Year Zero (album) Totally Explained

Everything about Year Zero Album totally explained

Year Zero (also known as Halo 24) is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 16, 2007. Year Zero is a concept album that criticizes the United States government's policies as of 2007 and projects a dystopian vision of its impact on the state of events in 2022. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor indicated that this required a completely different approach from his usual style of lyric writing. Reznor also stated that the album was "part of a bigger picture of a number of things [hewas] working on". The Year Zero project includes a remix album, an alternate reality game, and a potential television or film project. The Year Zero alternate reality game expanded upon the album's fictional storyline by using media such as websites, pre-recorded phone messages, and murals.
The album received generally positive reviews, many of which were also favorable towards the accompanying alternate reality game. The album spawned two singles, "Survivalism" and "Capital G", the latter being a promotional single. Disputes arose between Reznor and Universal Music Group, parent company of Nine Inch Nail's label Interscope Records, over the overseas pricing of Year Zero, ultimately resulting in the complete severing of ties between the two parties.

Recording

In a 2005 interview with Kerrang!, Reznor expressed his intentions to write material for a new release while touring for With Teeth. Reznor reportedly began work on this project by September 2006, and while on tour, devised much of the album's musical direction on his laptop. Reznor told Kerrang! magazine "When I was on the [Live:With Teeth] tour, to keep myself busy I just really hunkered down and was working on music the whole time, so this kept me in a creative mode and when I finished the tour I felt like I wasn't tired and wanted to keep at it". Year Zero was mixed in January 2007, and Reznor stated on his blog that the album was finished as of February 5.

Promotion and release

In February 2007 fans discovered that a new Nine Inch Nails tour t-shirt contained highlighted letters that spelled out the words "I am trying to believe". This phrase was registered as a website URL, and soon several related websites were also discovered in the IP range, all describing a dystopian vision of the fictional "year 0000". Digital Arts later reported that 42 Entertainment had created these websites to promote Year Zero as part of an alternate reality game. Rolling Stone described the fan involvement in this promotion as the "marketing team's dream". Reznor, however, argued that "marketing" was an inaccurate description of the game, and that it was "not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form". Reznor told The Guardian:

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. In March, 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; "The Beginning of the End", "Vessel" and "God Given" were released on June 12. Initially formatted for Garageband and Logic Pro, WAV files for other applications were later distributed through BitTorrent. In response to an early leak of the album, the entire album became available for streaming on Nine Inch Nails' MySpace page on April 10.
Performance 2007 tour
After taking a break from touring to complete work on Year Zero, the Nine Inch Nails live band embarked on a world-tour in 2007 dubbed "Performance 2007". The tour included the band's first performance in China. Reznor continued to tour with the same band he concluded the previous tour with: Aaron North, Jeordie White, Josh Freese, and Alessandro Cortini. The tour spanned a total of 91 dates across Europe, Asia, Australia, and Hawaii.
   Much of the Year Zero alternate reality game revolved around live performances. During a concert in Lisbon, Portugal, a USB flash drive was found in a bathroom stall containing a high-quality MP3 of the track "My Violent Heart", a song from the then-unreleased album. Another USB drive was found at a concert in Barcelona, Spain, containing the track "Me, I'm Not".
Disputes with Universal Music Group
In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group—the parent company of the band's record label, Interscope Records—for their pricing and distribution plans for Year Zero. He labeled the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD", concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off". Reznor went on to say that as "the climate grows more and more desperate for record labels, their answer to their mostly self-inflicted wounds seems to be to screw the consumer over even more". Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention. In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to "steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'". Universal Music Group never publicly replied to Reznor's criticisms.
   Reznor announced in October 2007 that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to Interscope Records and was free to proceed as a "totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label", effectively ending Nine Inch Nails' relationship with Universal Music Group and Interscope Records. Reznor also speculated that he'd release the next Nine Inch Nails album online in a similar fashion to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which he produced. The next Nine Inch Nails release, Ghosts I–IV, was released digitally initially, and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license.
Themes
Year Zero is a concept album criticizing the United States government's policies as of 2007. Reznor called Year Zero a "shift in direction" in that it "doesn't sound like With Teeth".
   Nine Inch Nails' 2006 tour merchandise designs featured overt references to the United States military, which Reznor said "reflect[ed] future directions". and that the album "could be about the end of the world".
   Even though the fictional story begins in January 2007, the timeline of the album and alternate reality game mentions historical events, such as September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. From there, fictional events lead to worldwide chaos, including bioterrorism attacks, the United States engaging in nuclear war with Iran, and the elimination of American civil liberties at the hands of the fictional government agency The Bureau of Morality. 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".
Music
Fifteen original tracks were considered for inclusion on the album, which Reznor described as "Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. Fucking cool." Most of Year Zero's musical elements were created by Reznor solely on his laptop, as opposed to the instrument-heavy With Teeth. Many critics also commented on the album's overall tone, including descriptions such as "lots of silver and grey ambience" and reference to the album's "oblique tone". The binary sequence translates to "exterminal.net", a website's URL. Reznor displayed displeasure at the extra $10 added to the CD's price in Australia for the thermo-coating, saying it only cost an extra 83¢ per CD.
   Included with the album is a small insert that's 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".
Related projects
A remix album, titled Year Zero Remixed, was released on November 20, 2007. Due to the expiration of his contract with Interscope Records, the album's release, marketing, and promotion were completely in Reznor's control. The album includes remixes by artists including The Faint, Ladytron, Bill Laswell, Saul Williams, Olof Dreijer of The Knife, and Sam Fogarino of Interpol. Kerrang! Radio reported that Reznor was in talks concerning a filmed version of the Year Zero project, also revealing his intentions to make a follow-up to the album, scheduled for release in 2008. He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on." Reznor has since commented that he's currently more interested in a television project, rather than a film project. In August 2007, he said that he's a producer, has met with writers, and would be pitching the idea to television networks. Since first announcing his plans for a television series, progress has slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike. Despite this, Reznor has reported that the project is "still churning along".
   Reznor himself strongly supports fan-made remixes of songs off of the album, as evidenced by his decision to upload every song in multi-track form to the then newly launched Nine Inch Nails remix website. Instrumental versions of the songs are also available there for download in MP3 format.
Critical reception
Critical response to the album was generally favorable, with an average rating of 76% based on 28 reviews on MetaCritic, and a ranking of #21 on Rolling Stone's "Top 50 Albums of 2007". Robert Christgau described Year Zero as Reznor's "most songful album", while Thomas Inskeep of Stylus magazine praised it as "one of the most forward-thinking 'rock' albums to come down the pike in some time". However, some reviews were more critical; Spin magazine's review summarized the album by saying "The songs drag in the middle, choruses become interchangeable, and too many tracks end with the same electronic stuttering". In 2008, 42 Entertainment was nominated for and won two Webby Awards for their work on the Year Zero game, under the categories of "Integrated Campaigns" and "Other Advertising: Branded Content".
Track listing
All tracks written and performed by Trent Reznor.
"HYPERPOWER!" – 1:42
"The Beginning of the End" – 2:47
"Survivalism" – 4:23
"The Good Soldier" – 3:23
"Vessel" – 4:52
"Me, I'm Not" – 4:51
"Capital G" – 3:50
"My Violent Heart" – 4:13
"The Warning" – 3:38
"God Given" – 3:50
"Meet Your Master" – 4:08
"The Greater Good" – 4:52
"The Great Destroyer" – 3:17
"Another Version of the Truth" – 4:09
"In This Twilight" – 3:33
"Zero-Sum" – 6:14
Personnel

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"
Chart positions

Album

Chart Peak
position
Billboard 200 2

Billboard Top Internet Albums 2

Australian Albums Chart 5

Austrian Albums Chart 4

Canadian Albums Chart 17

Swiss Albums Chart 13

Finnish Albums Chart 5

German Albums Chart 6

New Zealand Albums Chart 20

UK Albums Chart 6

Dutch Albums Chart 25

Singles

Song Chart peak positions
US
US
Mod UK
FIN

"Survivalism" 68 1 14 1 29 7

"Capital G" — 6 25 — 140 —

"—" denotes a release that didn't chart.

Further Information
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