Broken | The Downward Spiral | The Fragile | Ghosts series | EP Trilogy
Let's be honest here. Pretty much the entirety of The Downward Spiral is Nightmare Fuel, from the opening THX 1138 samples to the noisy, droning Last Note Nightmare at the end of "Hurt" (which brings to mind flatlining ECG). Even the Mood Whiplash of "A Warm Place" manages to count, in a Nothing Is Scarier sorta way (it's the soundtrack to the point in the album's plot where the protagonist realizes how hopelessly fucked up he is, after all). What would you expect from a Concept Album about a character's self-destruction?
Original album:
- "Mr. Self Destruct", possibly one of the most harrowing "I Am" Songs ever recorded.
- "Closer," one of the most aggressive takes on the Intercourse with You trope in music history. The lyrics alone can make one feel very uncomfortable.
- If the lyrics don't scare you, the instrumental surely will. Just listen to it!
- "The Becoming" has Background Music that consists of people screaming in fear while the song twitches and jerks like a malfunctioning robot hellbent on murder. Even creepier is that during the "softer" part of the song, if you were to reverse the acoustic guitar sections, you would be treated to the cries of Harry Angel from Angel Heart screaming in terror "I know who I am", which can also tie in very creepily to the album's storyline as the 'machine' takes over the protagonist.
- Special mention must go to "Big Man with a Gun", which could be perceived as either a rape scenario, the protagonist going on a major power-trip, or him going on a violent and murderous rampage (according to the repeated lyrics "SHOOT!"). Either way, this is the point where the already dark and nihilistic album takes a turn into the supremely fucked up. The intense speed of the song, a highly distorted (and almost unrecognizable) scream of pleasure taken directly from a porn movie and the fierce distortion in the music and vocals building throughout, combined with the lyrics, make this deeply unsettling, particularly when followed immediately by "A Warm Place".
- "A Warm Place", despite its ambient sound and its place as a brief moment of clarity in the album and its narrative, nevertheless feels eerie considering what follows it...
- "Eraser" already starts uneasy with distorted guitars and pounding drums, but gets pretty terrifying at the end as Trent screams "KILL ME" (and possibly "HELP ME") over and over until his voice dissolves into the surrounding noise.
- Sometimes when performing "Reptile" live, Trent will in the middle add "Please, don't hurt me", which is followed by a horrific crying scream. The most scariest case of this would have to be the one from the band's Woodstock 94 performance
(at 4:33), where it sounds like Trent is genuinely miserably screaming.- The song's studio version doesn't skimp on the nightmare fuel, either. A seething, looming track with mechanical screeches and creaks punctuated throughout, the instrumentation is sinister and the vocals have an almost-incantatory lilt to them as the protagonist begins to realize the true extents of his self-destruction, with muffled screams bleeding through in the last minute.
- The Title Track itself, what with the detuned guitar riff, the flies buzzing, the cacophony of muffled Trent screams, the thunderous drumming, and the Machine taunting the poor protagonist as he tries to take his own life. The song sounds like it's rotting and falling apart.He couldn't believe how easy it was
He put the gun into his face
BANG!
So much blood for such a tiny little hole
Problems do have solutions, you know
A lifetime of fucking things up fixed
In one determined flash
Everything's blue
Everything's blue in this world
The deepest shade of mushroom blue
All fuzzy
SPILLING OUT OF MY HEAD!- It's even worse if you consider the screams to be the rational part of him left desperately pleading and failing to prevent the suicide.
- The fact that Trent was forced to cut one song out because it came off as a blatant endorsement of suicide! Imagine all the depressed young people who found that album cathartic having their self-hatred validated.
- And to rub more salt to the wound, the album was released one month BEFORE Kurt Cobain's suicide on April 5th, 1994. And the title song obviously has some similarities with the actual event that happened.
- "Hurt" is equal parts terrifying and tearjerking, but its Last Note Nightmare is nothing short of chilling.
B-sides, remixes and covers:note
- "The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)."
- At roughly a minute and twenty seconds in, at the end of the first section of the song which recalls the lyrics of the original Title Track (with Trent now eerily pitched down), a genuinely terrifying scream of Trent's, distorted to sound like it's coming from underwater and then getting closer, bursts out of nowhere. Even worse is that it actually comes from the original track, but while his screams in that song were muffled and buried in the mix, this one is crystal clear.
- The distorted "The deepest shade of mushroom blue" in several parts throughout the track.
- "Erased, Over, Out". It's already scary at normal speed, with a sound that sounds like a pained, prolonged scream repeated over the course of the track. But speed the track up. You will see.
- "Eraser (Denial; Realization)" is full of disturbing synths, distorted guitar noises and with Trent's slowed down "ERASE ME!" and "KILL ME!" being played throughout the track. And then, the other half of the track starts becoming even worse with loud screeching noises and it ends with the beginning sample from the original track.
Music videos:
- While nothing explicitly scary happens in "Closer," the grimy, late 19th century setting, out-of-date film stock and unsettling images makes the whole thing feel like some ancient lost silent film (pictured above).
- The live performance of "The Downward Spiral" during the Self Destruct Tour simply starts with the screen remaining black while the eponymous title track plays in the background. After reaching the 2:24 mark, blood streams slowly descend down until the screen gets completely red. And then, the curtains rise up, revealing the group while Reznor's infamous screaming is heard.
- Special mention should go to the Closure video album. Originally planned as a big budget concert film, Trent scrapped the idea and worked alongside Jonathan Rach and Peter Christopherson to create a visceral and gritty documentation of the Self Destruct era. Part 1 features a tour documentary of the Self Destruct Tour and features quite a lot of odd moments and antics from the shows. It's mostly tame besides from a few surreal editing choices, weird subliminal jump cuts and gross out moments (Jim Rose Circus anyone?). However, Part 2 is where things get a bit more... nightmare inducing.
- Part 2 is a music video collection put together by Peter Christopherson but it's bookended with a weird vignette set in what can only be described as the "Closer" music video meets a decaying mad scientists' lab and torture dungeon. After each music video plays, there is a random clip of stock footage or from old PSAS. Whether it's an up-close shot of a fly spinning random objects on its legs, footage of sideshow freaks mugging for the camera, a dead rabbit being bashed around on a mechanical mechanism until its body breaks apart (synced with the beating noises from "Mr. Self Destruct"), a shot of a projector emerging from a fleshy membrane, footage from Topsy The Elephant's execution, footage of religious people ramming swords through their body among other images... It makes for an intense and haunting watch. The track "A Warm Place" opens and closes the compilation, to which a fan-made music video for the track has been made using Part 2's transition clips; the video can be viewed here.
- Part 2 is a music video collection put together by Peter Christopherson but it's bookended with a weird vignette set in what can only be described as the "Closer" music video meets a decaying mad scientists' lab and torture dungeon. After each music video plays, there is a random clip of stock footage or from old PSAS. Whether it's an up-close shot of a fly spinning random objects on its legs, footage of sideshow freaks mugging for the camera, a dead rabbit being bashed around on a mechanical mechanism until its body breaks apart (synced with the beating noises from "Mr. Self Destruct"), a shot of a projector emerging from a fleshy membrane, footage from Topsy The Elephant's execution, footage of religious people ramming swords through their body among other images... It makes for an intense and haunting watch. The track "A Warm Place" opens and closes the compilation, to which a fan-made music video for the track has been made using Part 2's transition clips; the video can be viewed here
Other:
- Remember, Trent recorded this album while living in the Tate House, the location where the Manson Family gruesomely murdered Sharon Tate and her friends in 1969. He even compared rooms in the house against crime scene photos available in history books. Supposedly, the mixing console was set up in the room where Tate died. Trent would describe the house as feeling "off." Food wouldn't taste right when cooked, and the coyotes in the area would express a weird interest in the house. After Trent moved out, the house was demolished, since the owners were sick of the publicity.
