1001 Albums Summary

Tracks: Best To Worst 1. Maggot Brain 2. Can You Get To That 3. Wars Of Armageddon 4. Super Stupid 5. Hit It And Quit It 6. Back In Our Minds 7. You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks Final thoughts: This album is definitely high on LSD, most of the songs were all over the place, specifically the first and last. It opens with a black man telling us we fucked the Earth (figuratively and literally) and leads off into a 10 minute guitar solo which I have to say is excellent. Supposedly the guitar was told in the first half to think his mother died, then in the second half she survived, very odd. The last song is a culmination of explosions and fart noises, very odd as well. The entire album is one drug induced black trio which I enjoyed fair enough. 6/10

Mr Self Destruct: Someone is getting slapped and it turns into a drum beat. Feels like I’m in a car chase in I fast and furious. It’s quiet now and someone is whispering. SOMEONE GOT SHOT AND WERE BACK TO SCREAMING. He’s talking about being used and being controlled. Loud distortion towards the end. Piggy: immediately quieter than the last song and great contrast from that distortion from the end of the last track. Weird noise in my left speaker possibly a train? Soft vocals make the bass and synth pop which I enjoy. Various sound effects in the background possibly rainforest? Another train sound effect? Drums have been slowly added in to the mix of percussion instruments. More distortion at the end but less than last track and finishes withs funky synth and guitar. Heresy: Falsetto vocals are fine contrast to loud electronic synth. Nevermind he’s screaming into the mic. He’s talking about how god is dead and he’ll see us in hell😃 Wing flapping sound effects possibly demon? March Of The Pigs: Fast drum bit with 8bit synth. More yelling on his part talking about wanting something but he doesn’t like it. Quick Bowie like piano segment that softens his vocals and stops music for a bit but goes back into screaming. Crude imagery about killing pigs. Again with the Bowie type piano segment which lasts much longer and ends out the song Closer: Very crude imagery of this man wanting to get intimate with us😳 Funky synth. High pitched synth that acts like the strings. I don’t think he’s referring to us. He says he will go to great lengths to be with this person, even saying their the reason he stays alive. Ends with distorted piano and reverse tape loops. Ruiner: End of last song transitions into this song with the piano. More sex imagery. Harmony begins. Break from loud vocals to quiet bass with sound effects behind it. Bluesy Electric guitar solo transitions into heavy metal guitar solo. Synth rises the tension. Song ends abruptly with no real end. The Becoming: Tape loops of people screaming as he sings in his soft voice. He’s talking about how he’s changed as a person the last time we saw him. Quick guitar strumming with soft vocals. Sporadic industrial synth. There is a bad voice inside his head that makes him this way. Song closes out with soft acoustic strumming as it transitions to the next song with static sound. I Do Not Want This: He doesn’t want us to do things for him, he insists us to stop. Radio chatter? Gravely voice overshadowed by loudness. Crude imagery of how he wants to do everything. Big Man With A Gun: Sporadic screaming with intense synth and drum beat. He had a gun and he is going to kill us all😳 Song ends abruptly. A Warm Place: Its awfully quiet, too quiet. No vocals just strings and bass and peaceful ambience. Synth finally coming around 2:20 mark still very soft though with guitar plucking. Song comes to close with tremolo to the strings and spray bottle noises. Eraser: Spray bottle noise continues with humming noises. Drum beat follows. No vocals still at least half way through. Soft vocals saying ever adjective that ends in “you”. Loud vocals now saying every adjective that could end in “me” specifically “Kill me” Abrupt finish but does have an end. Reptile: Factory machine noises as soft plucking is layered over. Loud synth, drums, and tape loops of screeching plays over and over again. He is talking about his girl being similar to a reptile, as she has cold blood and dead eyes. Someone may be getting murdered as this song is among the scariest this album has to offer in terms of sound and theme. The Downward Spiral: Factory noises are distorted this time around and are drowned out be flies and other mysterious noises. Soft guitar plucking makes situation friendlier somehow. “Strawberry Fields Forever” in the background? Out of tune guitar strumming as wind gushes over us. Cat purring? Muffled screaming as a man talks over it about how he has committed a murder by shooting the man in the face. Chilling imagery. Hurt: Immediate contrast to every single song in this album with soft vocals and acoustic guitar with soft static in the background. Gives off chilling and depressing imagery of a man who’s lost everything. Vocals rise and drum beat follows. Back to just acoustic and soft vocals. His vocals are broken and you can here the pain I’m his voice. The emotion is strong with this one it is absolutely heartbreaking. One final distorted electric guitar riff to end his verse with his final line. White noise fills an empty abyss we can’t see the end of. Static closes out the song and puts a finish to the suffering. Final thoughts: This album is a masterpiece of its music trade. Though I may not be a fan of the style Nine Inch Nails is portraying, I can not deny the genius work behind this magnum opus of an album. As the story goes, it follows the story of a lonely man who has nothing in life and slowly goes insane over the period of this album, each song gets more intense than the last, showing the insanity going through his mind. His devious and evil thoughts were portrayed perfectly with the heavy industrial synth and many odd sound effects appearing in each song, and once you eventually reach the quick piano breaks in “March Of The Pigs” the contrast is incredibly stark, showing possibly and sense of relief in the man. On side B we then hear “A Warm Place” which is the perfect contrast the album was waiting as it’s quieter with soft acoustics, strings, bass, and other peaceful ambiance, it makes you think over the last 30 minutes of screaming and cries for help and places you in a sense of warmth and love, which is almost immediately tarnished with the next song “Eraser” yet even that is tamer than the likeness of Side A. Side B provides an incredible conclusion of insanity that this man’s life was leading up too, eventually killing a man and quite possibly ending his own, as the album closes out with the heartbreaking, final goodbye that is “Hurt” which is an immediate contrast to everything, with soft tender vocals, acoustic guitar and a sense of loss and forgiveness for his action. I’ve never heard emotion so strong in song than this, made only better with the hour buildup of insanity, making this album a true masterpiece of the art.