History Music / TheDownwardSpiral

TropeNamer for WhatHaveIBecome, although ironically it doesn't fit the trope, since the only transformation here is metaphorical.

---> ''(And I control you)''

* WhatHaveIBecome: "Hurt" is the TropeNamer with its chorus.
--> ''What have I become?''
--> ''My sweetest friend''
--> ''Everyone I know''
--> ''Goes away in the end''

[[caption-width-right:350:''"I now know the depths I reach are limitless."'']]

** The original version of "A Warm Place" inverted this trope if you played the song on repeat (see JumpScare above), but the song also plays this trope straight with its ending moments. Not only does its melody shift into a darker key, but it also concludes with the uneasy blowing sounds that start "Eraser", tainting the otherwise calm atmosphere.

** "Eraser" ends with Trent repeatedly shouting "[[MercyKill Kill me]]". The same thing is heard in "Erased, Over, Out" from the remix album.
* MisogynySong: "Big Man with a Gun" and "Closer" are both [[StealthParody stealth parodies]] of these particular types of song, which unfortunately got [[MisaimedFandom severely misinterpreted.]]

''The Downward Spiral'' is the second studio album by American rock band Music/NineInchNails. Released through Nothing Records (in conjunction with TVT Records, Creator/InterscopeRecords, and Creator/AtlanticRecords) on March 8, 1994, it was the band's first full-length work following their shift from the dark, mechanical take on [[SynthPop synthpop]] and {{alternative dance}} heard on their debut album ''Music/PrettyHateMachine'' to the harsher, angrier {{industrial metal}} sound introduced on the ''Music/{{Broken}}'' EP.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the second studio album by American rock band Music/NineInchNails. Released through Nothing Records (in conjunction with TVT Records, Creator/InterscopeRecords, and Creator/AtlanticRecords) on March 8, 1994, it was the band's first full-length work following their shift from the dark, mechanical take on [[SynthPop synthpop]] and {{alternative dance}} heard on their debut album ''Music/PrettyHateMachine'' to the harsher, angrier {{industrial metal}} sound introduced on the ''Broken'' EP.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the second studio album by American rock band Music/NineInchNails. Released through Nothing Records (in conjunction with TVT Records, Creator/InterscopeRecords, and Creator/AtlanticRecords) on March 8, 1994, it was the band's first full-length work following their [[NewSoundAlbum shift]] from the dark, mechanical take on [[SynthPop synthpop]] and {{alternative dance}} heard on their debut album ''Music/PrettyHateMachine'' to the harsher, angrier {{industrial metal}} sound introduced on the ''Broken'' EP.

* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9FAoxEEQTk A particular chromatic melody]], often called the "''Downward Spiral'' motif", recurs throughout the album, appearing in "Piggy", "Heresy", "Closer", and the TitleTrack. "A Warm Place" also uses it, but inverted.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the second studio album by American rock band Music/NineInchNails. Released on March 8, 1994, it was the band's first full-length work following their [[NewSoundAlbum shift]] from the dark, mechanical take on [[SynthPop synthpop]] and {{alternative dance}} heard on their debut album ''Music/PrettyHateMachine'' to the harsher, angrier {{industrial metal}} sound introduced on the ''Broken'' EP.

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Did the protagonist survive his suicide attempt?]] While "The Downward Spiral" states that [[spoiler:he literally shot himself in the head]], there have been cases of people surviving [[spoiler:such shots]] before. Plus, "Hurt" and the following NIN albums ''[[Music/TheFragile1999 The Fragile]]'' and ''Hesitation Marks'' are often interpreted as continuations of the album's story.

# "Closer"

* IsntItIronic: All of the sex-based songs on the album, some of them undeniably sensual in sound, contain lyrics detailing how the sex in question is achieving an incredibly toxic goal for the protagonist, and ultimately amounts to another step down the spiral for him. Especially egregious is how "Closer", in essence a dark {{deconstruction}} of SexForSolace, has a legacy of being one of the sexiest songs ever made.

** Despite being one of the most horrific tracks on the album, "Big Man With A Gun" was written first and foremost as a satire of toxic masculinity and misogyny in gangsta rap, and as it's deliberately mocking that mindset, it can make for some very, ''very'' dark amusement.