453. Nine Inch Nails, "Pretty Hate Machine"

 


Propitiously, "Pretty Hate Machine" and LiveJournal both came out the same year, 1999, because writing long angsty LJ posts freely using lyrics from PHM is a thing that I am sure happened even if I just imagined it.  When I was kid, we didn't have Industrial Dance music and we had to bum out to The Wall and write in an actual journal and Olu I swear to God if you post a picture of Andy Rooney under this I will block you mark my words.

But the experiences of being a youth and feeling alienated and lonely are universal and Trent Reznor's genius was plugging into that feeling and layering the rage and self-pity that all 15 year old feel over his self-invented and frankly genius combination of Industrial and shiny 80's pop.  There is a grinding and uncomfortable undercurrent to songs like "Kinda I Want To" but the catchy chorus to "Head Like a Hole" is sing-along-worthy, especially if you're 15.

The thing I got most listening to this again for the first time since the early '90s was how Depeche Modey it is.  Not the most radical observation, I know! But it really is striking, especially given the divide of time now.  

I doubt if there'll be a post tomorrow, since it's Christmas and all, and probably none this weekend because I almost never post on weekends so I'm guessing Monday?  Have a safe/happy/bizarre/as good as possible holiday, y'all.

Comments

  1. Dash RanticApril 19, 2021 at 12:25 PM

    FYI, Pretty Hate Machine came out in 1989 (not 1999) -- predating LiveJournal by a bit ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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