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Broken has always been my favorite NIN album - even though it was, technically, an EP - and the fun thing about it was that Reznor was disgusted with his then-label, TVT, which had put out his 1st album, Pretty Hate Machine. So just after Jimmy Iovine signed Trent to Interscope (which is, ugh, a corporate label, being a subsidiary of Time Warner, but they at least reserve that label for some of the better stuff that can be less-than-compromising, at best. Oh well, you take what you can get & get the best deal out of it. Really, the fact that it's a "corporate" entity is, well, it sucks for the ability of quality and not just quantity (record sales vs. critical acclaim), but if you're a good enough artist/musician, etc. & can pull off something amazing, having one or 2 previous albums which have already proven that this band is a winner and in cases like that the artist/band can be in a position to dictate the terms which he/she/they want out of the label viz a contract, probably the most important part (that must be in writing, as a clearly stated clause in the contract) of this is the demand of "complete control, PERIOD." and that means the final word on the final cut. Anyway, getting back to this super-cool, underground, snuff-ish film that Reznor collaborated on with the late, great, legendary Sleazy (Peter Christopherson), who was a co-founder of super-influential industrial outfit, Throbbing Gristle, was in the post TG dancier (acid/house, etc) group, Psychic TV and finally, with John Balance (who often went by "Jhonn", though his real name was Geoff Rushton...go figure), Sleazy & Balance were Coil, which was really intense. Very beautiful music and quite haunting, simultaneously. One other thing: Though I don't believe he really did anything that stood out the way Storm Thorgerson or Aubrey Powell's work did, nevertheless, he was made an "associate partner" at the legendary, awesome Hipgnosis firm which made record covers; theirs were probably the most art-worthy, meaning worthy of standing alone in a place like MOMA, etc. Plus they had such a demand for their services that they did a LOT of albums; so many in fact, that I can guarantee you, you have seen Hipgnosis covers, probably many of them; they did many of Led Zeppelin's albums, most of Pink Floyd's, Peter Gabriel's 1st 3 self-titled solo albums, almost all of UFO's album covers, and into the more modern era, they've done some work on at least 2, maybe 3 Muse albums, and there's more. WAY more. So, you can see, Sleazy (RIP), had a real knack for art, for the kind of aggro-industrial stuff which Reznor was into and Reznor, being familiar w/Christopherson, contacted him at his home in Bangkok, where he'd been living as a British expatriate for some years by then and asked him if he'd work w/him on this film to go with the music on the EP he had just done (Broken) and Sleazy who was such a nice, easy-going guy and if he was your friend he was a great friend to have. So when you watch this, remember Sleazy!!

- July 30, 2018Sleazy's indelible touch is definitely here.