Nine Inch Nails (NIN) has been recording industrial and rock music for nearly 30 years. Its architect, Trent Reznor (53 y/o), has said he left a “little, shitty town, a small-aspiration environment” between Cleveland and Pittsburgh for Chicago when he started working for Chicago-based WaxTrax! Records (Front 242, KMFDM, Revolting Cocks, Mussolini Headkick, among many others). In Chicago, Reznor met Ministry frontman Alain/Alien Jourgensen during the 1989 recording of The Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Taste when they collaborated under the name 1000 Homo DJ’s on a remake of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut.” NIN busted wide open in 1994 with one of my favorite rock albums of all time, The Downward Spiral.
I have referenced NIN only once on EPB – that being when I searched for meaning after the election of Benedict Donald aka President Dump. “Year Zero” was apropos though I ultimately chose “Maggot Brain.” NIN has been fertile lately, releasing a trilogy: “Not the Actual Events”, “Add Violence”, and “Bad Witch.” Earlier this year Reznor was quoted in a June 2018 London Guardian interview, “We’ve gotten dumber, more tribalized; we’ve found niches of other people that focus on extremity. For the miracle of everyone sharing ideas, I see a hell of a lot more racism. It doesn’t feel like we’ve advanced. I think you’re seeing the fall of the empire of America in real time, before your eyes; the internet has eroded the fabric of decency in our civilization.”
Coincidentally or ironically, Floridian, serial criminal, pipe-bomb maker, and domestic terrorist Cesar Sayoc fawned over 45 on social media. Did you see the pictures of Sayoc’s van??? Crazy, right? Crazier that last week he mailed home-made pipe bombs to 45’s opponents. Robert Bowers of Pittsburgh liked to post to Gab, which is frequented by white nationalists. A few days ago he used an AR-15 to slaughter Jews during worship.
So now I turn back to my beloved Ministry. Jourgensen’s 2018 EP release, AmeriKKKant, contains nine politically-charged tracks that are more vitriolic than his trilogy during the years of 43. As you may know, Ministry likes to sample vocals… a lot. Throughout a song called “Twilight Zone”, one hears “fire up the crazies” many times. Here are the lyrics:
I remember waking up on November 9, 2016 and feeling a little bit nauseous
It felt like descending into a bottomless pit on a high speed rail
Careening head first into the unknown
Disgusted and depressed
We know the world is just a mess
Distortion of reality
The truth is under arrest
This is the twilight zone
Confusion and consent
Has always been their intent
Destruction of society
Unless we dissent
Where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? Where do we go from here?
I know where we go. WE GO TO THE VOTING POLLS. Democrats take over the House. Let’s go for the Senate! Get off your couch and vote. Sick of assault weapons gunning down school children, concert goers, and people in houses of worship???? VOTE for candidates who want gun reform! It is time to send the NRA-controlled GOP a HUGE message. People have died in this country for the right to VOTE.
