History Music / TheDownwardSpiral

After that it flashes back to when the relationship with his girlfriend grew into despair and how he was utterly dependent on her and the trouble that she gave him in "Closer" (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to abuse her insides. Then it returns to the current happenings, as "Ruiner" starts playing, which pretty much goes through his interactions with a virus-infected person known as the "ruiner", who he thinks has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track.

* TheCorruptible: The "Ruiner" infected by an virus causes a widespread epidemic with an impact so big that the protagonist experiences more life difficulties than ever and many people turn against him for being interrogative and manipulative, which is why he criticizes himself for being the personification of whatever he hates.
* DownerEnding: Both the title track and "Hurt"

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. The first track, "Mr. Self Destruct", is pretty much a synopsis of the protagonist's self-destructive personality. Then the spiral starts with "Piggy", when he loses his girlfriend, who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosophy and his hate for religion in "Heresy", then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in "March of the Pigs".

After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the trouble that she gave him in "Closer" (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to abuse her insides. Then it returns to the current happenings, as "Ruiner" starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track.

It then goes from that to "I Do Not Want This", which is much less terrifying, as he further states the battle he's fighting, that would be the battle against the Machine, which would be a colder version of him that didn't have emotions and obviously, that scares the main character to death. This track is when you start to be able to hear the album decaying and rotting away as he gets closer to the bottom of the spiral. He fights and argues with the Machine, and eventually he decides he wants to "Know everything, be everywhere and fuck everyone in the world" and wants to "Do something that matters".

* AnimalMotifs: "Piggy", "March of the Pigs", "Reptile"

* IntercourseWithYou: Probably "Closer" and "Reptile", the former to feel closer to God through helpless victims to escape his former life, the latter being to have someone else who feels nothing at all emotionally, but brutally uses him instead. Reznor in interviews denied that Closer was about sex and instead suggested it to be an AntiLoveSong.

* StalkerWithACrush: "Mr. Self Destruct" and "Closer".

* {{Yandere}}: The protagonist of the album is a male example of this trope, as demonstrated in "Closer". "Reptile" has a female example.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the ConceptAlbum released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails. Known for being dark, distorted and corrupted, the album tells a story of one man's falling out with God, society, violence, control, abuse, sex... and ultimately himself.

!!Tropes associated specifically with this album:

''The Downward Spiral'' is the ConceptAlbum released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails. Known for being dark, sexual and corrupted, the album tells a story of one man's falling out with God, society, sex... and ultimately himself.

After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in "Closer" (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to abuse her insides. Then it returns to the current happenings, as "Ruiner" starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track.

And then it goes into "Big Man With a Gun", which could be perceived as a rape scenario, or otherwise the protagonist going on a major power-trip. The song abruptly ends and goes into "A Warm Place", which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm (the storm being the bottom of the spiral). "Eraser" states that he wants to end his life -- but he isn't ready to do the deed -- and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into "Reptile", as he hooks up with a girl that he's not too fond of (this or maybe he just got himself a hooker) for the sex -- and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him.

* IntercourseWithYou: "Closer" and "Reptile", the former to feel closer to God through helpless victims to escape his former life, the latter being to have someone else who feels nothing at all emotionally, but uses him instead.

** Which is followed by the sexual slow beats of "Closer" which follows the phallic take down of God in "Ruiner".

* {{Yandere}}: "Reptile"

After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in "Closer" (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to get in her pants. Then it returns to the current happenings, as "Ruiner" starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track.

* LighterAndSofter: "A Warm Place" and "Hurt" [[note]] until the [[LastNoteNightmare ending]][[/note]]

* IntercourseWithYou: "Closer" and "Reptile", the former to feel closer to God through helpless victims to escape his former life, the latter being to have someone else who feels nothing at all emotionally, but uses him instead
* LastNoteNightmare: "Mr. Self Destruct" and "Hurt". "A Warm Place" is a Beginning Note Nightmare if you play the song on repeat

** Which is followed by the sexual slow beats of "Closer" which follows the phallic take down of God in "Ruiner"

And then it goes into "Big Man With a Gun", which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into "A Warm Place", which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm (the storm being the bottom of the spiral). "Eraser" states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into "Reptile", as he hooks up with a girl that he's not too fond of (this or maybe he just got himself a hooker) for the sex -- and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him.

And then it goes into "Big Man With a Gun", which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into "A Warm Place", which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm (the storm being the bottom of the spiral). "Eraser" states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into "Reptile", which I think is him getting hooked up with a girl (that he's not too fond of - or maybe just got himself a hooker) for the sex -- and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the ConceptAlbum released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails. Known for being dark, sexual and corrupted, the album tells a story of one mans downfall with God, society, sex... and ultimately himself.

''The Downward Spiral'' is the ConceptAlbum released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails. Known for being dark, sexual and corrupted, the album tells a story of one mans downfall with God, society, sex [[spoiler: and ultimately himself.]]

''The Downward Spiral'' is the ConceptAlbum released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails


Known for being dark, sexual and corrupted, the album tells a story of one mans downfall with God, society, sex [[spoiler: and ultimately himself.]]

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral.

It starts when he loses his girlfriend (the second track, not the first, titled "Piggy") who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosophy and his hate for religion in "Heresy", then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in "March of the Pigs".

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. It starts when he loses his girlfriend (the second track, not the first, titled "Piggy") who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosophy and his hate for religion in "Heresy", then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in "March of the Pigs". After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in "Closer" (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to get in her pants. Then it returns to the current happenings, as "Ruiner" starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track. It then goes from that to "I Do Not Want This", which is much less terrifying, as he further states the battle he's fighting, that would be the battle against the Machine, which would be a colder version of him that didn't have emotions and obviously, that scares the main character to death. This track is when you start to be able to hear the album decaying and rotting away as he gets closer to the bottom of the spiral. He fights and argues with the Machine, and eventually he decides he wants to "Know everything, be everywhere and fuck everyone in the world" and wants to "Do something that matters". And then it goes into "Big Man With a Gun", which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into a Warm Place, which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm. The storm being the bottom of the spiral. Eraser states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into Reptile, which I think is him getting hooked up with a girl (that he's not too found of) for the sex (or he just got himself a hooker) and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him. The next track is the title track. This can be taken more than one way. Either you can go for the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ending and he killed himself as a voice, presumable the Machine, taunts him and narrates the event or you could say that this was simply a suicide attempt and he didn't succeed in killing himself and is still alive (and that's how he's talking to you during "Hurt"). The decay and rotting is at its height in this track, with the barely recognizable drums and guitar pounding away and the muffled final retaliation of our main character screaming "NO" and the highly distorted voice of the Machine taunting him as he attempts to end his life. Then it goes into the final track, which would be Hurt. For about twenty seconds, there's this noise that sounds like some leftover white noise from the title track that quietly hums in the background. Then the lyrics start along with the instruments. Unlike most of the album, this track doesn't seem to take place directly after the track before it. It seems like it's at least a month or two later, stating the final ballad of our main character as he tries to hold on to what's left of his humanity and silently retaliate against the Machine, although he seems to have almost completely given up by this point. The album closes with him stating "If I could start again a million miles away, I would keep myself" and then it goes into a highly distorted and disconcerting guitar riff and he continues the sentence to state "I would find a way." For another minute or two, it just hold the metallic screeching of that guitar, possibly to signify that the Machine has taken over and all that's left is the cold metal, but then suddenly stops and plays the loop that played for the first 20 seconds of the track, possibly to say that the humanity is still in there somewhere.

!!The album:

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. It starts when he loses his girlfriend (the second track, not the first, titled Piggy) who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosiphy and his hate for religion in Herisy, then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in March of the Pigs. After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in Closer (this track gathered a serious MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to get in her pants. Then it returns to the current happenings, as Ruiner starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track. It then goes from that to I Do Not Want This, which is much less terrifying, as he further states the battle he's fighting, that would be the battle against the Machine, which would be a colder version of him that didn't have emotions and obviously, that scares the main character to death. This track is when you start to be able to hear the album decaying and rotting away as he gets closer to the bottom of the spiral. He fights and argues with the Machine, and eventually he decides he wants to "Know everything, be everywhere and fuck everyone in the world" and wants to "Do something that matters". And then it goes into Big Man With a Gun, which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into a Warm Place, which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm. The storm being the bottom of the spiral. Eraser states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into Reptile, which I think is him getting hooked up with a girl (that he's not too found of) for the sex (or he just got himself a hooker) and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him. The next track is the title track. This can be taken more than one way. Either you can go for the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ending and he killed himself as a voice, presumable the Machine, taunts him and narrates the event or you could say that this was simply a suicide attempt and he didn't succeed in killing himself and is still alive (and that's how he's talking to you during Hurt). The decay and rotting is at its height in this track, with the barely recognizable drums and guitar pounding away and the muffled final retaliation of our main character screaming "NO" and the highly distorted voice of the Machine taunting him as he attempts to end his life. Then it goes into the final track, which would be Hurt. For about twenty seconds, there's this noise that sounds like some leftover white noise from the title track that quietly hums in the background. Then the lyrics start along with the instruments. Unlike most of the album, this track doesn't seem to take place directly after the track before it. It seems like it's at least a month or two later, stating the final ballad of our main character as he tries to hold on to what's left of his humanity and silently retaliate against the Machine, although he seems to have almost completely given up by this point. The album closes with him stating "If I could start again a million miles away, I would keep myself" and then it goes into a highly distorted and disconcerting guitar riff and he continues the sentence to state "I would find a way." For another minute or two, it just hold the metallic screeching of that guitar, possibly to signify that the Machine has taken over and all that's left is the cold metal, but then suddenly stops and plays the loop that played for the first 20 seconds of the track, possibly to say that the humanity is still in there somewhere.

* ArcWords: "''Nothing Can Stop Me Now''"
* DownerEnding: Both the title track and Hurt
* GodIsDead: Heresy and Ruiner
* IntercourseWithYou: Closer and Reptile, the former to feel closer to God through helpless victims to escape his former life, the latter being to have someone else who feel nothing at all emotionally, but uses him instead
* LastNoteNightmare: Mr. Self Destruct and Hurt. A Warm Place is a Beginning Note Nightmare if you play the song on repeat
* LighterAndSofter: A Warm Place and Hurt [[note]] until the [[LastNoteNightmare ending]][[/note]]
* LyricalColdOpen: Mr. Self Destruct
* MoodDissonance: The Becoming and A Warm Place
* MoodWhiplash: The hard mechanical opening of Mr. Self Destruct is followed by the slow and softer Piggy.
** Which follows the God ranting of Heresy and then the rapid fire of March of the Pigs
** Which is followed by the sexual slow beats of Closer which follows the phallic take down of God in Ruiner
** Which is followed by the self take down of himself in The Becoming and I Do Not Want This
** Which is followed by the snap in sanity and the hard Big Man With A Gun followed by the calming instrumental A Warm Place
** Followed by the torturing cry's of Eraser to the pulse wrenching Reptile
** To the end of his life in The Downward Spiral to the dark and tearjerking ending of Hurt

* TemptingFate: "''Nothing Can Stop Me Now''"

* MisaimedFandom: The public's response to Closer.
* NightmareFuel: Most tracks on this album include nightmare fuel in some way.
** The opening track, Mr. Self Destruct, has a very disconcerting loop at the end of some sort of distorted guitar.
** Closer is made of nightmare fuel. Not only is it freaking creepy as all hell, but the sound itself seems like it was engineered to put you on edge.
** Pretty much half of the Becoming is made up of a loop of people screaming distorted to sound like electronic music. This is most apparent in a breakdown near the end, in which almost all of the sounds on the track are replaced with this distorted as all hell screaming. Oh, and it also has a part with a 12 stringed guitar in which some sort of moaning machine can be heard grating on your ears with a pitchfork.
** In the intro to Big Man With a Gun, there's a highly distorted (and almost unrecognizable) scream of pleasure taken directly from a porn movie.
** Many people consider the title track to be nightmare fuel, with the muffled screaming of the word "NO" and unsettling lyrics along with a very distorted guitar sound, it sounds like the entire track is rotting and you can hear the flesh of the track being eaten by the maggots that were your sanity before you started listening to this album.
** The entire remix-album.

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. It starts when he loses his girlfriend (the second track, not the first, titled Piggy) who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosiphy and his hate for religion in Herisy, then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in March of the Pigs. After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in Closer (this track gathered a series MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to get in her pants. Then it returns to the current happenings, as Ruiner starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track. It then goes from that to I Do Not Want This, which is much less terrifying, as he further states the battle he's fighting, that would be the battle against the Machine, which would be a colder version of him that didn't have emotions and obviously, that scares the main character to death. This track is when you start to be able to hear the album decaying and rotting away as he gets closer to the bottom of the spiral. He fights and argues with the Machine, and eventually he decides he wants to "Know everything, be everywhere and fuck everyone in the world" and wants to "Do something that matters". And then it goes into Big Man With a Gun, which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into a Warm Place, which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm. The storm being the bottom of the spiral. Eraser states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into Reptile, which I think is him getting hooked up with a girl (that he's not too found of) for the sex (or he just got himself a hooker) and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him. The next track is the title track. This can be taken more than one way. Either you can go for the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ending and he killed himself as a voice, presumable the Machine, taunts him and narrates the event or you could say that this was simply a suicide attempt and he didn't succeed in killing himself and is still alive (and that's how he's talking to you during Hurt). The decay and rotting is at its height in this track, with the barely recognizable drums and guitar pounding away and the muffled final retaliation of our main character screaming "NO" and the highly distorted voice of the Machine taunting him as he attempts to end his life. Then it goes into the final track, which would be Hurt. For about twenty seconds, there's this noise that sounds like some leftover white noise from the title track that quietly hums in the background. Then the lyrics start along with the instruments. Unlike most of the album, this track doesn't seem to take place directly after the track before it. It seems like it's at least a month or two later, stating the final ballad of our main character as he tries to hold on to what's left of his humanity and silently retaliate against the Machine, although he seems to have almost completely given up by this point. The album closes with him stating "If I could start again a million miles away, I would keep myself" and then it goes into a highly distorted and disconcerting guitar riff and he continues the sentence to state "I would find a way." For another minute or two, it just hold the metallic screeching of that guitar, possibly to signify that the Machine has taken over and all that's left is the cold metal, but then suddenly stops and plays the loop that played for the first 20 seconds of the track, possibly to say that the humanity is still in there somewhere.

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. It starts when he loses his girlfriend (the second track, not the first, titled Piggy) who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror. After he loses his girlfriend, it goes on to talk (or rather scream) about his GodIsDead philosiphy and his hate for religion in Herisy, then establishes the fact that he's a chronic sociopath in March of the Pigs. After that it flashes back to when he had his girlfriend and how he was utterly dependent on her and the sex that she gave him in Closer (this track gathered a series MisaimedFandom) and how he would give up everything just to get in her pants. Then it returns to the current happenings, as Ruiner starts playing, which pretty much goes through his apparent defeat of God as he things he has taken his place, but he suddenly realizes that he's becoming just what he hates as the utter fucking insanity and screams of the damned start stabbing away at what's left of your sanity by this track. It then goes from that to I Do Not Want This, which is much less terrifying, as he further states the battle he's fighting, that would be the battle against the Machine, which would be a colder version of him that didn't have emotions and obviously, that scares the main character to death. This track is when you start to be able to hear the album decaying and rotting away as he gets closer to the bottom of the spiral. He fights and argues with the Machine, and eventually he decides he wants to "Know everything, be everywhere and fuck everyone in the world" and wants to "Do something that matters". And then it goes into Big Man With a Gun, which is pretty much a rape-scenario, which I assume is the character going on a major power-trip, but I'm not sure. The song abruptly ends and goes into a Warm Place, which is both a sudden realization that what he just did both didn't work and was kind of a dick move and the calm before the storm. The storm being the bottom of the spiral. Eraser states that he wants to be killed, but isn't ready to take his own life and the great guilt he feels for all of the crap he's done in the past. The track abruptly ends and then goes into Reptile, which I think is him getting hooked up with a girl (that he's not too found of) for the sex (or he just got himself a hooker) and how he realizes this is rock-bottom for him. The next track is the title track. This can be taken more than one way. Either you can go for the ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ending and he killed himself as a voice, presumable the Machine, taunts him and narrates the event or you could say that this was simply a suicide attempt and he didn't actually succeed in killing himself (and that's how he's talking to you during Hurt).

The story follows a man going on his own, well, downward spiral. It starts when he loses his girlfriend, who was pretty much his only tether to reality, and then goes into a completely freaking insane festival of ear rape and horror.

** Closer is made of nightmare fuel. Not only is it freaking creepy as all hell, but the sound itself seems like it was engineered to put you on edge. But most people who heard it turned it into a major case of MisaimedFandom.

The Downward Spiral is the concept album released in 1994 by Music/NineInchNails

The Downward Spiral is the concept album released in 1994 by NineInchNails

* WhatHaveIBecome: Hurt

* LighterAndSofter: A Warm Place and Hurt (until the [[LastNoteNightmare ending]])

* DownerEnding:

* MoodWhiplash: The hard mechanical opening of Mr. Self-destruct is followed by the slow and softer Piggy.

The Downward Spiral is the concept album released in 1994 by Nine Inch Nails.

* FreudWasRight: Intentionally in Ruiner and Big Man With A Gun and for some The Downward Spiral