Soundgarden and NIN

So, yes, I wrote a review on the concert of Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails that I went to see the other night.

I have long been a fan of Soundgarden, and enjoyed their music.

My feelings about Nine Inch Nails, on the other hand, were always a little more ambiguous, a little less certain.

There were reasons for this. First of all, they kind of popped out of nowhere to become huge, seemingly overnight. Their music was more synthetic than the other bands that I was into, and that kind of bothered me, admittedly.

Also, while I liked the music that I did know from them, I never pursued it as seriously as I did with some other bands (like Soundgarden). The lyrics seemed intelligent, but it seemed somehow darker, more against everything and, therefore, less abstract in that sense.

When they came on the radio, I listened, and hardly ever turned it off. But I did not pursue their albums, or follow them, to the degree that I did with some other bands at the time. And although I was disappointed not to have seen them that one time that my friend promised that I would have tickets to see them with David Bowie, it was still not enough for me to strongly pursue seeing them again some other time.

And let me also be clear about another thing, too: I was not entirely sure what to think about them. Or, more specifically, of Trent Reznor.

Not that I knew all that much about him, but I was a little suspicious, nevertheless. Justified or not, there were things that I had heard about him that made me approach with caution, if you will. My brother told me that he had heard somewhere that Trent Reznor apparently got off on sneaking into the bathrooms during shows, and taking a shit on the floor of men's rooms, forcing janitor's to then have to clean it up. That sounded disgusting, and frankly, degrading to everyone involved (not least of all, Reznor himself). But I was unable to find any articles on that particular subject matter and, since I learned that Reznor himself had once been a janitor, it seemed like he would have more sympathy towards them, and not simply do something like that.

A more serious, and unfortunately, substantiated, charge, was that of physical abuse. In particular, I remember hearing on the radio that one of the band members of NIN had quit the band, citing physical abuse from Reznor. I could understand anger and protest being reflected in songs, but once you start to abuse the people around you, that seems a bit excessive. It was this element of chaos surrounding Nine Inch Nails that I always seemed to subconsciously distance myself from.

Again, I have not problem with anger. Many bands that I listened to were angry on some level or other, and it was reflected in their music. Hell, almost all the music I listened to at that time was angry. From heavy metal to punk to grunge, I was able to relate to that anger on many levels. But with Nine Inch Nails, that anger seemed not only reflected in the music, but in literally anything and everything that the band, and particularly Reznor, did. And if that was all that he was about, I was turned off, because I wanted to be able to relate to the artists, to be able to express themselves not just in their music, but outside of their music, as well. While Reznor did indeed have intelligent, thought-provoking lyrics to music that I liked to listen to, his anger almost seemed to be in control of him, and his actions were part of that expression. A part of me felt uncomfortable with that, admittedly.

When he became a musclehead, my suspicions grew further still. There is still a part of me that remains skeptical, admittedly.

Yet, this man did have intelligent lyrics, and I was also impressed with many of the things that he said and did. He got together once with Roger Waters, and the two of them really hit it off, which to me was saying something. Reznor was quite vocal in his criticisms of George W. Bush, as well, at a time when criticizing him was considered strictly verboten by many Americans, and so that seemed impressive, too.

So, I guess you can say that my feelings on NIN and Reznor were mixed. I had never been what you could call a superfan of either Nine Inch Nails or Trent Reznor, yet when I heard about them (or listened to their music), I was definitely interested.

Of course, they disappeared there for a while, only to return last year, reuniting the band, and coming out with a new album. I began to want to see them again, but never committed to tickets, or anything. Plus, again, I did not exactly listen to them all of the time. I only had a few of their albums, and none of their most recent albums, so would it even be right for me to make a point of seeing them?

Then, of course, I found out about the tour that Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails would be doing together, and figured that this would be a great opportunity to finally, finally see Nine Inch Nails, and kind of capitalize on this to finally, finally make up on my mind on the band. I was dying to see Soundgarden again, especially after missing the chance to do so last year. But to see Nine Inch Nails as well, that was the icing on the cake.

I got the tickets, and was long anticipating this show. The excitement built the closer it got, and I listened to NIN's new album a few times through Youtube, liking what I heard.

Obviously, I enjoyed the concert, and I'll have to admit that Nine Inch Nails were really, really good! Their music was on point, and Reznor's voice had not lost anything in the decades since I first heard it. They were just really awesome!

So, I did some research, looking specifically for some of those less than savory things that I had heard about Reznor, just to see if they were true. They might be, but I did not find out nearly as much as I feared I would. And the stuff that I did find (some of which I attached links to below) showed a side of Reznor that was actually impressive!

Not being the biggest fan of Nine Inch Nails heading into the show (although I definitely did like them, nevertheless), I figured this would be the one, and only, show that I would see of them.

But since it was so good, and pretty much everyone at the show seemed at least as impressed by them as I was, I might have to reconsider that! In fact, I now want to dig out my old NIN albums and give them another, closer listen, and possibly even pick up some of their more recent albums, to boot!

Yes, I might not have been the biggest fan of NIN heading into the concert. But they really performed well, and made a believer out of me! I left Jones Beach a bigger fan of Nine Inch Nails than I had ever been before, and you can't really ask for more from a concert experience than that, can you?








Here were some links, mostly to articles on NIN and Reznor, although the first one is a review of a recent show by the two acts that Chris Kelsay of the Las Vegan Sun wrote late last month:

Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell is pure audio gold; innovative Trent Reznor commands Axis stage by Chris Kelsay of lasvegassun.com, July 20, 2014:

http://lasvegassun.com/vegasdeluxe/2014/jul/20/soundgardens-chris-cornell-pure-audio-gold-innovat/




Trent Reznor's Upward Spiral by David Marchese of Spin, August 25 2013:

http://www.spin.com/featured/trent-reznor-upward-spiral-nine-inch-nails-spin-cover-september-2013/




Trent Reznor By Simon Woolridge for Juice Magazine on January 1, 2000

http://theninhotline.net/archives/articles/manager/display_article.php?id=931




Building ‘Tension’: An Inside Look at NIN’s Massive Arena Tour by Bryan Gardiner of Wired, December 11, 2013:

http://www.wired.com/2013/12/nin-tension-tour/






Here were a couple of other interesting links that you might want to check out, as well:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nine_Inch_Nails_band_members



http://www.celebitchy.com/317672/trent_reznor_on_kanye_west_hes_dangerous_it_feels_like_he_might_implode/