The Slip (album)
Encyclopedia
The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock
act Nine Inch Nails
, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor
with collaborators Atticus Ross
and Alan Moulder
. The album was released for free under a Creative Commons
(BY-NC-SA) license, with the message from Reznor, "this one's on me." The Slip was initially released digitally via the Nine Inch Nails official website without any prior advertisement or promotion. A limited-edition, physical version followed two months later, though this iteration of the album was not free.
The Slip was originally intended to be an EP
, but eventually grew to be a full-length album. It was recorded, performed, and released in three weeks; Reznor released the album's only single, "Discipline
", to radio stations himself, less than 24 hours after it was mastered by Moulder. Critical reception of the album has been generally favorable, and its unorthodox method of release attracted significant media attention. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200
.
announced in 2007 that the band had completed its contractual obligations to its record label, Interscope Records
, and would no longer be working with the company. Reznor also revealed that Nine Inch Nails would likely distribute any future material independently. Following the announcement, Nine Inch Nails released the 36-track instrumental album Ghosts I–IV
in March 2008 on Reznor's independent label The Null Corporation
.
Reznor returned to writing soon after the release of Ghosts, and after a month of work The Slip was performed and recorded in three weeks of studio time at Trent Reznor's in-home studio. The album was engineered by Atticus Ross
and mixed by Alan Moulder
, both of whom co-produced it with Reznor. Originally intended as an EP
, in Reznor's own words "it just kept growing legs until it [became] what it is". Some instrumental performances were contributed by live-band
members Josh Freese
, Robin Finck
, and Alessandro Cortini
, though they did not participate in the songwriting process; their contributions were limited to small parts rather than complete song recordings. During recording sessions, Reznor sent the album's first and only single, "Discipline
", to radio stations before the remainder of the album was completed, and less than 24 hours after the track had been mastered. According to Reznor, the track listing and lyrics were finished on a Wednesday, the final mix
and album sequencing on Thursday, the mastering
on Friday, artwork on Saturday, and the album was released on Sunday, May 5. Reznor reflected on the quick turnaround by saying "that was fun [...] you never could have done that before", referring to the slow and bureaucratic pace of record production, promotion, and release he experienced with major record labels.
Many critics noted how tracks on The Slip echoed musical stylings from the band's past, and that the record contained musical allusions to older Nine Inch Nails records. Anastasia Pantsios of the Cleveland Free Times said that "The Slip more or less sums up the terrain Reznor's covered in his nearly two-decade career", and went on to compare the album sound with the "edgy but irresistible beats" of Pretty Hate Machine
and The Downward Spiral
, and "the elusive atmospherics" of The Fragile
. Jon Pareles of The New York Times
wrote that "the music revives Nine Inch Nails’ past, from stomping hard rock to dance-club beats to piano ballad to inexorably building instrumentals." The album's final track, "Demon Seed", directly incorporates instrumental elements from the final track of the band's previous all-instrumental album Ghosts I–IV.
Ed Thompson of IGN
commented that the tracks "Discipline" and "Echoplex" channeled "bits and pieces of Depeche Mode
, Bauhaus
, and even some Siouxsie and the Banshees". Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times
called The Slip "murkier and less catchy than the last couple of regular NIN albums", and added that "Reznor blends the jarring sounds of the industrial rock genre [...] with a terse, punk-like attack, bringing an insistent, sometimes claustrophobic feel to his scenarios of alienation".
Lyrically, Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media
compared "Discipline" to one of Nine Inch Nails's first singles, "Head Like a Hole
", saying "['Discipline'] comes from a long-established and now label-free artist trying to reflexively reassert his position in the pop landscape, on his own terms. [...] 'Discipline' evinces Reznor's desire for some sort of framework [...] In relative terms, 'I need your discipline/ I need your help' is sure a long way from the nearly 20-year-old 'Head Like a Hole' refrain 'I'd rather die/ Than give you control'." Tom Breihan of The Village Voice
reached a similar interpretation of the album's lyrical content, writing "The Slip seems to deal with Reznor's break from the corporate machine, or at least from the numbing conformity-minded forces it represents."
In commenting on the album, Reznor has said that it derived from "a weird sense of being outside [himself] in isolation and watching [himself] getting older." He also described it as "a quickly assembled album", and as "more of a sketch than a painting." Reznor compared the quick assembly of The Slip to the much longer process of creating his 1999 double album The Fragile, saying that the creation of The Slip relied more on "reflexes" and that his next project would be given more "editorial time".
, in collaboration with Reznor, was the album's art director, as he had been for the previous three Nine Inch Nails studio albums, Ghosts I–IV (2008), Year Zero
(2007), and With Teeth
(2005). The downloadable version of The Slip comes with a PDF
containing liner notes and album art. Each track from the album is accompanied by its own graphic image, each of which consists chiefly of geometric patterns against a grey background.
" to radio stations and as a free download on the official Nine Inch Nails site. The song failed to conquer the pole position as expected, and charted below the Top 5. Another song, "Echoplex", was released as a free download from iLike
later. The ID3
tags of these MP3
files also pointed to the date May 5, just as Reznor's post had. On May 5, a free direct download link to the album in MP3 format was posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website, with a message from Reznor that said: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me." The digital download is available in a variety of DRM
-free audio formats. The lyrics for each track are embedded using ID3 tags, for viewing in supported media players.
Like the previous Nine Inch Nails studio album Ghosts I–IV, The Slip was released under a Creative Commons
attribution-noncommercial share-alike
license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. The website further expands this by saying "we encourage you to remix it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc." As with Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero
, multi-track audio source files of the album were also made available at the official Nine Inch Nails remix site. Reznor also plans on giving away the online software and digital infrastructure through which both The Slip and Ghosts were released.
The Slip was released on CD in the United States and Canada on July 22; unlike the digital release, however, the physical version of the album was not free. The physical package was released as a six-panel digipack which contained the album itself, a 24-page booklet, a sticker pack, and a DVD with live rehearsals of "1,000,000", "Letting You", "Discipline
", "Echoplex", and "Head Down". Three of these videos were featured on Pitchfork Media prior to the CD/DVD release. The physical release of the album was limited to 250,000 numbered units worldwide. A 180-gram gatefold vinyl was released in the US and Canada on August 12, and in the United Kingdom August 18.
and the Top Internet Albums charts, and missed the Top 10, based on weekly retail sales. The album also charted internationally, including number 12 on the Canadian Albums Chart
, number 2 on the Australian Albums Chart
, and number 25 on the UK Albums Chart
, all where the album didn't top any charts. The album's only single, "Discipline
" (which was unable to enter the Top 5) reached number 6 and number 24 on Billboard' s Alternative Songs and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, respectively, based on weekly radio airplay and failed to top any charts.
Following the release of The Slip and the similarly unorthodox release of Ghosts I–IV
, Reznor confessed in retrospect that "It doesn't feel like an overwhelming success to me."
. IGN
gave the album an 8.8 out of 10, stating "Simply put, The Slip is an amazing record." The Toronto Star
said "[The Slip] is hardly a throwaway, this seems a sincere gift to fans." Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media gave the album a 7.5 out of 10 and wrote "Reznor's unique capacity to commingle raging industrial bangers with ballads and ambient instrumental passages appears in its best form since The Downward Spiral, and here gains much of the focus and restraint that many remember used to be his calling card." Daphne Carr of LA Weekly
said "Musically, it’s his most adventurous work since The Fragile, and his business model is inspired — if unsustainable." Slant Magazine
' s review was not as positive, however: Sal Cinquemani summarized in his review that "individual songs on The Slip aren't particularly dynamic", and described the track "Lights in the Sky" as "a tuneless, minimalist piano dirge". Mikael Wood of Spin
complained that "a few tracks, such as 'The Four of Us Are Dying,' go on for far too long", but then said "Reznor recovers with a barn burner like 'Demon Seed'".
As with Ghosts I–IV, The Slips unorthodox distribution methods also garnered the attention of various news agencies. An ABC News
op ed questioned if consumers would "ever pay for an album again" stating "with NIN now in the game, its [sic] hard to argue that this is anything but a harbinger of the future." Commenting on the distribution of the album, Dave LaGesse of U.S. News & World Report
said "The move seems an even purer play than what Radiohead
did with its most recent album, In Rainbows
." Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone
magazine called giving away The Slip for free Reznor's "most radical stunt yet", and added that "[it's] an impressively democratic, fourth-wall-shattering gesture coming from one of music's biggest control-freak auteurs." Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media
compared the release strategy of The Slip favorably to that of Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero
, writing that "[u]nlike its most immediate predecessors, The Slip comes packaged with a crucial difference: the music itself is more satisfying than the sui generis
marketing scheme."
Rolling Stone named The Slip in their "Best of 2008" list, ranking the album at number 37, and named Reznor number 46 in its "100 People Who Are Changing America" list, concluding that he has "been more creative than anyone in embracing the post-CD era". Following the release of the online-releases of The Slip and Ghosts I–IV, Reznor was awarded the "Webby Artist of the Year Award" at the annual Webby Awards
in 2009.
Video content (CD/DVD version):
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
act Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
with collaborators Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
and Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
. The album was released for free under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
(BY-NC-SA) license, with the message from Reznor, "this one's on me." The Slip was initially released digitally via the Nine Inch Nails official website without any prior advertisement or promotion. A limited-edition, physical version followed two months later, though this iteration of the album was not free.
The Slip was originally intended to be an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, but eventually grew to be a full-length album. It was recorded, performed, and released in three weeks; Reznor released the album's only single, "Discipline
Discipline (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Discipline" is a single by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It is the band's first single since the severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently. Unlike previous NIN singles, no physical release of the song was issued...
", to radio stations himself, less than 24 hours after it was mastered by Moulder. Critical reception of the album has been generally favorable, and its unorthodox method of release attracted significant media attention. The album peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
Background and recording
Nine Inch Nails front man Trent ReznorTrent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
announced in 2007 that the band had completed its contractual obligations to its record label, Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
, and would no longer be working with the company. Reznor also revealed that Nine Inch Nails would likely distribute any future material independently. Following the announcement, Nine Inch Nails released the 36-track instrumental album Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
in March 2008 on Reznor's independent label The Null Corporation
The Null Corporation
The Null Corporation is an independent record label which releases the work of Nine Inch Nails and How to Destroy Angels. The Nine Inch Nails albums, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, have been released in physical formats under the Null Corporation imprint...
.
Reznor returned to writing soon after the release of Ghosts, and after a month of work The Slip was performed and recorded in three weeks of studio time at Trent Reznor's in-home studio. The album was engineered by Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
and mixed by Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
, both of whom co-produced it with Reznor. Originally intended as an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, in Reznor's own words "it just kept growing legs until it [became] what it is". Some instrumental performances were contributed by live-band
Nine Inch Nails live performances
Nine Inch Nails, an industrial rock band fronted by Trent Reznor, did various live performances throughout the world, including tours in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and China. While Reznor controls the creative and musical direction of Nine Inch Nails in-studio, the...
members Josh Freese
Josh Freese
Josh Freese is an American session drummer and songwriter. He is a permanent member of A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, and Devo, having formerly played drums for Nine Inch Nails from late 2005 until late 2008, and for Guns N' Roses from mid-1998 to 2001. Freese has appeared on close to 300 records....
, Robin Finck
Robin Finck
Robin Finck is an American guitarist of Nine Inch Nails and former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses. He is one of only a few artists who has played in two different bands listed on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock"; Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses .-Career:Finck grew up in Marietta,...
, and Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini is an Italian musician best known for touring and recording with the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 2004 to 2008. Currently, Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles based electronic-alternative band SONOIO. In addition, he was a touring member of The...
, though they did not participate in the songwriting process; their contributions were limited to small parts rather than complete song recordings. During recording sessions, Reznor sent the album's first and only single, "Discipline
Discipline (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Discipline" is a single by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It is the band's first single since the severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently. Unlike previous NIN singles, no physical release of the song was issued...
", to radio stations before the remainder of the album was completed, and less than 24 hours after the track had been mastered. According to Reznor, the track listing and lyrics were finished on a Wednesday, the final mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
and album sequencing on Thursday, the mastering
Audio mastering
Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
on Friday, artwork on Saturday, and the album was released on Sunday, May 5. Reznor reflected on the quick turnaround by saying "that was fun [...] you never could have done that before", referring to the slow and bureaucratic pace of record production, promotion, and release he experienced with major record labels.
Music and lyrics
Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording...
and The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
, and "the elusive atmospherics" of The Fragile
The Fragile
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...
. Jon Pareles of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that "the music revives Nine Inch Nails’ past, from stomping hard rock to dance-club beats to piano ballad to inexorably building instrumentals." The album's final track, "Demon Seed", directly incorporates instrumental elements from the final track of the band's previous all-instrumental album Ghosts I–IV.
Ed Thompson of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
commented that the tracks "Discipline" and "Echoplex" channeled "bits and pieces of Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
, Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
, and even some Siouxsie and the Banshees". Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
called The Slip "murkier and less catchy than the last couple of regular NIN albums", and added that "Reznor blends the jarring sounds of the industrial rock genre [...] with a terse, punk-like attack, bringing an insistent, sometimes claustrophobic feel to his scenarios of alienation".
Lyrically, Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
compared "Discipline" to one of Nine Inch Nails's first singles, "Head Like a Hole
Head Like a Hole
"Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails. A song influenced by industrial metal group Ministry, it was released as the second single from the group's debut album Pretty Hate Machine...
", saying "['Discipline'] comes from a long-established and now label-free artist trying to reflexively reassert his position in the pop landscape, on his own terms. [...] 'Discipline' evinces Reznor's desire for some sort of framework [...] In relative terms, 'I need your discipline/ I need your help' is sure a long way from the nearly 20-year-old 'Head Like a Hole' refrain 'I'd rather die/ Than give you control'." Tom Breihan of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
reached a similar interpretation of the album's lyrical content, writing "The Slip seems to deal with Reznor's break from the corporate machine, or at least from the numbing conformity-minded forces it represents."
In commenting on the album, Reznor has said that it derived from "a weird sense of being outside [himself] in isolation and watching [himself] getting older." He also described it as "a quickly assembled album", and as "more of a sketch than a painting." Reznor compared the quick assembly of The Slip to the much longer process of creating his 1999 double album The Fragile, saying that the creation of The Slip relied more on "reflexes" and that his next project would be given more "editorial time".
Artwork
Rob SheridanRob Sheridan
Rob Sheridan is an American graphic designer, director, and photographer best known for his extensive work with the band Nine Inch Nails....
, in collaboration with Reznor, was the album's art director, as he had been for the previous three Nine Inch Nails studio albums, Ghosts I–IV (2008), Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
(2007), and With Teeth
With Teeth
With Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...
(2005). The downloadable version of The Slip comes with a PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
containing liner notes and album art. Each track from the album is accompanied by its own graphic image, each of which consists chiefly of geometric patterns against a grey background.
Release
Trent Reznor posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website on April 21 a message saying "2 weeks!" Reznor employed a similar tactic to tease the release of the band's previous album (Ghosts I–IV) earlier the same year. The following day, Reznor released the single by email "DisciplineDiscipline (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Discipline" is a single by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It is the band's first single since the severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently. Unlike previous NIN singles, no physical release of the song was issued...
" to radio stations and as a free download on the official Nine Inch Nails site. The song failed to conquer the pole position as expected, and charted below the Top 5. Another song, "Echoplex", was released as a free download from iLike
ILike
iLike is an online service that allows users to download and share music. The website makes use of a sidebar that is used with Apple's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The program and sidebar are not required in order to use the site but allow for ease in discovering new artists....
later. The ID3
ID3
ID3 is a metadata container most often used in conjunction with the MP3 audio file format. It allows information such as the title, artist, album, track number, and other information about the file to be stored in the file itself....
tags of these MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files also pointed to the date May 5, just as Reznor's post had. On May 5, a free direct download link to the album in MP3 format was posted on the official Nine Inch Nails website, with a message from Reznor that said: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me." The digital download is available in a variety of DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
-free audio formats. The lyrics for each track are embedded using ID3 tags, for viewing in supported media players.
Like the previous Nine Inch Nails studio album Ghosts I–IV, The Slip was released under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
attribution-noncommercial share-alike
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. The website further expands this by saying "we encourage you to remix it, share it with your friends, post it on your blog, play it on your podcast, give it to strangers, etc." As with Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
, multi-track audio source files of the album were also made available at the official Nine Inch Nails remix site. Reznor also plans on giving away the online software and digital infrastructure through which both The Slip and Ghosts were released.
The Slip was released on CD in the United States and Canada on July 22; unlike the digital release, however, the physical version of the album was not free. The physical package was released as a six-panel digipack which contained the album itself, a 24-page booklet, a sticker pack, and a DVD with live rehearsals of "1,000,000", "Letting You", "Discipline
Discipline (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Discipline" is a single by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It is the band's first single since the severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently. Unlike previous NIN singles, no physical release of the song was issued...
", "Echoplex", and "Head Down". Three of these videos were featured on Pitchfork Media prior to the CD/DVD release. The physical release of the album was limited to 250,000 numbered units worldwide. A 180-gram gatefold vinyl was released in the US and Canada on August 12, and in the United Kingdom August 18.
Sales and public reception
A month and a half after its online release, The Slip had been downloaded 1.4 million times from the official Nine Inch Nails website. By the time the physical version was released two months later, that number had grown beyond 2 million. The physical release of the album has sold more than 98,000 copies, peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and the Top Internet Albums charts, and missed the Top 10, based on weekly retail sales. The album also charted internationally, including number 12 on the Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
, number 2 on the Australian Albums Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
, and number 25 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, all where the album didn't top any charts. The album's only single, "Discipline
Discipline (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Discipline" is a single by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It is the band's first single since the severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently. Unlike previous NIN singles, no physical release of the song was issued...
" (which was unable to enter the Top 5) reached number 6 and number 24 on Billboard
Following the release of The Slip and the similarly unorthodox release of Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
, Reznor confessed in retrospect that "It doesn't feel like an overwhelming success to me."
Critical reception
Critical response to The Slip has been generally favorable, with an average rating of 78% based on eleven reviews on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the album an 8.8 out of 10, stating "Simply put, The Slip is an amazing record." The Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
said "[The Slip] is hardly a throwaway, this seems a sincere gift to fans." Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media gave the album a 7.5 out of 10 and wrote "Reznor's unique capacity to commingle raging industrial bangers with ballads and ambient instrumental passages appears in its best form since The Downward Spiral, and here gains much of the focus and restraint that many remember used to be his calling card." Daphne Carr of LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
said "Musically, it’s his most adventurous work since The Fragile, and his business model is inspired — if unsustainable." Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
complained that "a few tracks, such as 'The Four of Us Are Dying,' go on for far too long", but then said "Reznor recovers with a barn burner like 'Demon Seed'".
As with Ghosts I–IV, The Slips unorthodox distribution methods also garnered the attention of various news agencies. An ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
op ed questioned if consumers would "ever pay for an album again" stating "with NIN now in the game, its [sic] hard to argue that this is anything but a harbinger of the future." Commenting on the distribution of the album, Dave LaGesse of U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
said "The move seems an even purer play than what Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
did with its most recent album, In Rainbows
In Rainbows
In Rainbows is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was first released on 10 October 2007 as a digital download self-released, that customers could order for whatever price they saw fit, followed by a standard CD release in most countries during the last week of 2007. The...
." Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine called giving away The Slip for free Reznor's "most radical stunt yet", and added that "[it's] an impressively democratic, fourth-wall-shattering gesture coming from one of music's biggest control-freak auteurs." Eric Harvey of Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
compared the release strategy of The Slip favorably to that of Ghosts I–IV and Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
, writing that "[u]nlike its most immediate predecessors, The Slip comes packaged with a crucial difference: the music itself is more satisfying than the sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
marketing scheme."
Rolling Stone named The Slip in their "Best of 2008" list, ranking the album at number 37, and named Reznor number 46 in its "100 People Who Are Changing America" list, concluding that he has "been more creative than anyone in embracing the post-CD era". Following the release of the online-releases of The Slip and Ghosts I–IV, Reznor was awarded the "Webby Artist of the Year Award" at the annual Webby Awards
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
in 2009.
Track listing
Limited Edition Bonus DVD
Live From Rehearsals June 2008:- "1,000,000" (Live)
- "Letting You" (Live)
- "Discipline" (Live)
- "Echoplex" (Live)
- "Head Down" (Live)
Chart positions
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| The Slip | |
| Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
13 |
| Top Internet Albums | 13 |
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
22 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
12 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 24 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
33 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 38 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 35 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
25 |
| "Discipline" | |
| Alternative Songs | 6 |
| Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 24 |
| iLike ILike iLike is an online service that allows users to download and share music. The website makes use of a sidebar that is used with Apple's iTunes or Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The program and sidebar are not required in order to use the site but allow for ease in discovering new artists.... Libraries: Most Added |
9 |
Personnel
- Written by Trent ReznorTrent ReznorMichael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
- Performed by Trent Reznor with Josh FreeseJosh FreeseJosh Freese is an American session drummer and songwriter. He is a permanent member of A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, and Devo, having formerly played drums for Nine Inch Nails from late 2005 until late 2008, and for Guns N' Roses from mid-1998 to 2001. Freese has appeared on close to 300 records....
, Robin FinckRobin FinckRobin Finck is an American guitarist of Nine Inch Nails and former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses. He is one of only a few artists who has played in two different bands listed on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock"; Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses .-Career:Finck grew up in Marietta,...
, and Alessandro CortiniAlessandro CortiniAlessandro Cortini is an Italian musician best known for touring and recording with the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 2004 to 2008. Currently, Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles based electronic-alternative band SONOIO. In addition, he was a touring member of The... - Produced by Trent Reznor, Atticus RossAtticus RossAtticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
, and Alan MoulderAlan MoulderAlan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American... - Mixed by Alan Moulder
- Programmed by Atticus Ross
- Engineered by Michael Tuller, Atticus Ross, and Alan Moulder
- Mastered by Brian GardnerBrian GardnerBrian Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner is a mastering engineer. He has worked on countless recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk, and dance pop. He is perhaps best known for his work on hip hop albums and in...
at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, California - Room tuning: Steve "Coco" Brandon
- Art Direction: Rob SheridanRob SheridanRob Sheridan is an American graphic designer, director, and photographer best known for his extensive work with the band Nine Inch Nails....
and Trent Reznor
Video content (CD/DVD version):
- Nine Inch Nails live: Alessandro Cortini, Robin Finck, Josh Freese, Justin Meldal-JohnsenJustin Meldal-JohnsenJustin Meldal-Johnsen is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work with Grammy Award-winning artist Beck. He served as the touring bassist for Nine Inch Nails during their final tours.-Recording career:...
, Trent Reznor - Produced by Michael Angelos
- Directed and edited by Rob Sheridan
- "Letting You", "Head Down", and "Discipline" mixed by Blumpy
- "1,000,000" and "Echoplex" mixed by Ken Andrews at Red Swan Studios
- Production Manager: Mark Demarais
- Director of Photography: Simon Thirlaway
- Camera Operators: Simon Thirlaway, Rob Sheridan, Hilton Goring, Dan Bombell, Ethan McDonald
- Mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering, Hollywood, CA
External links
- Official album website
- The Slip at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- The Slip Limited Edition Tracking