RegularJoan

It's true, he became wealthy mainly thanks to his insights; in fact, what characterizes genius are those insights :D You are absolutely right that today an artist's success is determined not only by their talent but especially by the business surrounding the art world, musical and otherwise... but, for as much as I know, many "classical" artists (think Raphael, Titian, Canova) also prospered thanks to the significant political and religious support they enjoyed: in other words, where the market didn't have an impact, there were other factors that could easily compensate... Then, for me, Cattelan is an artist: art, whether informal or not, and this is one of the many reasons I also consider Reznor an artist, is a means of social protest; it has always been since the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, and in his installations, there's social denunciation, so... anyway, great discussion, thank you.

An album like The Downward Spiral represents the ideal conjunction of noise and melody, between art purely tied to form and the disintegration of the very concept of form in art. In this album, there is the classical perfection of a fresco by Piero della Francesca and, at the same time, the dripping, that is, the lackadaisical dripping of color—the technique that Pollock used in his paintings. With this album, Reznor has managed to bring to fruition an evolutionary process that in music began with futurism (think of the noises that a composer like Schoenberg used in his compositions, grafted onto a classical base made of pianos). Therefore, one cannot define him as an artist, nor say that what he writes is not music, nor, as Pretazzo rightly says, define it as industrial music. It is true, among Reznor's mentors there are many fathers of industrial, but alongside them, he has always said and demonstrated that he has a talent for "melody," for catchy choruses... where do you see the choruses in Einstürzende Neubauten? That’s industrial! And then I think that his classical training on the piano has greatly influenced the compositional process of his music...

Oh really? Basquiat's paintings and murals wouldn't be art?? Go tell that to Pollock, my dear! Following your reasoning, even Finnegans Wake isn't art! Not even Beckett's Endgame is art! What do you consider art if not the manifestation of unconscious drives? Reznor's music is pure informal art! Say hi to Michelangelo for me...

this album is completely shit. there are no excuses, not even limp bizkit, in a hypothetical jam with the spice girls, would be able to produce such awfulness...

when it’s time, it’s time :)

I’m ready to help you with the translation when you provide the text!

Oh, come on, are we joking?? You're going to stare at the belly, the biceps, and the shaved head?? Seriously? Come on!

Come on, there’s that final track that intertwines with Trent Reznor’s voice in "Right Where It Belongs" which makes the whole album worthwhile! NIN are great, always and anyway: and then, as they say, genius and excess!

What can I say: seventeen years of Berlusconi's presence in the world of politics must have really hurt you, especially if you judge this record as trash... you all share the same way of thinking in mass, a bit like Korean children: everyone at school in the same uniform. Given the cognitive level you’re stuck at, it’s normal for you to point to an artist of Reznor's caliber as a "dementia monster"...

The right definition for this album I read some time ago: "the minor work of a superior artist." And I love the music of Trent Reznor.