"WISH" - Nine Inch Nails // full musical breakdown
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
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WATCH more NIN analysis videos: • "LA MER" - Nine Inch N...
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Thanks for watching my analysis of "Wish" by Nine Inch Nails! Also Martin Atkins if you're watching, please forgive me for all the ignorant things I said. You're a legend! Anyway this video is basically about NOISE and the F word. And tritones, of course. We're breaking down "Wish" track by track and my wish for you is that you enjoy it, have a good scream, and then go listen to "Live: All That Could Have Been," Piggies!
TRIVIA: Just learned this song WON a Grammy!
Who else wants to study Trent's noise now? What do you think of noise and soundscapes in music?
LISTEN to the live version: • Wish
LISTEN to a rockabilly train beat: • [Backing track] Rockab...
For those who are disappointed I didn't say FUCK: I was misinformed about RUclips creator terms of service. You can look forward to F bombs in the future.
MARTIN ATKINS, if you're watching this - I love your tom drumming! I thought it was a group of passionate Taiko drummers, can't believe that is you. Forgive me for anything ignorant I said. I didn't think anyone would see this video much less anyone who worked on it. You're all legends and this song is perfection!
For those that want to download the multitracks: www.nindestruct.com/remix.html
PiL and also played with Paul Raven, I believe.
Pigface
thanks for posting the stems. i had no idea those were out there...
yes martin atkins was the drummer of Public Image Ltd (with J Lydon - Ex sex pistols). he was in a bunch of bands including NIN, Ministry and then formed Pigface, the “industrial supergroup” (chris connelly, trent, Nivek Ogre, etc)
You need not apologize for anything. You make amazing content for all of us.
I love this. NIN and Trent have been my favorite for a couple decades. Thanks for your amazing content!
"I hate everyone" with jazz hands is next level. Ten Inch Nails right there.
:: jazz hands for your impressive word play ::
Trent is the only artist that gives me what I want which is apparently what no one actually wants.
I want it :) The guy is a 21st century genius....But try Clipping too and Enlacing.....
So really, he gives you something you can never have.
Well done! 👏
That's honesty.
@@xezazase Nice.
The two Fixed remixes of this song expose a lot of what’s going on.
So true - I hadn't listened to that remix album much. Of course now I'm getting into it!
Fixed is the shit.
I had heard all of Fixed (First NIN Album I bought) before Broken. Enjoyed your breakdown.
That happiness in slavery remix still melts my face off today. "Eraser; denial. Realization" on Further Down the Spiral is a close second.
@@iximusic Broken and Fixed... Man that brings me back! You really do need them both to have the context.
The "demented animal" you hear is almost certainly Trent's dog Maise, who actually gets a credit on the album for "barks and roars." :)
(Ha, as noted in the pinned reply. Oops!)
I didn't know the dog's name so thank you!
I was totally coming here to say exactly this. Good call, Brian! You can actually hear more of Maise’s “barks and roars” on NiN’s version of Physical, especially at the beginning of the song.
@@iximusic that's a bit adorable
I believe Maise had died during the making of The Downward Spiral and I think there was some dedication or acknowledgement made.
We got ultimate angst Trent here in Jacksonville fl in 94 cuz it was a few days after she died. 😔. That was the rumor, anyway.
As someone who has been diehard listening to NIN since '96, you my friend are awesome! I really appreciate these videos because to this day I'm still finding new things in the layers of all these songs and it's so cool to finally see someone break these songs down in this kind of way.
Faaantastic! That feeling of experiencing something new in art you've loved a long time is incomparable.
Won a Grammy for saying "fist *uck"
YUP haha
@@francisbottoni6470 Ministry lost their magic after they went into metal genres... NIN deserved to win that grammy!
I don't think he's metal, but whatever. Thanks.
FIST DUCK! 😂
@@nikofisk I'm the one with this big ducking hole.
Holy cow, this is such a cool breakdown. It’s really interesting seeing how much care went into such an angry record.
Haha, right? He is so...inTRENTional about everything!
@@iximusic lol NAILed it
If you dig around some, there's a lot of information about it from people like Brian Liesgang who actually helped make the record. Trent was so meticulous about everything, and he was classically trained, so there's no "accidental genius" to his music that I'm aware of. In particular, I like how he'd take a cheap, relatively common piece of gear like the Zoom 9030, and just turn the dials up to the max to create weird effects like the vocals in "Gave Up." Also, none of the guitars were mic'ed through cabs, they were all ran through the Zoom and an old preamp straight into the mixer.
A song that sounds like a frantic, uncontrolled outburst of rage is actually so carefully composed.
"I think there's something strangely musical about noise." - Trent
That quote was what led me to become a noise artist so many years ago.
!!
I'll have to consult you about noises next time...
Giant industrial saws cutting hard metals can be like an orchestra playing along with some of nin's albums, even hesitation marks
I love that quote so much. It is the core ethos to my art in all its forms.
And now I'm off to check out your music.
Same. I've loved noise since high school.
The RUclips algorithm blessed me with this channel today and I've already binge watched most of the NIN videos. I'm so glad someone is doing this level of analysis, I have never been able to find any write ups or videos about the theory behind these tracks. Thank you so much, it's very fun to watch you go through all this!
I had no idea I was filling a need. I'm just glad to be the translator! So happy you enjoy the videos. :)
Martin Atkins is a legend. I've heard it said that he drew his inspiration for his drum part for Wish from Ballroom Blitz by Sweet.
He did, and guess what, he messaged me privately on Instagram to tell me that! I couldn't believe it. So cool!
Yet another magnum opus. People will have no clue who The Sweet is but put on Ballroom Blitz and they start singing along immediately.
For anyone who may not know, the vocals are so mocking because he was specifically taunting the people at his label. They were pressuring him to make another PHM, but he wanted to go in a different direction and refused to back down. He recorded Broken (on the sly) and purposefully made it as unmarketable as possible!
The excessive use of noise and profanity was used to prevent any song on the EP from being radio friendly. Every music video that was made for this EP was also intentionally too violent/lewd for television. He was basically saying, "If you make life difficult for me, I'll make life very difficult for you." They got the message lol.
Trent: "I just recorded a song so fucked up that nobody will..."
Flood: "Trent, the Grammy's are on the phone."
Gottlieb at TVT was such a bastard. Not satisfied with owning Trent, he bought out Wax Trax! which he all but drove into the ground. Luckily Jimmy Iovine bought out Trent's contract and signed him to Interscope. If you watch the 2017 HBO mini-series The Defiant Ones and the 2018 documentary Industrial Disaster, they get into it in detail. Gottlieb is such an irredeemable asshole.
I wish that the algorithm would've shown your videos to me before, but better late than never.
Between the deep dives into all the layers, the music theory knowledge and the sheer enjoyment you obviously have for the music, I can say this was one of the best song analyses I've seen... and I've seen a lot of them. One thing I've always thought about Trent is that in some nearly alternate universe, a Trent that didn't have a bad breakup (and thus no Pretty Hate Machine) is writing catchy pop songs. It is clear that he really understands the craft of music, but he uses that knowledge to purposely make disturbing music. It is quite beautiful in a dark sort of way. I look forward to watching more from you.
Wow, thank you. I've wanted to do this a long time. You're actually not late to the party - we're just getting started!
I agree with you. He knows how to write a hook, he just refuses to make it accessible at the cost of his artistic integrity.
Ditto. 🙏❤️
Ya me too.Glad I found this channel!
The drummer in this song was none other than Martin Atkins...from PIL, PigFace, Killing Joke...he stated that the riff for the song was interpolated from Ballroom Blitz from Sweet!
Awesome! Ballroom Blitz has the classic rockabilly train beat so that makes sense. I wonder what made him think of doing that with this song though. And also how did Trent respond...? Like maybe "weird, let's keep it."
@@iximusic that is a very good question, I’m sure mr. Atkins would be happy to answer for you! He’s quite a nice guy really and quite open to answering questions such as yours.
...and thank you for dissection of all of the NIN songs, it’s really great, I’ve actually learned quite a lot about music theory!
@@iximusic you can reach Martin on Twitter @marteeen or on Instagram @flowersfightforsunshine
I feel like I read anything NIN-related I could get my hands on in the 90s & early 2000s and hadn't heard that about Ballroom Blitz, but I absolutely hear it, hot damn!
Broken is one of my favorite records of all time. I listen now to a lot of death metal, and music regarded as the "heaviest" and "darkest" but to me, nothing has ever musically captured this sort of anger better than "Wish". And it's what you were saying about his deliberation with seemingly arbitrary noises that are actually tied directly to people's mental/emotional state as they listen. Watching you unpack and appreciate this is cathartic
To arrange and mix nin songs with so much going on. Don't know how Trent can make sense of it all, really a genius
All of the"noises" solely remind me of the Saw movie franchise. Unsettling and suspicious. What a way to achieve the feeling you want to convey during music.
His sound design is so good. I'll bet that's a part of why he's been able to create such evocative film scores!
Trent Reznor is such an interesting person. He's so intelligent and talented in his music, and thats why I love Nine Inch Nails. His music always means something more than you can understand.
I agree and don't agree. It's everything you understand but don't know why.
This is like my dream youtube channel as someone who's infinitely fascinated with nine inch nails and electronic mixed with live production music.
This breakdown is ducking amazing.
That means a duck-ton to me! 😂
Big time, hard line, bad luck, fish duck.
Wow this has opened my eyes on how much trent puts into his music and how you have taken it apart is magical, thanks
As an old fart who listened to it when it was released, I have to say your de construction is impecable, I've got to hear loads of things I never heard before, and trust me, I paid a great deal of attention to the ghost sounds. You keep on bringing more new content, you've got a new fan. Respect.
🙏
same here! Buy it when it get out. I was sure that i knew this song, but i was mistaken! Thanks a lot for the good job!
@@iximusic My biography and listening history matches OP and he describes my experience almost exactly. Great channel. Please do Memorabilia or Head Like a Hole (opal)
I was like 18/19 when Wish came out. It was the most electric rock song I have ever heard in my life at that time. It possibly still is. I would say this is one of the greatest rock songs ever.
What do you think of Gave Up? I think they have a similar feeling.
@@iximusic Gave up is more grunge I think and I really liked it. I was very into Nirvana at the time. But one the stand out tracks is Physical. I'm old enough to know Physical is an Adam and The Ants cover. I'll be 50 this year. I saw Adam and The Ants live when I was 10 and Physical was played.
IXI something you could explore is what Trent does with cover versions. He's done few. Physical, Dead Souls and The Immigrant Song. All excellent also he referenced David Bowie's Time in further down the spiral.
you know what I've confused Gave up with Last lol. I haven't heard the Broken EP in years because I've only got Broken and Fixed on cassette but no longer a cassette player.
18/19 is the new 13/12. Offbeat time signatures fascinate me.
I believe the animal noises around the 12 minute mark was his dog Maise. She is credited on the EP as "barks & roars" or something like that. Sadly she died while on tour with NIN in '95 after she jumped off the 5th story hotel balcony. Very very sad.
I remember seeing a recent interview with Chris Vrenna who played drums for NIN during this time and he said they were the masters of sampling. They would record so much weird stuff and chop it up and mix it in. Your breakdowns are top notch please keep them coming!
The scratch sounds remind me a lot of David Lynch's sound designs, oh, also I think he won a grammy for this song. Thanks for the breakdown. I've always loved this song and now i know why
Awesome breakdown of my favorite song of all times. To see someone analyze NIN like you do is such a treat. I love it.
A content creator who actually thinks about the music being discussed: you put me to shame. Thank you.
ixi, Where in god's name did you come from... Good grief,... you're the best thing that has happened to RUclips in years! I still can't get over how cool this is. Thank you for posting,... so much fun to watch. As a musician myself who was obsessed with Trent in the early 90s while playing fulltime in a R&B traveling the world...I would have never thought in a million years that someone someday would be breaking down Reznor's music... So Well!
I've been getting good, getting strong, wondering how my videos got so long!
@@iximusic Your videos are perfect. Die hard musicians as well as NIN fans will invest the time watching them. In a world of 30 Second TikTok and Instagram posts, these are breath of fresh air. I hope they stay online for years,... for future generations. Before you know it people will be looking back and saying, "Yea, back in the 90s, 'there was this guy', who flipped the music industry upside down with his angle on industrial music",... and You, are literally demystifying him as a Singer, Guitarist, Pianist, Keyboard Player, Bass Player, Drummer, Programmer, Sampler, Producer, Artist, Story Teller, Song Writer, Arranger.
All in one video at a time. AMAZING!
Currently going through a NIN album binge and this channel got recommended to me after starting The Downward Spiral and I'm in love. You do such a fantastic job of explaining why NIN sounds like it does.
This might be my favorite analysis video so far, it's really got me nerding out over this song.
In the liner notes to Broken it credits Martin Atkins and Chris Vrenna with drums on that song, I think the bulk of it is Martin Atkins, he was previously a live drummer for Ministry and if you check out the opening track Breathe from their live video they have a 2 drummer setup and Martin (the guy in the striped shirt) does some tribal style drumming on the toms:
ruclips.net/video/570zZxYc-sY/видео.html
Another good example of his drumming style would be the band Murder Inc, which he was in shortly after his session work on Broken: ruclips.net/video/GP3f5E-3IcI/видео.html
Both Trent and Martin performed on the Pigface album Gub just prior to recording Broken, they are both on the track Bushmaster and the drumming on this one also has that MA/Wish sound: ruclips.net/video/KTz4jMgpWcM/видео.html
Martin recently commented that the song Ballroom Blitz by Sweet was inspirational for Wish and it it does have that rockabilly vibe to the drumbeat: www.youtube.com/watch/ewFBuYHldeY
The liner notes of Broken also credit Trent Reznor's dog Maise with "barks & roars", I have never really picked out any dog noises on Broken, but hearing the multi track soloed it does sound like that animal noise is a dog panting.
Thank so much for these amazing anecdotes and video links!
Maise can be heard in the song Physical, starting right around the 13-second mark: ruclips.net/video/nOvX75ck1_E/видео.html
It's definitely more of a roaring sound than a bark, which I figure is because Trent probably manipulated the sample to make it sound deeper.
@@rars0n you're correct. It was slowed down dramatically. Maise also bit someone and their exclamation was also in a different section of the song, if i remember correctly.
Martin is a pretty great drummer, and a nice guy all around. I got to meet him when Pigface went on tour a couple of years ago.
I saw Pigface at The Rock Candy in mid late 90s. Not sure who the 2nd and 3rd drummers were but I'm sure Martin was there. Sadly I don't remember much from that time I was going to shows every week. With Pigface it's anyone's guess who the whole band line up was for the show. Must have been following their 94' or 97' releases.
my favorite think about broken is how ‘frustrating’ he’s willing to make the music, for want of a better word. he’s so willing to end a section after three phrases, play noisy synths your brain won’t be able to reconcile and, especially, employ harsh dynamic changes that totally throw your expectations
Yeah, that's a great way to put it! He's got guts.
Orchestral chaos... Trent has a gift that very few other "industrial" artists possess... He gets the "industrial" part, he can take noises that shouldn't be music and twist them and puts them together to make something emotional and attention grabbing... Some music you listen to, Trent's music grabs ahold of all of your senses and doesn't let go until it's done...
Songwriting and compositional genius, plus some of the aesthetics of industrial. There is a good reason he is the most well known Industrial artist. He is a better songwriter and singer than any other industrial group has, by a long shot.
The noise you were hearing at the beginning of the song is a thing called room tuning and it is a sound engineer coming into actually tune the room to the sound that the artist wants the microphone to pick up the tune of the music. He uses it again and hurt he uses it in tons of songs. There's actually an interview with him on a show from Showtime where it explains him using that exact sound on more than one recording
Amazing channel and work! This is how I have always heard the music. Vastly deep and interesting to listen for all of the different layers. I have always “seen” his music as a MIDI track while I listened. You are so much easier to listen to than 99% of you tubers. Kudos.
Deep deep deep deep deeep.... sorry had to!
Glad you're enjoying! 🙌
You are a blessing for every hardcore NIN fan. Insane.
Reminds me when NIN released the GarageBand files for “The Hand That Feeds” 🤯
I missed that memo. I also missed how big of a mainstream success that one was! Did you mess with the multitracks?
@@iximusic I did not. I don’t have any music training. Seeing the music process visually really helped understand and appreciate the work more.
I did a metal rendition of Survivalism when he released those stems. Reworked them to use in FLStudio because I didn't know how to use ableton. I still have the stems.
There was a cool mash up of the hand that feeds and the ghost busters theme way back when those track samples were released for public remixing
The animal sound you are hearing is actually his dog Maise who died a couple years after this album was made while on tour with the downward spiral. He also uses her growl on the song physical at the very end it's a snarling noise that you can hear in the background
'Last' is a fun track to dissect, i've remixed that a few times. Those rockband games of old sure come in handy for multitracks though, shame some were censored..
Ah is that what this is from? I played Guitar Hero but no NIN on there. Where could I hear your remixes?
How get isolated tracks? Me wanty!
Nvm, google says www.nin.wiki/Multitracks
That's the one! Enjoy 😈 oh actually different link. You might find this quicker: www.nindestruct.com/remix.html
For once the RUclips algorithm has blessed me. As a die hard NIN fan, thank you. Trent is, without question, a genius. The depths of his talent are highly under appreciated.
One of my favorites so far! Can’t wait to hear more of your original stuff too
Thanks!
Fantastic insight into an amazing song. I really love how indepth your analysis is, and how you show the musical side (notes, timing, etc.) in a way non-musical folks (me, etc.) can understand.
One slightly strange effect on this video (possibly on purpose) was the lighting kept shifting, causing a weird sense of movement in this particular video (which, given the song is 'Wish' and all that Trent did to make this song sound menacing) is actually kind of perfect.
Also, your comments always are filled with great commenters who actually provide additional insight and trivia. Great job all around!!
This community is wonderful!
You kept playing this stuff on the piano and certain parts kept making me hear "the becoming" and now I hear "the wretched" as a reprise or new variant of "the becoming" 🤣
haha right? When you remove all the production elements and specific timbres of the sounds and break it down to just the melody, you start to recognize some really strong themes!
I was looking for this comment! I was like "it's impossible that nobody else hears that''
I also love how the song ends so abruptly, as if someone just pulls the plug on it.
I recently discovered your channel. Thank you so much for explaining EVERYTHING about this great song(s). I'm a musician myself but don't know half of the time what I'm doing, so it is great for you to respectfully and tenderly dissect a song like this or Mr. Self Destruct and show all the details that makes them great. Also your love for the music is contagious, I'm all into NIN again. Thanks again and keep it up! :)
Ah that's awesome. It's always the right time to go further into the spiral/the void/the great below ;)
This is why NIN was the best back in the day. No one made music like this
Another great tear-apart Ixi! Thank you for doing these. Some of the remixes on Fixed and tucked away in other places kind of highlight some of the buried sounds you hear in this album version. Super cool to learn those and then go back and re-listen with new context!
And it's awesome that you also think of this as a companion piece to MotP! I've always thought of them as brothers.
Cool, I didn't know about Fixed until last month. Gotta dig into that!
I remember buying Broken when it came out as I loved the orange cover, never heard of the band or the music before, got home put the cassette on and Pinion gave me no clues then Wish kicked in and blew my socks off! It’s been love ever since x
I’ve watched a few of your videos and I enjoyed this breakdown the most. The fact that you analyzed the noises of the song and tried to apply “theory” and explain the emotional intent to them was very cool
Well I'm glad you appreciated it - quite a stretch haha :)
@@iximusic as a fellow musician I can appreciate “stretching”
if there's ever going to be a "classic albums" doc on a NIN album. have this woman be the analysis on those songs and be in the studio w/ trent about breaking down those songs.
I’ve loved the evolution of Nine Inch Nails music. Listening through the albums chronologically from Pretty Hate Machine to my favorite, and what I feel is their masterpiece, The Fragile, they change and evolve. The Fragile feels like it takes everything from the past, and brings it together in one perfect collection of songs.
Absolutely. The Fragile is my favorite also. I think it’s his masterpiece. Not saying the stuff after was no good but I think he reinvented himself a little after. Fragile will always be my favorite though.
I love how loud and jarring that guitar is, TR has never (fully) detailed how he did this.
This is the first NIN song I heard when I was 15 years old. It always made me think of a heavy metal hoedown. The thick guitars mixed with noise blew my mind. I had to know more about NIN. I went and bought every halo I could find. Even rare Japanese imports. I love your passion when you breakdown these songs. As a musician myself I really appreciate your content.
"I'll see you in yeeeeeehell!" Anyway YEAH! I'm glad you dig the channel! Stick around. 😀
I have always been suspicious of analysts in the field of film, music, food, literature... nasty people who can do nothing but 'structurally demolish' other people's work. so happy to see this!! analyse CAN also create and contribute! Thank you! Keep up the good work 🙏🏻🤘🏻😃
I feel like a lot of his songs are linked. There are so many samples, melodies lyrics, rhythmic patterns and even chord proggressions that appear in so many songs. I wonder if he did this for a reason?
They are, and I believe it's intentional most of the time. Sometimes he may repeat certain progressions just because that's a sound he likes. But the way he references himself both musically and lyrically is often too specific is be an accident. Without asking him directly it's hard to know why but I've listened to an interview where he mentioned wanting his listeners to "work for it" while listening to the music. I think he wants to make his music an immersive experience that requires all of you - not just auditory processing, but intellectual, emotional, spiritual, Physical. Probably why he's such a good film scorer! What do you think?
@@iximusic I 100% agree with you! I feel like his albems are not meant to be albums as we are use to but more an auditory format of how the brain works. I feel (especially the order of the songs on the album) relate to people subconsciously as we connect with the emotional possess of something like a panic attack or mental breakdown. We don't want to relate to it but we do due to unfortunate life experiences that we are forced to face when listening. Mabey that's why we feel so unsettled? I would love to see Trent write a score of his own life, that would be so interesting!
the fragile album is full of this
As a kid I always thought the breathy non-scream sound reminded me of crowd noise from a concert. The white noise of the audience. Those 'underneathy bits' (that's my technical term) get pulled out a lot in the remix of this song on the 'Fixed EP'. It's a fascinating juxtaposition.
I love how thoroughly you break down this track. I wouldn't even consider myself the biggest NIN fan but I have always really liked this song. So dense! I think I like it even more now that I've watched this analysis. Ducking, lol
Yeah it rocks! And ducks! 🦆🦆🦆
I love the guitar sound in Wish.
It’s so gritty.
Also, those drums sound like Indonesian Kecak/Monkey dance type rhythms.
Small world! I performed the Kecak in college. We had a gamelan ensemble.
I'm loving IXI she is deconstructing everything I love :D
Ms. Deconstruct
👏
For anyone interested - the guitar sounds are processed through an old Mac program called TurboSynth, which lets you take a sample and process it in several ways, before exporting as a new fucked up sample. It gets messy in a beautiful way. Like you can shape the waveform to random things which makes a very noisy version that sounds kinda smeared. Or you can turn the sample into the sine waves that makes it up, move them around, then turn it back into a sound. All of which is done really imprecise which again makes it wonderfully distorted. For this song it sounds like he's done several of these different things as different samples, and then plays them either simultaneously or later on, swapping between them. Fantastic sound.
That's rad!
This is fantastic. You are a light and it's incredibly refreshing to see a fellow Reason user making videos like these, and Trent Reznor has been a hero to me for thirty years now.
Any chance you'll break down a How to Destroy Angels tune? Very underrated project with Trent, his wife Mariqueen, Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, for anyone who didn't know.
Also, how do you go about obtaining multi-tracks like these?
So few use Reason! Always nice to know we're not alone.
I think so! I haven't listened to them enough but I loved Fur Lined. I didn't know who it was when I first heard it and I remember thinking "this is exactly like if NIN had a different singer" Haha.
Yes, enjoy! www.nindestruct.com/remix.html
I haven't watched it yet. I'm letting a 2-minute ad run so ixi can ge DAT DOUGH.
I've been listening to NIN since the early 90s and I'm STILL hearing new shit in these songs.
No joke I just heard a new thing in Closer today. The layers seem endless. He's a genius!
Exactly! It's like every time you listen, it's almost like you have heard or before, but not THIS version... It's stays fresh...
The sound at the beginning of Wish sounds exactly like one of the tones of a modem logging onto the internet in the early to mid-90s. I'd imagine you can find that sound anywhere on the internet and match it up to what Trent used and it would be almost identical if not exact.
I just love this song, especially when a time in my life ends and the time up to the start of the next time is about to begin. Interesting that you post this today. 100% fitting to my day. Thank you so much, Ixi! 🙂
Glad it was the right song at the right time!
Hearing this, and a bunch of other multitracks of early NIN songs reveals how much use he's made of the ring modulator (a subtle use though because it never sounds metallic). almost everything is drowned in layers of ringmod atonality and alien noise, and it's pretty amazing that he made so much polished and musical mixes out of it.
I'm this close to devoting some time to understanding what ring modulation is. Had never heard of it before I started these analyses! He's putting the ringmod on his voice, guitars, and more yeah?
I believe Trent once mentioned that he had a synth that was kinda broken... Like left in the rain or Trent dropped it or something. And i think he said, he likes to put it into like hidden layers or something, cause it sounds weird. So maybe this atonal melody in the halftime (1/4th time??) section was played with this broken synth. But i kinda like it and it's not hard to replicate it actually. I think it's noise leaking into the FM input. Very cool sound
That seems very on brand! Noise leaks is a cool visual...
I wish to God I could remember what video it was-it was one of those "playing in a white room" deals that was big back then-he had 2 drummers. One was playing a normal set and the other had an electric set that was being used as a MIDI controller for strange percussion noises. Such is Trent. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his songs are 32+ tracks deep. In some aspects, the man puts Freddie Mercury's innovations and ambitions to shame.
So interesting to watch you pick Trent's brain
This is the breakdown I have been dying for since I was 11 when I first heard this album. I would sit in my room for hours with my headphones on, trying to parse out every layer of sound. It was my first introduction to electronic music, and music with a thousand layers. Though I was learning to play flute and read music in my middle school band at the time, this was how I really started to understand music, by listening to NIN and how the songs were constructed. Fast forward to now and I am blasting it in a minivan after dropping my kids off at school, LOL! This song is IMPOSSIBLE to listen to without moving. I can’t hear it without rocking my body and shaking my head…it makes me feel like throwing things. It is SO primal and visceral. We didn’t have the technology back then to play each track, and to hear it being done now with this level of analysis just made me feel complete in such a weird and beautiful way. Like I had a conversation going back then that I never got to finish, or a joke that I heard and loved but never really got the punchline. You just made it all so full for me, and I am so happy I found this channel!
So, I had a thought about the conversation between Trent’s vocals and the screaming guitars. I always found this song to be like the epitome of FUCK YOU with flying middle fingers to any establishment that thinks they know you and try to put you in your place and keep you down. I hear the guitars as being like the “wah wop wah wah” kind of sounds that teachers or adults make in Peanuts cartoons. It is like this noise of authority that pushes down and overpowers everything, controls everything, has the loudest voice and takes up the most space….AND YET…there is no music or sound or entertainment without the rest of the vocals, drums, noises, etc. It is like they are throwing the kitchen sink at the guitars to try and make it happy, giving it everything they got, and it never changes its tune. But we don’t find pleasure in the constant guitars, we find our pleasure and passion in the fight. It is this big argument playing out in front of us- “you know me” like they see him as this one dimensional person or artist, and can’t break out of any mold they put him in. He isn’t mocking someone else, he is saying their words and what they think of him, he is holding their half of the argument and then sarcastically firing back. “oh, you are right, i couldn’t possibly do anything different because I am so hateful, I am the crazy one, this is my place and I should just let you profit off of the hellish pain I am going through. I’ll let you tell me how to feel and how to write about it.” He is being gaslit and lied to, controlled and manipulated. And he knows that by speaking up it is “the first day of my last days.” His relationship will end as a result, but it is worth it to him to speak his truth.
This song is just so fucking empowering and badass on every level.
I’m hoping you do “A Warm Place”
I am :)
@@iximusic - David Bowie - Crystal Japan
The noise in this song is what creates the atmosphere. They really build it up live as well to create something really amazing. I've heard a cover of the song with no noise and it felt very thin and weak by comparison
My favorite live version of this is probably on the Beside You In Time DVD because it has that Aaron North guitar solo. Love Robin Finck but Aaron just brought some extra spice to the songs
Oh sweet, never heard it! there's a whole world of alternate versions and bootlegs and live stuff I have yet to explore.
You should see Nine Inch Nails do this song with Dillinger Escape Plan. Unbelievable version
ruclips.net/video/qboe5CebixA/видео.html
THE most subverisive thing about Trent's genius..... he has always always written and produced POP SONGS. It's why the meme mashups work so well. Love it. LOVE your analysis and style! Wish I had found this channel sooner. You explain the technical and intuitive in combination better than about anyone I've ever seen.
If Trent sampled that noise from the Cosmic Microwave Background,
we can now confidently say that the universe is tuned to D .
😂
Awesome video! This is probably my favorite NIN song and you made me hear things I never noticed in my hundreds of times listening to it.
You mention liking the live version of this song. If you haven't already, search youtube for "nin wish live josh freese". It's a really great version with a particular emphasis on the drums.
- Trent (but not Reznor)
This is ONE of my two favorite songs of all time. "and all that could have been" and "wish"
Thank you for talking about this song for almost thirty minutes. Also, i remastered/ remixed a version of Wish if you're interested. (On my page)
Thank you for this video❤️
Excellent choices. Well, a favorite song isn't a choice!
I would love to hear that. I think there are some areas where the track could have been mixed better. I'll check it out this week.
20:01 I'm in love with this channel's content already, (after not even finishing watching this, the first vid.) I really hope that your other videos analyse music that I love in such an insightful way.
For me, you have put into words, what I have never tried to... My first NIN album was so long ago.. when the downward spiral came out in my teens.. So hard to listen to.. but something kept pulling me back.. I kept thinking.. this is just noise.. uncomfortable.. agitating.. I hated it.. but yet I kept going back to it... over and over.. of course, I got sucked in and the noise became more enticing.. more unravelling.. and I've been a fan ever since.. (you hit the nail on the head) no pun intended..
IK just discovered you and its 2am!!! I need to watch more of your NiN breakdowns tomorrow! I have no understanding of music creation, but this is completely fascinating.
What's amazing about this record is how the majority of the work was recorded clandestinely with Flood while TR was at odds (an understatement, I know) with TVT Records at the time. If you haven't already, I highly recommend picking up the "Definitive Edition" vinyl reissue of broken, the extended liner notes provide a lot of insight of TR's frame of mind at the time.
He even tells the founder of TVT to eat his heart out in Physical, which was a hidden track on Broken
@@TheHeroicraptor yep! And also from the credits"no thanks: you know who you f'ing are"
Im not even close to the level you are when it comes to understanding music but i just wanted to post what I get from this song. It does sound like a conversation. Kind of like his final words before the end. The "program rockabilia train" kind sets the pace for me. I feel like i've been dropped somewhere and now I need to running. I don't know why but I need to run. (Not literally run but its not a song you just stand there watching. Something on you is moving...your head, body....you can't just stay still) .The drums are always reminding me to keep moving and when they get louder and move faster, thats when I need to move faster because "its" catching up" The noise that sounds like wind, just adds to the "program rockabilia train". Almost like wind blowing by my ear. Its crazy how this song came to life in my mind. I heard it in class one day from a friend, out of the blue. Never heard of them or the song. At the time I was into comic books and I was read a comic where a lot of the heroes were dying in. Characters I cared about so with this song playing.....set the perfect tone. Like this was the song playing in the back ground as I was in the comic. It was their last stand and this was the perfect song for it. Its just a well put together track that came out of no where and is now engraved into my mind since then. (for me) And the video really hit home at the end when they started to pull them out of the cage. It was like "times up" Its a powerful song for me but listening to you go over it help me understand whats going on within the song. Thanks. Crazy how music affects everyone differently.
Keep in mind this album was a big F you to his record label at the time TVT records. They wanted another Pretty Hate Machine and in general were not a very supportive label and i think it took about a year of negotiations between a lawyer at Interscope and TVT to finally get Trent out of his shitty contract. The bonus track Physical, an Adam Ant cover, Trent says in the beginning,"Eat your heart out Steve." I believe Steve was either the owner or representative of TVT. Interscope ended up giving him his own vanity label that gave him freedom and let him sign other bands or release other bands recordings. Nothing records would include not only Marilyn Manson but Prick, Pop Will Eat Itself,Squarepusher,MeatBeat Manifesto,12 Rounds, etc...Lol and my favorite line is also "You know me I hate everyone". But when I sing along I resolve the melody.
IIRC on the PHM tour Trent loved the high energy and live guitars, so when it was time to make new music he started with guitar instead of piano and drum machine, hence the very different sound of Broken.
I'm grateful to be able to rely on y'all to fill in the blanks and tell the whole story!
Why do you resolve it? I guess I do things like that too sometimes, if there was a different arrangement choice I might have preferred. I've listened to a few covers of "Hurt" recently and they all changed the first chord to a minor chord instead of the "ugly" chord it is. Sometimes I think those notes might seem insignificant, but one note can completely change a song and its emotional impact. Removing a tritone in a NIN song feels a little bit like...erasing Tront! I'm kidding. Mostly...
@@iximusic i like to sing them sarcastically. Like in March of the Pigs on the word 'better' i like to go up before hitting the last note that goes down.(sorry I'm not at all schooled in music theory). I also do that because when i cover i song i like to try and make it my own rather than just stealing all the nuance from someone else. Also...i am very NOT a fan of Flyleaf nor their religious leanings, however their cover of Something I Can Never Have is one of the best covers I've ever heard of NIN.
Was coming here to say this - the whole EP is basically him doing the exact opposite of what he was being told to deliver, and I loved that ixi pointed out the "mocking" tone in Wish, because I agree that's exactly what he's doing. ("Eat your heart out, Steve [Gottlieb]" - who, naturally, disputes Trent's account.)
@@iximusic The only cover of Hurt that I like is the Johnny Cash version. That whole American IV album of covers by Cash is amazing. Personal Jesus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, When the Man Comes Around, just such a great album.
I like the whirly wind sounds in the first verses (of my last verse). It makes me think of a tornado outside and the main riff is when the tornado hits
By the way, these multitracks were from guitar hero. 🙃 They're not officially released from NIN like year zero or the slip.
That's wild.
Correction: Or was it Rock Band?... One of the video games.
I always wished we could have gotten the tracks like the advanced version of Only back in the day. THAT was wild.
I'm pretty sure the noise has a "note" to do largely from a bandpass filter that's centered around D on the noise. You can hear the filter change and open before the chorus and it changes apparent note in the process. As for the source of noise, I know he did a lot of folly work with tools and such. With pitch shifting it could have been anything.
Cool 🤘
listen to the drums in Ministry's Warp City from "houses if the molé" album
NIN took elements from 1970s artists like NON, SPK, Chrome(guitar riffs) and Monte Cazzaza that challenged/repelled and transformed them into something that sucked the listener in and sounded catchy.
I wonder what your thoughts are on the version from Fixed, there's even more chaos, noise and weird drumming in it
I actually haven't really listened to Fixed - I didn't know about it until very recently! I'll take a listen soon and report back...
I saw NIN in Hershey opening up for David Bowie. Trent was amazing and some of the greatest mosh pit songs ever. This was one of them.
You should do The Big Comedown, amazing song
I should and I shall! I love that song with a passion and it's super weird harmonically.
When i heard it live it became my favourite
Agreed, that's one of my favorites! Kind of underrated I think.
Wish is such a NOISY, ANGRY song, and here you are extracting achingly beautiful piano melodies from it. Damn you! And Trent.
I always laugh when people describe Nine Inch Nails as agitated, dark, etc... For me, intense music like early NIN is uplifting and cathartic.
Ms. Ixi, this is my second comment.
Wasn't gonna write again until i had a good reason.
BUT..
You mentioned that the beat to "Wish" is a rockabilly beat!
Ma'am, i've been saying that to friends for decades, but they always rolled their eyes and blew off my rockabilly observation.
THANK YOU FOR HEARING THE BEAT AS IT IS!
Well done.
You're 100% right! Tell all your friends, I'll back you up!
@@iximusic Thank you! All my friends are actually back in Austin, TX.
I believe your channel originate there.
Great town, but now i am in South America for the long haul.
Please keep doing great videos.
Thank you for reminding me of a great band.
When you run out of NIN stuff in 5 years, you should try breaking down Alice in Chains.
Haha, right? What song would you most want dissected?
@@iximusic Your approach to breaking down my number 1 favorite band (NIN) would be great on any group/song. AIC is my number 2. This being said it is a drastically different style of music. Although both having the majority of their popularity in the same decade AIC was straight out of the grunge scene.
They were marketed as a harder and darker version of said genre. Their mixture of harmony/melody vocals and songwriting was wholly unique to grunge much like NIN was unique to industrial...
...Asking me to pick one out of their catalog is so difficult due to how great you are at what you do. Down in a Hole I believe would be the best choice, it is a great showcase of their talents and style, not my favorite of theirs but a solid song. The unplugged version vs the studio version is really a massive difference as well. So I would leave that up to you.
Keep up the excellent work Ixi and by all means don't stop doing NIN. Like I said you still have a ridiculous amount of songs to go :P
@@iximusic I always forget the character limit to YT comments. Sorry it is broken into 2 comments for the reply
Down In A Hole is an amazing song. I remember during a challenging time in my life drumming to that song and it was powerfully cathartic. Though Them Bones has some really interesting stuff going on harmonically and rhythmically, pretty brilliant.
I'm sticking with NIN for now but I'm excited about one day branching off. Personally I would really love to analyze Deftones and Tool.
Deconstructing NIN 8am on my Saturday day off.
Great start to my weekend 😊
🙌
I am thankful that your channel was on my home page. I used to be a huge NIN fan in the 90's and early 2000's. I love the way the music flowed like water, whether it was a stream or a raging river. I am thankful for you on breaking down why I used to like it. It has given me a new prospective and realization how the story is told even through the notes he chose. Also, I'm not a musician, but I love how you explain what is going on in a scientific way, then in a lay way.
i'm super excited to see you focusing on the noise. i love the textures that come out of his use of layered sounds, and im always super interested to dig into that part of his music.
I Wish I knew more about it but I'm learning! And there are some very experienced noise makers in the comments with gold nuggets. I think trying to generate and work with noise will be most illuminating.
25:49 Talking of references and deliberate choices: that picardy 3rd is a musical reference to "Hurt".
9:39 ... the sound you hear, and why it stops, is explained by the name of the song right before this. Pinion. Pinion is a small gear meeting other gears, The sound is like grinding the gears of a car. It's a painful sound, (like when a person says, that really grinds my gears) ... it's supposed to imply pain or irritation. Something that feels "Broken", hense the album name. ruclips.net/video/cnrTXYtoGk8/видео.html ... I sort of feel like Pinion/Wish are just before the last moments before you break. The gears still make sounds when they grind, he mocks himself, he is angry he believed, angry he trusted, he sees no way back from where he is now... he gave away himself. The grinding is himself, wearing away. This is the end of the spiral... the last moments before hell. Before Slavery, before being completely gone.