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==Recurring themes and styles==
* The ending keyboard melody of "Closer" is repeated in the climax of "The Downward Spiral" and the chorus of "Heresy"." A similar piano melody is played at the end of "Piggy"." This recurring melody is a descending tetrachord pattern and, in music theory, would be an example of a lament bass.* The lyric "[[Nothing Can Stop Me Now|nothing can stop me now]]" appears in "Piggy"," "Ruiner" , and "Big Man With A Gun"." The same phrase would recur on later albums in "[[La Mer]]"," "[[We're In This Together (song)|We're In This Together]]" , and "[[Sunspots]]"."* Quite a few of the songs end by [[Recurring lyrics|repeating the same line or set of lines]]: "Piggy"," Ruiner"Ruiner," "I Do Not Want This"," "Big Man With A Gun" , and "Eraser"." These deviate from the traditional chorus-chorus ending in that these lyrics are introduced near the end, and they are not sung, but rather whispered or yelled.
==Samples==
:''see also [[Samples In NIN Songs]]''
* "Mr. Self Destruct" begins with a sample from the 1971 film ''THX 1138.'' . It is taken from a scene in which a man is being beaten by a guard depicted on a holographic television. [http://www.discogs.com/release/4404]
* "Closer" uses a heavily modified sample of a kick drum from the song "[[Nightclubbing]]" from ''The Idiot'' album by Iggy Pop. [http://www.9inchnails.com/articles/articles.php?id=6] It also uses a reversed sample of a guitar figure from "Take A Chance With Me" by Roxy Music.
* "A Warm Place" is based on the melody from David Bowie's 1980 single "Crystal Japan"." Some hear it as a complete rip-off, while others argue that from a music theory point of view that the structure has significant differences.
*The looping female voice that appears on "Reptile" (approx. 5:06) is from the 1974 film ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre''. The strange mechanical sound before the drums start can be found in the movie ''Leviathan'', and looped mechanical sounds during all the song are found in ''Aliens'' (the opening scene immediately after the chamber is cut open and the first power loader scene.) Also, while not a sample, the ascending synth melody from 5:13 to 5:20 may be a reference to "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the television show ''Twin Peaks''.
* "The Becoming" uses screams from the film ''Robot Jox'' and a reversed sample of the phrase "I know who I am" from the film ''Angel Heart''.
===10th Anniversary===
To mark the album's tenth anniversary, ''The Downward Spiral'' was re-released on November 23, 2004 in two new formats:
* As a 2-CD "Deluxe Edition" (labeled [[Halo numbers|Halo 8 DE]]). The first disc is an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SACD SACD]/CD hybrid featuring the album in high-resolution stereo and 5.1 surround sound. The second disc is a SACD/CD hybrid that features various remixes, bB-sides, demos, and other non-album tracks that were available around the time of the original release, in high-resolution stereo.
* As a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DualDisc DualDisc] (labeled Halo 8 DVD-A). The CD side features a digitally remastered version of the album. The DVD side includes high-resolution 24/48 stereo and 24/48 5.1 surround sound versions of the album playable on DVD-Audio players, and Dolby Digital stereo and 5.1 surround sound versions playable on standard DVD players. It also includes music videos for "Closer" (director's cut), "March Of The Pigs", and "Hurt" (live). Also included is a gallery of artwork from ''The Downward Spiral'' era (though many photos of ''[[Closure]]'' artwork are also included) and a discography.