The album (which just celebrated its 25th anniversary) was described by bandleader Trent Reznor as an exercise in “honesty and nakedness of emotion,” which “looks at certain vices as being ways of trying to dull the pain of what the person is hiding.” It began, like most great works of art, with an honest reflection and assessment of self, even the dark and horrific parts Reznor would rather not deal with. Though Palahniuk’s own life experiences served as the main inspiration for the story, there was, in fact, another iconic piece of ‘90s art that deeply informed the story, both in its content and its dark tone: Nine Inch Nails’ 1994 album, The Downward Spiral. But three years before Fight Club hit theaters, the story was conceived and published by a diesel mechanic from Portland named Chuck Palahniuk. Twenty years ago, David Fincher directed a seminal cinematic masterpiece drenched in existentialism and grime. As The Downward Spiral, which came out on March 8th, 1994, gets another year older, we revisit Thiessen’s article and the shared downward spiral of Reznor and filmmaker David Fincher’s narrator. Editor’s Notes: While it wouldn’t surprise us that a fan of Fight Club might also own a copy of The Downward Spiral, this classic piece by Christopher Thiessen, first published in March of 2019, definitely surprised us with its revelations of just how intertwined the book and its film actually are with Trent Reznor’s masterpiece.
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