Nine Inch Nails announced lots of very exciting things last night (a new song, album details and tour dates - sadly the only UK ones are at Reading and Leeds, and I really don't fancy that). Anyway, I thought I'd write about another of their albums, and the only other LP of theirs I have at the moment is Things Falling Apart - the remix album of songs from The Fragile. I'd certainly like to one day have all the Nine Inch Nails albums on vinyl, but that may have to wait until I've got a little more disposable cash.
Things Falling Apart has nearly universally terrible reviews on the internet (0.4/10 must be one of the lowest scores Pitchfork has ever given, not that paying attention to Pitchfork scores or reviews is something anyone should do), but I wasn't aware of that for the first 12 years I owned this album, and only know now because I opened the Wikipedia page on it. I never thought of it as a terrible album. I mean, it's a remix album, what the hell were these people thinking? I don't think anyone bought this record thinking it was going to be ground-breaking. I certainly didn't, and I was only 16 at the time. I only owned The Downward Spiral and £9 seemed like a good price to hear some more Nine Inch Nails (I hadn't even heard The Fragile then, and it was strange finally hearing the originals after being so used to the remixes). There's some truth in the fact that no one needs three versions of Starfuckers Inc. on an LP, and some of the remixes aren't that exciting, but I didn't mind then and I don't really now.
I suppose part of the reason I'm so indifferent to this albums perceived awfulness and strangely sentimental about a largely forgettable NIN remix album is that this LP is the first LP I ever bought. I had a few 7"s at the time (the first of which was this Manic Street Preachers record) and a whole bunch of cds (75, to be exact) but no other LPs. Sadly, my first five LPs were mostly very embarrassing indeed (more on that in the future, unfortunately) but did include White Pony by the Deftones, and it's nice to think that 16-year-old-me had some taste! I almost certainly played this record loads on my parents hi-fi, and even more when I got my first turntable for my birthday that year (it was one of those little compact ones where 12" records would hang over the edge. I even took it with me to Australia, but sold it before I came home; I'd clearly acquired a lot of stuff in that year). I vaguely remember enjoying the song 10 Miles High as a teenager and it's still one of the better songs now. Maybe that's because it's a b-side rather than a remix.
Of course, if I do end up buying the NIN back-catalogue on vinyl, I'll be quite glad I bought this 12 years ago, because somehow I doubt 28-year-old-me will be so pleased about spending his money on this, and even less tolerant of the music on it.
Format: double 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Tower Records, Southampton
When: 06/04/01
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
