Trent Reznor = Weird Al?

You could say that back in the day, I was a huge Nine Inch Nails fan. Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, Fixed, and The Downward Spiral pretty much ruled my stereo for about 4 years straight. I was knee-deep in NIN's emergence and I loved it. I saw them live at Woodstock 94. I flew to Louisville KY to see them in a general admissions free-for-all. I saw them in Philly and Baltimore. I couldn't get enough. But beginning with the over-playing of "Closer" and continuing through Reznor's pre-madonna 4 years between albums fooling around and culminating with his latest album With Teeth, I have come to the conclusion that Reznor has indeed lost his genius and has been resting on the laurels of work done over a decade ago. With Teeth is an okay album. At best. Really it isn't very good but I have a hard time saying that out loud. I heard it for the first time today and I was disappointed. There really isn't anything new on With Teeth, in fact most of it is re-hash or borrowing from bands that use noisy-atmospheric-industrial techniques better. I'm sure this new album will translate into a great concert for people, but I'm skipping it. Whatever they do with this new material it won't live up to seeing the Downward Spiral tour 4 times. This all brings me back to something an old girlfriend of mine observed back in the 90's. She said that Trent Reznor sounds just like Weird Al Yankovic. And you know what, Kristen Stiteler was right. Reznor is a nasal, whiny little SOB who's back catalogue rules the earth, but who's new material couldn't angst its way out of a wet paper bag.

Originally posted on May 6, 2005 on Myspace.