From 1989 to 1992, all anyone knew of Nine Inch Nails was prettyhatemachine. Your opinion of that one album was your opinion of Nine Inch Nails.
Before Broken, NIN’s sophomore EP, you could be forgiven for thinking Trent Reznor was the heir apparent of electronic Goth, following the dark path of Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Reznor was the scion of a venerable HVAC company (founded 1888!), and probably spent much of his young life in the presence of gigantic, droning machines. “Industrial” was already wired into his veins.
For all your heating, cooling, and electro-goth needs!
In 1997, electronica duo The Chemical Brothers released their second album, Dig Your Own Hole. It went on to be an extremely popular example of “big beat” music, and is included in numerous “Best Albums of All-Time” lists. I had a copy of the CD in my old car for so long the case turned into shardy shit.
Imagine yourself sprawled on a nameless battlefield, exhausted, gasping your final breaths into the mud. The air is thick with the scorched smell of spent artillery and the moans of the dying. How long before help arrives? Is it even coming? All you hear is the distant whistle of a locomotive, as it slowly approaches with detached menace.
toot toooooooooot
They’re coming to round up the survivors, you think as you squint into the hazy distance. The end is near. Best hope that it’s merciful when it comes. Surely this must be the onset of madness, brought on by impending extinction. The stench of carnage gives way to the comforting scent of… cheese pizza? Ice cream sundaes? Funnel cake?Continue reading →
I bet you money that the original name these guys picked was “Daft Cunt”. I bet you money. Who ever heard of a “daft punk”?
Louis C.K. said it’s okay for me to say “cunt” on my site. Take it up with him. But why would you have an issue with that, and not the dick in the ear above?
“Praise You”, which is now stuck in my goddamn head too, features a sample from the theme from Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, so adjust your prejudices accordingly.
I offer no apologies for my adoration of mushroom clouds, Indiana Jones 4, and the score to the 1987 teen comedy Three O’Clock High. (Sidebar: its trailer used “Father On The Stairs” from Stewart Copeland’s Rumble Fish soundtrack, which is what initially piqued my interest.)