10 Rock Albums That Were Ruined By One Song
4. Big Man With a Gun - Nine Inch Nails
The entire process of Nine Inch Nails's The Downward Spiral tends to get darker as the album plays out. The protagonist of this story is not in a good place on Mr. Self Destruct, and every single song feels like going down another layer into the pit of despair until he finally decides to take his own life. And while Big Man With a Gun fits within that headspace, it also made for one of the most drastic shifts on the record too.
Compared to the different sounds that were coming from the rest of the record, Trent Reznor actually threw this song together on a whim, almost playing the song like a rock-ified pastiche of what misogynistic gangsta rap was supposed to be. It didn't help that a lot of people didn't really get the joke behind the song, with the PMRC coming for Reznor's head and Reznor even saying that he wished he would have left the song off the project in hindsight.
In the context of the album, this actually works surprisingly well, going on a trip of hedonism before finding that one sliver of hope left on A Warm Place, until you finally end up pushing yourself to the brink of suicide on songs like Eraser and the title track. Big Man With a Gun is definitely a great way to transition to the next phase of the record...the only problem is it's just not a very good song to stand on its own.