Jshei's Musings

How Fragile We Are, Pt 2

If you havent seen part one, please read it first, whee! It'll make more sense that way.

It took us way too long, but we have finished. The album is finally analyzed. I feel much better now, ready to move on to With Teeth, NIN's new album out on tuesday. I knew I wouldnt be able to listen to that music without being done here, this was an unfinished chapter in the book.
And I definitely feel good about how it went.
Note to Steelix: 1514 words. :P

Click below to read what we've thought up:

The Fragile (Right Disk)

We last left out "hero" with the serious contemplation of suicide, his soul destroyed and his mind faltering. What happened in the end is made immediately clear in the first track of this side, "The Way Out is Through". The title says it all: he sees a way out. And the lyrics explain he is going for it: "the heavens fall, but still we crawl" he has a new found courage.
Yet with this, we then have "Into the Void". This has partially been discussed already, but in the context of the flow of the album it represents that though he has new strength, his past still exists (the echo back to La Mer in the bass line) and that he cannot get away from it.
Next we have "Where is Everybody?" here, our hero decides dealing with his inner problems isn’t going to get him anywhere. He wonders if his suicidal thoughts were a lie because he didn’t go through with it. So he decides to look out into the world he's been ignoring, to see if he can find an answer there. Looking out, he doesn’t see a hell of a lot, which is why he's asking where everyone is. This song is mainly him rambling to himself, trying to figure everything out.
"The Mark Has Been Made", like most instrumentals, is extremely difficult to put into context. This is a solemn song, I can tell you that much.... maybe I'll try to add to this song later.
Now we get to the first song on the album that isn’t on the usual CD version. "10 Miles High" is on the vinyl though, and we felt it necessary to include all extras and bonus tracks in our analysis. In this song, our hero expands on his quest of finding his place in the outside world. He makes a promise not to go back into old ways, and to not repeat past mistakes "tear it all down". And he is getting closer to his goal: using height as a gauge, he is "10 miles high".
In "Please", we see the resurfacing of the desires of the flesh. There are sexual elements, and he wants it all: "Never be enough to fill me up". He states that all the problems he had on the left disk were "all in his head" and though he knows all those old options of what to do with himself still exist, he's still 10 miles high, having his fun, with a lot more experience under his belt than he had last time (TDS) and he doesn’t "want to make it stop".
The aptly named "appendage", a continuum of "please" to be found on the vinyl, expands on the same feelings, though his overwhelming desires seem to be becoming too much for him.
"Starfuckers, Inc." comes next. This song is *full* of meaning. He suddenly sees whoever he was having fun with in Please in a new light. He has made friends with "Shallow little bitch[es] trying to make the scene" and he is disgusted by their way of life. There are homosexual elements in this song (and a bit in Please, actually) that can either be clues as to who he is now friends with, or insecurities about himself. In the chorus and the bridge he is then broader on his claim of overwhelming vanity and places it on the entire entertainment industry. Then he turns around, and borrowing lines from Carly Simon's "you're so vain", describes how the people in that industry are so incredibly self centered that they'll think this song is especially about them, when it's not. This song ends with the repeated phrase "now I belong, I am one of the chosen ones". This is him saying, 'I may be in with the in crowd, but I cant believe how bastardly these people are. And to think I almost started to become one of them.' He does not like the world he is trying to reach out to. The world he turned to in "Where is Everybody" when he knew sticking in his mind wouldn’t cut it. So where does he turn to now?
The next song, "Complication", is another damn instrumental. We get the feeling of moving forward to some goal. Definitely a sense of determination. Looking at the next songs, it appears to be his break from the crowds of “Starfuckers” and his turn to something different, an attempt to become someone better.
"The New Flesh" is the last of our additional tracks. The determination is still present but it feels a lot creepier, he appears to be confused as to what he's supposed to do. It seems to be the pessimistic side to Complication's optimism. Though he does seem to be succeeding: the title gives sense of growth. A new part of himself.
"I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally". One hell of a title. This song is beautiful. It is soothing and calm, but very sad. Our hero appears to be tired of everything. He seems to be in the middle of "winter", because of mentions of freezing and frost, and only vaguely remembering "the smell of sunshine". (best line in the whole album, oh shit yes.) It appears the people mentioned in "Starfuckers" saw through his hope to become someone better, they saw his disgust in their way of life, and attacked him. He has nothing left now so he goes into this dormant state (like plants do in winter.) At the end of the song he calls out to anything, anyone that would keep him company.
"The Big Come Down" is a major shift in the storyline. He has awoken from the drifting softness of "Looking Forward" and has made a severe realization. "Is that really what you wanted?" He is starting to wonder if he wants this to happen to him. He sees that he will destroy himself on purpose. He sees that all these problems originate from himself, and no one and nothing else. He sees that the more he tries to struggle against it, the more he loses. He has realized the nature of his problems and of the situation that it is in. We have alluded to some of this on other songs, and here it is, told to us in this song.
The question is, what is he going to do now that he understands?
The last track with words, "Underneath it All", He takes the first step in embracing who he truly is. He admits to himself that this sickness has been a part of himself the entire time. This is simply an extension of "Big Come Down". The last words of the album are uttered in a haunting voice: "I am stained."
"Ripe (with decay)" closes this album with what I take to be uneasiness, he is not happy with himself, though Brian sees it as his preparation to gain harmony. Yeah, that's pretty different. That's an instrumental for you. I shall not directly claim it is either. What we DO agree on though is that the story isn’t finished. His last utterance is not a resolution, and this last song is not a full answer. This is not over.
I hope NIN's next album will continue and let us know how the story finishes, or at least give us another chapter.
Looking at this disk as a whole, I made the following declaration: "He has tried to change himself, tried so hard to get rid of the parts of himself that he does not like, but the only way he’s going to be able to get out of this is if he completely accepts that this is who he is, he CANNOT change that." That sums up my thoughts on the storyline quite nicely.
I see the whole album as a strive for balance. The Left Disk follows the battle between feminine and masculine. The Right Disk follows pessimism and optimism, if using the terms generally:

(+)the way out is through
(-)into the void
(+)where is everybody?
(-)the mark has been made (10 miles gets a (+))
(+)please (appendage gets a (-))
(-)starfuckers, inc.
(+)complication (new flesh gets a (-))
(-)i’m looking forward to joining you, finally
(+)the big come down (I say optimism because he makes such important discoveries)
(-)underneath it all
(-/+)ripe (with decay) (-/+, depending on how you look at it)

The songs are perfectly complimentary. I have little doubt that this was intentional. Like a see-saw, we see the sides taking turns, one after the other to be dominant, but like a yin yang, balance is the key. That’s what this all is about: finding balance in your mind, and in the society you live in.
And even 26 songs weren’t enough for balance to be fully achieved.

Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you Brian for doing this with me.
Thank you Mr. Reznor for giving us all so much... if only we could ever give you as much in return...

<3

Posted by Jshei at April 26, 2005 10:44 PM