[albummaster]

Today's album of the day

The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1999.
Country:
Overall rank: 474
Average rating: 76/100 (from 159 votes).

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tracks:
1. Somewhat Damaged
2. The Day The World Went Away
3. The Frail
4. The Wretched
5. We're In This Together
6. The Fragile
7. Just Like You Imagined
8. Even Deeper
9. Pilgrimage
10. No, You Don't
11. La Mer
12. The Great Below
13. The Way Out Is Through
14. Into The Void
15. Where Is Everybody?
16. The Mark Has Been Made
17. Please
18. Starfuckers, Inc.
19. Complication
20. I'm Looking Forward To Joining You, Finally
21. The Big Come Down
22. Underneath It All
23. Ripe (With Decay)

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.

[Mercury]

The first album I ever owned. The first album I ever really really loved AS A WHOLE, COMPLETE ALBUM.

And it's still quite good. The beats and rhythm tracks are killer. And it's just a really great double album.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[joshtraina]

I've never been a huge Nine Inch Nails fan, but I may check this out today.

[ShaneSpear]

Probably the best album, the most complete album (odd for a double) and the last great album Trent has made.

4/5 of my favorite NIN songs are here (We're In This Together, The Fragile, Into the Void, Where is Everybody?)

[Mercury]

[RockyRaccoon]

It's not my favorite but it's still great. La Mer is beautiful.
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Progressive Rock

Early Psychedelic Rock

Live Albums

[RawlsRE]

I'm also quite keen on this album, but I suppose the trick to getting the most out of it is to limit your focus to the production and album design alone. Or if not that, do your best to ignore the lyrics. Yes they really are that bad. In fact, when listening to NIN, I typically find myself envying those who can't speak English.

Granted, the Fragile's lyrics don't get to a Pretty Hate Machine level of goofy, but they approach it from time to time, especially in the songs that just rattle through rhyming words to the point where they lose all meaning ('where is everybody' takes this especially far). Imagine how good 'the way out is through' might have been if the entire song didn't rise to its sham climax of pubescent angst and cliche. Or maybe the issue is that Trent adheres rather dogmatically to his rhyming schemes - after all, it's a mark of a poor lyricist that he is led around by his rhyming scheme rather than the other way around.

But despite that, the album sounds amazing. If I taught a course on how sound design can contribute to songwriting (and I grant that it's cosmic justice that I don't), I would stick this on the syllabus right after the obligatory Eno and Spector. It also tackles sequencing in an interesting way. Each song runs into the next using a series of clever intros and outros, and a handful of instrumentals provide breathing room or adrenalin (as required) while at the same time lending a kind of emotional bedrock to the album. In fact, this is what sold me on the album as the appropriate vehicle for consuming music. Apparently Trent wasn't too happy with he results, but then it's inevitable that a 23-track album will get a little unwieldy.

I like 'somewhat damaged' (remember, ignore the lyrics!) and 'just like you imagined' best. If I remember correctly, they're also the songs with the most adventurous time signatures - the bulk of 'somewhat damaged' is in 9 and 'just like you imagined' is in 10.

[rayword45]

I haven't listened to any NIN in at least a year now, but when I listened to them, this album was my favorite. It was the most diverse album, with every song showing clear attention to detail.

Then he made that With Teeth garbage. I kinda liked Year Zero and Ghosts but yes, this was the last great album.

[Zalmoxis]

This album is a masterpiece, a classic in the history of rock music. Maybe, the most underrated album of all time.