Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 157: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

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Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Thursday, March 28th at 8:00 AM Central Time; If you do get in a vote after the deadline but before I post the results, I will probably include it.
7. Every few weeks, a nomination period will open; there may or may not be a theme. Each user can nominate one album. The following week, everyone will be able to rank their top ~5 among the choices - this will use a bottom-up scoring approach, i.e. voting for one album will give your #1 a single point, voting for five will give your #1 five points, so it is always better to vote for the maximum number of albums. The top ~5 will then be covered.
8. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral track list:
1. Mr. Self Destruct
2. Piggy
3. Heresy
4. March of the Pigs
5. Closer
6. Ruiner
7. The Becoming
8. I Do Not Want This
9. Big Man with a Gun
10. A Warm Place
11. Eraser
12. Reptile
13. The Downward Spiral
14. Hurt

Future weeks:
3/28: Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape
4/4: Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
4/11: Knower - Knower Forever
4/18: The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop
4/25: Viktor Vaughn - Vaudeville Villain
5/2: Garbage - Version 2.0

One of my favorite albums, excited to listen again as if I don't already pretty regularly

The Weeknd - Dawn FM results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Sheep007 (29)
MaxGalactica (32)
Seanchan (39)
PunishedJeezy (40)
FoolFantastic (47)
Fluttershy_Pony (53)
HBJDubs (67)
Johnbobb (76)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: Dawn FM is the first Weeknd album I've loved beginning to end since his debut mixtape. Most of his albums contain a couple greats and empty space between, but this one makes a stunning whole. The "skits" really sell the atmosphere, this idea of a late night radio station. One of those throwback albums that builds off its inspirations while still feeling like the genuine article.

Fluttershy_Pony: Good album. Had a hard time finalizing my ranking.

PunishedJeezy: Pretty good album! I enjoyed the interludes and the overall vibe. Does maybe drag a little bit in the second half.

Johnbobb: So The Weeknd is an odd case, as I think his music in general is fine, not entirely my thing but I certainly don't mind it, it just doesn't stick out much. But the album itself is great. I love when albums really make the extra effort to sound like a cohesive piece, not just with songs leading into each other, but with a very distinct vibe being established. The interludes were often my favorite part of it, and I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much without them.

Sheep007: Great album. Starts off incredibly strong, and I think it's a little weaker in the middle and towards the end. Overall it's got pretty great theming - the intermissions really bring things together. I kinda wish the best songs were dotted around a bit more, because I was really excited after the first four, and then it mostly didn't hit the same highs, although Less than Zero is very good as well. I'm a little surprised to see The Weeknd at #1 on monthly streams on Spotify, but Blinding Lights was huge, and there's some great tracks on here - it's overall a super palatable album, without totally playing it safe.

Seanchan: Overall, an enjoyable album. Even the skits/interludes aren't too bad, though I did rank them at the bottom.

After 2 listens, I thought of Take My Breath as the Daft Punk song. Obviously that's not true but there was something about the beat that just reminded me a lot of the French duo.

HBJDubs: While nothing individually stands out, this album flows really well and I was grooving throughout the whole thing. Very good album

MaxGalactica: Not sure if this is my favorite album by The Weeknd, but it's up there. It's Abel's most consistent album and the immersion with the radio station setting is done really well. It is a bit front-loaded, but there are a handful of great tracks in the second half as well. Take My Breath, Sacrifice, How Do I Make You Love Me?, Less Than Zero, and Gasoline were all big highlights for me. Great album overall.

Dawn FM track ranking

15 (tie). Dawn FM (Track #1)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 12/16)
Biggest Fan(s): PunishedJeezy (#9)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#15)

15 (tie). Best Friends (Track #9)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 12/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#16)

13 (tie). Here We GoAgain (Track #8)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 11.88/16)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Seanchan (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007 (#16)

13 (tie). A Tale by Quincy (Track #6)
Score: 33 (Average Rank: 11.88/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Seanchan, HBJDubs (#16)

12. I Heard You're Married (Track #14)
Score: 38 (Average Rank: 11.25/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): PunishedJeezy (#16)

11. Starry Eyes (Track #11)
Score: 43 (Average Rank: 10.88/16)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#15)

10. Phantom Regret by Jim (Track #16)
Score: 49 (Average Rank: 10/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic (#15)

9. Every Angel is Terrifying (Track #12)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 9.88/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): PunishedJeezy (#15)

8. Don't Break My Heart (Track #13)
Score: 56 (Average Rank: 9/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy (#12)

7. Is There Someone Else? (Track #10)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 7.63/16)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#16)

6. Out of Time (Track #7)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 7.38/16)
Biggest Fan(s): PunishedJeezy, Seanchan (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

5. Sacrifice (Track #5)
Score: 78 (Average Rank: 6.63/16)
Biggest Fan(s): MaxGalactica (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#15)

4. How Do I Make You Love Me? (Track #3)
Score: 99 (Average Rank: 4.38/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Sheep007 (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#8)

3. Less Than Zero (Track #15)
Score: 105 (Average Rank: 3.75/16)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#8)

2. Gasoline (Track #2)
Score: 107 (Average Rank: 4.25/16)
Biggest Fan(s): Fluttershy_Pony, Johnbobb, Sheep007 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

1. Take My Breath (Track #4)
Score: 123 (Average Rank: 3.25/16)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, PunishedJeezy, Seanchan, HBJDubs, MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Fluttershy_Pony (#11)

The major achievement of The Downward Spiral is taking one of the most intentionally cold styles of popular music and drawing raw emotion from it. It is exactly what it says on the tin, a downward spiral into growing self-loathing. Trent Reznor found human meaning in mechanical sound. It might not be a traditionally 'pleasant' experience, but it's certainly one of the most successful concept albums out there. "Closer" remains one of the most terrifying songs ever written, a total breaking point disguised as animalistic lust. "Hurt" gets unfairly overshadowed by Johnny Cash's cover - while I agree Cash's version is better, part of that is how he recontextualizes an already powerful song. The way that final line of hope is almost completely silenced by the music always gets to me. The perfect closer to a phenomenal album.

Closer
Hurt
March of the Pigs
Heresy
The Becoming
Ruiner
I Do Not Want This
Piggy
Mr. Self Destruct
A Warm Place
Big Man with a Gun
Reptile
Eraser
The Downward Spiral

Yeah I figured I'd be a big outlier on that one

Interesting, this makes them one of the few artists to have 2 albums covered by this topic series (I was looking through the old lists when I was considering things to nominate last week).

Who have we had so far? Nine Inch Nails, Taylor Swift, Gorillaz, The Beatles, and Jack White if we include The White Stripes? And somehow Yoko Kanno will be joining them within a few weeks of each other.

Finally stopped being lazy and created the fourth page:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_4

FoolFantastic posted...

Who have we had so far? Nine Inch Nails, Taylor Swift, Gorillaz, The Beatles, and Jack White if we include The White Stripes? And somehow Yoko Kanno will be joining them within a few weeks of each other.

That seems right to me. And we had some noms for a third Swift album at one point.

Good news, Joni Mitchell has finally returned to Spotify, just in time to not be featured in the current batch of albums

Bump

First listen done.

As usual, yes, this was really a first listen, other than Closer and Hurt. I guess I didn't get it? I didn't necessarily expect to, based on my usual listening tastes and not being particularly high on Pretty Hate Machine. But I know this is an album held in high regard.

Maybe that partly comes down to a bad listening environment? I was in my car and I found the mix, especially the first few songs, to be not good, though maybe it was done on purpose? The lyrics were very low and completely overwhelmed by the instrumentation.

1. Hurt
2. Closer
3. Mr. Self Destruct
4. Heresy
5. I Do Not Want This
6. Reptile
7. Ruiner
8. Big Man With A Gun
9. A Warm Place
10. The Downward Spiral
11. Piggy
12. March of the Pigs
13. Eraser
14. The Becoming

I think this is honestly a top 10 album for me

1. Piggy - The back third of this song is one of my favorite drum breakdowns of all time
2. Reptile - it hurts to not also be able to put this as #1. When I think of industrial metal, this is the song I think of
3. Hurt
4. I Do Not Want This
5. Mr. Self Destruct
6. March of the Pigs
7. Closer
8. The Becoming
9. Big Man with a Gun
10. Heresy - still a great song but I don't like it quite as much as I did as an edgy teen
11. Eraser
12. The Downward Spiral
13. Ruiner
14. A Warm Place - very effective for its place in the album as a whole, but less so on its own as a song

Havent ranked an album in awhile, but I know this one well.

March of the Pigs
Heresy
Closer
Hurt
Ruiner
The Becoming
A Warm Place
I Do Not Want This
Eraser
Piggy
Mr. Self Destruct
Reptile
Big Man With a Gun
The Downward Spiral

1. Hurt
2. The Becoming
3. Heresy
4. Piggy
5. March of the Pigs
6. Ruiner
7. The Downward Spiral
8. I Do Not Want This
9. A Warm Place
10. Mr. Self Destruct
11. Closer
12. Reptile
13. Big Man with a Gun
14. Eraser

1. Closer
2. Ruiner
3. I Do Not Want This
4. Hurt
5. March of the Pigs
6. Heresy
7. The Becoming
8. Eraser
9. A Warm Place
10. Mr. Self Destruct
11. Reptile
12. Piggy
13. Big Man With a Gun
14. The Downward Spiral

Took me a few songs to get into this, but this is a really strong concept album. Closer in particular is absolutely phenomenal. The whole thing is almost a little too intense, a little too focused on a glob of thoroughly negative feeling for me to enjoy it as much as I might other albums. That said, I don't have to want to listen on repeat to recognise how good it is.

1. The Becoming
2. Closer
3. Hurt
4. Ruiner
5. March of the Pigs
6. Heresy
7. Reptile
8. Mr. Self Destruct
9. Eraser
10. I Do Not Want This
11. Piggy
12. The Downward Spiral
13. A Warm Place
14. Big Man With a Gun

Incredible album. The synth production in particular feels way ahead of its time. I love how brutally aggressive Trent Reznor's vocals and the instrumentals are. The bottom three in my ranking (The Downward Spiral, A Warm Place, and Big Man With a Gun) are the only tracks I think aren't stellar. Very glad we got to cover this.

Also worth mentioning that this album coming up is what finally motivated me to start going through the rest of NIN's discography, since this album was the only one I was already familiar with. I still have 6 albums left to go through, but The Fragile in particular was awesome. Pretty Hate Machine was good for the most part, but felt pretty raw and a lot less developed than Trent's future projects.

bump

Listened last night, gonna have to revisit some to get a second opinion but will squeeze in a list before tomorrow.

1. Closer
2. Heresy
3. Mr. Self Destruct
4. March of the Pigs
5. Ruiner
6. I Do Not Want This
7. Reptile
8. Big Man With a Gun
9. Hurt
10. The Becoming
11. Eraser
12. Piggy
13. The Downward Spiral
14. A Warm Place

This seems right.

An interesting album. It took a second listen for it to click. Hurt is a curious song. I didn't enjoy it (not because of the challenging subject matter, it just didn't click with me as a song), but it was still compelling.

1. Closer
2. Hurt
3. Heresy
4. March of the Pigs
5. Mr. Self Destruct
6. Eraser
7. The Becoming
8. A Warm Place
9. Big Man with a Gun
10. Reptile
11. Ruiner
12. I Do Not Want This
13. The Downward Spiral
14. Piggy

Only got 2 listens in on this one. Should have done another tonight but just wasn't in the mood, especially with this album.

I'm very conflicted about how I feel about this one. I did another listen to Pretty Hate Machine to compare and that one has got a few more songs that I enjoyed but it doesn't feel as cohesive. Like Sheep007, I found The Downward Spiral to be a lot to take in; it's a harsh and at points overwhelming album. On my 2nd listen it was such a relief to get to A Warm Place because of the songs preceding it, which is likely exactly the point.

My other odd thought was that I was reminded of Slipknot in just the general soundscape and intensity of the music and emotions. As I've said multiple times in the past though, I'm just not at a point in my life now where I want to hear and revel in brooding, depressing, angry music. It makes it hard to judge because there's the opposing thoughts in my head of "this is probably good and effective at what it's trying to do" and "this is just not for me".

1. Hurt
2. Eraser
3. Ruiner
4. The Downward Spiral
5. Reptile
6. A Warm Place
7. Closer
8. I Do Not Want This
9. The Becoming
10. Big Man With A Gun
11. Piggy
12. March Of The Pigs
13. Heresy
14. Mr. Self Destruct

Incredible album. A ton of these songs get shuffled around with each listen, but the top 3 are set in stone. Eraser in particular is so anxiety-inducing, there's nothing quite like it for me.

Closer
Ruiner
Heresy
Reptile
I Do Not Want This
The Becoming
Hurt
Mr. Self Destruct
March of the Pigs
A Warm Place
Eraser
Big Man with a Gun
The Downward Spiral
Piggy

Kinda wish that I didn't previously know 2 songs here so their bias wouldn't impact my ranking.

Hurt
A warm place
Mr. Self Destruct
Reptile
Eraser
March of the Pigs
The downward spiral
Closer
Piggy
I do not want this
The Becoming
Heresy
The Ruiner
Big man with a gun

Lot more f****** and dick stuff than I expect.

Overall this is kind of like Requiem for a Dream (which is also a downward spiral) in that it's "good", but once is enough.