10 Hard Rock Songs That Almost Killed Great Albums

Any '90s kid who listened to the Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails has the war wounds to show for it. Though remaining absolutely spectacular from front to back, this album is not for the faint of heart, as Trent Reznor has a field day nullifying the life of this protagonist and subjecting the listener to some of the most abrasive sounds the rock world has ever heard. Whereas you can understand the meaning behind this loathing on most of these songs, Big Man With a Gun is the least necessary element on the entire record.

Written as a pastiche of gangsta rap, this little bit of craziness pretty much betrays the entire tone of the record it accompanies. While Reznor does have some points regarding the hedonistic lifestyle that comes from any genre of music, the idea of him becoming a sociopath towards everyone around him makes us lose all of the sympathy we have gained for our protagonist along the way.

Then again, that might be the point...given that our hero Mr. Self Destruct has always been a bit of an anti-hero throughout the duration of this album. On the other hand, that doesn't exactly make something like this fun to listen to either. Though there's a lot of jaded beauty that can be found amongst a lot of these tracks, this is the one public display of spite that doesn't really work on any level.