What were the 80 most important musical recordings, artists, trends, events, and performances of 2008? What were the eight things this year that broke our hearts—or, at least, our ears? We’re happy to announce 80 ’08 (and Heartbreak), Idolator’s year-end overview. The list is below the jump.
In the decade after 1994’s The Downward Spiral made Nine Inch Nails a household name, Trent Reznor cultivated a reputation as a reclusive perfectionist of nearly Chinese Democracy-level procrastination, releasing just one bloated double album, 1999’s The Fragile. And though 2005’s With Teeth hinted at a leaner and more workmanlike model of NIN, nobody could’ve predicted the accelerated pace at which Reznor would begin releasing music after completing his Interscope contract.
Trent Reznor will soon offer up a Nine Inch Nails… More »
Nine Inch Nails has postponed tonight’s show in Worcester, Mass., because Trent Reznor has been suffering from a “recurrent throat ailment,” the second time in a week that said illness has resulted in a last-minute rescheduling. More »
Over the weekend, a new Nine Inch Nails song emerged, and that would seem to have been the warmup for this morning’s wee-hour release of the slip, a.k.a. Halo 27; the 10-track, 43-minute album is free to all takers as long as you give the NIN site’s robots an e-mail address. “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years–this one’s on me,” Reznor said in a parenthetical aside on his blog. Someone buy that man a protein shake! Details of the release after the jump.
When I saw Some Kind Of Monster, I was shocked to find Lars Ulrich the most sympathetic member of Metallica. With James Hetfield busy trying not to turn into The Hulk and Kirk Hammett fulfilling the “luke-warm water” role a little too well, Lars was the only member aggressively invested in making a frikkin’ Metallica record. Sure, St. Anger sucked, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort on his part. His recent Rolling Stone interview, however, reminds us that when taken out of a real-life Spinal Tap context, Ulrich’s enthusiasm can be a bit more annoying. Seems Dave Mustaine’s little Danish friend has come around on downloading. After all, if new Metallica songs were free, maybe people would be excited about them.
ARTIST: Nine Inch Nails
TITLE: “Discipline”
DEBUT: April 22, 2008
So the Nine Inch Nails frontman has released the first-week sales figures for Ghosts I-IV, the multiple-format instrumental album he self-released just two Sundays ago via his Web site. Given that the $300 super-mega-deluxe edition sold out its 2,500 copy pressing by the following Tuesday, even with a server snafu or twelve, it was clear that Trent was going to do pretty nicely for himself with this tweak to the newish model. But just how well did he do? Let’s go to the un-vetted press release!
The 2,500-copy limited-edition run of Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts I-IV–priced at $300, and packaged with a four-LP set and two Giclée prints–has sold out. More »
