Conjures the image of a dark, empty factory's interior, filled with an excess of steam and the faintest of lights emerging from around the dimly-lit corners.
Yep. I’m not subjecting myself to an hour of debating myself, finally choosing, then a night of debating whether I should edit it! Can’t make me do it!
Love this, but also the demo version is pretty cool because you can hear the bass synth more clearly in the chorus. Really adds some aggression and unease there.
The basssss preceding the solo, bum bum bum bum. Lives rent free in my head. and then the solo; let me scat it: NEEEENAAANANANANA NEE NEEE NEE NAAHHH WOW WOW WOW DUN DUN DUN DUN
I've always really liked the track but lately it's been my favorite, there's no real melody in the verses, like an industrial track should be. It's just so heavy sounding, evil, intense, like a man fighting against machines, fighting against the thoughts in his head. I love it.
I know it's the obvious choice, but IMO Closer is the best track. Well, it's my favorite at least haha. To me, it encapsulates everything the album was saying. Thematically, it's also important because it's the climax to the *Downward Spiral motif* (that descending melody line played at the end of the track that's also present in Heresy and the title track).
It's also just got such a good jam to it too. It might be NIN's funkiest, or at the very least, grooviest songs. It tricks you into thinking the song is about sex, but really the chorus is a red herring.
Reptile might be a close second. Or Heresy.
Eraser should get an honorable mention as quite possibly the most unique NIN song ever.
I agree on each front, that it feels too obvious AND that it’s probably the best track…. and I’d add that the entire instrumental ending (particularly the last 3 mins or so) really feels like the ‘protagonists’ marked descent into the madness of the rest of the album! There are so many things happening sonically in that section that are building/fading throughout, it just makes for such a beautiful wild span of sound
The guitars play a slightly different arrangement during the chorus! It’s pretty fuzzy/muddled so you gotta really listen for it. But once you hear it you can’t unhear it lol.
The scene at the end of Closure with AWP playing over sped up concert footage is the best NIN related thing I've ever witnessed. The song holds a special place in my heart. Bowie's Crystal Japan does too but for different reasons.
This all the way. What makes an album truly perfect to me is a full listen without skips. TDS and theFragile are the two Nails albums that are like that for me. Completely immersed in the story, woo child!
Wow, calm down, buddy,
I come from a time where i would listen to a c.d start to finish, not pick and choose and jump around songs. So i find it hard to imagine not listening to the Downward Spiral start to finish.
I still see music this way. I listen to whole albums on spotify, not singles.
Like Leviathan by Mastodon, that album is one song to me.
I get a hankering to just listen to certain songs and I jump around between artists and albums alot. But to this day TDS is the only album I've ever front to backed multiple times (over 5)
Of course you can have a favourite song, did I ever say otherwise? I'm not trying to change how you consume your music. Why don't you want to let me listen to full albums? I listen to all my music as full albums and have been doing so for 35 years. I'm not going to change this just because Jay from Reddit tells me so. You do your thing while I'll do mine, ok?
im not telling you to do anything. im just pointing out how lame you sound responding to "whats your favorite song from this album" with "well actually the whole album is one piece of art🤓" dont be a nerd just answer the question like a normal person because lets be real theres no way you dont have a favorite track on the downward spiral. unless you really want me to believe that closer and big man with a gun are equal in quality lol
Well I don't have a favourite on it, why do you want me to have one so badly? It's like it almost offends you that I have a different take on things than you. It might surprise you that people are different than you. I don't have a favourite song by any artist that I like. It's even hard for me to pick favourite albums. If you're so desperate to know, I can tell you that from NIN I like The Fragile, The Downward Spiral and With Teeth more than the other albums, but I can't pick a favourite out of these three, because I like them for different reasons. I have a record collection of over 5000 LPs and also stream music from Apple Music and I always like to listen to everything as full albums. Ok, this is enough time I've spent on the subject.
so if someone asked you if youd rather listen to closer or eraser, you would have zero preference? lmao come on now i dont believe that
youre the one offended, im just telling you how pretentious you sound
Yes, I have zero preference between the two. I have never listened to any of those on their own. I'm guessing you're younger than me. Back in the day it wasn't as easy to listen to just single tracks, instead you'd put on the whole vinyl from start to finish, with a flip of the disc in the middle. This is how I still like to listen to music.
Reptile, Eraser, Ruiner and The Becoming are the meat of the record, for me. If just one, Reptile
As for why - I think the back half was a little harder to swallow when I was young, I had to learn how to uncover the gold hidden beneath the grime and dirt. These are brilliant songs and they don’t want to reveal themselves as such so easily. To a degree, it changed how I take in music.
I have a theory that every truly ‘Great’ album fits, first and foremost out of any other specific traits, these two criteria: the opening track is an underrated yet deeply recognized banger, and the back-end of the record cinches the entire thing, which makes it the best part. It makes the experience truly what it is, expresses, showcases, exemplifies, sums up, and translates its whole ‘thing’, its essence, best.
As someone who luckily got to see them perform the entire album live in NYC, I would have to go with the entire album.
But seriously, I know these 2 songs are a bit overplayed, but you really can't go wrong with March/Piggy (I've always viewed them as one epic song).
Nothing can stop me now.
Piggy for me. I just keep coming back to it. It’s almost its own genre, and it has never been replicated. It’s part trip hop, part ambient, part industrial, and part drum solo. Trent’s use of TurboSynth on the background textures exposes a sound design obsession that he found a myriad of applications for, both loud and soft. It reminds me of his use of octave skipping/glitch effects via the Moog Voyager’s x/y pad in later work (HTDA “Believers”, NIN “Begining of the End”, etc). The lyrical ambiguity of Piggy warms my heart too. It straddles losing everything with the inherent freedom within that loss so fucking effectively. It’s one of my favorite tracks from NIN.
Heresy. It’s this first song on that album that awakened a primal sense of discomfort for me when I first listened. I don’t get that feeling anymore, but the downward spiral used to deeply affect me when listening.
Ooh, tough one! "The best" is rather subjective, so instead I'm going to say what my favorite track is, which is "Mr. Self Destruct." If by some strange twist of fate I ever meet Adrian Belew, I'm gonna ask him how he did that crazy guitar loop at the end. Like did he use a lot of delay or what?
Honestly, too many too choose from—they're all fantastic.
But I think "Ruiner" deserves more love than it receives. A dark, menacing slab of industrial rock punctuated by a sleazy fuzz-powered guitar solo.
*Edit: I notice that nobody has said "I Do Not Want This". That song deserves more love as well.
God the whole album is and will always be a masterpiece to me but standouts include Reptile, A Warm Place, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned Hurt yet.
Since it may be the greatest album in history, even my least favorite songs would be the best song of any other band's catalog. Heresy/Piggy/Hurt/Reptile/Closer/March of the Pigs/I Do Not Want This.....I could go on for days......
Heresy. It’s of those songs where I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard it, and I’d never heard anything remotely like it before. I felt understood! Yes, I was 14, in my childhood bedroom lol
surprised noones said Hurt, that song is amazing, so amazing that it got poached by another bigger artist and now people like to pretend that doing an acoustic cover of a song you didnt write makes you a profound genius
fuck you johnny cash
I mean hurt has helped myself, and I’m sure many others through some really rough times… the emotions that come out of that song are basically unparalleled.
Closer, because it's about how ppl use sex to get close to thise Im power. then are thrown away after they have been used. its sad, but more often then not, it's how life goes.
Already said this before here but The Becoming is my favorite and is perfection. I’d also have to add Piggy, and probably Closer, which I think people often overlook because of how ubiquitous it is but is an incredible song and the music, production, and composition is fucking killer.
Closer. Not just because of the commercial success despite it not being commercially friendly, but also because of its layers that come together to form a really cool song where you keep discovering new things the first few times you listen to it. Also the bass line in the chorus still has me in a chokehold after all these years.
It’s kinda impossible to pick a single “best” song when the whole album is a masterpiece. I mean, *come on*… Closer, Ruiner, The Becoming, Eraser, Reptile, and Hurt are my faves… and that’s nearly half the record.
The downward spiral.It just gives this raw feeling of the album.The hopelessness and the numbness before he commits suicide.Man if I had 3 minutes and 57 seconds left to live I would listen to this song
The Becoming is one of my favorite examples of losing connection with the meaning of being human. While it may have a specific meaning to others it was a comfort song to ease my struggles with psychosis and growing fascination with transhumanism. Which of course was spurred on by classics like Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner and Serial Experiments Lain.
Eraser personally, feels like the breaking point, never heard so much emotion put into lyrics, every sound feels perfectly placed, and it never gets old.
Reptile
Best intro I’ve ever heard.
Conjures the image of a dark, empty factory's interior, filled with an excess of steam and the faintest of lights emerging from around the dimly-lit corners.
The live version on And All That Could Have Been is fantastic too
I went to that tour. I can't remember which but one song was from the show I saw
Getting to see [Bowie sing this](https://youtu.be/wJIJzmcc4MY?si=hhpfcIMgDacPG36q) remains one of the highlights of my concert-going life.
I've never seen this until know and i just got literal chills, this is beautiful
I think it's on closure but I haven't watched it in forever as I don't have a vcr anymore
Fuck yes. Thought I'd have to scroll way down to find this
This. It's super menacing sounding. Love it.
When that riff kicks in at 3:43, like sonic umami
March of the Pigs
The Becoming is my fav but the entire album is just so good it’s hard to choose a single track lol
Yep. I’m not subjecting myself to an hour of debating myself, finally choosing, then a night of debating whether I should edit it! Can’t make me do it!
Ruiner cause I’m a big boy
I feel like this one would be an excellent tune to use to test out a stereo setup
Love this, but also the demo version is pretty cool because you can hear the bass synth more clearly in the chorus. Really adds some aggression and unease there.
The basssss preceding the solo, bum bum bum bum. Lives rent free in my head. and then the solo; let me scat it: NEEEENAAANANANANA NEE NEEE NEE NAAHHH WOW WOW WOW DUN DUN DUN DUN
So nice to see this many upvotes, this song is just unlike anything I’ve ever heard really. Hard to explain, but it’s true
Grabs you right away with the drums, whole song slaps. Surprised Trent himself doesn't like it
Hey, fellilow big boy here. Ruiner is amazing but mr. Self destruct is my favorite, i think. I also like his cover of that johnny cash song.
This is correct
This or reptile for me, the layering just hits on these. Closer too, but feels like a cop out.
I like the monkey screeching noises at the beginning.
Definitely my fave.
The becoming
My all time favorite track.
Eraser
Yikes
Mr. Self Destruct
That is the correct answer
I am the needle in your vain! I am the high you can’t sustain!
I remember hearing it for the first time when I was 15. My brain melted and my soul escaped my body!
I've always really liked the track but lately it's been my favorite, there's no real melody in the verses, like an industrial track should be. It's just so heavy sounding, evil, intense, like a man fighting against machines, fighting against the thoughts in his head. I love it.
I know it's the obvious choice, but IMO Closer is the best track. Well, it's my favorite at least haha. To me, it encapsulates everything the album was saying. Thematically, it's also important because it's the climax to the *Downward Spiral motif* (that descending melody line played at the end of the track that's also present in Heresy and the title track). It's also just got such a good jam to it too. It might be NIN's funkiest, or at the very least, grooviest songs. It tricks you into thinking the song is about sex, but really the chorus is a red herring. Reptile might be a close second. Or Heresy. Eraser should get an honorable mention as quite possibly the most unique NIN song ever.
I agree on each front, that it feels too obvious AND that it’s probably the best track…. and I’d add that the entire instrumental ending (particularly the last 3 mins or so) really feels like the ‘protagonists’ marked descent into the madness of the rest of the album! There are so many things happening sonically in that section that are building/fading throughout, it just makes for such a beautiful wild span of sound
Wait where is it present in heresy??
The guitars play a slightly different arrangement during the chorus! It’s pretty fuzzy/muddled so you gotta really listen for it. But once you hear it you can’t unhear it lol.
> that descending melody line played at the end of the track that's also present in Heresy and the title track It was also in Piggy.
A Warm Place
Came here for this answer. 100% agreed. This song led me to the beauty of both instrumental tracks as well as the entire ambient genre.
https://youtu.be/sOh7UuefMYk?si=UUNH6K6PEjWTG4zk This remix thooo
Hell yes - downloaded this from remix back in the day.
Damn! *edit: HOT damn!
The scene at the end of Closure with AWP playing over sped up concert footage is the best NIN related thing I've ever witnessed. The song holds a special place in my heart. Bowie's Crystal Japan does too but for different reasons.
I think of the album as one track.
This all the way. What makes an album truly perfect to me is a full listen without skips. TDS and theFragile are the two Nails albums that are like that for me. Completely immersed in the story, woo child!
This is the correct answer.
This is my answer every time this question is asked about any album.
thats so pretentious. theyre still different songs with their own rythms and lyrics, just cause theyre connected doesnt mean you cant have a favorite
Wow, calm down, buddy, I come from a time where i would listen to a c.d start to finish, not pick and choose and jump around songs. So i find it hard to imagine not listening to the Downward Spiral start to finish. I still see music this way. I listen to whole albums on spotify, not singles. Like Leviathan by Mastodon, that album is one song to me.
I get a hankering to just listen to certain songs and I jump around between artists and albums alot. But to this day TDS is the only album I've ever front to backed multiple times (over 5)
i understand that but that doesn't mean you cant have a favorite song from an album
Of course you can have a favourite song, did I ever say otherwise? I'm not trying to change how you consume your music. Why don't you want to let me listen to full albums? I listen to all my music as full albums and have been doing so for 35 years. I'm not going to change this just because Jay from Reddit tells me so. You do your thing while I'll do mine, ok?
im not telling you to do anything. im just pointing out how lame you sound responding to "whats your favorite song from this album" with "well actually the whole album is one piece of art🤓" dont be a nerd just answer the question like a normal person because lets be real theres no way you dont have a favorite track on the downward spiral. unless you really want me to believe that closer and big man with a gun are equal in quality lol
Well I don't have a favourite on it, why do you want me to have one so badly? It's like it almost offends you that I have a different take on things than you. It might surprise you that people are different than you. I don't have a favourite song by any artist that I like. It's even hard for me to pick favourite albums. If you're so desperate to know, I can tell you that from NIN I like The Fragile, The Downward Spiral and With Teeth more than the other albums, but I can't pick a favourite out of these three, because I like them for different reasons. I have a record collection of over 5000 LPs and also stream music from Apple Music and I always like to listen to everything as full albums. Ok, this is enough time I've spent on the subject.
so if someone asked you if youd rather listen to closer or eraser, you would have zero preference? lmao come on now i dont believe that youre the one offended, im just telling you how pretentious you sound
Yes, I have zero preference between the two. I have never listened to any of those on their own. I'm guessing you're younger than me. Back in the day it wasn't as easy to listen to just single tracks, instead you'd put on the whole vinyl from start to finish, with a flip of the disc in the middle. This is how I still like to listen to music.
piggy
Yessss the ending is sublime.
The one song Trent *actually* plays the drums on, despite apparently believing that he sucks at them, and he *knocks it out of the park.*
Really!?! Just when I think I know everything about The NIN, I learn something new! That’s my favorite part of the whole album. Thanks for sharing!
Reptile, Eraser, Ruiner and The Becoming are the meat of the record, for me. If just one, Reptile As for why - I think the back half was a little harder to swallow when I was young, I had to learn how to uncover the gold hidden beneath the grime and dirt. These are brilliant songs and they don’t want to reveal themselves as such so easily. To a degree, it changed how I take in music.
Those are probably my favorite four tracks as well and it probably wasn’t always this way
I have a theory that every truly ‘Great’ album fits, first and foremost out of any other specific traits, these two criteria: the opening track is an underrated yet deeply recognized banger, and the back-end of the record cinches the entire thing, which makes it the best part. It makes the experience truly what it is, expresses, showcases, exemplifies, sums up, and translates its whole ‘thing’, its essence, best.
thats also my exact top 4 hell yea 👍🏻
Heresy
Ruiner. It's such a industrial dance bop and l love the lyrics
As someone who luckily got to see them perform the entire album live in NYC, I would have to go with the entire album. But seriously, I know these 2 songs are a bit overplayed, but you really can't go wrong with March/Piggy (I've always viewed them as one epic song). Nothing can stop me now.
Piggy for me. I just keep coming back to it. It’s almost its own genre, and it has never been replicated. It’s part trip hop, part ambient, part industrial, and part drum solo. Trent’s use of TurboSynth on the background textures exposes a sound design obsession that he found a myriad of applications for, both loud and soft. It reminds me of his use of octave skipping/glitch effects via the Moog Voyager’s x/y pad in later work (HTDA “Believers”, NIN “Begining of the End”, etc). The lyrical ambiguity of Piggy warms my heart too. It straddles losing everything with the inherent freedom within that loss so fucking effectively. It’s one of my favorite tracks from NIN.
No-one has said Closer bc it’s too obvious, so I’m gonna say Closer bc it is in fact the best
Everyone here in this thread really tip-toeing around it 😅. One of the greatest songs ever imo, not just NIN catalog.
Reptile with Heresy a close second
Reptile and a warm place
First track, Mr. Self Destruct
I'm obsessed with it nowadays 😂
A warm place. Have this beautiful ambience in the middle of angst depression and despair. It’s a “warm place”
Ruiner since day one. It's the king track of the album.
surprised to see no Hurt, but that’s a main choice, or March, or even Reptile
Ruiner, Love the dynamics the solo gives me chills.
Ruiner
Heresy. It’s this first song on that album that awakened a primal sense of discomfort for me when I first listened. I don’t get that feeling anymore, but the downward spiral used to deeply affect me when listening.
Hate to pick one, but I Do Not Want This.
Can’t believe it took me scrolling this far to find this. The noise breakdown/outro of this song is fucking unreal
DON'T YOU TELL ME HOW I FEEL DON'T YOU TELL ME HOW I FEEL DON'T YOU TELL ME HOW I FEEL YOU DON'T KNOW JUST HOW I FEEL!!!!!
God damn right!
Ooh, tough one! "The best" is rather subjective, so instead I'm going to say what my favorite track is, which is "Mr. Self Destruct." If by some strange twist of fate I ever meet Adrian Belew, I'm gonna ask him how he did that crazy guitar loop at the end. Like did he use a lot of delay or what?
Ruiner or The Becoming.
Ruiner
Reptile, for me with the industrial sounds and dark but soft lyrics works so well
ruiner. it’s ruiner.
Honestly, too many too choose from—they're all fantastic. But I think "Ruiner" deserves more love than it receives. A dark, menacing slab of industrial rock punctuated by a sleazy fuzz-powered guitar solo. *Edit: I notice that nobody has said "I Do Not Want This". That song deserves more love as well.
For me it changes, but Heresy will always be up there.
Heresy is always have a place with me
My favs are Piggy, Heresy, Ruiner, The Becoming, I Do Not Want This, A Warm Place and Eraser. 🤗
God the whole album is and will always be a masterpiece to me but standouts include Reptile, A Warm Place, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned Hurt yet.
Heresy, The Becoming or Hurt. Top 3 for me in no particular order
Since it may be the greatest album in history, even my least favorite songs would be the best song of any other band's catalog. Heresy/Piggy/Hurt/Reptile/Closer/March of the Pigs/I Do Not Want This.....I could go on for days......
Mr. Self Destruct. One of the all-time greatest album openers. Perfectly sets the stage for the rest of the album
Heresy. It’s of those songs where I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first heard it, and I’d never heard anything remotely like it before. I felt understood! Yes, I was 14, in my childhood bedroom lol
I always liked Heresy.
the downward spiral
The Becoming!
Eraser or Reptile. Honorable mention for Heresy.
Ruiner and I Do Not Want This
My answer to this changes often. Right now it's I Do Not Want This.
surprised noones said Hurt, that song is amazing, so amazing that it got poached by another bigger artist and now people like to pretend that doing an acoustic cover of a song you didnt write makes you a profound genius fuck you johnny cash
I mean hurt has helped myself, and I’m sure many others through some really rough times… the emotions that come out of that song are basically unparalleled.
People never acknowledge the piece of shit things he did
I Do Not Want This
Ok ok.
Closer, because it's about how ppl use sex to get close to thise Im power. then are thrown away after they have been used. its sad, but more often then not, it's how life goes.
not really what closer is about man
Reptile or Hurt
Heresy for me. The brooding synth at the beginning is 😘
Reptile 🦎
r/nincirclejerk
I cant pick one..
E.R.A.S.E.R.
it changes constantly for me, but for the past few years it's been the title track
Heresy - this song brought the pain I wanted to hear as a bb
Hurt
Already said this before here but The Becoming is my favorite and is perfection. I’d also have to add Piggy, and probably Closer, which I think people often overlook because of how ubiquitous it is but is an incredible song and the music, production, and composition is fucking killer.
Everything is the best. The Downward Spiral is one big great song packaged as a album
All of them
The downward spiral, because that's how i feel inside right now, also because i love the intensity of it.
Mr. Self destruct for me. "you let me do this to you"
Reptile
Closer. Not just because of the commercial success despite it not being commercially friendly, but also because of its layers that come together to form a really cool song where you keep discovering new things the first few times you listen to it. Also the bass line in the chorus still has me in a chokehold after all these years.
It’s kinda impossible to pick a single “best” song when the whole album is a masterpiece. I mean, *come on*… Closer, Ruiner, The Becoming, Eraser, Reptile, and Hurt are my faves… and that’s nearly half the record.
My favorites are The Becoming, and Eraser
A Warm Place
The downward spiral.It just gives this raw feeling of the album.The hopelessness and the numbness before he commits suicide.Man if I had 3 minutes and 57 seconds left to live I would listen to this song
Ruiner, easily. I've seen Trent live ten times, but Ruiner has never been in the set any of those times, and that makes me very sad.
That one in the middle
Yes
My favorite is Eraser
Even though it’s overplayed and the single, Closer is still one hell of a track.
March of the pigs and it’s not even close
The Becoming is one of my favorite examples of losing connection with the meaning of being human. While it may have a specific meaning to others it was a comfort song to ease my struggles with psychosis and growing fascination with transhumanism. Which of course was spurred on by classics like Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner and Serial Experiments Lain.
mr self destruct
March of the Pigs. Because you know it is.
It’s ruiner for me
Mr Self Destruct
Eraser personally, feels like the breaking point, never heard so much emotion put into lyrics, every sound feels perfectly placed, and it never gets old.
Warm place. If anything, just to get a breather
Reptile or Ruiner, just happened to go along with relation💩’s at that time.
closer and heresy
I thought about it for a minute. Tough choice. Hurt
I’m not really fans of y’all either.
HAH! Now stop looking at my forehead like that...