Featured Essay: NIN's "With Teeth" at 20

by Tim Gavin

Do you remember the album that started your music collection?

It doesn’t always start with the first album you ever got with your own money or as a present from someone close to you. It’s an album that shined a light on a new path for you; instead of occasionally picking up a CD, buying a song off itunes, or even adding a song to a Spotify playlist, regular trips to your favorite record shop trying to find something new to scratch that musical itch. For me that album was With Teeth, the 4th full studio album from Nine Inch Nails, and living proof that you can make good art and be sober at the same time.

It was late in the summer of 2007, right on the cusp of vinyl’s resurgence, the peak of both the itunes era, and the music game era. Guitar Hero was wildly popular, and now its main competitor, Rock Band was being demoed in game stores, Best Buys, and…If you grew up in Canada around this time, its Burgundy, and distinctly northern cousin; Future Shop. Taking a brief respite from back to school shopping that August, I wandered into Future Shop, and immediately after the blast of air conditioned air stepping inside, I saw it. On a 60 inch plasma screen with gigantic speakers on each side, a kiosk was set up for Rock Band. I made no attempt to resist my urge to play, immediately sprinting over, strapping on the cheap plastic controller, and looking through the meager offering of tracks people could play ahead of the games November release date. Some familiar songs which I’d already played on Guitar Hero, and some that were new to me. The one song stood out to me first was “The Hand That Feeds.”

At the time Nine Inch Nails was one of those bands I had heard of, but never listened to, only knowing their iconic 3 letter logo. So I figured now was as good a time as any to hear what this band was all about. I played the song, and playing along to the simple, but heavy riffs Trent Reznor laid down awakened something in me. Around this time I was very into “Mid-2000’s Radio Rock” so anything heavier than Evanescence or Three Days Grace sounded both foreign and exciting to me. I also had a passive love for dance music thanks to my mom and her boyfriend at the time constantly having it on around the house. “The Hand That Feeds” seemed to blend both of those sounds in a way that was revolutionary to my 14 year old self. A couple of weeks later I found myself at an HMV with 20 dollars in my pocket, just enough at the time to grab a copy of With Teeth on CD.

The rest of that summer, and into the fall I slowly digested the rest of the album. Of course I had the albums singles mostly on repeat, but this was the first album where I found myself enjoying the deeper cuts just as much, if not a little more than the singles. A musical domino effect took hold of me and shortly after I found myself picking up Pretty Hate Machine at my local library. After taking a bit longer to get into that album, and soon after, taking it and The Downward Spiral CD from my moms bf’s collection and putting the files onto the green iPod nano I got for Christmas that year. For the first time, I had music that wasn’t thrust onto me by peer pressure, or parental obligation. I found this music on my own, and actually figured out what I liked to listen to…and I wanted more. In the years following, a majority of the music I purchased (and pirated, good industrial music was still difficult for me to find back then) could be traced back to Nine Inch Nails one way or another. Either artists who influenced them like Ministry, or Skinny Puppy, or bands with a more direct connection like Marilyn Manson (who I’ve since purged from my shelf) or Filter.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how great of a time it was to be a Nine Inch Nails fan. Besides every stone cold classic that had come before, and several EP’s and remix albums to catch up on; I had even more new music awaiting me. Not only in the form of Ghosts I-IV and The Slip, but in a backlog of fan-made remixes, and high quality bootlegs, all meticulously cataloged on forums both on NIN’s official website, and equally active fansites. Facebook and Twitter came to the forefront, but it was exciting to still have an old-school forum or two to visit, free of algorithms, and full of fans who cared about the music just as much as me.

With Teeth was an album that felt like it grew with me. When I first dove into the album as a teenager, all I cared about at the time was that it rocked. With each listen after, I could relate a bit more to songs like “Everyday is Exactly The Same," a track which I thought defined my feelings towards high school, but took even more meaning in a different way in 2020. Opening my mind with the political themes of “The Hand That Feeds," taking solace in the loneliness of “All The Love In The World." While I never did relate to the albums themes of addiction on songs like “You Know What You Are?” and the albums title track, it did start to get me to reexamine my perspectives more too, later identifying with them in maybe a different way than Trent Reznor intended.

If you listen to NIN’s discography in order, each album is different. But you can tell that there is a big difference in everything before, and after With Teeth. Everything before having that sense of hunger, angst, ambition to be the best, even if it destroyed you. Everything after sounds cleaner, and more mature. Still as ambitious as ever, but much more focused.

Between 2020 and 2022, I had my own fresh start. Losing my job to the chaos of the COVID pandemic and corporate restructuring, I spent 8 months unemployed, and alone, trying to give myself routine by reading more, taking a crack at podcasting, cooking new recipes, and occasionally job hunting, which inevitably devolved into playing video games and watching tv for days at a time instead of being productive. In the time when I needed them more than ever, I’d stopped listening to Nine Inch Nails for a time, probably my way of not linking that music to tragedy as lots of music released in 2020 did for me, and I regret that, because it was one less healthy coping mechanism as I started my own downward spiral into hopelessness. By my birthday that year, thanks to the love and support of my friends and family, I had crawled out of the darkness enough to drive back to my hometown of Edmonton, AB for a weekend with my family. I had worked up the courage (and a hefty collection of masks) to actually go out and do things, like taking a trip to West Edmonton Mall with my mom and sister.

Naturally I had to do some record shopping, so before we left, I stopped into Sunrise Records and skimmed their meager vinyl selection for a birthday gift to myself. Since it was still early into the pandemic and halfway into my unemployment period I only allowed myself to get one album, and only spend $40. In a twist of fate, the only album that drew me in was a vinyl version of With Teeth, newly remastered, and repressed…and it cost $50. So, breaking one of my two rules, I bought the album, brought it home, and after listening to my first Nine Inch Nails album in a new light, I started crawling out of the darkness a little bit more. Later that summer I managed to find a couple of odd jobs to support myself, and a month into that, got my foot back in the door of my career and starting over in BC. It was the worst time of my life, but because everything afterwards got so much better, I wouldn’t change a thing…except maybe I would have listened to more Nine Inch Nails along the way.

The magic of With Teeth is in what it represents; A Fresh Start. Which is an option I think all of us yearn for at least once in our lives. Seeing Trent Reznor have that fresh start, getting into his head a little more through his music, it’s inspiring. That fresh start didn’t even happen overnight, it was still gradual, difficult, but it happened, and even at your lowest point, you can always go up. Nothing Can Stop Me, You, or any of us now.

Tim has worked in Radio around Western Canada for over 10 years, most recently as an Announcer and Music Director in Prince George, BC, Canada, where he lives with his wife and their 2 cats and dog.