|
''The Downward Spiral'' is the second studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his attempt at suicide. ''The Downward Spiral'' features elements of industrial rock, techno, and heavy metal, in contrast to the synthpop-influenced ''Pretty Hate Machine''. Co-produced by Trent Reznor and Flood, ''The Downward Spiral'' was conceived after the Lollapalooza 1991 festival tour as a pivot for Reznor's personal issues and the "negative vibe" felt by the band. Reznor moved to 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California the following year, where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Manson Family. It was used as a studio called "Le Pig" for recording ''Broken'' and ''The Downward Spiral'' with collaborations from other musicians. The album was influenced by late 1970s rock music albums, David Bowie's ''Low'' and Pink Floyd's ''The Wall'' in particular, and focused on texture and space, avoiding explicit usage of guitars or synthesizers. ''The Downward Spiral'' was promoted with the Self Destruct Tour and four songs from the album ("March of the Pigs", "Closer", "Piggy", and "Hurt") became singles. The tour's concerts debuted the band's grungy and messy image and were violent and chaotic, with band members often injuring themselves and destroying their instruments. "March of the Pigs" and "Closer" were accompanied by music videos; the "March of the Pigs" video was shot twice and "Closer"'s was heavily censored. "Piggy" and "Hurt" were released as promotional singles. A major commercial success, ''The Downward Spiral'' established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the 1990s music scene, with its sound being widely imitated and Reznor receiving media hype and multiple honors while diverging into drug abuse and depression. It has been regarded by music critics and audiences as one of the most important albums of the 1990s and was praised for its abrasive, eclectic nature and dark themes, although it was scrutinized by social conservatives for its lyrics. A companion remix album, ''Further Down the Spiral'', was released in 1995. To mark the album's tenth anniversary, ''The Downward Spiral'' was remastered and re-released on November 23, 2004 in high-resolution SACD and DualDisc formats. ==Writing and recording== ''The Downward Spiral'' was conceived after the Lollapalooza festival tour as Trent Reznor thought of a "negative vibe" felt by the band when they were in a European hotel. Nine Inch Nails live performances were known for its aggressive on-stage dynamic, in which band members act angry, injure themselves, and destroy instruments. Reznor had a feud with TVT Records that resulted in him co-founding Nothing Records with his former manager John Malm, Jr. and signing with Interscope. He wanted to explore a fictional character whose life is psychologically wounded and developed a concept about the album's themes; he later used the concept as lyrics. The concept was based on Reznor's social issues at the time: he had personal conflicts with band member Richard Patrick and was known for enjoying alcohol.〔 When developing ''The Downward Spiral'', Reznor struggled with drug addiction and was depressed as he wrote songs related to personal issues. His friends suggested that he could take Prozac (fluoxetine), an antidepressant, but this choice did not appeal to him. He wanted the album's sound to diverge from ''Broken'', emphasizing mood, texture, restraint and subtlety, although he was not sure about its musical direction.〔 The album was made with "full range" and focused on texture and space, avoiding explicit usage of guitars or synthesizers. Reznor searched for and moved to 10050 Cielo Drive in 1992 for recording ''Broken'' and ''The Downward Spiral'', a decision made against his initial choice to record the album in New Orleans. 10050 Cielo Drive is referred to as the "Tate House" since Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Manson Family in 1969; Reznor named the studio "Le Pig" after the message that was scrawled on the front door with Tate's blood by her murderers, and stayed there with Malm for 18 months. He called his first night in 10050 Cielo Drive "terrifying" because he already knew it and read books related to the incident. Reznor chose the Tate house to calibrate his engineering skills and the band bought a large console and two Studer machines as resources, a move that he believed was cheaper than renting. The studio was also used for the recording of Marilyn Manson's debut album ''Portrait of an American Family'', which Reznor co-produced. Marilyn Manson accepted Reznor's offer of signing a contract with Nothing Records. Reznor collaborated with former Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros drummer Stephen Perkins, progressive rock guitarist Adrian Belew, and Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna. Belew's first visit to the studio involved playing the guitar parts in "Mr. Self-Destruct", and he was told to play freely, think on reacting to melodies, concentrate on rhythm, and use noise. This approach improved Reznor's confidence in the instrument: he found it to be more expressive than the keyboard due to the interface. Belew praised Reznor for his "command of technology," and commented that the music of Nine Inch Nails made innovations "that are in () realm." Vrenna and Perkins played drum parts recorded live in the studio; the tracks were rendered into looped samples. Reznor took a similar approach to recording guitar parts: he would tape 20 to 25-minute long sessions of himself playing guitars on a hard disc recorder with the Studio Vision sequencer.〔 Most of the music was recorded into a Macintosh computer using a board and manipulated with music editor programs on the computer. Unique effects such as analyzing and inverting the frequency were applied to the tracks to create original sounds. The band would "get an arrangement together" and convert it into analog tape. Reznor sampled excerpts from guitar tracks and processed them to the point of randomness and expression. Among the equipment Reznor used for recording the album are Pro Tools, Digidesign's TurboSynth, a Marshall rack head, the Prophet VS keyboard, and various Jackson and Gibson guitars.〔 In December 1993, Reznor was confronted by Patti Tate, who asked if he was exploiting Sharon Tate's death in the house. Reznor responded that he was interested in the house as her death happened there. He later made a statement about this encounter during a 1997 interview with ''Rolling Stone'': Flood, known for engineering and producing U2 and Depeche Mode albums, was employed as co-producer on ''The Downward Spiral''. It became his last collaboration with Nine Inch Nails due to creative differences.〔 A "very dangerously self-destructive," humorous short song written for the album, "Just Do It", was not included in the final version and criticized by Flood in that Reznor had "gone too far." Reznor completed the last song written for the album, "Big Man with a Gun", in late 1993.〔〔 Also posted at 〕 After the album's recording, Reznor moved out and the house was demolished shortly thereafter.〔 ''The Downward Spiral'' entered its mixing and mastering processes, done at Record Plant Studios and A&M Studios with Alan Moulder, who subsequently took on more extensive production duties for future album releases.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Downward Spiral」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|