Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

I like to listen to a lot of stuff from a variety of genres, but when it comes down to it nothing is better to me than Nine Inch Nails.

The one-man band Trent Reznor created Nine Inch Nails back in 1988, and over the years the band has gone in several directions and experimented. Reznor has an extensive background in music, dating back to when he was a child, and his experience shines through by comparison to many other "industrial" and rock artists.

I think that the best example of NIN's greatness is the deluxe version of "And All That Could Have Been." it includes a taste of the amazing live performance (which I have been witness to) and the softer, bare-bones studio performance of the second disc (also available seperately as "Still"). The album's two discs provide a contrast in mood and performance, but still manage to be spot on. Some of the performances even out-shine their studio predessors, showing the concert as completely different animal from the studio recording. This is, of course, with the help and input of the live band, who skillfully take already great songs to the next level.

Trent Reznor is definitely our best example, in the mainstream, of a tortured virtuoso. The guy certainly has depression and past addiction issues that contribute to that torture, but that's not the important part. It's the manner in which he's always conveyed it that hits you right below the waste with the booginess and hits you right in the brain with that fingernails splintering on chalk board dynamic he has mastered so completely. That's partially why With Teeth bombed with critics. It was loaded with hits, and was incredibly easy to listen to. It's just it was too comfortable. Trent Reznor can make hits when he's relaxed, but we know the talented Poe is genius when he pushes us and pulls us in awkward directions. Trent Reznor's music, at it's best, represents a human being hoola-hooping in the darkest crucible of his/her life. I think that's pretty unique.

Ethereal, postal, and guttural. And I still don't know why it's deemed industrial.

I agree. I think that Trent's idea for The Downward Spiral of "moving in 10 different directions but still remaining connected somehow" is characteristic of a lot of his work.

I've also never really liked the "industrial" label to NIN. In fact, most good bands shouldn't have labels. NIN is NIN and that's what it is. It's like trying to label Beck - impossible. Some artists are their own genre.

I liked With Teeth, but I think that it translated better into live performances than a studio album. That's just another example of how NIN live is a completely different animal. But in a good way.