Recently I decided to see what it would be like to listen to every album by some of my long time favorite bands in chronological order. For no particular reason other then to see what it would be like.

I started when Nine Inch Nails recently released Ghosts I-IV (which is an awesome, mostly ambient collection of songs). So I thought to myself:

Self, didn't Nine Inch Nails used to be this angry industrial-goth band from the 90's that was the center of a lot of controversy surrounding their lyrical content? Why are they doing John Cage/Brian Eno-esque fixed piano/ambient works now? And how did they get there?

So I began last week starting with Pretty Hate Machine and in one day making it up to Year Zero then finishing the next day with that and Ghosts I-IV. I skipped most of the non-album stuff and remixes, and stuck to the full lengths (with the exception of Broken, which I've always considered a full length).

Regarding Nine Inch Nails, in short: Pretty Hate Machine sounded like a dark new wave album growing out of the eighties and into the nineties with a really youthful sounding Reznor. Broken seemed to capture a much more raw and live sound (and on the track, Last, it's that awesome drum sound from a live show with an old but good sound system, only in a recording !) and while abrasive at times, is a solid record. In The Downward Spiral, I think the instrumental and artistic talents of Reznor really start to shine in the conceptual masterpiece, as a lot of people see it, where the styles and moods swing around from tech-metal to ambience, piano, and the uniqueness blend of styles from tracks like Closer.

The Fragile wins my vote for best album thus far, spanning many genres, and including a huge array of acoustic and electronic instruments, all well composed, performed and recorded. With Teeth isn't a bad album by it's own merit, but sounds weak both musically and lyrically when compared with the rest of the albums.

Year Zerois creeping up on taking my personal spot for #1 for the band, it feels like it goes in a more energetic direction, and sounds as cohesive as The Downward Spiral and has far better lyrical content then the other releases. Ghosts is still new to me, but totally refreshing. Knowing that all 36 tracks were done in 10 weeks is a feat in and of itself, and a few songs don't sound as a well thought as many of the bands songs tend to, which is part of it's charm.

As of this posting I'm getting through the Machina-Machina II era of the Smashing Pumpkins catalog and having a much different reaction then that of NIN, often finding myself cringing to certain tracks of another band I thought was one of the best. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say when I'm through Zeitgeist and am really looking forward to the Radiohead one after trudging through Gish and Machina.