Nine Inch Nails - "The Day the World Went Away"

[halo19]

Six years ago from today, this single was released. The first stroke of brilliance from what would be The Fragile, an album I wouldn't know for about a year later would end up permanently (basically) changing the direction in my music tastes.

I love everything about this song. Influenced by Alan Moulder (producer of album and song), but Trent wrote the songs and they turned out this way, so indie-loving dorks just need to accept that NIN is capable of amazing songs that start out with ambience and then to MBV-style distortion. You can actually tell what he's saying unlike shoegaze though. I especially when it gets slower with the (mandolin?) and then it gets more ambient silence, then boom! it gets all loud again and there's scat chanting.

B-sides on the single: That version of "Starf***ers, Inc" is okay, although it scraped the alt. chart in the single's release. To me it's really the cool, piano-based "quiet" version that stands out the most.

[jond7699]

Loved this song. But still doesn't touch any of Trent's earlier material

[cartman2002]

The Day The World Went Away entered the Hot 100 at #17 in 1999 and then the following week fell all the way down to #58

[joker]

This doesn't rank with NIN's greatest songs IMO (although it is his highest charting hit on the Hot 100).... but it's still very good. I like it.

[oscillations.]

This song is another example of when intentions>the music itself. He wrote it about his grandmother's death. I experienced it live last June & it was just sublime.

[jaxxalude]

A great, haunting song, taken from his - I hope not - last really good album, The Fragile. We can all complain how it didn't do good at the time. But let's face it: this was 1999, the year Fred Durst and His Cast Of Idiots ruled all with an iron fist. But in a way, it's funny how Trent is having the last laugh now.

[tortuga]

I didn't even know this was a single. Its my favorite from The Fragile.

[Deleted]

I like it. One of my favorite NIN singles.