Editing Nine Inch Nails (section)

===''The Fragile'' (1998–2002)===
{{See also|The Fragile}}
Five years elapsed between ''The Downward Spiral'' and Nine Inch Nails' next studio album, ''The Fragile'', which arrived as a [[double album]] in September 1999.<ref name="Bleak" /> ''The Fragile'' was conceived by making "songwriting and arranging and production and sound design&nbsp;... the same thing. A song would start with a drum loop or a visual and eventually a song would emerge out of it and that was the song."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.mtv.com/bands/n/nin/news_feature_050509/index2.jhtml| title = The upward spiral| publisher = MTV. [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]]| author = Moss, Corey| date = May 2005| access-date = December 18, 2006| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060417000203/http://www.mtv.com/bands/n/nin/news_feature_050509/index2.jhtml| archive-date = April 17, 2006}}</ref> Canadian rock producer [[Bob Ezrin]] was consulted on the album's track listing; the liner notes state that he "provided final continuity and flow."<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=The Fragile|type=liner notes|others=Nine Inch Nails|year=1999|publisher=Nothing Records}}</ref>

On the heels of the band's previous successes, media anticipation surrounded ''The Fragile'' more than a year before its release,<ref>{{Cite web| title = NIN Album on Horizon| work = Daily News Online| url = http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart47.shtml| date = August 1998| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210814/http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart47.shtml| archive-date = March 3, 2016| access-date = January 14, 2015}}</ref> when it was already described as "oft-delayed".<ref>{{Cite web| title = Nine Inch Nails – Ball of confusion| work = [[Hit Parader]]| url = http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart45.shtml| date = September 1998| last = Hargrove| first = Brandon| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205535/http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart45.shtml| archive-date = March 3, 2016| access-date = January 14, 2015}}</ref> The album debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving generally positive reviews.<ref name="Bleak"/> ''Spin'' hailed ''The Fragile'' as the "album of the year", whereas [[Pitchfork Media]] panned its "melodramatic" lyrics.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart150.shtml| title = Rock radio pumps up volume| author = Kaufman, Gil| publisher = SonicNet News| date = December 2, 1999| access-date = October 28, 2006| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070311093055/http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart150.shtml| archive-date = March 11, 2007}}</ref><ref name="DiCrescenzo">{{cite web|last=DiCrescenzo|first=Brent|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5799-the-fragile/|title=Review: ''The Fragile''|publisher=[[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]]|access-date=August 29, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822202148/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5799-the-fragile/|archive-date=August 22, 2009}}</ref> Nine Inch Nails released three commercial singles from the album in different territories: "[[The Day the World Went Away]]" in North America; "[[We're in This Together (Nine Inch Nails song)|We're in This Together]]" in the EU and Japan (on three separate discs); and "[[Into the Void (Nine Inch Nails song)|Into the Void]]" in Australia. Several songs from the album became regulars on alternative rock radio stations, however the album dropped to number 16 and slipped out of the ''Billboard'' Top 10 only a week after its release, resulting in the band setting a record for the [[Billboard 200#Largest drops from number one|biggest drop from number one]], which has since been broken.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQgEAAAAMBAJ&q=billboard+the+fragile+nine+inch+nails&pg=PA76|title=''Billboard'' Chart|date=October 16, 1999 |magazine=Billboard}}</ref> Reznor funded the subsequent North American tour out of his own pocket.<ref name="Bleak">{{Cite web| title = Rock's outlook bleak, but this Nail won't bend| last = Soeder| first = John| url = http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart229.shtml| publisher = Cleveland.com| date = April 9, 2000| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150115011146/http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart229.shtml| archive-date = January 15, 2015|access-date = January 13, 2015}}</ref>

Before the album's release, the song "[[Starfuckers, Inc.]]" provoked media speculation about whom Reznor had intended its acerbic lyrics to satirize.<ref>{{Cite news| url = http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart79.shtml| title = Provocative, pounding new NIN songs leaked to radio| author = Kaufman, Gil| work = SonicNet News| date = July 14, 1999| access-date = October 28, 2006| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070311093046/http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart79.shtml| archive-date = March 11, 2007}}</ref> [[Cinesexuality]] critic Patricia MacCormack interprets the song as a "scathing attack on the alternative music scene," particularly Reznor's former friend and protégé Marilyn Manson.<ref>{{cite magazine| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001000615/http://www.popmatters.com/music/videos/n/nin-starfuckers.shtml | archive-date=October 1, 2007| url = https://www.popmatters.com/music/videos/n/nin-starfuckers.shtml| title = All the fun of the (not so) fair| last = MacCormack| first = Patricia| magazine = [[PopMatters]]| access-date = August 26, 2007}}</ref> The two artists put aside their differences when Manson appeared in the song's music video, retitled "Starsuckers, Inc." and performed on stage with Nine Inch Nails at [[Madison Square Garden]] in 2000.<ref name="Machian">{{Cite news| url = http://media.www.unogateway.com/media/storage/paper968/news/2002/02/05/ArtsLeisure/Fragility.2.0.Bruises.Heal.Dvd.Is.Forever-2545105.shtml| title = Fragility 2.0: Bruises heal, DVD is forever| first = Mike| last = Machian| work = The Gateway| date = February 5, 2002| access-date = February 19, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080411202116/http://media.www.unogateway.com/media/storage/paper968/news/2002/02/05/ArtsLeisure/Fragility.2.0.Bruises.Heal.Dvd.Is.Forever-2545105.shtml| archive-date = April 11, 2008}}</ref>

Reznor followed ''The Fragile'' with another remix album, ''[[Things Falling Apart]]'', released in November 2000 to poor reviews, a few months after the 2000 ''[[Fragility Tour|Fragility]]'' tour which itself was recorded and released on CD, DVD, and VHS in 2002 as ''[[And All That Could Have Been]]''. A deluxe edition of the live CD came with the companion disc ''[[And All That Could Have Been#Still|Still]]'', containing stripped-down versions of songs from the Nine Inch Nails catalog along with several new pieces of music.<ref name="Machian"/>

During the ''Fragility 2.0'' tour, Reznor suffered a heroin overdose in London in June 2000, forcing a gig which was to be played that night to be cancelled. The incident pushed Reznor into entering rehab, putting Nine Inch Nails on hold while he attempted to become sober.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Beaumont|first1=Mark|title=The nine lives of Trent Reznor|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/08/the-nine-lives-of-trent-reznor|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=March 19, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130811221611/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/08/the-nine-lives-of-trent-reznor|archive-date=August 11, 2013}}</ref>

In 2002, [[Johnny Cash]] covered the Nine Inch Nails' "[[Hurt (Nine Inch Nails song)|Hurt]]" for his album, ''[[American IV: The Man Comes Around]]'', to critical acclaim.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hurt – Johnny Cash|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/hurt-mt0013060453|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 2, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150325050708/http://www.allmusic.com/song/hurt-mt0013060453|archive-date=March 25, 2015}}</ref> After seeing the music video, which later won a Grammy,<ref>{{cite web|title=Johnny Cash – Awards|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnny-cash-mn0000816890/awards|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=January 2, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220081039/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/johnny-cash-mn0000816890/awards|archive-date=December 20, 2014}}</ref> Reznor himself became a fan of the rendition:

<blockquote>I pop the video in, and wow&nbsp;... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps&nbsp;... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore&nbsp;... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning—different, but every bit as pure.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Pinckard|first1=Cliff|title=Miley Cyrus gets mixed reviews with Led Zeppelin remake, but here are 5 covers better than the originals (video)|url=http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/09/miley_cyrus_gets_mixed_reviews.html|newspaper=Cleveland|date=September 18, 2014|publisher=[[The Plain Dealer]]|access-date=February 4, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204060146/http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/09/miley_cyrus_gets_mixed_reviews.html|archive-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref></blockquote>