I got my violence in high-def ultra-realism
Ok yes: I swayed with teen geek angst to Head Like a Hole in a dingy industrial club when I was a young 'un. The first time I heard the song a guy named "bonehead" was trying to sell me magic mushrooms. I remember that "bonehead" informed us that he had lost track of the suns. Ah, the innocence of youth.
And yes, I rode the Downward Spiral to help me through a romantic existential car crash tinged by a lovely prolonged bout of severe chronic tonsillitis.
"The me that you know is now made up of wiresSo yeah, while my musical tastes have exploded since then I still like me some Nine Inch Nails.
And even when Im right with you Im so far away"
I love the viral campaign for the new concept Album, Year Zero. There's fake websites like art is resistance, bogus phone numbers to call, strange message boards rife with hints at the backstory -- all being processed by an army of OCD fans. While I don't want to participate in the complicated mythos per se -- I've enjoyed paying attention to it.
I've heard some criticism that it's pretentious marketing schlock. Personally I see it as an extension of the ambient noise found in most Pink Floyd concept albums, but across medium. He's doing some interesting things here, which includes doling out free tracks without DRM (something that annoys the RIAA), and even offering the songs broken down so they can be re-mixed by fans with sequencing software.
Then again I've always been a sucker for anything post-apocalyptic.
"I got my propaganda
I got revisionism
I got my violence
In hi-def ultra-realism
All a part of this great nation
I got my fist
I got my plan
I got survivalism"