It can be two things at once... a song that fits into the story of the album AND a parody/commentary on gangsta rap. Sorry if I just blew anyone's mind with that.
It can be two things at once... a song that fits into the story of the album AND a parody/commentary on gangsta rap. Sorry if I just blew anyone's mind with that.
Everything's blu in this world. Except Closure and And All That Could Have Been.
Another exception, the smile is red, and its eyes are black.
It was only confusing insofar as they were basically saying the same thing you facepalmed when I said it; the imagery of "limp dicks" conjured by the song "Getting Smaller" was a statement on his "inefficacy/uselessness" at the time of With Teeth, which he was deliberately alluding to as a form of impotency. The "rant" I went on surrounding that point was simply meant to illustrate the pattern of expression which is his m.o. for the sake of establishing his intent with respect to the "limp dicks" imagery.
And I don't take facepalming that seriously, fwiw...at least not as seriously as the people who actually pay money to enable the feature. I just thought it was worth asking about given the circumstances. Also, LOL at the idea of me sounding homophobic, ffs. I'd think being the guy in pigtails and make-up who's a massive fan of NIN and Marilyn Manson would go a LONG way towards establishing my lack of discomfort with the idea of non-hetero sexuality, lol. I mean, that's not exactly the kind of stuff most homophobes would gravitate towards, right?
Well, yeah...obviously?
I was hardly suggesting that Reznor actually had himself castrated, lol.
Yeah, I think it's fair to say that "Big Man with a Gun" is practically a companion piece to "Me and a Gun."
In fact, Reznor even went out of his way to mention in several interviews that he actually played the song for her in person to see how she felt about him possibly including it on the album. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for THAT conversation. Eek.
Needless to say, however, she agreed that it should be included.
Speaking of which, I can't say I recall ever having noticed any re-recorded, new performances on the 2004 remasterings of this song.
Could anyone be more specific about what exactly was re-recorded? I'd be curious to hear that.
That also would remove it from the album's concept (unless she's part of it) and, youknow, I very much doubt she would have been OK with him doing that. Remember Just Do It was pulled for being too dark, a song about raping one of his close friends (or a visceral conceptual response to that) being left on is very unlikely.
Well, he asked her for her okay and he got it. That's what he said at the time, at least.
And considering what he's also said about the album being based on his own life experiences with additional elements of fantasy, I don't really see how "Big Man with a Gun" being, in part, a rape-fantasy which was possibly inspired by the song a very close friend of his wrote about her own real life experience with the subject would in any way "remove it from the album's concept."
And it is UNQUESTIONABLY not just a parody of gangsta-rap, btw.
From the man himself:
It's about the peak of madness and delirium clearly described within the song itself.SPIN: Let me ask you about Downward Spiral's "Big Man With A Gun." I'm sure you've heard the story of C. Delores Tucker going to the Time/Warner people and saying 'Could you read these lyrics out loud?" And they refused. They are crude lyrics.
TRENT REZNOR: Absolutely. The record was nearing completion. I had written those lyrics pretty quickly and I didn't know if I was going to use them or not. To me, Downward Spiral builds to a certain degree of madness, then it changes. That would be the last stage of delirium. So the original point of "Big Man With A Gun" was madness. But it was also making fun of the whole misogynistic gangsta-rap bulls**t.
And it's ALSO a satire of gangsta-rap.
Great interview, btw! Well worth reading in full:
http://www.theninhotline.net/archive...cle.php?id=625
I was suggesting what I'd been suggesting on this point all along, which is in agreement with your own post, that Fixed was chosen as a title due to its word association with Broken, and that it was intentionally meant as a pun regarding the meaning of the word "fixed," as in neutered, playing off of the implications of the use of the word "broken" in "Gave Up" in relation to its imagery of impotence.
I don't know exactly how people are interpreting the track as a response, but "response" can mean a lot of things. Response can be a synonym to reaction, and a lot of fictional narrative art works are reactions to real specific events. It seems like you're interpreting "response" more narrowly, and because of that, you might be arguing against something people aren't claiming.
Oh, okay. I wasn't responding to your post specifically anyway, instead responding to the discussion as a whole, but I don't think that the title was chosen to reference the "imagery of impotence" or any other metaphor - that was what I was saying in my post. I think either it was solely chosen because it's a word associated with Broken or it was chosen because of that and also because Trent thought the other meanings of fixed were humorous.
This is not a thing. There is no "imagery of impotence" to critique when impotence itself is already being used as a metaphor. If you take a metaphor, and combine it with other metaphorical imagery, you are mixing metaphors. Reznor is not a lazy writer, his metaphors can be crude but he does not as a rule combine layers of allusion in this obtuse way. Your inference is kind of like that photo of the guy with dollar bills strapped to his eyeglasses, but instead it's limp dicks.
Last edited by botley; 09-12-2015 at 11:11 PM.
Reznor has said, in shitloads of interviews, that TDS is a concept album and an exploration of power. Sex and power and one fictitious character's goal in achieving ultimate (God-like) power. BMWAG is the male's ultimate use of power. His dick and his gun (both equal tools of power) are used in tandem to achieve control and power. Gansta rap exhibits this same misogynist power. Then the protagonist eventually meets the Reptile, then he tries to kill himself when he realizes he's a total asshole.
Here is a pretty good interpretation: http://www.4degreez.com/nailz/ninter...ownspiral.html
Re Broken: Reznor has said, in multiple interviews, that "Broken" was written after the breakup of a really shitty relationship, which is obvious in the lyrics of the album. It's the ultimate angry breakup album. "Fixed" means, obviously, that he's over it.
Last edited by allegro; 09-12-2015 at 11:54 PM.
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST
CONTAINS NSFW MATERIAL
But not till the very bottom!
Okay, moving on...
Well, firstly, thanks for editing that for clarity because I didn't know wtf you were trying to say at first, lol.
Likewise, I'm unfamiliar with the photo you're describing but I think I get the point anyway. You're saying I just want to see limp dicks?
Haha, yeah...not really.
And it's the very metaphor of impotence which CONJURES the imagery of impotence in the first place! How exactly is that "taking a metaphor and combining it with OTHER metaphorical imagery" or a "mixed metaphor." The metaphor IS the imagery and the imagery IS the metaphor.
o_O
Oh, good...we've read lots of the same interviews!
Now perhaps you'll recall that there was also this OTHER important "breakup" surrounding the creation of Broken. You know, the whole Trent Reznor vs. TVT thing?
Also kind of a big deal and very much a focus of the e.p., lol.
Please tell me I'm NOT alone in interpreting Broken in general and "Happiness in Slavery" in particular as Reznor's critique of his treatment within the music industry.
As Reznor himself illustrated in the interview I linked to above, art can deal with multiple subjects on multiple levels at the same time.
That's pretty much what I'm getting at here.
Well, that's fine. But I really don't see how anyone's missing my point about the title or disagreeing with it by now.
I'll try to be exceedingly clear.
Nine Inch Nails has featured near-constant phallic imagery throughout its career.
"Gave Up" makes it obvious that "broken" refers to a broken penis, if you will. Therefore, "fixed" would refer to a fixed penis, as in one which has been neutered.
Is it also simply a word association playing against the title of Broken? Sure.
But looking at the Broken e.p. more closely, one finds the only OTHER use of the word "broken" is in "Happiness in Slavery," which features perhaps the most penis shots of any major label music video. He even goes out of his way to OVEREMPHASISE the word "penis" in "happiness" at the end of the song.
Getting back to the start of all this, "Getting Smaller" later discussed his growing insecurities about his increasing obscurity and impotence within the music industry at the time in terms of, well...impotence. Hence, the title.
Which makes perfect sense in relation to the statement behind Broken, I'd add.
Broken was largely fueled by his disillusionment regarding the music industry, his unsatisfactory dealings with TVT, and the feeling of having been "slave-traded" to Interscope (his words, not mine) and the prospect of his being robbed of his self-expression as Nine Inch Nails, much the same way "Getting Smaller" deals with his impotence within the same industry years later.
And what was he feeling in the midst of Broken and Fixed?
HAP-PENIS
Last edited by Hazekiah; 09-13-2015 at 12:48 AM.
Firstly, Reznor has said that "Broken" was about the breakup with TVT but also about the breakup of a live-in relationship with a girlfriend. You can't interpret an entire album by one song (HiS). Secondly, I don't get how "Gave Up" is about a broken dick and I have a BA in English Lit.
HE is Broken. All of him. He has given up. His lips may promise but his heart his a whore. This isn't meant to last, this is for right now
Fresh blood through tired skin
new sweat to drown me in
Last edited by allegro; 09-13-2015 at 01:44 AM.
I'm not debating the part about the breakup of his personal relationship.
I'm saying that his statements dealing with that subject coexist alongside his statements about his breakup with TVT, insofar as Broken is concerned. "Wish," for instance, could just as easily be interpreted as a song about his girlfriend betraying his trust as it could be his record label doing the same.
Same goes for "Last." Same goes for "Gave Up." Same goes for "Physical (You're So)." Same goes for "Suck."
Hell, same goes for "Help Me I am in Hell" and "Pinion," ffs!
Sooo...what was that about interpreting "an entire album by ONE song" again???
And, no offense to your schooling (good for you!), but if you have a B.A. in English Literature and still can't see how lyrics like "all covered with hope and Vaseline, still cannot fix this broken machine, watching the hole, it used to mine" just MIGHT be an allusion to impotence, literally OR metaphorically, then, I mean, I don't know wtf to say, lol.
Really?!?
o_O
YOU said it was just about one thing, not me. Go re-read your own thesis.
And hope and Vaseline doesn't make the whole song and album about impotence for Christ sake.
Your thesis said that Broken is about (sexual) impotence and Fixed is about being neutered.
Or something.
Reznor has stated in interviews that HiS was about TVT, and that Broken was about both TVT and the shitty g/f thing. And he's just whiney. We didn't exactly expect a Barney record.
Last edited by allegro; 09-13-2015 at 09:12 AM.
Holy fuck's sake.
This whole thing started because someone confessed that "Getting Smaller" made them think of limp dicks, lol. A thesis which I've supported.
I then went on, laboriously, tediously, and I hope HILARIOUSLY clarifying the point that Reznor has employed phallic imagery at great length (so to speak, w00t) since the very beginning of his career as Nine Inch Nails and has likewise used the metaphor and imagery of impotence to convey his feelings about his place within the music industry.
I'm not saying that "hope and Vaseline," etc. makes "the whole song about impotence."
Nor am I claiming that Broken is about sexual impotence or that Fixed is about being neutered.
What you're misunderstanding there somehow (???) is my point that Reznor's lyrics alluding to impotence in "Gave Up" metaphorically reinforce and support his statement about his place in the music industry vis-à-vis his statement on precisely that subject in the song immediately preceding it. And, yeah, the whole album could be interpreted that way, which I think is appropriate. He went through two ENORMOUS "breakups" in his life simultaneously and BOTH bled into EACH song. That's not too hard to understand, right?
And, once again, entitling the companion remix e.p. as Fixed was most likely meant as a clever word association/pun which expanded upon the broken/impotence theme of Broken. I guess you could say that Fixed is "about being neutered" but you're losing a LOT of nuance from an already fairly straightforward message in doing so, and that's not what I was saying anyway.
Double-meanings, at the LEAST.
I'm just saying that the impotence/neutering vs. record-labels/the-music-industry thing is DEFINITELY the core of it.
Throw in a giant FUCK YOU to his ex-gf if you like, but I was HARDLY saying that "it was just about one thing," lol.
(Puns intended!)
If only Trent read this page from top to bottom... I'd kill to see the expression on his face.
So, @Hazekiah , do you think "fixed" means "repaired and not broken anymore" or "remaining stationary and unchanged" (2 contrary meanings)?
I get what you're saying here, but that's not the way Reznor employs those things. He will say "I've got a big gun" and it's surely a metaphor, as clear as the dick on my face. You see how I subtly mixed metaphors, there?
(By the way, while the line "got me a big old dick" is parodic, I don't think much of the rest of that song is.)
He will, in many separate cases, also use classic imagery like "ocean pulls me close and whispers in my ear" in his lyrics. But it's a big leap to say he will then develop that image of an ocean into a metaphorical relationship, one which has willful actors; it could just be a literal ocean that he wants to drown in. You're starting out with reading lyrical imagery, and then running with it to reinforce another, different metaphor, which is not necessarily implied by the author. Fine for you, read it how you want, but you must acknowledge that you think "covered in hope and vaseline" is an image of impotence when juxtaposed with the rest of the song, but that's not the way the rest of us will necessarily read it. Particularly not when you take the leap to saying the meaning is implied more strongly by the surrounding songs, when actually the song stands on its own. Do you also seriously think "fix this broken machine" is supposed to mean "get my (metaphorical, because this is a secondary metaphor subsiding within the primary metaphor of a broken machine) cock erect"? Fine for you. But this is a whole lot of post-hoc justification in order to say that anyone else, who doesn't necessarily see the metaphor you're trying to reach for, of course must be blindly ignorant for not seeing it all over the place.
The metaphor of impotence is certainly something one can find in some of these songs, but this recurring "imagery of impotence" is where you're just confused. You can say "performance anxiety" is a great metaphor for his feelings about staying in the music industry, sure. But you then take a leap into wanky C-minus criticism when you make images that aren't really related to that into a vast web of metaphors underneath more songs than it exists in. Then you go ahead and assert that the author definitely meant it that way, it's blatantly obvious to anyone with half a brain, etc. etc. etc. That's why I made the comment about you seeing limp dicks everywhere there weren't any; because sometimes (with apologies to Freud), an arm that flip-flops is just an arm that flip-flops.
Last edited by botley; 09-13-2015 at 09:10 AM.
It's probably no accident that the first album is called "Pretty Hate Machine."
Read his "machine" lyrics in "The Becoming" on TDS, which song is not intended to be viewed as one song but as a part of a whole narrative within a concept album. That broken machine (former man) narrator is now present in TDS. He is made of circuitry and wires. His humanity is gone.
The Ruiner (machine) seeks power and there is plenty of Lucifer imagery (he wants to be equal to God in terms of power) and we even have a serpent (Reptile), although the Ruiner is the one with the tainted touch that makes angels bleed. (Religious imagery being present in all releases through TDS.)
Last edited by allegro; 09-13-2015 at 11:16 AM.