Year Zero (album)

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Year Zero
Year Zero cover
Studio album by Nine Inch Nails
Released April 16, 2007 (2007-04-16)
Recorded "all over the world"
September—December 13, 2006
Genre Industrial rock
Length 63:42
Label Interscope - HALO 24
Producer Trent Reznor
Atticus Ross
Professional reviews
Nine Inch Nails chronology
With Teeth
(2005)		 Year Zero
(2007)		 Year Zero Remixed
(2007)
Year Zero

an alternate reality game by
Nine Inch Nails
and 42 Entertainment
Campaign

Campaign timeline

Year Zero album
"Survivalism" single
Beside You in Time HD DVD and BD

Numbers
In-game

In-game timeline

Characters and organizations

Drugs and devices

Websites and phone numbers
This box: view • talk • edit

Year Zero (also known as Halo 24) is the sixth studio album from American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, mixed by long-time collaborator Alan Moulder,[citation needed] and mastered by Brian Gardner.[1]

Year Zero is a concept album criticizing the United States government's policies as of 2007,[2] projecting a dystopian vision of its impact on the state of events in 2022. Reznor indicated that this required a completely different approach from his usual style of lyric writing.[3] Reznor also stated that the album is "part of a bigger picture of a number of things [he is] working on".[4] The Year Zero concept has included a remix album, an alternate reality game, and a potential television or film project.[5][6]

Contents

Main article: Year Zero (alternate reality game)

In a 2005 interview with Kerrang!, Reznor expressed his intentions to write material for a new release while touring for With Teeth.[7] Reznor reportedly began work on this next project by September 2006.[8] Year Zero was mixed in January of 2007,[9][10] with the help of Alan Moulder.[11] and Reznor stated on his blog hosted at the Nine Inch Nails official fan club that the album was finished as of February 5, 2007.[12]

On February 12, 2007, fans found that a new Nine Inch Nails tour T-shirt contained highlighted letters that spelled out the words "I am trying to believe".[13] Fans discovered that this phrase was registered as a website URL, and soon several related websites were found in the IP range, all describing a dystopian vision of the fictional "year 0000".[14] Digit Online later reported that 42 Entertainment had created these websites to promote Year Zero as part of an alternate reality game.[15] Rolling Stone described the fan involvement in this promotion as the "marketing team's dream".[16] Trent Reznor has stated, however, that "marketing" is an inaccurate description of the ARG, and that it is "not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form..."[12]

Part of this campaign involved USB drives that were left in concert venues for fans to find while NIN was on its 2007 European tour. Messages found on the drives and tour clothing led to additional websites and images from the ARG, and the early release of several unheard songs from the album.[17]

“ The USB drive was simply a mechanism of leaking the music and data we wanted out there. The medium of the CD is outdated and irrelevant. It's really painfully obvious what people want — DRM-free music they can do what they want with. If the greedy record industry would embrace that concept I truly think people would pay for music and consume more of it.[17] „

On February 22, 2007 a teaser trailer was released through the official Year Zero website. It featured a quick glimpse of a blue road sign that said "I AM TRYING TO BELIEVE", as well as a distorted glimpse of "The Presence" from the album cover. One frame in the teaser led fans to a URL containing the complete album cover.[18] In March 2007, the multitrack audio files of Year Zero's first single, "Survivalism," were released in Garageband format for fan remixing. The multitrack files for "Capital G," "My Violent Heart" and "Me, I'm Not" were released on April 26;[19] "The Beginning of the End," "Vessel" and "God Given" were released on June 12.[20] Initially formatted for Garageband and Logic Pro, WAV files for other applications were later distributed through BitTorrent.[21] On April 4, 2007 a high-quality leak of the promotional disc supplied to listening parties was also leaked onto peer-to-peer networks.[22] In response, the entire album became available for streaming on Nine Inch Nails' MySpace page on April 10, 2007. [23]

Nine Inch Nails' 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military, which Trent Reznor said "reflect[ed] future directions".[12] Reznor later stated that Year Zero was a concept album, and that he "wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist".[4] It criticizes the American government's policies,[24] and how it "could be about the end of the world".[12] Previously, Reznor had called the 2004 US election date "one step closer to the end of the world".[25]

This, as Reznor indicates, is completely different from his usual style of lyric writing:[3]

“ ...for the first time in my life, I wanted to break away from the idea of opening up my journal and transferring that into song lyrics. And I really thought about what was at the forefront of my concern, and, at the state I'm at right now, at the age I'm at, just the state of being an American citizen, a lot of concern I have about the direction the country's headed in, and uh, kind of the erosion of freedoms that seems like we're experiencing, and the way we treat the world and our own citizens felt like something I needed to comment on.[3] ”

Even though the fictional story begins in January 2007, the timeline in the alternate reality game mentions historical events, such as 9/11 and the Iraq War. From there, fictional events lead to chaos and the elimination of civil liberties in the United States. Bioterrorism attacks occur, and a drug called parepin is introduced into public drinking water systems to allegedly protect citizens from them. Parepin is believed by some to only be used by the government to placate its citizens, and it induces sightings of The Presence. Amongst this and other events such as nuclear war with Iran, this leads to an establishment of a new international calender dubbed "Born Again" (BA), and 2022 is declared as Year Zero.[26]

Reznor said Year Zero marked a "shift in direction" in that it "doesn't sound like With Teeth."[12] This went with his comment expressing his dissatisfaction with current trends in rock music.[27][28] Fifteen original tracks were considered for inclusion on the album, which he described as "Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. Fucking cool."[9] He further wrote that when he finishes a new album, he has to "go into battle with the people whose job it is to figure out how to sell the record. The only time that didn't happen was [for] With Teeth. This time, however, [he was] expecting an epic struggle. [Year Zero] is not a particularly friendly record and it certainly doesn't sound like anything else out there right now."[29][30]

The two states of the Year Zero disc: black when cooled, white when heated.
The two states of the Year Zero disc: black when cooled, white when heated.

Year Zero features a thermo-chrome heat-sensitive CD face. The CD appears black when it is first opened, but after playing it for some time, the heat will reveal a white background with binary code. The binary sequence translates into "Exterminal.net," leading to a website sharing the same URL.[31] Reznor displayed displeasure at the extra $10 tacked on the price in Australia for the thermo-coating which he states only costs an extra 83¢ per CD.[32]

Included with the album is a small insert that is a warning from the fictional United States Bureau of Morality (USBM), with a phone number to call to report people who have "engaged in subversive acts." When the number is called, a recording of a woman from the USBM is played, claiming "By calling this number, you and your family are implicitly pleading guilty to the consumption of anti-American media and have been flagged as potential militants".[33]

Regardless of being fictional, a columnist of The Hartford Courant commented, "What's scary is that this doesn't seem as far-fetched as it should, given recent revelations about the FBI's abuse of the Patriot Act and the dissent-equals-disloyalty double-speak coming out of Washington in recent years."[33] The "recent revelations" he referred to was the Justice Department's inspector general revealing abuses of the Act by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[34]

News of a remix album, titled Year Zero Remixed, was discovered when the album cover was posted on the Year Zero website.[5][35] It was released on November 20, 2007, and its release, marketing and promotion is completely in Reznor's control since the expiration of his contract with Interscope Records.[36] The album includes guest artists including The Faint, Ladytron, Bill Laswell, Saul Williams, Olof Dreijer of The Knife, and Sam Fogarino of Interpol.[37][38]

An unofficial open source fan remix album entitled The Limitless Potential was compiled through the efforts of Nine Inch Nails fan sites after sorting through some 200 user submitted remixes. The end result was a 21 track compilation available for free 320kb/s download with high quality art work.[39][40]

Kerrang! Radio reported that "Reznor admitted he's already in talks about a movie version of his upcoming album - a concept piece, with part two scheduled for next year."[41] He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on. Essentially, I wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist."[4] Reznor has commented that he is currently more interested in a television project, rather than a film project. He has reportedly said that he has a producer and he has met with writers.[42] On August 10, 2007 Trent Reznor announced that he would soon be taking the concept to television networks, in an attempt to make some kind of deal. "We're about to pitch it to the network, so we're a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we'll see what happens."[6]

Critical response to the album was generally favorable, with an average rating of 76% on MetaCritic. Robert Christgau described Year Zero as Reznor's "most songful album."[43]

All tracks written and performed by Trent Reznor.

  1. "HYPERPOWER!" – 1:42
  2. "The Beginning of the End" – 2:47
  3. "Survivalism" – 4:23
  4. "The Good Soldier" – 3:23
  5. "Vessel" – 4:52
  6. "Me, I'm Not" – 4:51
  7. "Capital G" – 3:50
  8. "My Violent Heart" – 4:13
  9. "The Warning" – 3:38
  10. "God Given" – 3:50
  11. "Meet Your Master" – 4:08
  12. "The Greater Good" – 4:52
  13. "The Great Destroyer" – 3:17
  14. "Another Version of the Truth" – 4:09
  15. "In This Twilight" – 3:33
  16. "Zero-Sum" – 6:14

The LP version of Year Zero was released on September 25th, 2007; more than 5 months later than the CD release. It was pressed on double 180 Gram virgin vinyl at Nashville's historic United Record Pressing. The vinyl release includes a 16 page book.

  • William Artope – trumpet on "Capital G"
  • Matt Demeritt – tenor sax on "Capital G"
  • Josh Freese – drums on "Hyperpower!" and "Capital G"
  • Jeff/Geoff Gallegos – brass / winds musical arrangement, baritone sax on "Capital G"
  • Brian Gardner – mastering
  • Elizabeth Lea – trombone on "Capital G"
  • Alan Moulder – mix engineering
  • Trent Reznor – production, performance
  • Atticus Ross – production, sound design
  • Saul Williams – backing vocals on "Survivalism" and "Me, I'm Not"

Year Zero reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and Top Rock Albums, as well as the top ten of album charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The "Survivalism" single also hit #1 in Canada and the US.[44][45]

Year Chart Peak
position
2007 Billboard 200[46][47] 2
2007 Billboard Top Internet Albums[47] 1
2007 Billboard Top Rock Albums 1
2007 United World Chart[48] 2
2007 Australian Albums Chart[49] 5
2007 Austrian Albums Chart 4
2007 Canadian Albums Chart[47] 3
2007 Finnish Albums Chart 5
2007 German Albums Chart 6
2007 Icelandic Albums Chart 10
2007 New Zealand Albums Chart 1
2007 Norwegian Albums Chart 8
2007 Oricon International Album Chart (Japan) 7
2007 Swedish Albums Chart 7
2007 UK Albums Chart[50] 6
2007 UK Rock Albums Chart 1
2007 Dutch Album Charts[51] 4

Year Song Chart peak positions
U.S.
[52]		 U.S.
Mod[52]		 U.S. Main[52] CAN
[44]		 FIN
[53]
2007 "Survivalism" 68 1 1 1 7
"Capital G" — 2 25 — —

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

  1. ^ Features: Nine Inch Nails. xtaster.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  2. ^ Gregory, Jason (2007-03-26). Trent Reznor Blasts the American Government. Gigwise.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-20.
  3. ^ a b c Trent Reznor (2007-04-09). Trent Reznor Year Zero Interview. YouTube. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.
  4. ^ a b c NINE INCH NAILS Mainman On New CD: 'I Wrote The Soundtrack To A Movie That Doesn't Exist'. Blabbermouth (2007-01-03). Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  5. ^ a b Thompson, Paul (2007-08-17). The Faint Remix NIN for Year Zero Remix Album. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  6. ^ a b Adler, Heather (2007-08-14). Nine Inch Nails Ready Apocalyptic Year Zero TV Show. Dose. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  7. ^ New NIN Album Next Year?. Kerrang! (2005-07-06). Retrieved on 2006-10-22.
  8. ^ New NINE INCH NAILS In The Works?. Blabbermouth (2006-09-06). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  9. ^ a b Reznor, Trent (2006-12-13). Updates from Trent. NIN.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
  10. ^ Colothan, Scott (2006-12-19). Nine Inch Nails Finish New Album. Gigwise.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  11. ^ Cite error 8; No text given.
  12. ^ a b c d e The Spiral (registration required). Retrieved on 2006-02-05.
  13. ^ Meathead (2007-02-12). New tour t-shirts. The NIN Hotline. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  14. ^ James Montgomery (2007-02-15). Weird Web Trail: Conspiracy Theory — Or Marketing For Nine Inch Nails LP?. MTV News. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  15. ^ 42 creates viral campaign for Nine Inch Nails. digitmag.co.uk (2007-02-14). Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  16. ^ Goodman, Elizabeth (2007-02-15). Coachella Stops Sprawl, NIN Fans = Marketing Team’s Dream, Aerosmith Pressed for Time. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  17. ^ a b Mackintosh, Hamish (2007-03-29). Stars compose new ways to use music. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
  18. ^ Year Zero preview and possible album cover. theninhotline.net (2007-02-22). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
  19. ^ Multitracks for 3 YZ songs posted on nin.com. The NIN Hotline (2007-04-26). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  20. ^ Hot Multitrack Action. The NIN Hotline (2007-06-12). Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
  21. ^ Year Zero. Nine Inch Nails (2007-04-26). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  22. ^ Year Zero. Nine Inch Nails (2007-04-03). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  23. ^ NIN Myspace Now Features 'Year Zero'. theninhotline.net (2007-04-10). Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
  24. ^ Gregory, Jason (2007-03-26). Trent Reznor Blasts the American Government. Gigwise.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-20.
  25. ^ Current. Nine Inch Nails (2005-04-15). Archived from the original on 2005-04-20. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  26. ^ Montgomery, James (2007-02-15). Weird Web Trail: Conspiracy Theory — Or Marketing For Nine Inch Nails LP?. MTV.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-12.
  27. ^ Goodman, Elizabeth (2007-01-11). Trent Reznor Announces His Best Is Ahead…Oh, and Emo Sucks!. RollingStone.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  28. ^ Nine Inch Nails frontman speaks out on new sound forthcoming album. Side-line (2007-01-23). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  29. ^ Reznor, Trent (2006-12-28). Nine Inch Nails Mainman On New CD: 'This Is Not A Particularly Friendly Record'. Blabbermouth. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
  30. ^ Zahlaway, Jon (2007-01-01). New NIN album recorded, live DVD due. liveDaily.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  31. ^ Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero CD holds a secret!. TechAmok (2007-04-18). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  32. ^ Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Herald Sun Sunday (2007-05-17). Retrieved on 2007-05-19.
  33. ^ a b Danton, Eric. Sound Check: Year Zero. The Hartford Courant (April 17, 2007). Retrieved on October 6, 2007.
  34. ^ Associated Press. FBI Director Defends Patriot Act. CBS News (March 27, 2007). Retrieved on October 6, 2007.
  35. ^ R3m1x 41bum c0v3r 4r7 4nn0unc3d. The NIN Hotline. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
  36. ^ Post-Interscope, Reznor Focusing On New Album. Retrieved on 2007-10-11.
  37. ^ The Faint Remix NIN for Year Zero Remix Album. Pitchfork Media (2007-08-17). Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  38. ^ Interpol's Fogarino, Knife's Olaf [sic], Ladytron remix NIN. Pitchfork Media (2007-08-21). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  39. ^ soulxtc (2007-09-05). 'Limitless Potential' - Official Nine Inch Nails fan remixes now on BitTorrent. zeropaid. Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  40. ^ Nine Inch Nails open source remix double album torrent available. Digg (2007-09-05). Retrieved on 2007-10-21.
  41. ^ Kerrang discusses movie possibility with Trent Reznor. Kerrang! (2007-03-06). Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  42. ^ leviathant (2007-08-10). I hate Contact Music. The NIN Hotline. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  43. ^ Christgau, Robert (June 2007). June 2007: Nine Inch Nails It, But Aguilera Is a Dud. MSN Music. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
  44. ^ a b Nine Inch Nails Survivalism. Top40-Charts.com (2007-04-22). Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  45. ^ Year Zero > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles. All Music Guide (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  46. ^ Nine Inch Nails - Artist Chart History. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  47. ^ a b c Year Zero > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums. All Music Guide (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
  48. ^ United World Chart. Mediatraffic.de (2007-04-27). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  49. ^ http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=year+zero&cat=a
  50. ^ UK Top 40 Hit Database. everyHit.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-28. Note: User must define search parameters, i.e. "Nine Inch Nails."
  51. ^ Nine Inch Nails Dutch Album Charting. dutchcharts.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
  52. ^ a b c Billboard Music Charts - Search Results - Nine Inch Nails. Billboard. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  53. ^ Search results for: Nine Inch Nails. FinnishCharts.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.

v • d • e
Nine Inch Nails
Trent Reznor
Past live band members: Jeff Ward · Richard Patrick · James Woolley · Chris Vrenna · Sean Beavan · Robin Finck · Danny Lohner · Charlie Clouser · Jerome Dillon · Alex Carapetis · Aaron North · Jeordie White · Alessandro Cortini · Josh Freese
Major studio releases Pretty Hate Machine · Broken · The Downward Spiral · The Fragile · With Teeth · Year Zero
Major remix releases Fixed · Further Down the Spiral · Things Falling Apart · Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D
Live releases Closure · And All That Could Have Been · Beside You in Time
Singles "Down in It" · "Head Like a Hole" · "Sin" · "Happiness in Slavery" · "Wish" · "March of the Pigs" · "Closer" · "Burn" · "Hurt" · "The Perfect Drug" · "The Day the World Went Away" · "We're in This Together" · "Into the Void" · "Starfuckers, Inc." · "Deep" · "The Hand That Feeds" · "Only" · "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" · "Survivalism" · "Capital G"
Halo numbers 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25
Related articles Discography · Purest Feeling · Broken Movie · Year Zero ARG · Nothing Records · Option 30 · The Innocent · Exotic Birds · Tapeworm  · Lost Highway OST  · Natural Born Killers OST
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_%28album%29"
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