The Fragile is the third studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released September 21, 1999, on Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. In contrast to the heavily distorted instruments and gritty industrial sounds of their previous album, The Downward Spiral,^[1] The Fragile relies more on soundscapes, electronic beats, ambient noise, rock-laden guitar, and the usage of melodies as harmonies. Lyrically, the album is more introspective and personal than Nine Inch Nails' previous releases.^[2][3]

The Fragile peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart in its debut week, before dropping to number 16 the following week.^[4] The album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of one million copies in the United States.^[5] Despite some criticism for its length and lyrical substance,^[6][7] the album received positive reviews from most music critics.

Writing and recording[link]

The Fragile was produced by Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder at Nothing Studios, New Orleans. There were some personnel changes within Nine Inch Nails after the Self-Destruct tour, which saw drummer Chris Vrenna replaced by Bill Rieflin and Jerome Dillon, the later of whom would become Nine Inch Nails full-time drummer until 2006. Charlie Clouser and Danny Lohner contributed occasional instrumentation and composition to several tracks although the album was predominantly written and performed by Reznor alone. The Fragile was mixed by Alan Moulder and mastered by Tom Baker. The packaging was created by David Carson and Rob Sheridan. ^[8]

Themes and lyrics[link]

In terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and somewhat softer, in contrast to his harsh and often angry singing in previous works. Unlike The Downward Spiral — an album with a plot detailing the destruction of a man — The Fragile — an album dealing with personal issues — has no storyline, and many of its themes contrast with The Downward Spiral's. The evidence of lyrics is not heavy.^[10]

Despite 44 uses of profanity (inaugurating the majority of them evident on the album is "fuck", with "Starfuckers, Inc." having an intentional reliance on the word), The Fragile was not directly packaged with a Parental Advisory sticker, something added to most copies of The Downward Spiral. It was, however, printed on the sticker on the shrinkwrap.

	"The Day the World Went Away" noicon Album version, as it appeared on The Fragile
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In some ways, The Fragile is a response to The Downward Spiral. Reznor compared the lyrical content of the two albums:

I wanted this album to sound like there was something inherently flawed in the situation, like someone struggling to put the pieces together. The Downward Spiral was about peeling off layers and arriving at a naked, ugly end. This album starts at the end, then attempts to create order from chaos, but never reaches the goal. It’s probably a bleaker album because it arrives back where it starts — (with) the same emotion. The album begins "Somewhat Damaged" and ends "Ripe (With Decay)".^[11]

The song "I'm Looking Forward to Joining You, Finally" is credited in the album's booklet as "for clara", suggesting that the song's topic, like "The Day the World Went Away", is about Reznor's grandmother, Clara Clark.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Fragile motif

	"La Mer" noicon Album version, as it appeared on The Fragile
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Listeners of the album have noticed two obvious uses of a chromatic trick known as "The Fragile motif". The first of these progressions is debuted on "The Frail", an instrumental piano piece (in G Minor), which later reappears as a basis for the guitar solo on the album's title track. The second motif is introduced on "La Mer". Its main melodic elements and bassline are taken in a different direction with "Into the Void".

Packaging[link]

The cover artwork was designed by David Carson. A section within his book Fotografiks^[12][13] reveals that the top section of the album cover is from a photo of a waterfall and the bottom section is from a closeup photo of the inside of some kind of seashell. Carson elaborated on this further in an image on his website:

[The] back [cover] was going to be the front until the last moment. Trent changed it saying 'it was kinda irritating' yet something about it we liked so maybe it fit the music. Front cover flowers I shot outside of Austin, Texas. The 1 hour place called and said they messed up and used the wrong chemicals and the film was ruined. I said 'lemme see 'em anyway'. This is how they came out. Cover image is a waterfall in Iceland and a seashell in the West Indies.^[14]

Promotion[link]

The first single, "The Day the World Went Away", was released two months before the album. "Into the Void" and "We're in This Together" proved to be the album's most successful singles. The B-side "Starfuckers, Inc." was released on the album as a track at the last minute^{[citation needed]}, and became The Fragile's last single.

In support of The Fragile, the Nine Inch Nails live band reformed for the Fragility tour. The tour began in late 1999 and lasted until mid-2000, spanning Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and North America.^[15] The tour consisted of two major legs, labeled Fragility 1.0 and Fragility 2.0. The live band lineup remained largely the same from the previous tour in support of The Downward Spiral, featuring Robin Finck on guitar, Charlie Clouser on keyboards, and Danny Lohner on bass guitar.^[16][17] Reznor held open auditions to find a new drummer, eventually picking then-unknown Jerome Dillon.^[18]

Nine Inch Nails' record label at the time, Interscope Records, reportedly refused to fund the promotional tour following The Fragile's lukewarm sales. Reznor instead committed himself to fund the entire tour himself, which had quickly sold-out. He concluded that "the reality is, I’m broke at the end of the tour," but also added "I will never present a show that isn’t fantastic."^[19]

The tour featured increasingly large production values, including a triptych video display created by contemporary video artist Bill Viola.^[20] Rolling Stone magazine named Fragility the best tour of 2000.^[21]

In 2002, the tour documentary And All That Could Have Been was released featuring performances from the Fragility 2.0 tour. While making the DVD, Reznor commented on the tour in retrospect by saying "I thought the show was really, really good when we were doing it",^[22] but later wrote that "I can't watch it at all. I was sick for most of that tour and I really don't think it was Nine Inch Nails at its best."^[23]

Reissue[link]

On September 21, 2009 (the tenth anniversary of the album's release), a Nine Inch Nails official Twitter update hinted that a deluxe 5.1 surround audio reissue of The Fragile was in the works and was scheduled for a 2010 release.^[24]

During an interview with The New York Times that was broadcast on January 7, 2011, after questioned about the album Reznor explained:

The Fragile is weird because when it came out it felt like everyone hated it to me, and now it feels like it's everyone's favorite album, fan-wise. I was probably going to save this for some other announcement, but Alan Moulder's spent a couple of months restoring all the multitracks, prepping for a surround mix, and we plan on doing that this spring, and I'm not sure when it's going to come out but it's just something I'd like to get done and there's no record better than that to get surround mixed. It has to be Alan Moulder, and we both look back at that record - I've just spent some time with him now, he's still a very good friend of mine - and the experience of doing it in the bound that we had in literally two years, every day working together on that, was one of the best times in our lives. I think, in hindsight, I should have had [The Fragile] two single records, much Radiohead style with Kid A and Amnesiac, recorded at once, broken into two digestible chunks. Hey, it is what it is, but I thought about going back, redoing bits that I would mess around with to see how it would be if I were to do that record now, but I don't know if I should phase. Sometime this year expect something to come out surround-wise.^[25]

Release and reception[link]

Commercial performance[link]

The Fragile was not as much of a commercial success as The Downward Spiral. Despite a strong start at #1 on the Billboard chart, selling 228,000 copies in its first week,^[26] the album quickly slipped out of the top 10 the following week. This resulted in Nine Inch Nails setting a record for the biggest drop from number one.^[27] Marilyn Manson's The Golden Age of Grotesque would go on to break the record in 2003. Nine Inch Nails would later return to the top spot with With Teeth (2005), which debuted at number one, selling faster than The Fragile.^[28] On January 4, 2000, the album was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following sales in excess of two million copies in the United States.^[5]

Critical response[link]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[29]
Robert Christgau	(B)[30]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[31]
Los Angeles Times	[32]
The New York Times	(favorable)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(2.0/10)[6]
Rolling Stone	[33]
Spin	(9/10)[34]
USA Today	[35]
The Village Voice	(favorable)[36]

Upon its release, The Fragile received positive reviews from most music critics. It earned maximum ratings from publications such as the Alternative Press, Kerrang! and USA Today.^[35][37][38] Ann Powers of Spin called it "a good old-fashioned strap-on-your-headphones experience", noting elements of "the art rock of King Crimson and Roxy Music, his classic inspirations, or the rhythmic symphonettes of electronica artists such as Autechre and Squarepusher" and writing that the album "interpolat[es] them with funk bass lines, North African minor-key modalities, and the floating tones of Symbolist composers like Debussy. For the fans, there's also plenty of guitar-generated, mechanically enhanced crunch".^[34] Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield noted a "prog-rock vibe" and commented that "The Fragile is his version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, a double album that vents his alienation and misery into paranoid studio hallucinations, each track crammed with overdubs until there's no breathing room".^[33]

However, Pitchfork Media panned the album and perceived overly melodramatic lyrics.^[6] In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau gave The Fragile a B rating and named it "Dud of the Month",^[30] indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".^[39] Christgau commented that "Reznor delivers double-hoohah, every second remixed till it glistens like broken glass on a prison wall. Is the way he takes his petty pain out on the world a little, er, immature for a guy who's pushing 35? Never mind, I'm told—just immerse in the music".^[30] The Fragile was included on several magazines' "end-of-year" album lists, including The Village Voice (#14), Rolling Stone (#4), and Spin (#1).^[40]

Track listing[link]

All songs written and composed by Trent Reznor, except where noted. 

Cassette version

This release is identical to the CD pressing, with the exclusive addition of "+appendage" attached to the end of "Please".

Vinyl version

This release of The Fragile contains the songs "10 Miles High" and "The New Flesh" (both of which were later released as part of the "We're in This Together" single.) The latter track appears on the vinyl version of The Fragile, disc 1 of the European and Japanese "We're in This Together" 3-disc single, and the Australian "Into the Void" single.

"The Day the World Went Away", "The Wretched", "Even Deeper" and "La Mer" are all extended mixes, while the opening and closing of each side eliminates the crossfading between songs found on the CD and cassette versions, due to the nature of the vinyl medium. Finally, "Ripe" was shortened by removing the conclusive "(With Decay)" portion of the song.

Personnel[link]

Credits for The Fragile adapted from liner notes:^[41]

Chart history[link]

Chart positions[link]

Chart procession and succession[link]

Certifications[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Fragile at Discogs
• Album Review at The A.V. Club
• Album Review at The Washington Post
• Playing God: The Fragile at Stylus Magazine

Tech N9ne
Tech N9ne at release signing for Everready (The Religion) on November 6, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Aaron Dontez Yates
Born	(1971-11-08) November 8, 1971 (age 40)
Origin	Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, Vice President at Strange Music
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Strange Music
Associated acts	The Regime, Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Yukmouth, Big Scoob, 816 Boyz
Website	TheRealTechN9ne.com

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971),^[1] better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "Tech Nine"), is an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. In 1999, Yates and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. Throughout his career, Yates has sold over one million albums and has had his music featured in film, television, and video games.^[2] In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie award at the mtvU Woodie Awards.^[3]

His stage name originated from the TEC-9 semi-automatic handgun, given to him by rapper Black Walt due to his fast rhyming style.^[4] Yates later applied a deeper meaning to the name, claiming that it stands for the complete technique of rhyme, with 'tech' meaning technique and 'nine' representing the number of completion.^[4][5]

Early life[link]

Aaron Dontez Yates was born on November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri.^[1] He began rapping at a very early age, and would rap the letters of his name in order to remember how to spell it.^[6] He never met his father, and his mother suffered from epilepsy and lupus when he was a child, which emotionally affected him and inspired him to "search for God."^[6] He would wander around abandoned buildings with his best friend, Brian Dennis, hoping to catch a ghost on film.^[6] In 2003, Dennis was shot and killed by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, which further inspired Yates' search for a higher power, as well as giving him the drive to vent his frustrations in his music.

Career[link]

Early in his career, Yates was a member of a group formed in 1991 called Black Mafia.^[7] He saw glimpses of success in the group 57th Street Rogue Dog Villians with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up." As a member of the group Nnutthowze, Aaron Yates signed with Perspective Records in 1993.^[8] However, the group disbanded soon after being released from the label. Yates signed with Qwest Records briefly before moving to JCOR Records.^[8]

In 1997, Yates joined the group The Regime formed by rapper Yukmouth.^[9] The following year, he was featured on the soundtrack for the film Gang Related.^[10] Yates appeared on the song "The Anthem" by Sway & King Tech in 1999, which also featured artists RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, and Kool G. Rap. Later that year, he and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music.^[11]

In 2001, Yates released the studio album Anghellic on JCOR Records.^[8] After disputes arose about the promotion of the album, Yates and his label severed ties with the JCOR with a deal that allowed them to retain the rights to the album. The next year, he released Absolute Power, under a 50–50 joint venture between Strange Music and M.S.C. Music & Entertainment (which was founded by former Priority Records head Mark Cerami). The album debuted number 79 on the Billboard 200. The albums sales are said to have tripled following a campaign, going by the name of "F.T.I." was started by the rapper and his label. The campaign, which asked music listeners to legally download the album for free through the artist's own website was in response to the anti-downloading campaign by the RIAA.^[8] In 2006, Yates released the album Everready (The Religion).^[12] The following year, he released Misery Loves Kompany.^[13] Yates announced that the album was the first in a series of "Tech N9ne Collabos" albums that feature a wide range of guest appearances.^[13]

The following year, Yates released the album Killer.^[14] That September, he exceeded one million album sales over his entire catalog.^[2] Yates remarked of the accomplishment that, "It just reminded me of all the work we'd done in the past, up until now [...] I don't think it's sunken in yet. I've been celebrating for the last two days because that's a hell of an accomplishment. I've been planning success all my life. I'm not even a bit surprised, I'm happy about it. That just means I was right."^[2] Yates released his second Collabos album, Sickology 101, in April 2009.^[15]

Yates later performed at the Rock The Bells 2009 Festival and the tenth annual Gathering of the Juggalos.^[16][17] That October, he released K.O.D., an acronym for King of Darkness. The album featured a dark overtone, as Yates was dealing with the illness of his mother.^[18] An EP of new songs over unused beats from the K.O.D. album was released in 2010 as The Lost Scripts of K.O.D.. Later that year, Yates released his third Collabos album, The Gates Mixed Plate.^[18] In October, he released his second EP Seepage. On December 23, he released his first mixtape Bad Season.which was later released in retail CD form with a modified track list and without DJ Scream. On June 7, 2011 Yates released All 6's And 7's. The album features several hip-hop artists as well as rock artists including B.o.B, E-40, Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Mint Condition, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Lil Wayne, Yelawolf and Deftones.

In 2011, Yates told 411mania.com that after All 6's And 7's he planned on releasing his fourth album in the Collabos series titled Welcome to Strangeland, featuring guest appearances from everyone on Strange Music, followed by the long awaited K.A.B.O.S.H. and 816 Boyz albums.^[19] Then, in July 2011, Yates said in a blog post that Rick Ross has agreed to do a song with him for the K.A.B.O.S.H. album and that he is also hoping to have a collaboration with Jay-Z on that album. In the same blog post, he said that the K.A.B.O.S.H. album will be a rock album.^[20] In another blog post several weeks later, he confirmed that he will begin work on the album after completing Welcome to Strangeland.^[21] Following his tour, he announced that he was about to begin work on Welcome to Strangeland and KLUSTERFUK, confirming producers for both projects. He said he will then begin work on the K.A.B.O.S.H. album.^[22]

Tech N9ne is featured on Lil Wayne's ninth studio album Tha Carter IV on the song Interlude. The track features a verse from Tech and Andre 3000. During a radio interview with Funkmaster Flex in August 2010, Wayne stated that he and Tech N9ne formed a "brotherhood" when Yates visited him in jail. In a later interview, Tech N9ne claimed that he thinks the song will "awaken a lot of other people that wouldn't usually look [his] way" and "teach all the new fans how to become technicians."

On January 27th 2012, in an interview with "Underground TV" posted on Tech N9ne's blog, Tech N9ne talked about his 2012 plans, confirming the release of Klusterfuk, the K.A.B.O.S.H. album and an untitled solo album to be released in 2012. As of March 19, 2012, Tech announced that he would be featured on New York rapper, DMX's upcoming album.^[23]

Style and influences[link]

Yates is known for his dynamic rhyme schemes and speed rap abilities. Soren Baker of VH1 states that Yates' techniques "showcase his wide-ranging, mind-blowing flows."^[8] Baker characterizes Yates' earlier work as "apocalyptic music, which discussed abortion and infidelity as much as his rapping prowess."^[8] Allmusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier calls his style "bizarre hardcore rap."^[1]

Yates says that he is influenced by Old school hip hop, and specifically cites Slick Rick, N.W.A, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Schoolly D, and Just-Ice.^[18] He is also interested in other genres of music, and lists The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, AC/DC, Metallica, Floetry, Outkast, and Gnarls Barkley as influences. He's remarked generally that "I love beautiful music, beautiful music no matter what type".^[18]

In popular culture[link]

Films[link]

Yates' songs have appeared in the films Gang Related, Alpha Dog, Our Heroes: The 25 Best Black Sports Movies (Ever), and The Life of Lucky Cucumber.^[24][25][26] Yates was originally set to score the entire film Alpha Dog, but the studio decided to replace some of his music with more commercially known songs.^[27] In 2009, his song "Let's Go" was used in an online promotional short film for AXE body spray.^[28] Yates also appears as an actor in the films Vengeance and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.^{[29][30][31][32]}

Video games[link]

Several of Yates' songs are featured in the video games Madden NFL 2006, Midnight Club: Los Angeles,EA Sports MMA, and 25 To Life, the latter of which Yates is also an unlockable character.^[33] In 2009, Yates and label mate Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the Fight Night Round 4 video game.^[34]

Television[link]

Yates' music has appeared on the television shows Dark Angel, I'm From Rolling Stone, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Spike Guys' Choice Awards, and Warren The Ape.^[35][36] In 2008, his song "Earthquake" was featured on an episode of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew in which the crew had to visually convey the title of the song in their performance.^[37] On the August 15, 2009 Strikeforce event, Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg, MMA fighter Gilbert Melendez entered the arena to Tech N9ne's 2006 song "The Beast" for his bout with Mitsuhiro Ishida.^[38] His song "Riot Maker" was used as the official theme song for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's 2010 Hardcore Justice pay-per-view. Yates also appeared on the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards in the BET Cypher with B.o.B, Machine Gun Kelly, Kendrick Lamar, and Big K.R.I.T..

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• The Calm Before the Storm (1999)
• The Worst (2000)
• Anghellic (2001)
• Absolute Power (2002)
• Everready (The Religion) (2006)
• Misery Loves Kompany (2007)
• Killer (2008)
• Sickology 101 (2009)
• K.O.D. (2009)
• The Gates Mixed Plate (2010)
• All 6's And 7's (2011)
• Welcome to Strangeland (2011)
• TBA (2012)^[39]

with K.A.B.O.S.H.

• Amafrican Psycho^[40] (TBA)

Extended plays[link]

• The Lost Scripts of K.O.D. (2010)
• Seepage (2010)
• Klusterfuk (2012)

Mixtapes[link]

• Bad Season (2010) (with DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Scream)

Selected filmography[link]

• Beef (2003)
• Das Bus (2003)
• T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience (2004)
• United Ghettos of America Vol. 2 (2004)
• Hip Hop Nation Vol. 1 (2005)
• Letter to the President (2005)
• Alpha Dog^[A1] (2006)
• The Psychumentary (2008)
• The Life of Lucky Cucumber (2009)
• Strictly Strange (2009)
• K.O.D. Tour (Live in Kansas City) (2010)
• EuroTech Tour (2011)
• Hip Hop Squares (2012)
• Vengeance (TBA)
• Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D^[41] (TBA)

Selected filmography notes

1. ^{^} Tech N9ne does not physically appear, but he did have a helping hand in scoring the movie, this includes the placement of several of his songs in the films score as well as the appearance of a song from fellow label mates Skatterman & Snug Brim.

Awards and nominations[link]

mtvU Woodie Awards[link]

References[link]