10 Perfect 90s Albums That Changed Rock And Roll Music
3. The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
If there's anything that significantly changed with the dawn of alternative music, it was the fact that it was okay to be a misfit. A lot of the most popular musicians on the planet probably weren't interested in becoming the prom king or queen any time soon, and it didn't really matter as long as you were able to sing from the heart whenever you stepped in front of a microphone. The alternative kids may have had their time in the sun, but Trent Reznor was going through his own private Hell.
Leading up to the Downward Spiral, Trent was already living the hedonistic life of a rock star, and this record feels like a document of what could happen if someone like that goes too far over the edge. As you follow Mr. Self Destruct down his dark path, you see him slowly start to lose himself along the way, from denouncing any type of religion on a song like Heresy to wanting to dominate you in every physical way on a song like Closer.
Even though this album remains a classic, it might not be something that you want to come back to all that often, with the production feeling more and more abrasive and Mr. Self Destruct choosing to live too late and wondering how he could have done things differently on the song Hurt. Most casual rock fans aren't going to be walking out of this album without a few scars, but when you take in the album as a whole, this is what could happen when you let the dark side of yourself take over.