Day 0783 - The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails "The Downward Spiral" (1994) - got it

 

This was the first of these albums for a while that I've listened to on headphones (aside the ones I listen to while walking).  Most of them I just have going through my laptop speakers.   Trent Reznor knows his way around a studio and it seemed only right to get the full experience of his production.  He was also well ahead of the curve as far as working electronic elements into rock music.  
 

I've always thought it's a shame that more bands didn't explore that combination of hard rock and electronica.   The Spawn Soundtrack in 1997 had one or two great tracks in that vein.

Anyway, back to NIN.  This album was famously recorded in the house where Charles Manson's followers had killed Sharon Tate.   Messages in Tate's blood were still present in the house, so kind of a grim vibe to record in... this probably worked in the album's favour though as its' a confronting, angsty and grim collection of tracks.  The album was supposed to be a concept of sorts, centring around a character who has been destroyed physically and emotionally and is busy self-medicating with various substances.

The slow grooves of "Closer" and "Piggy (Nothing can stop me now)"  contrast sharply from the frantic and overwhelming full throttle of "Mr Self Destruct" and "March of the Pigs".   The whole thing wraps up with a penultimate track that slowly dissolves into the almost delicate "Hurt", later famously covered by Johnny Cash.

Day 0770 - Smash

 The Offspring "Smash" (1994) - got it

 

One of a group of more polished, catchy “pop punk” bands to emerge in the mid 90s (along with bands such as Green Day and Rancid).  

The band had signed to Epitaph records and were recording this, their third album on a tight budget.  Money was so tight that they had to constantly call the studio to utilise downtime between other bands' sessions in order to get a discounted rate of their studio time.  Several of the songs were worked out in the space of a couple of nights to make economical use of the time they had.

The band’s previous album had only sold around 15,000 copies, so they were under no illusions of their music finding a place on mainstream radio or MTV.   Lead single “Come Out and Play” changed all that, becoming a hit.  The album sold millions of copies, effectively setting up Epitaph and the Offspring (though they would soon depart for a major label) for the next few  years.  Guitarist Noodles was working as a school janitor and promised his boss not to quit until the end of the year.  He said that kids who had seen him on MTV would be surprised to see him cleaning.

When the band first started, singer Dexter Holland was on drums... which I find odd, because his high-pitched yell is so distinctive, it makes sense to have him on vocals.

The first track proper "Nitro (Youth Energy)" starts with a surf-rock style drum intro but then kicks into fast punk rock with mildly nihilistic lyrics.  Tracks like "Bad Habit" and "Self Esteem" show the band's humorous, slightly puerile side.   Track "Genocide" has a chord sequence that they seem to have reused on at least the subsequent couple of albums, so I'm not sure if that was an intentional through-line for their albums, or just plagiarising themselves.

While the band would come to be known for a string of novelty pop-punk hits (Pretty Fly for a White Guy, Original Prankster, Hit That), on Smash they were still pretty serious, if catchy, punk business.  

Day 0459 - Peter Gabriel III (AKA "Melt")

Peter Gabriel "Peter Gabriel III" (AKA "Melt") (1980)

 
Gabriel was well clear of his Genesis 'Prog' sound, and with his first two relatively quirky and eccentric solo albums also behind him, he seemed content to settle into a groove as a purveyor of interesting and innovative art pop-rock in the vein of Berlin-Bowie and Brian Eno. He even uses Eno-regular Robert Fripp on guitar, along with his Genesis bandmate (and vocal replacement) Phil Collins.

PG experiments with world music (sampling African chants for one song) and new technology, playing around with drum machines, and studio trickery to produce an album that seems a collision of human with machine.