Archive for the ‘The Downward Spiral (1994) – Nine Inch Nails’ Category
- starts with treated vox sample (apparently a male porn actor orgasming)
- short sharp to the point
- drums start, bass joins, vox and gtrs join.
- rapid fire drumming contrasted with relatively slow gtr chords
- return of key line ‘nothing can stop me now’
KEY IDEAS to plunder
- rapid fire drumming contrasted with relatively slow gtr chords
- return of key line ‘nothing can stop me now’
- crossfade from previous track – filtered distant beat, panned hard right
- track officially starts with beat coming in proper (unfiltered, full stereo)
- great beat – stays solid for the whole track
- piano arpeggio chords
- cntr vox
- spoken section; backing vox hard left, spoken filtered hard right
- instrumental section, after the gtr wanking, some cool textured throbbing
- climax; vox overlays (panning, filtered, different performance styles) – same 4 lines overlapping
- long track with lots of details in each section …
KEY IDEAS to plunder
- great beat
- contrast of plaintive acst elements (piano) with hard industrial elements (drums and noises)
- very strange rhythm – 7 beats, then 6 (which I think is in 13/8.)
- piano intro, hammering out the chords and rhythm
- drums join and background loops of people screaming, or laughing.
- heavy machine drums drive the main beat, repeated throughout the song
- acoustic break in the middle; acst gtr and backing vox (ah ah) – this part seems 3/4
- rapid fire bass/gtr riff joins
- returns to acoustic part
- song drifts off to the left, fading, goes to hard pan as next track fades in on the right
KEY IDEAS to plunder
- hard panned crossfade into next track
- unusual rhythm – makes it hard to dance/tap foot to
- industrial number with some funky beats.
- extreme panned backwards sounds from ‘closer’ cross over to this intro
- chorus; hard panned left only vox, very dry
- pre chorus bridge vox unintelligible – dimly audible vocal production
- ominous and cinematic keyboard/synthesizer sweep during the sexual innuendo-filled chorus. ‘how’d you get so big?’
- instrumental section features, hard panned drums (right) and hard panned gtr solo (left)
- final line ‘nothing can stop me now’ – hard cut right on the word ‘stop’ – prosody
KEY IDEAS to plunder
- pre chorus bridge vox unintelligible – dimly audible vocal production
- final line ‘nothing can stop me now’ – hard cut right on the word ‘stop’ – prosody

- very long, 6 mins
- stilted electronic beat intro
- wah wah bass line
- relatively sparse, compared to other tracks
- faux strings – dirty and distant
- call and response vox
- chorus; no gtr up front, organ instead?
- middle section lots drops out, leaving basic beat, distant faux strings, and punches of bass line
- then ‘solo’ section. wah wah synth, indecipherable vocal mutterings
- backwards gtr stabs, hard panned
- extreme panning in the final section; backwards sounds, wobbly piano melody – theme
KEY IDEAS to plunder
- piano melody from previous tracks – establishing itself as the album theme melody
- extreme, uncompromising lyric
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a track by track analysis of key productions
to take inspiration from