BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) MEMORABILIA
(Soft Cell cover/First appearing on “Closer To God”[single]) - I had to include this one due to just the fact there aren’t any more to go with. “I’m Afraid of Americans” is deemed a David Bowie track by most, but Trent did work on it. Same with “Banged and Blown Through”, it’s a Saul Williams song but Reznor produced and composed it. You can’t cover yourself. And I know there’s stuff from the last tour that could be included, but in most cases the songs performed were with the original artist themselves. The loose one here is the “Red Dwarf” cover from really early in their days, like 1988 three piece tour with Skinny Puppy early. And yeah, if we want to get technical that’s that hilarious “Eyes without a Face” cover he did with Option 30. So I’m left with my number four being “Memorabilia”. It’s probably one of the most underappreciated studio tracks from that era so no complaints from me.
(THREE) GET DOWN, MAKE LOVE
(Queen cover/First appearing on “Sin”[single]) - Until seeing it rocked to its ultimate groove on recent tours, I was always a little weirded out by this one. The original Queen version was “naughty”, but the Nine Inch Nails version takes it one step farther into that “extremely explicit” way. It’s been said that Reznor intended for it to be a “tongue-in-cheek” cover, but that’s not the vibe that came. There are no curse words in it at all, but I’d even go as far as saying it’s more vulgar than “Closer”. Then add this to the fact it’s on the “Sin” single? They might as well of called the release “Pent Up In Eyeliner” or something else much wittier.
(TWO) METAL
(Gary Numan cover/First appearing on “Things Fall Apart”[remix album]) - This song will pull you into a trance and drag you through a pulsing air. This cover works on so many levels. The mechanical sounding riffs, the layers of clanging metal, and the dry drone of Trent starts us off. Before you know it, you’re into a groove and Trent is showing more and more emotion. It’s as if the entire songs builds up, builds up, builds up, and bam. It’s over and flows right into the Numan instrumental medley. They played this during the last year or so of touring and even with Numan himself in some stops.
(ONE) DEAD SOULS
(Joy Division cover/First appearing on “The Crow Soundtrack”) -
This one has been played the most live and seems to of withstood time nicely. The original Joy Division song isn’t too different than this, but the NIN version just has way more life to it. This was on the soundtrack for “The Crow”, but would later appear on some special editions and reissues of “The Downward Spiral”. You can tell Trent enjoys singing this song and probably has a connection with it. This is what a good cover should be, a song that gives the old one more life and something that the covering artist connects with and is a fan of.
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