10 Perfect Metal Albums With Only One Bad Song
2. Big Man With A Gun - Nine Inch Nails
As the grunge wave changed the rock scene overnight, things were getting a lot more experimental on the metal side as well. In between the acts like Rage Against the Machine that were making waves, Trent Reznor was going further and further down a dark path, waiting for the exact moment to strike. And when that bomb went off with the release of the Downward Spiral, we experienced all of that pain...and doofiness.
The more you go into this album, you get to see the protagonist dip into some of the darkest sides of his humanity, which leads to his ultimate suicide attempt at the end of the album. When he's on hedonistic side though, Big Man With A Gun just feels like it's there to take up space on the album. At just 1 minute, this is Trent going for a sexual dominance fantasy, which feels more weird than actually dark.
It's not like it doesn't fit with the album though, since Mr. Self Destruct is practically at his wit's end at this point and is about to explode at any moment. In retrospect though, Trent himself has said that he isn't even a fan of this song, seeing it more as a parody of gangsta rap that is showing its age a little too much.
The Downward Spiral is definitely a bleak as hell experience, but when your lyrics start to sound like something Internet trolls say, you've definitely crossed a line somewhere.