Twenty-five years ago, Nine Inch Nails kicked off the campaign for the record that would change the course of Trent Reznor’s career. Their 1994 masterpiece The Downward Spiral had made the industrial-rock dynamos huge but Reznor had no interest in repeating the trick. Instead, The Fragile gently ushered in ambient experimentation and atmospheric soundscapes alongside the anguished electro anthems. This was where the seeds of Reznor’s hugely successful career as a film composer were sown.
The record was heralded by the release of first single The Day The World Went Away on July 20, 1999. It was the signal that fans should extinguish any expectations that The Fragile would be The Downward Spiral 2.0, a slow-burning epic that swerves from twisted guitars to hushed, menacing verses, has no discernible and doesn’t have any drums on it.
