Interpreting Trent

A friend likes to remind me of a a Chuck Klosterman quote that pertains to an artist being unable to control how people view their art. I have always wanted to believe that if you make a strong enough point that whatever you do is unassailable. Recent events have proven me wrong.

Saturday night about halfway through one of the last (till he needs money) Nine Inch Nails shows I was kind of miserable. I love NIN and have loved them as long as I can remember. But the fans that were at this show made the whole thing almost unwatchable. The first rule of show going was being flaunted more than I had ever seen in my life. Almost the entire crowd was wearing NIN shirts. We get it. You like the band. I like the band. We all like the band. If we didn't we wouldn't be at the show. Looking around I had the feeling that a lot of the people in the crowd switch out their NIN shirt with a Limp Bizket shirt on the weekends.

Thanks, fat-sweaty guy (which was 1/3 of the crowd) dancing out of time to the music while at the same time flinging sweat on everyone around him. Thanks, guy next to us screaming the lyrics in his girlfriend's ears. Thanks, skinny douche talking about everything but the show in front of us. The whole show was a real who's who of who I wouldn't ever want to run into again.

This really hit home during the last song. Trent is doing Hurt for the last time. This is it. Last song of the last show we are all ever going to see. It's building and at first people are singing along and it is a really great moment. Then during the verses people start yelling such bon mots as "Get angry Trent" and "Fuck Yeah". A song about loneliness, disappointment, and loss really needs this.

I get why the guy doesn't want to perform. If these were my fans I would have stopped a long time ago. I have some complaints about the show as a whole but I think the thing that really killed me was that NIN fans suck. I know that makes me sound like an elitist but fuck sake. I wouldn't want to sit on a public bus with any of them, let alone watch a show for two hours. This may be why I love the live DVD's more than any NIN show I have seen. Or I could just be a pretentious asshole.