Things Falling Apart – Nine Inch Nails (2000) – Album Review

Album: Things Fall Apart

Artist: Nine Inch Nails

Release Date: November 21, 2000

Ah yes, Things Falling Apart – one of the worst reviewed Nine Inch Nails releases of all time. Incidentally, this is our favorite Nine Inch Nails release. Before he was composing music for Disney and even before his stark lighting emo With-Uh Teeth-UH photoshoot went viral on MySpace, Trent was crawling out of the wreckage of The Fragile; an album Reznor famously called “ridiculous” and “unbalanced.” Besides the fact that he was going through rehab and was just generally unwell, it’s not a surprise his perception of this album is skewed. I think maybe the fact that it didn’t do as well commercially as the Downward Spiral, probably sent him into a downward sp- … wait, that’s mean.

One of the reasons I like The Fragile, besides the fact that it’s fucking awesome, is the fact that it spawned this remix album: Things Falling Apart. Long dismissed by critics who didn’t quite know what to do with it, in hindsight it seems like a self-aware reaction to collapse and, honestly, I’m here for it. Slipping Away and The Great Collapse might be one of the best back-to-back openers I’ve ever heard. The Great Collapse is technically an original composition, but it’s probably a remix of a throwaway track that didn’t make it on the Fragile. It’s some of Trent’s best work. And The Wretched? Chef’s kiss. Remarkable. The first time I heard this album it blew my fucking mind. Even the terrible Starfuckers, Inc. is made palatable with a remix.

For me, this album occupies a very specific place in memory: an almost melancholy moment of discovery when new music felt limitless, dangerous, and for me, that was a deeply personal feeling. Also, this album also has one of the greatest cover songs of all time. Trent’s rendition of Gary Numan‘s Metal is somehow better than the original. The detachment of Numan’s original becomes, what’s the word I’m looking for here … devotional in Trent’s hands. For many of us, this became the definitive version, a kind of perfect intersection of everything you might like about Reznor’s production and sensibilities.

This album sounds like the inside of a machine learning how to feel again. Whatever Trent was going through it yielded amazing music. To this day, I don’t think he’s come anywhere close to the strength of this work. From a production standpoint, it’s primal. It sweats, it bleeds … it’s an autopsy of a personal collapse. The death of the old Trent and the rebirth of our friend who then turned 40 and got buff.

If you’re a NIN fan and haven’t heard this album, stop what you’re doing and listen to it now.