I hate to pretend like I am the one that can most righteously comment on the career of the nine inch nails. Mainly, because I've never cared for them, that much. I was around when "Head Like A Hole" made some waves with my alternative-lovin' friends. But then (as I believe is true for most of the successes of Trent Reznor), I think that the only reason people embraced NIN was because they slathered angst on their sleeves, and a certain part of the population will always be there to lick that stuff up.

Me, I usually like happy stuff. Nirvana doled out enough angst for me, but it was always balanced with enough nonsense and earnestness to not bring me down. Same with my appreciation for pre-Up R.E.M. Downers need to be balanced with Uppers - por moi, anyways.

So when I heard the nails were gonna make a dent in the recording world again this year, I expected more of the same. Something to hook the teens ("Did he just say 'F--- you like an ANIMAL??), and a lot of brooding over bleeps and blips.

So color me goth-lite when I heard the single "Hand that Feeds" and this week's AC1. Nah, it's not peppy, but it's introspective, very earnest, provocative in a thoughtful way, and above all...good.

This track builds on a piano with quite-clever lyrics (good questioning reality ponderances). It just drags you along, pulls you in. And, my favorite part: a cheering audience in the middle of the song. It fades in, it fades out. It means nothing that I can tell, but it works so, so well.

In other NIN notes, there is a line of industrial room heaters made by a company called Reznor. Every time I see one of these, I start humming "Head like a Hole," and it makes me think of a young stringy-haired Trent working for the family business. Maybe it was a summer job in the factory that made him think techno. Thumping on aluminum, scraping & grinding...sounds like the makings of a pop star to me!!!

Okay, I'm done now.