History TearJerker / NineInchNails

---> ''[[AteHisGun I am the bullet in the gun]].''

* While being a [[NightmareFuel nightmare fueled]] ConceptAlbum, Music/TheDownwardSpiral also does feature some very somber tracks:

* ''Ghosts VI: Locusts'', the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] of the two albums inspired by the Coronavirus, is mostly [[NightmareFuel/NineInchNails horrific]]. But many of the tracks mix in a heaping dose of misery. "Trust Fades" in particular is a somber LonelyPianoPiece. "Temp Fix" and "So Tired", meanwhile, feel like a musical representation of going for days straight without sleep.

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* "While I'm Still Here," particularly the chorus. The lyrics along with the simple, strangely poignant synth melody easily make this penultimate track of ''Hesitation Marks'' qualify. Unfortunately, it's potential vanishes when it fades into the closing track "[[LastNoteNightmare Black Noise]]", though.

* "Everything" seems like NIN's most upbeat song. But even if you don't read it as [[LyricalDissonance a song about the narrator surrendering to something eating them from the inside]], it's still clear that the narrator's well aware of how tenuous the peace they feel is. That "thing" inside could come back at any time to try to drag them down the spiral once more.

* ''Ghosts VI: Locusts'', the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] of the two albums inspired by the Coronavirus, is mostly [[NightmareFuel/NineInchNails horrific]]. But many of the tracks mix in a heaping dose of misery. "Trust Fades" in particular is a somber LonelyPianoPiece, while "Temp Fix" and "So Tired" feel like the musical equivalent of someone who hasn't been able to sleep in days.

* While ''Ghosts VI: Locusts'', the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] of the two albums inspired by the Coronavirus, is mostly [[NightmareFuel/NineInchNails horrific]], many of the tracks also have an air of misery to them. "Trust Fades" in particular is a somber LonelyPianoPiece.

* ''Ghosts VI: Locusts'', the [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] of the two albums inspired by the Coronavirus, is mostly [[NightmareFuel/NineInchNails horrific]], many of the tracks also have an air of misery to them. "Trust Fades" in particular is a somber LonelyPianoPiece.

** And the fact that an oceanic ambience (albeit somehow grating) being heard at the end of the track really helps alot.

* "In This Twilight" also near the end of that album, fits in that regard as well, doubly so since this was the final song the band performed at their final show in Los Angeles.

** Though currently only speculation, the unreleased ''With Teeth'' era song "My Dead Friend" seems to have a strong connection to the song's lyrics which were supposedly rumoured to be about a friend Trent lost to addiction. Furthermore, it is also speculated that the song may be written as a posthumous note to David Bowie.

--> ''[[ArcWords Nothing can stop me now]]''

--> ''And you could have it all'',
--> ''my empire of dirt''
--> ''I will let you down.''
--> ''I will make you hurt...''
--> ''If I could start again,''
--> ''a million miles away,''
--> ''I would keep myself...''
--> ''I would find a way.''

--> ''And when the day arrives''
--> ''I'll become the sky''
--> ''And I'll become the sea''

--> ''And the sea will come to kiss me''
--> ''For I am going''
--> ''Home''

-->And this is not my face, and this is not my life, and there is not a single thing here I can recognize. And this is all a dream, and none of you are real. I'd give anything. I'd give anything.

-->A little more
-->Every day
-->Falls apart and
-->Slips away
-->Well, I don't mind
-->I'm okay
-->Wish it didn't have to end this way

-->Nothing ever
-->Stays the same
-->While we can
-->Remember when
-->Always were, yeah
-->Even then
-->Stay with me
-->Hold me near
-->While I'm still here

* "Hurt", especially in the context of the album -- particularly because Trent's vocals are haunting. It only doesn't reach much Tear Jerker potential due to LastNoteNightmare... but those fucking lyrics....

** Music/JohnnyCash's cover is even worse, if only because it was being sung by a man in the twilight of his years, reflecting on his real-life failures. Trent himself said that the song wasn't his anymore.
* Probably the most heart-wrenching is the instrumental "Leaving Hope": Written when Trent Reznor was "at his lowest", it's a simple piece that builds up layer upon layer of soaring, beautiful, uplifting music, that dies away... only to give way to a mesmerising chorus of voices. Breathtaking.

* "La Mer". It was written by Trent Reznor at the low point of his depression, but it's not angry or angsty- it's just a quiet, resigned near-instrumental with a woman reciting a poem in French in the background.
* "A Warm Place", especially at the end -- when it starts fading into [[NightmareFuel "Eraser"]] and you realize the brief glimpse of hope is over.
** The slam cut from "Big Man With a Gun" to "A Warm Place" can be rather gut-wrenching as well when you understand what just happened in the context of the ConceptAlbum- the character went insane and raped someone (or at least went into a grandiose, depraved mania and tried to do so, or believed that they were doing so), then has retreated into his mind, the only place where he can find any sort of peace (and even that peace doesn't last, as seen above).
* "The Persistence of Loss."
* Others songs with lyrics that fall under this include "The Day The World Went Away"(especially the "Quiet Mix".) , "The Great Below" (and its sequel, "And All That Could Have Been"), and "Right Where It Belongs" (V2 is even sadder, and more stripped down).

* "All That Could Have Been" simply for the line "In my nothing, you meant everything to me".

* "While I'm Still Here," particularly the chorus. The lyrics along with the simple, strangely poignant synth melody easily make this penultimate track of ''Hesitation Marks'' qualify.

* Although a somewhat small track, a lot of people tend to have a emotional reaction with "This Isn't The Place" from Add Violence. The tone is quite somber and quiet from the rest of the EP (and even the first 2 EP's in the Trilogy). Though currently only speculation, the unreleased With Teeth era song "My Dead Friend" seems to have a strong connection to the song's lyrics which were supposedly rumoured to be about a friend Trent lost to addiction. Furthermore, it is also speculated that the song may be written as a posthumous note to David Bowie. "I thought we had more time"

* "Lights In the Sky". Just Trent and his piano, with lyrics like "Watching you drown, I'll follow you down, and I am right here beside you". Also doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, with its mixture of resignation and determination to stand by another's side even as the world ends ([[WildMassGuessing there are theories]] that this song and some others on ''The Slip'' continue or add to the ''Music/YearZero'' plotline in some way...).

Whenever [[Music/NineInchNails this industrial rock band]] decides to make a melancholy, heartfelt instrumental song instead of the usual nihilistic rage -- it can [[TearJerker tug on ones heart strings]].

* Special mention goes to the ''Still'' version of "Something I Can Never Have". Trent is actually crying by the last verse, and it becomes rapidly more clear what he's talking about in the song: while the Pretty Hate Machine version was a wangst anthem about failed romance, the Still version is about him reminiscing about his prior life and lamenting his fall into drug addiction. The "something I can never have" in that version is a normal life, free of personal problems, like he used to have.

** Music/JohnnyCash's cover is even worse, if only because it was being sung by a man in the twilight of his years, reflecting on his real life failures. Trent himself said that the song wasn't his any more.

* In January 2017 around the anniversary of David Bowie's death, a mysterious remix appeared on a soundcloud account titled [[https://soundcloud.com/thisisthenumbernineteen/i-cant-give-everything-away-farewell-mix/ "I Can't Give Everything Away (Farewell Mix) - Uncredited]]. Redditors speculated whether or not the remix came from Trent. 7 months later, on the first [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9D4zOpP8kc/NIN show in 3 years]], Trent performs a cover of I Can't Give Everything Away confirming the remix was indeed his own creation. Knowing the special connection between Bowie and Reznor, this can cause even the most seasoned NIN fan to tear up a little. As well as hearing one final time Reznor's and Bowie's voice harmonising together for perhaps the very last time.

-->It’s so stupid, Danny Jane. We get scared and our hearts dry up. Don’t be scared. Please -God let me get home safe tomorrow and I swear I will quit my stupid government job and do nothing but fill you up with courage. I will take spiders out of the house for you, and buy you roller skates, and teach you how to catch crickets with your bare hands.

* "All That Could Have Been" simply for the line "In my nothing, you were everything to me".

* Special mention goes to the Still version of "Something I Can Never Have". Trent is actually crying by the last verse, and it becomes rapidly more clear what he's talking about in the song: while the Pretty Hate Machine version was a wangst anthem about failed romance, the Still version is about him reminiscing about his prior life and lamenting his fall into drug addiction. The "something I can never have" in that version is a normal life, free of personal problems, like he used to have.
** Pretty much all of Still is cry-yourself-to-sleep music, really.

** TearJerker/JohnnyCash's cover is even worse, if only because it was being sung by a man in the twilight of his years, reflecting on his real life failures. Trent himself said that the song wasn't his any more.