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The Fragile is the third studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as a double album by Nothing Records and Interscope Records on September 21, 1999. It was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and the English producer Alan Moulder, a longtime Reznor collaborator. It was recorded throughout 1997 to 1999 in New Orleans. Looking to depart from the distorted production of their previous album, The Downward Spiral (1994), the album features elements of ambient and electronic music within a wide variety of genres. The album continues some of the lyrical themes from The Downward Spiral, including depression and drug abuse. The album notably contains more instrumental sections than their previous work, with some entire tracks being instrumentals. The Fragile is also one of the band's longest studio releases, clocking in at nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes long. The record was promoted with three singles: "The Day the World Went Away", "We're in This Together", and "Into the Void", as well as the promotional single "Starfuckers, Inc." and an accompanying tour, the Fragility Tour, which spanned two legs. Several accompanying recordings were also released, including a remix album, Things Falling Apart (2000), a live album, And All That Could Have Been (2002), as well as an alternate version of the record, The Fragile: Deviations 1 (2016). Upon release, critics applauded the album's ambition and composition, although some criticized its length and perceived lack of lyrical substance. However, in the years following its release, it has come to be regarded by many critics and listeners to be among the band's best work. The album debuted at number one in the U.S. to become the band's first chart-topper, and was eventually certified double platinum by the RIAA.
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Reviews
The Fragile is a good album by industrial band Nine Inch Nails. The album has a lot of dynamical changes within the tracks and they vary between aggressive and fragile. As such it follows the idea of the previous album The Downward Spiral. Compared to that album more elements of ambient and electronic music appear. The Fragile is not as good as The Downward Spiral. The quality of the first four tracks of that record is not nearly matched and "The Great Below" is great, but not as marvelous as "Hurt". In the end the record is a bit too long and gets weaker during the second ("right") disc. Still it's a solid four stars.
Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Somewhat damaged, The day the world went away, The wretched, We’re in this together, Into the void, Where is everybody, Please
The first two NIN albums were huge during my college radio days, I don't recall ever hearing much of this one in its day. This all seemed musically solid, had a meaningful arc to my ears, and pretty much held my attention throughout which is a decent trick for any double album. Industrial is not really my thing, suffering as it does from that Forever Darkness issue. I read more about Trent Reznor when I was looking into this than I have throughout the rest of my life and found it hilarious to learn (in the context of his chosen genre) that he is in an apperently super stable long term marriage with 5 or 6 kids (weirdly hard to pin that number down). Well played.
As I listened to this I became more impressed at Nine Inch Nails. I already liked their music a lot… but the epic length of this had me thinking about how they move out of rock music to something more in albums like these. Great stuff!
Perfection, and somehow still not their best work! Should absolutely be in the book, along with all their other albums.
Well, Trent Reznor produces another album immaculately. In my review of Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle, I mentioned how NIN hugely influenced Numan's later career, and how, similarly, Numan massively influenced Reznor's early career. This recording, with its much stripped-back synths has a much more evident lineage from Numan. Indeed, Reznor covered "Metal" from The Pleasure Principle while recording this, later released on the Things Falling Apart companion album. The connection between Numan and Reznor is genuinely one of those lovely stories from the world and history of music. So yes, The Fragile is different to The Downward Spiral. It's also different to Pretty Hate Machine, and very different to Brokenu. And that's OK. With NIN we don't want more of the same - we want to hear Trent Reznor working voodoo magic (he was in New Orleans for this, after all) on the mixing desk. NIN really have done quite a varied selection of music, and they don't seem to be in any mood to stop innovating. Despite my well-established dislike of live albums, I find myself enjoying their latest release (Nine Inch Noize, a colab with Boys Noize) immensely. I don't think that any artist or band deserves to have every album they push out included in the user list, and NIN is no exception to that - but this is probably decent enough, and different enough from The Downward Spiral to maybe get away with it.
Taken by itself, this is a much more accessible entry to Nine Inch Nails, but if studied as the "aftermath" of The Downward Spiral, it continues the story of an individual who has fallen apart, completely destroyed their life, and is now picking up the pieces, only to discover that there is no ready or pat answer. In that sense, it's a master class in the 'Angry White Boy' music of the late 90s - the collapse of the ideology that hatred will solve things, and the ensuing aftermath that haunts the participants for the rest of their lives.
For me, the best of NIN. This is more than a mood, it's a state of being.
Trent Reznor is a madman. This was a huge album and full of his trademark industrial gothic sound. I personally like his radio stuff a little better but this is a real top notch album to sink some teeth into.
I gave downward spiral a 5, this doesn’t quite match up but still worthy of the list and an album that needs listening to.
Definitely a bit bloated, but still an excellent one. The highs on this are even higher than Downward Spiral, I'd say.
This is one I do listen to on my own sometimes. I often criticize records on this list for being too long. I make an exception when it’s deliberately super long like this one. I like that I can fall into the atmosphere of this record and let the world was over me.
Was a more mature sound for NIN, I think. Still good
NIN does need An acquired taste. I kinda like it
I see now why NIN got the nod for the most recent TRON soundtrack given how well the electronic elements are woven into this LP. The synths don’t always gel perfectly with the band’s classic abrasive industrial, but for the most part this is a version of NIN I wish I had discovered much sooner. The LP did feel a little long (even without the deluxe version additions) and could use some trimming, but still a solid listen.
My 1st impression of The Fragile was "Bloat, bloat, BLOAT", and that also maybe I'm not the Nine Inch Nails fan I thought I was, considering how much I enjoyed Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine. But maybe I wasn't in the right headspace that time, so I'd be willing to give this another shot Disc 1 is so close to a four-star album in my eyes, starting and ending strong with "Something Damaged" and "The Great Below", respectively. "We're In This Together" has to be in my top 5 songs I've heard from this band. Disc 2 is not a bad listen, but drags down the average with so many slow, repetitive retreads of sounds I've already heard from NiN. Also Reznor tries some big beat/breakbeat, because it was 1999 after all. Unfortunately, my 2nd full listen still leaves me frustrated and tired, even though (see below) one can still find some quality industrial rock here. I think making it 2 hours had the unfortunate side effect of emphasizing Reznor's limitations as a singer and songwriter, even as he flirts with new metal and electronic subgenres. At least I can tell, through things like the film soundtracks, Ghosts I-IV, and the recent collab with Boys Noize, that he continues to push himself as an artist, which I always respect. HL: "Somewhat Damaged", "We're In This Together", "La Mer", "Into the Void", "Starfuckers, Inc."
NIN can basically do no wrong in my book. Even the whole “this is too long” complaint doesn’t bother me because I could listen all day.
My absolute favorite NIN album? Instant 5/5
I enjoyed the album; I generally like NIN but hadn't ever listened all the way through this one. So good share from that point of view. I'm not sure it adds much to the list, though.
Yeah pretty good
I liked this more than the other NIN album, but by god it didn't need to be this long. It gets exhausting near the end. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.
I didn't find much magic in this. I enjoy the sound, rawness and energy, but i'm not sure what warrants a double album that reaches nearly 2 hours.
It's alright, but I really don't need an hour and 43 minutes of Nine Inch Nails. Is it weird that his vocals remind me of Lenny Kravitz? 2.5 stars, rounding to 3.
I've never been angsty/angry enough for NIN. It's cool that it brought industrial to the mainstream but it's still "woe is me I'm rich and famous" just in slightly different clothes. It's good,(though the second disc is much stronger) and the longer instrumental passages are often much more interesting, but if you've heard The Downward Spiral, you don't need to hear this double album of navel gazing. Best Tracks: The Day The World Went Away; Into The Void; Starfuckers Inc.
I like Trent and a lot of his other stuff but this didn't hit me. It seemed a bit formulaic? Maybe I just didn't didn't get it....
Would need more listens to really digest this whole album. It is enjoyable but it also felt somewhat repetitive
If I was in the right mood for some NIN this would rule but it's so long that I cannot
Industrial rock, art rock, alternative rock. Demasiado lento y largo para mi gusto. Un 2.
I like the band, but this is just too much nonsense. 2
I listened to the first “CD” / “side” (what do we call it these days??) and that was enough. I don’t need two hours of anything to know whether I like it or not. It was ok.