Difference between revisions of "Things Falling Apart"

Latest revision as of 00:21, 24 November 2025

Halo 16 - Things Falling Apart

Things Falling Apart (also known as Halo 16) by Nine Inch Nails, released on November 21, 2000, is described as a collection of "various manipulations of songs recorded from The Fragile sessions." An official website was set up for its release. A two-track promotional version of Into The Void was released in the US and was incorrectly labeled as Halo 16.

Track Listing

About the release

CD

Vinyl

Â Â Â Â Â A1Â "Slipping Away" â 6:11
Â Â Â Â Â A2Â "The Great Collapse" â 4:42
Â Â Â Â Â B1Â "The Wretched (Version)" â 5:52
Â Â Â Â Â B2Â "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" â 5:11
Â Â Â Â Â C1Â "The Frail (Version)" â 2:47
Â Â Â Â Â C2Â "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" â 6:06
Â Â Â Â Â C3Â "10 Miles High (Version)" â 5:11
Â Â Â Â Â D1Â "Metal" â 7:05
Â Â Â Â Â D2Â "Where Is Everybody? (Version)" â 5:07
Â Â Â Â Â D3Â "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" â 5:09

Artwork

The typeface used on Things Falling Apart is Index-Book, designed by Josh Darden & Timothy Glaser.

In a 2025 post to his Patreon[1], Rob Sheridan elaborated on the process of creating the artwork and how it informed his creativity going forward:

As a companion album to 1999's The Fragile, Things Falling Apart needed to closely follow David Carson's art direction / design from The Fragile while carving out its own identity. I'd been working with Carson's style for the past year by this point, adapting it to my own designs for album and tour promo materials, websites, merchandise, and the Fragility tour book, so Trent felt confident that I was ready to tackle an album design. This was probably a much bigger deal to me than it was to him; as a die-hard NIN fan, the weight of permanently leaving my mark on the catalog of Nine Inch Nails halos (the internal numbering system used for official Nine Inch Nails releases) weighed heavily on my young shoulders.
Thankfully, I had some time throughout 2000 to prepare and experiment. It began with taking a lot of photos, as many as I could wherever I was, to start finding my own way through David Carson's direction. My photography of the flowers was of course a thematic continuation of Carson's photos for The Fragile, but also of Robert Hales' work on The Day The World Went Away single, which started The Fragile era's flower theme in a much more formal style than Carson's.
Carson was a design hero of mine, so of course playing in his style was exhilarating but also very intimidating for a very young, very new designer. A lot of Carson's imagery was abstract snapshots of his surroundings that he'd capture unconventionally, sometimes with disposable cameras and polaroids, recontextualizing small details of found objects into abstract art and then employing it thematically into his designs (the red texture on the cover of The Fragile is an out-of-focus snapshot of the inside of a conch shell, for example). To find my own way of adapting his approach, I began experimenting with a macro lens for the first time.
Macro lenses are commonplace now, but back then they were niche, technically-oriented, very expensive pro photo equipment (just look how big the macro lens is on the 16mm camera in that photo). Having my own pro macro lens to experiment with artistically opened up new portals of expression all around me; emotions from the inanimate, stories from mundane details. Having my own pro macro lens to experiment with artistically opened up new portals of expression all around me; emotions from the inanimate, stories from mundane details.
Exploring details of instruments and the texture of the studio environment would lay the groundwork for my photography on Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV in 2008. And seeing the natural world abstracted in macro on Things Falling Apart would carry all the way through to my recent visuals for Pearl Jam's Dark Matter tour.
For Things Falling Apart, however, the voice I was finding in macro photography wasn't quite right. I was learning the right lessons, but using the wrong tool. My macro photographs felt too purposeful and cinematic, speaking a slightly different language than the aesthetics of The Fragile. Ultimately, I accidentally found the right artistic note for Things Falling Apart when I tried to capture some unique flowers in the light of dusk with my day-to-day consumer pocket digital camera, whose tiny lens couldn't quite hit the macro focus. It was a perfectly accidental Carson solution.
Designing Things Falling Apart was a big early milestone for me as an professional and a fan, but I canât overstate how much the experience helped shaped me as an artist, and how much of it I still carry with me today.

Album Credits

CD Release

All songs written by Trent Reznor except 4, 6, 8, 10
4, 6, 10 written by Trent Reznor and Charlie Clouser
8 written by Gary Numan

Manipulated by:

1, 2, 8 Trent Reznor and Alan Moulder
3, 9 Keith Hillebrandt
4 Adrian Sherwood for 140dB

additional production: Adrian Sherwood and Mark Stewart engineered by Alan Branch

5 Benelli

production: Joshua Eustis, Turk Dietrich violin: Steve Hakel cello: Marc Paradis

6 Dave Ogilvie
7 Danny Lohner featuring Telefon Tel Aviv

production: Danny Lohner, Joshua Eustis, Charles Cooper Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper appear courtesy of Hefty Records (www.heftyrecords.com)

10 Charlie Clouser

Management: John A. Malm, Jr. for Conservative
Publicity: Susan Celia Swan for Nothing
International: Simon Baeyertz for Nothing
Design and photography: Rob Sheridan
Special thanks: Jeff Anderson and Steve Bottomley

Promotional Trailer Credits

Director: Bill Casanova
Assistant DP: Alex Vlacos
Producer: Chris Risner
Editor: Rob Sheridan
Format: 16mm
Broadcast version: 30 seconds
Full version (web only): 60 seconds

External Links

Discography

Previous release - "We're In This Together"

Halo number: 16

Next release - "And All That Could Have Been and Still"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== About ==
+[[Image:Tfa cover.jpg|thumb|Halo 16 - ''Things Falling Apart'']]
-'''''Things Falling Apart''''' ([[Halo numbers|Halo 16]]), released in 2000, is described as a collection of "various manipulations of songs recorded from ''[[The Fragile]]'' sessions".
+'''''Things Falling Apart''''' (also known as '''''[[Halo numbers|Halo 16]]''''') by [[Nine Inch Nails]], released on November 21, 2000, is described as a collection of "various manipulations of songs recorded from ''[[The Fragile (halo)|The Fragile]]'' sessions." [[Thingsfallingapart.com|An official website]] was set up for its release.
+A two-track promotional version of ''[[Into The Void (halo)|Into The Void]]'' was released in the US and was incorrectly labeled as [[Halo numbers|Halo 16]].
-== Track Listing ==
+==Track Listing==
-# "[[Slipping Away]]"
+[[Image:About tfa.jpg|thumb|About the release]]
-# "[[The Great Collapse]]"
+===CD===
-# "[[The Wretched]]" (Version)
+#"[[Into The Void (song)#Slipping Away|Slipping Away]]" - 6:11
-# "[[Starfuckers, Inc.|Starf***ers, Inc.]]" (Version)
+#"[[The Great Collapse]]" - 4:42
-# "[[The Frail]]" (Version)
+#"[[The Wretched#The Wretched (Version)|The Wretched (Version)]]" - 5:52
-# "[[Starfuckers, Inc.|Starf***ers, Inc.]]" (Version)
+#"[[Starfuckers, Inc. (song)#Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)—Adrian Sherwood|Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)]]" - 5:11
-# "[[Where Is Everybody?]]" (Version)
+#"[[The Frail#The Frail (Version)|The Frail (Version)]]" - 2:47
-# "[[Metal]]"
+#"[[Starfuckers, Inc. (song)#Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)—Dave "Rave" Ogilvie|Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)]]" - 6:06
-# "[[10 Miles High]]" (Version)
+#"[[Where Is Everybody?#Where Is Everybody? (Version)|Where Is Everybody? (Version)]]" - 5:07
-#  "[[Starfuckers, Inc.|Starf***ers, Inc.]]" (Version)
+#"[[Metal]]" - 7:05
+#"[[10 Miles High#10 Miles High (Version)|10 Miles High (Version)]]" - 5:11
+#"[[Starfuckers, Inc. (song)#Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)—Charlie Clouser|Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)]]" - 5:09
+===Vinyl===
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A1&nbsp; "Slipping Away" – 6:11<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A2&nbsp; "The Great Collapse" – 4:42<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;B1&nbsp; "The Wretched (Version)" – 5:52 <br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;B2&nbsp; "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" – 5:11 <br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;C1&nbsp; "The Frail (Version)" – 2:47 <br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;C2&nbsp; "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" – 6:06<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;C3&nbsp; "10 Miles High (Version)" – 5:11 <br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;D1&nbsp; "Metal" – 7:05 <br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;D2&nbsp; "Where Is Everybody? (Version)" – 5:07<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;D3&nbsp; "Starfuckers, Inc. (Version)" – 5:09
+==Artwork==
+The typeface used on ''Things Falling Apart'' is Index-Book, designed by Josh Darden & Timothy Glaser.
+In a 2025 post to his Patreon[https://www.patreon.com/posts/25-years-of-nins-144077283], [[Rob Sheridan]] elaborated on the process of creating the artwork and how it informed his creativity going forward:
+<blockquote>As a companion album to 1999's ''The Fragile'', ''Things Falling Apart'' needed to closely follow [[David Carson]]'s art direction / design from ''The Fragile'' while carving out its own identity. I'd been working with Carson's style for the past year by this point, adapting it to my own designs for album and tour promo materials, websites, merchandise, and the [[Fragility]] tour book, so Trent felt confident that I was ready to tackle an album design. This was probably a much bigger deal to me than it was to him; as a die-hard NIN fan, the weight of permanently leaving my mark on the catalog of Nine Inch Nails halos (the internal numbering system used for official Nine Inch Nails releases) weighed heavily on my young shoulders.
+Thankfully, I had some time throughout 2000 to prepare and experiment. It began with taking a lot of photos, as many as I could wherever I was, to start finding my own way through David Carson's direction. My photography of the flowers was of course a thematic continuation of Carson's photos for ''The Fragile'', but also of Robert Hales' work on ''[[The Day The World Went Away (halo)|The Day The World Went Away]]'' single, which started ''The Fragile'' era's flower theme in a much more formal style than Carson's.
+Carson was a design hero of mine, so of course playing in his style was exhilarating but also very intimidating for a very young, very new designer. A lot of Carson's imagery was abstract snapshots of his surroundings that he'd capture unconventionally, sometimes with disposable cameras and polaroids, recontextualizing small details of found objects into abstract art and then employing it thematically into his designs (the red texture on the cover of ''The Fragile'' is an out-of-focus snapshot of the inside of a conch shell, for example). To find my own way of adapting his approach, I began experimenting with a macro lens for the first time.
+Macro lenses are commonplace now, but back then they were niche, technically-oriented, very expensive pro photo equipment (just look how big the macro lens is on the 16mm camera in that photo). Having my own pro macro lens to experiment with artistically opened up new portals of expression all around me; emotions from the inanimate, stories from mundane details. Having my own pro macro lens to experiment with artistically opened up new portals of expression all around me; emotions from the inanimate, stories from mundane details.
+Exploring details of instruments and the texture of the studio environment would lay the groundwork for my photography on Nine Inch Nails' ''[[Ghosts I-IV]]'' in 2008. And seeing the natural world abstracted in macro on ''Things Falling Apart'' would carry all the way through to my recent visuals for Pearl Jam's Dark Matter tour.
+For ''Things Falling Apart'', however, the voice I was finding in macro photography wasn't quite right. I was learning the right lessons, but using the wrong tool. My macro photographs felt too purposeful and cinematic, speaking a slightly different language than the aesthetics of ''The Fragile''. Ultimately, I accidentally found the right artistic note for ''Things Falling Apart'' when I tried to capture some unique flowers in the light of dusk with my day-to-day consumer pocket digital camera, whose tiny lens couldn't quite hit the macro focus. It was a perfectly accidental Carson solution.
+Designing ''Things Falling Apart'' was a big early milestone for me as an professional and a fan, but I can’t overstate how much the experience helped shaped me as an artist, and how much of it I still carry with me today.</blockquote>
+==Album Credits==
+'''CD Release'''
+*All songs written by [[Trent Reznor]] except 4, 6, 8, 10
+*4, 6, 10 written by Trent Reznor and [[Charlie Clouser]]
+*8 written by [[Gary Numan]]<br>
+Manipulated by:
+*1, 2, 8 Trent Reznor and [[Alan Moulder]]
+*3, 9 [[Keith Hillebrandt]]
+*4 [[Adrian Sherwood]] for 140dB
+additional production: Adrian Sherwood and Mark Stewart
+engineered by Alan Branch
+*5 Benelli
+production: [[Joshua Eustis]], Turk Dietrich
+violin: Steve Hakel
+cello: Marc Paradis
+*6 [[Dave Ogilvie]]
+*7 [[Danny Lohner]] featuring Telefon Tel Aviv
+production: Danny Lohner, Joshua Eustis, Charles Cooper
+Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper appear courtesy of Hefty Records (www.heftyrecords.com)
+*10 Charlie Clouser<br>
+*Management: [[John A. Malm, Jr.]] for Conservative
+*Publicity: Susan Celia Swan for [[Nothing Records|Nothing]]
+*International: Simon Baeyertz for Nothing
+*Design and photography: Rob Sheridan
+*Special thanks: Jeff Anderson and Steve Bottomley
+==Promotional Trailer Credits==
+* Director: Bill Casanova
+* Assistant DP: Alex Vlacos
+* Producer: Chris Risner
+* Editor: Rob Sheridan
+* Format: 16mm
+* Broadcast version: 30 seconds
+* Full version (web only): 60 seconds
+==External Links==
+*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwGvwt8fZqE ''Things Falling Apart'' TV spot]
+*[http://nincatalog.com/things-falling-apart/ ''Things Falling Apart'' at nincatalog.com]
+*[http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb%5Fsb%5Fnoss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dnine%2520inch%2520nails%2520things%2520falling%2520apart%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=thniinnawi-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957 ''Things Falling Apart'' at Amazon]
+*[http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=9&pub=5574848848&toolid=10001&campid=5336384580&customid=&icep_uq=nine+inch+nails+things+falling+apart&icep_sellerId=&icep_ex_kw=&icep_sortBy=12&icep_catId=&icep_minPrice=&icep_maxPrice=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg ''Things Falling Apart'' at eBay]
+{{Halo
+|number=16
+|before=[[We're In This Together (halo)|We're In This Together]]
+|after=[[And All That Could Have Been (halo)|And All That Could Have Been]] and [[Still]]}}
+[[Category:NIN Discography]]