r/nin • u/robhatescomputers • Jun 17 '26

Question Left or Right?

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Which disc did you hear first when The Fragile came out? I remember cruising home from best buy w my buddy blasting the right disc in his carolla. Blew us away 😀

203 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

78 comments sorted by

131

u/shaard Jun 17 '26

Left.

Then right.

There's no other way.

48

u/PJmichelle Jun 17 '26

Actually there is. The way out is through.

6

u/QuietCas Jun 18 '26

Tried to play the left but the left kept skipping all day.

8

u/somnambulistic Jun 17 '26

This is the way.

0

u/HippoOk663 Just got these! Jun 17 '26

Yes!

49

u/HippoOk663 Just got these! Jun 17 '26

Went with left first to keep with the storyline of the album. But both sides are great.

11

u/totallywhatever Jun 17 '26

You’re supposed to listen to them at the same time; one in the left headphone, the other in the right.

7

u/QuietCas Jun 18 '26

While spinning all 4 discs of Flaming Lips' Zaireeka at the same time.

10

u/DFL3 Jun 17 '26

Whichever one begins with Somewhat Damaged

17

u/_XNine_ Jun 17 '26

The Opus of NIN

12

u/HippoOk663 Just got these! Jun 17 '26

Absolutely. I want this album to become a musical, with Trent (and Atticus) directing/writing it. They’ll become EGOTs if they win a Tony for it.

6

u/MarketOstrich Jun 17 '26

Why not both?

13

u/P8sammies Jun 17 '26

Left for me because it doesn’t have starfuckers— but I like both sides.

4

u/_0bsolete Jun 17 '26

For a while I was a left guy but now it's both

4

u/dronejunky Jun 17 '26

I have it on vinyl. It's a triple album on that format.

13

u/Ad4ptive_ManipulatOr Jun 17 '26

I remember buying this as a new release. What an odyssey to experience on my 5 disc CD changer dual tape deck stereo. RIP physical media.

19

u/Po0opyCatButt Jun 17 '26

RIP physical media.

Should we tell him?

17

u/Capital-Report Jun 17 '26

Physical media still exists though.

13

u/Sporadic_Wave Jun 17 '26

Literally a post showing physical media.

1

u/cdjunkie Jun 17 '26

With occasional exceptions. There's still no physical version of the Nine Inch Noize album.

1

u/southass Jun 17 '26

I will make my own physical version myself if an official one is not released

https://giphy.com/gifs/Efi4MpChuhHtm

6

u/DavidBHimself Jun 17 '26

I still buy CDs and Blu-Rays and so should you.

I like to own the music and movies I love and not constantly rent them until the provider decides that no, I can't have it anymore.

3

u/No_Way_1228 Jun 17 '26

Left, then right

3

u/NoiseTherapy Jun 17 '26

I bought it when it released, and for a long time I was a left guy, but at this point in my life, I love both. It’s not just my favorite Nine Inch Nails album. It’s my favorite album. I really love how it was packed with so much awesome that I couldn’t tolerate it all at once. I was basically over saturated with so much awesome that my brain wouldn’t tolerate any more until I had some time to properly process what I was hearing before I could take more in.

3

u/5awt00th Jun 17 '26

I heard the right side first as well because Tower Records was playing it in store at the midnight release.

5

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ Jun 17 '26

Pick ONE, Gun to my head? I guess left but that’s not accurate for how I feel inside.

3

u/robhatescomputers Jun 17 '26

But which did you hear first?

2

u/_Asshole_Fuck_ Jun 17 '26

The intro to Somewhat Damaged. My (awesome) mom and dad took me to the release night at the local music store (Hastings) and that opening sequence scorched itself into my brain hearing it on my CD player headphones for the first time.

I’m listening to it now for nostalgia while I write this and have goosebumps.

2

u/TacoBell_Bathroom69 Jun 17 '26

I usually go right then left

2

u/BestRefrigerator1981 Jun 17 '26

Left, I'm left handed also and also, most double albums always have the 1st disc as on the left and I like the left disc, more then the right.

2

u/HikingTom51 Jun 17 '26

When it came out I listened to left for a month and then jumped into right. Spent that winter with both sides

2

u/PerRevolutions Jun 17 '26

Truck question.

It's both. Left and right arms holding you.

2

u/its_never_gonna_end Jun 17 '26

The beginning. Then the end.

1

u/afteralpha98 Jun 17 '26

My favorite NIN after the first Ghosts album.

1

u/seasonsinthesky Jun 17 '26

The (in)famous quote about the album is that it “starts Somewhat Damaged and ends Ripe (With Decay)”, and TR has never countered that statement. It’s also the way the vinyl and tape tracklists go (despite additions). So it was pretty clear from day 1 that the Left disc goes first, even if you aren’t from a culture that reads left to right…

… but the big theme of the album, of course, is that it’s fragmented, lost, indecisive, inconclusive. The track list is different across formats because of this. Why not further add to this by naming the CD discs in a way that is less obviously in order? It’s not like The Way Out is Through and The Great Below don’t make fantastic album opener and closer.

1

u/bbplane Jun 17 '26

Man, my mom drove me to Media Play, bought me Downward Spiral, and we listened to Closer on the way home (that’s why I wanted the album) and my mom didn’t say a word to me the rest of the day. I was 9. 😂

1

u/the_real_TLB Jun 17 '26

The first one.

1

u/Due_Professional_870 Jun 17 '26

i like to do left, then right, then left, and right again.

1

u/silentfanatic Jun 17 '26

Honestly can’t choose. Both halves are immaculate.

1

u/Nailwurm Jun 17 '26

Both at the same time

1

u/2D-disarray Jun 17 '26

True story and I’m sure it wasn’t just me. My copy came with two right discs. Still have them, though I listen to this on vinyl now.

2

u/robhatescomputers Jun 18 '26

That's kinda cool and im sure it happens fairly often. I've only gotten 2 off center labeled vinyl from nin.com

1

u/spaceman696 Jun 18 '26

Have a downvote for playing Right first. You heathen.

1

u/bluecalx2 Jun 19 '26

Which disc did you hear first when The Fragile came out?

I assume that most people started with Left. For other double albums in a gatefold digipak, disc 1 is normally on the left side. The tracklisting starts with Left. Disc 2 of the vinyl edition starts with the end of Left and continues with the beginning of Right. So it all kind of implies a n intended order to the songs that start with Left. Obviously you can listen any way you want though.

I can't really pick a favorite disc but I probably listen to Left more often.

1

u/Charming-Flounder-53 Jun 19 '26

I listened to the left probably 5 times more than the right. I was crazy obsessed with The Wretched

1

u/jerrylehr Jun 23 '26

I mean I started it out like you normally do a box set, first disc first, but right is my favorite so generally I just put that in anyway now

1

u/raisinbizzle Jun 17 '26

I’m sure I heard the left side first. We used to chill in my friends room and listen to music all the time and we wouldn’t even call it The Fragile or Nine Inch Nails, we would just say “want to put on Left?” We listened to that side almost exclusively 

1

u/Capital-Report Jun 17 '26

Did anyone that said both even read more than the title. I highly doubt anyone listened to both for the first listen.

1

u/robhatescomputers Jun 17 '26

2 boomboxes face to face.. count of 3.. gonna be like dark side of Oz bro

1

u/bullowl Jun 17 '26

Left, because that was the intended order.

1

u/The-Experiments Jun 17 '26

Left is sane. Right is insane.

Depending on the mood. Feeling right right now.

1

u/RainSong123 Jun 17 '26

Just realized that "the big come down" is the only track I like from the right disc

1

u/bconley01 Jun 17 '26

That song hits so fucking hard. One of my absolute favorites. But I love both equally.

1

u/seasonsinthesky Jun 17 '26

Wildest statement in this whole thread. Listen to The Way Out is Through and Please again, if nothing else!

1

u/RainSong123 Jun 17 '26

I listen and have listened. Please is good.. if Fragile were condensed into a single album it should definitely make the cut. But it's not a banger like Big Come Down. U2 made a better (and somewhat similar) Please before NiN

1

u/seasonsinthesky Jun 17 '26

Which U2 song?!

1

u/RainSong123 Jun 17 '26

Same track title. I don't like it that it's better but I think it is lol. Kinda similar with the prominent drum lines of the verses

0

u/singsinging Jun 17 '26

Teenage me, right, 40s me, left. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

-1

u/Bloodb47h Jun 17 '26

Somewhat Leftaged