2023-02-10: Look What They Did To My Boy(s)
The commodification of art and its consequences.
This happened a little over a year ago, but I just found out about it recently. In January 2022, the record label Interscope repressed 30 albums from their back catalogue as ultra-limited edition deluxe "gallery" LPs, each one with "reimagined" album art. Two of those albums were Nine Inch Nails records - Broken and The Downward Spiral. For reference, this is the album art for Broken:
I love Broken, but, quite frankly, this album art feels kinda phoned in. It's iconic, sure, but only because it's attached to a great record. Plenty of room for improvement, in my humble opinion.
This is the album art for The Downward Spiral:
This might be my favourite album art ever. The textures, the way the decaying canvas forms the silhouette of the album's subject, the use of dead moths as elements of the piece, I think it's fucking incredible.
I'm not upset that they changed the cover art for these releases. New versions of things don't make the old versions of things go away, and they can both be cool! I'd especially love to see a new spin on Broken's cover.
I am upset, however, that they changed The Downward Spiral's art to this:
What the hell is this? It's an interesting piece of art on its own, sure. I kinda like it. It doesn't fit this album at all. This looks like, I dunno, edgy Gotye? Terrible pairing. Malt vinegar on ice cream.
Now, I'm really upset that they changed Broken's art to this:
What the fuck? Who approved this? This looks like the cover art for some 2010s pop emo band's first and last album. I don't even think this art was originally created for Broken, it looks like it was made for something else and there was some last minute shuffling-around. Totally nonsensical.
I have a feeling that the band shares similar sentiments. As far as I can tell, this is the only mention from them of this release. There's no information about it on their website, or even on the otherwise incredibly comprehensive official NIN wiki.
Oh yeah, also each record is US $2,500. Should have opened with that.
It's funny, a while ago NIN did something like this themselves, releasing Cargo in the Blood as a companion to Hesitation marks. For $300, you got a 320 page artbook, an original handmade piece from the album cover artist, and some really nice packaging. Looks downright fucking charitable compared to what interscope's doing.
