awesome content!!!
Thanks for being a part of the beginning!
@@iximusic Thank you for bringing a fresh take on musical theory. I think breaking down the band TOOL would blow your mind as well. I'm thoroughly enjoying NIN right now though.
That second chorus, the first part sounds almost mocking, like "How'd get so big and strong". Then the second part, where he starts with "And what you gave to me" sounds more pained and really angry, in my opinion. Great video, by the way! Love this song.
Man the first time I heard this song I was completely enraptured in its intensity. The horns in the chorus give it such a strange but prevalent weight. Not to mention the incredibly unique guitar solo that still gives me goosebumps along with that great bassline.
Weird I always thought Adrian Belew did the solo but nope, he wasn't on this track.
i think its awesome and also pretty inspiring that the type of people that end up here are always so positive. seems ironic because of alot of the subject matter in alot of these songs. it got me through a lot of pretty tough times.
For real man, I feel you.
7:30 I’m not the only that would love to hear more of these acoustic covers, right? 🤩🎤🎹
hope she will release that acoustic cover, so weird and amazing to hear Ruiner in that way.
I would listen to her interpretations of the songs all day long!
I remember being a kid, listening to this on a good CD player with some good headphones, and the horns were so enveloping, and oppressive! When I tweaked the settings, it felt like being in a torrent of sheer force… It’s hard to explain, but it was a powerful feeling.
I just love how pedagogic these videos are, and also appreciate that you've started giving suggestions to musicians on how to spice up their music. Also I cannot understate how much your passion for this music and for teaching in general shines through, thank you so much for making these. By the way, the way you ended the video on "stop" was so jarring I started laughing out loud, well done!
Ruiner has been my favorite on this album (and one of favorite NIN songs ever) ever since I heard it, and honestly the progression Ruiner - The Becoming - I Do Not Want This is one of the best progressions in an album I've ever heard. And it's interesting to me how similar the structure of these three songs is: verse-chorus-verse-chorus- some kind of breakdown (but different for each song) -repeating a mantra over and over until it ends. I think it links them up together into a single structure in a way, also having in mind the transition from The Becoming into the next one.
Side note, on Bad Witch the songs (with words) end in a similar fashion, with the repetition of a phrase until exhaustion. I've heard someone criticize Trent for "laziness" for this particular reason, but I reject that hypothesis - the other parts of The Trilogy - Not the Actual Events and Add Violence don't have a single track ending in that way, which leads me to conclude that it was intentional. Just like the repetitions on The Downward Spiral are intentional. Kill me, kill me, am I right? But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Great video, looking forward to another favorite, The Becoming!
Great comment 👍
But what's the chorus for The Becoming? I feel like that song structure is just a long verse leading to the acoustic break..
@@zachthomas8973 To me the chorus is the part where he goes 'the me that you know'. The second time he also extends it with 'I can try to get away', like he extends the second chorus in Ruiner.
Not a true chorus, but at least I always saw it as such.
@@mihailokovincic9399 good observation, I didn't think of it that way
Those horns in the chorus are some of my favorite sounds in music in general.
Mine as well
I didn't know I could get even more obsessed with Trent Reznor, thank you for that.
The depths you'll reach are limitless! 🙌
I am so glad to discover this channel. Ruiner is my favorite track from the downward spiral.
One of my favorite tracks from The Downward Spiral!
that screeching sound reminds me of the screech used in House of Pain's "Jump Around"
In all of your videos you tend to make a statement about the melody of the song and how it informs the listener of what's going on even without the lyrics. In this video (and I'm not done yet) you talked about the half-step difference in the synth melody, and how it "follows you...no matter where you go." I like these little comments, because they help me to realize just how much thought and intent is behind every musical choice that Trent makes. It enhances my appreciation of the song, which is the point of these videos.
Thank you for all the work you put into these. :)
Great comment! I felt the exact same way when she said that!
This song I think was my first world stopping in complete awe moment of a song. The build up to the ruiner theme shook my 13 year old mind and took it to whole other levels. I really cannot wait to see your video on Becoming.
Wow, a few things I never noticed before. Never heard the 2nd chorus bass foreshadow the outro, but most importantly I never considered that “You didn’t hurt me/nothing can hurt me” wasn’t the protagonist speaking. In fact, that mantra and especially the infamous phrase, “Nothing can stop me now” make a lot more sense if you consider that every instance of that phrase is actually spoken by Mr. Self Destruct.
Also, I’m sure others in the comments have already posted this, but the “it” in the chorus is the protagonist’s life. Stretching out in front of him, infinite and uninhabitable.
One of my favorite things is how mysterious his intentions are. I love the idea that in this song the machine is starting to take over. That's why it sounds mechanical but human at the same time... why it sounds like "that didnt hirt me, nothing can hurt me, that didnt hurt me, nothing can stop me now." Its like a robot. But... also a person who in the last song had given up on humanity. Maybe he is regretting letting the machine take over. The becoming really seems to me like the machine introducing himself as the protagonist. The stories his music tells is so ... AWESOME! Lol
Various of the choices and notes, like the early screetching sounds, or why some notes are syncopated to sixteenths, or avoid the wholeness of a triad, etc, are meaningful because this song is (among other interpretations) purposefully trying to create in sound the lived experience and texture of being abused into a psychological disorder. It’s conveying what it’s like: with the bottom dropping out, the sanity breaking relentlessness, the attention warping screetching, the perpetually unsettled notes, the syncopation preventing a sense of grounding.
It’s very hard to explain to people who are normal what the texture of a psychological disorder is like, but this is one of those rare songs you can reach for and say, here, listen to this, listen to the texture and the unsettled relentless ungrounding feeling of this, because it conveys it.
Hence none of the little details is random or misplaced. The little details hit like when a poet astonishes you with a phrase that expresses what you didn’t previously have the words to express.
This explanation is great
Ruiner was so new sounding at the time - also helps remind me how confused and damaged young people can be. It’s a good touch stone back to understand the emotions the youngsters we care about might be feeling
This is decidedly my favorite track on The Downward Spiral. There's so much to it that's just different than anything else out there. It's so heavy, but it's not your standard kind of guitars-bass-drums heavy, but something else entirely. It's messy, distorted, and it hits me like a truck every time I listen to it.
As an aside, a great obscure band called From Exile did a more traditional (read: more guitar-based) cover of this song (actually, they did a four-song NIN covers EP) and it's absolutely fantastic.
This was my favorite track on the downward spiral growing up. The clarity of the horn section after the chaotic pre-chorus and the the fallout of the bridge/ending. This song is so texturally diverse, it’s just so wonderful.
This song always really spoke to me because of 2 parts specifically. I grew up in an abusive household and "maybe there's a part of me you took to a place I hoped it would never go and maybe that fucked me up much more than you'll ever know" really spoke to me. The other was that guitar solo. To me that solo always felt like the moment immediately following trauma, the mental recovery after being mistreated. It's hard to describe but that solo always makes me feel exactly the same way I felt as a kid, alone in my room with my own thoughts after I made my mom mad. It's a feeling I've never quite been able to describe. It's not sad, it's not angry, it's not hopeless, it's not defeated it's something almost beyond description but to me it feels exactly like that guitar solo. Maybe the best way to describe that feeling is just "ruined". It's impressive that he evoked such a strong feeling in me just by messing around lol
💜
Yes, the feelings in the music itself goes beyond words. I find music is the only thing that can describe some of the feelings especially when it comes to abuse.
My favorite little bit of sound design is that respirator breathing sound under the bass line. That along with the spooky ghost sound effects just gives that section such a creepy vibe. I love it.
Are you talking about the bridge? I just found out that a lot of those sounds come from a sample from the David Lynch movie "The Elephant Man" which is scary in its own rite. ua-cam.com/video/vHswu1Ad_wI/v-deo.html
@@iximusic Yes! That makes so much sense too.
YES YES YES YES YES YES MY FAVORITE!!! THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THISSSSSSS
This channel is by far the best thing UA-cam has ever suggested I check out.
🙏
Now we are getting to the meat, the three song run from Ruiner is some of the best Reznor work
I've been listening to NIN my whole life and never heard this song until like a month or two ago. And in listening to it in the car with my dad, he's like "this sounds like a windshield wiper" and now I can't hear anything else.
17:31 Never apologize for the puns. The puns are incredible.
😆
"inTRENTonal... sorry I have a problem" - ROTFL , that level of comedy came so unexpected around the subject of dark NIN , I literally burst out laughing!
Your speech is becoming Trentified, LOL. Great work as ever, ixi.
I think it's plausible to think that the "big/strong/hard/long" is a heroin needle, because he speaks right after of the perfect ring of scars, a circle of injection points on his arm.
The chorus of this song is one of the most massive, heavy, overwhelming things I've ever heard
This has been my favourite NIN song since TDS came out. I really appreciate your work.
I hope that eventually Trent himself find your channel, I'm sure he'll be amazed with your work and dedication. As usual, I loved this video too.
"THE SPACES IN BETWEEN"!! I am 6 videos into your TDS analysis playlist, and you make a lyrical reference to a different Trent song in EVERY one so far (a reference to an HTDA song in this case)! I love this inclusion of little easter eggs - it keeps me listening closely while working on mundane spreadsheets. LOVE your channel!
The guy had Adrian Belew contributing to this album and STILL he found a way to add an emotion-laden, face-melting solo of his own despite NOT being a guitarist. A bit like the unhinged drum part on Piggy. TDS is an experimental album, yes, but as a complete conceptual work, it's full of 'experiential' bits that could only come from the author expressing themself raw.
I’ve loved the sound design and textures he synthesizes as a maker of sounds myself and with your virtuous musical analysis on the structure and intentions of his writing makes me appreciate their music so much more. This is what I know very little of. You have a one of a kind channel here. Subscribed automatically now I’m gonna deep dive into your vids 👍 I’m so intrigued in a new way about the same band I’ve loved as a kid 😂 so refreshing
You deserve a lifetime of free tickets to every NIN tour. You're a genius. Trent, do the right thing!
Favorite song on this album
"Didn't you? OH!!!" one of my FAVORITE parts of this crazy song. Such a perfect breakdown as usual, Ixi.
Always been my favorite DS song.
I like that you're ending the songs with some piano playing based on the song you're covering. It's pretty rad, and makes me want a piano cover album for The Downward Spiral.
Yes please I beg of you Please........
ixi you really freak me out how you break all of this stuff down, I like my music to be noise and get blasted really loud ,also get ripped while doing so, your videos keep bringing me back
This song is probably the biggest middle finger I ever heard in music and so much more of course. If I would do an uprising, this would definitely be the anthem for it! Also, probably the best transition I ever heard from one song to another from Closer to Ruiner. Okay, there are also a couple of good examples for that, like Eraser to Reptile or from Morphing thru time to Beyond the invisible on the Enigma 3 record.
I used to listen to this over and over when this album came out. I didn't know it then but it appealed to a dark side I had- that eventually ruined my life over the course of decades. I know ruiner all too well. My ruiner was a fear of failure- and it became the antagonist of a fairy tale romance most importantly, but career and friendships- when on paper as a teen in the 90's the world was my oyster.
That synth sounds like it also appears in “Kinda I Want To” from Pretty Hate Machine and “Happiness in Slavery” from Broken. There’s an interesting unintended connection 😁
Something that occurred to me ... I’ve noticed that the sophomore album can sometimes come off as a “perfected debut album”. TDS does at times sounds like a (dare I say) “perfected” PHM. His “rap flow” in “Ruiner” sounds like an improvement over what he did in “Down In It”. In general, the themes found in TDS are also found in PHM. The clear difference is that TDS was constructed to be his The Wall whereas PHM was closer (ha!) to something like a pop album (though more artful).
Excellent job as always =]
I never thought i could get any more obsessed with Trent, but you truly make me appreciate his music even more. Your analysis isn’t over-the-top or too subjective. It has definition and makes me hear/perceive things i haven’t before... even after listening to these songs a thousand times.
Please keep making these videos!
This comment made my night 🙌 Really happy you're getting so much value out of the videos!
These videos are a reason to live. Spectacular! Thank you for doing this. I’ve spent 25+ years deconstructing these songs, and your analyses are still showing me something new!
It's showing me new things too - it's incredible! And my soul is so full getting to share that experience with you all!
Believe it or not.trent said this was a chessy song and wasn't too impressed by it.
Little did he know it would be one of the best and most iconic songs from this album.
It’s beautiful how you touch your keyboard and it becomes an extended part of you. I guess that can be said for any well practiced musician.
My favorite downward spiral track. Such a diverse and multi-layered track. And that break down....... thank you for dissecting this and for your amazing talent.
For me the end of Closer is that sleepiness after coitus.
A moment of peace.
Then the head kicks back in.
When you suffer from depression your mind has a habit of racing and thrusting to the front of your thoughts.
In that way I think Ruiner with all its changes of styles perfectly reproduces the chaos and random but structured way the mind works.
The bass at the end of the second chorus sounds so much like hurt
Cannot wait for the A Warm Place analysis.
The screeching loop could be windshield wipers. Ministry, Skinny Puppy and then NIN would use “industrial” sounds such as machines and factory noises. Or walk through a city like Chicago recording traffic and such then manipulating the sample. In one Skinny Puppy song Glass Houses the bass is actually a male voice saying “hello” slowed down to sound like two notes of a fret-less.
29:41 I always heard more of a machine-like pressure release sound there. The machines heart and the sound of it still doing it's work. I guess those would make sense both coming from "Closer" and then heading into "The Becoming".
I've always heard the whole album as tailored together.
A lot of musicians from that era still did that with their music. I feel like we see less of that these days- and to be honest, I feel like the soul and meaning in music can get drowned out by it's intent.
Is it the music, real emotions and thought - or is it money, trivial pursuits and anecdotes.
Edit: Eh, all I can say is that Trent is a very underappreciated genius... and honestly it always bothered me.
BECOMING IS NEXT ON THE LIST YESSSSSSSSSS
Agreed, that roll into transition from closer into ruiner is so perfect.
Sometimes I imagine these transitions like waking from a dream. Then waking from that dream. Then waking from that dream....
@@iximusic ah I like that idea! I might have mentioned this before but his transitions are so well executed. One of my all time favorites is how he makes While I'm Still Here bleed into Black Noise on Hesitation Marks like the walls fade away and the darkness closes in.
Thank you! I bought The Downward Spiral in 1994 when I was in middle school and for no other reason than the cover art …it has since been my favorite album for 27 years! Your analysis and insight has given it a “rebirth” for me, thank you so much! My favorite track is up next, “The Becoming.”
Whenever I get caught in a crisis, it feels like being stuck in a place you don't wanna be, a distorted reality I don't wanna see, like being chased by a monster that's also me and when I leave that place, I gotta fix the mess I made while in this Stranger Things type of inverted world. No wonder I listen to this album so much since 2010, It sounds like a lot of relatable feelings.
Did you write this? It's poetic.
@@iximusic I just did lol
Your (really awesome) piano cover at the end is going to find its way as a stand alone video.
I guarantee it.
I think you're right!
My favorite thing about the chorus is how Trent’s voice is mixed, and I’m SO glad you mentioned how it sounds like it’s coming from inside your head because I said this to a friend just a couple weeks ago. Played thru speakers it sounds even deeper, like it’s emanating from the core of my body.
I want to experience this in surround sound someday.
Those last three minutes are a gift.
7:29 🖤 you just blew my mind and made me chilly.
always loved the chorus synths on Ruiner and I always thought they sounded like the organs on Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine.
"I love the flat 7th so much I could probably do a thesis on it." Your youtube channel IS a thesis on it and we all thank you for every bit of it!!
You are truly doing the lord’s work.
The distorted portion that's been tapped as "possibly ring modulated" around 19:25 also sounds a lot like what you get when you sing into a fan.
Since I've been watching your channel I got into pretty hate machine and the downward spiral.
I feel like Nine Inch Nails is a project everybody should check out because if you're feeling down or having any kind of human problems I feel like this is music that really helps give those problems a way to breathe rather than just festering inside.
Great channel
That ghostly wind noise during the solo section reminds me of David Lynch’s sound design work. Especially him and Alan Splet’s sound design on Eraserhead
(Trent and Lynch would of course go on to work together)
This was such a great breakdown of such a great song. I've listened to it hundreds of times, but you really made me see it in a different light. The whole part about "You didn't hurt me. Nothing can hurt me. You didn't hurt me. Nothing can stop me now." going from essentially a threat to the Ruiner self-affirming while unraveling was just an awesome moment. Gotta say, one of my favorite parts of the vid was your ending cover of the song. Really enjoyed listening to that.
Also, thanks for not saying sh*t out loud. Wouldn't want to damage our sensibilities while listening to NIN. :D
There are so many NIN songs I could claim favourite but this one has a special place. I'd never heard anything like TDS when my brother introduced it to me (IIRC he traded a Shed Seven CD for it with a school friend - what a trade!). Everything about this song just does something to me, the opening beat, the synths ,vocal performance and, damn, that chorus... Thank you for these videos, the attention to detail is sublime and it's so rewarding to learn even more new things about songs that have been so important to me and yet still feel so fresh.
Im glad someone is shining the light on the genius of this album
This is possibly my fave song on this album. It’s so epic!
For so long I felt like this was really the the first song of the Downward Spiral and the other songs were a sort of preamble. Thanks so much for what you do!
The resolution from a minor key to the major third is a signature of Reznor's work, all of his albums have it tucked in there somewhere, from "Something I can never have" on Pretty Hate Machine, to "Help me i am in hell" on Broken, and almost all the songs on The Downward Spiral have a reference - there's one directly in the ending of "Closer", right before this track that goes unresolved.
I heard the same style of minor / major resolution in the background music when I was watching "The Social Network" and it put goosebumps on my skin. I immediately had to go look up who did the production - and yeah, I was right, that was Trent alright.
Trent has perfected this technique to the point that it really is like his signature on a piece. There's very few artists that leave an instant sonic signature, it's a pretty tall feat to achieve. I love it that this particular one is completely independent of the instrument being used - he does it with vocals, synths, guitars, and a standard backing track musical kit in that case that sounds good - but doesn't really poke out at you. The one note, however - does poke out at you.
There it is - ua-cam.com/video/yydZbVoCbn0/v-deo.html
Love this song and Mr. Self-Destruct so much mostly because they are the songs that I feel sort of epitomize the thesis of the album. Awesome analysis!
The bluesy part of this song always made me think he was playing in an old subway tunnel.
aw yeah been waiting for this one, this song was on repeat when I first got into NIN, havent even watched it yet, so excited
8:37 You're looking at this from a pianist standpoint. From a guitar standpoint, the line is simple, easy to play, and sounds cool. He probably came up with the synth line on a guitar and just transferred it over when programming it for the song. The 1-b2 is the most commonly played note combination and chord progression in hard rock/metal.
As far as meaning of of the lyrics go for me, it touches on the same theme as Mr Self Destruct - The Ruiner is something inside of him. Except here he focuses in on one specific self destructive act he mentions in the opening track '' the needle in the vein'' . I generally avoid drug addiction interpretations because they're usually cop outs and easy to apply it to all songs with metaphorical meanings. But in the case of this song, I don't believe it could be about anything else. At first he believes he has his addiction under control '' you believed in all your lies'' but it slowly grows bigger , stronger and he loses control as the song progresses, until he's a slave to it. One of the comments here pointed out how in the first chorus he sounds sarcastic and mocking - think a girl noticing how a once weedy boy she knew has grown up to be quite attractive , big and strong hence the playful sexual innuendos - while the second chorus he sounds genuinely scared, desperate, powerless and submissive. In the last section the voice we hear is that of The Ruiner telling the protagonist he cant be stopped.
It starts at the end of closer for sure.
Sucked me right in as always! Lyrically, I've always thought of this song as the antithesis to 'Closer' because it sounds like a non-consensual encounter, where closer sounds consensual. Goes right along with the spiraling downward.
Another fantastic video, thank you!
When I first discovered TDS at 13 I listened to it every single day on headphones and whenever I got to the chorus of Ruiner, those huge horn synths and the hard-panned vocals made me feel like my head was being swallowed up! Later on I started to realize that this seems to be what's happening to the narrator at this point. All of these things he's been resisting have gotten too big, too strong and finally they're too much and they overcome him, swallow him up. I also think it's significant that this track marks the halfway point of the album too. Reminds me a lot of "Goodbye Cruel World", the last track on the first half of Pink Floyd's The Wall where the narrator retreats behind his wall and seals himself up. Trent has said that it's one of his favourite albums so I have no doubt that this had a huge influence on the structure of TDS and the narrator's journey.
The moment I saw popping up the 'Ruiner' analysis was out, I knew it was going to be a long one, as there's so much happening in this song :-) Glad to see I'm not the only linking the guitar solo to Comfortably Numb.
But most important: those last 4 minutes, doing Ruiner solo on piano (without score!), this was just: "wooow!"