Personal interpretations of albums?

[Stigmata]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's made their own interpretations of their favorite discs. I'll go first

To me, With_Teeth by Nine Inch Nails is an album that chronicles a relationship between a man and a woman. Examples:

- All The Love In The World is about a man with nothing, falling very hard for a woman who seems to get everything she wants.
- The Collector is about the man wondering why he always ends up being an emotional crutch, yet it seems like the only way he can get close to a woman.
- Love Is Not Enough occurs after a physical relationship arises between the two. Both of them want to turn it into a real emotional relationship, but are as yet unwilling to risk pushing the other away in order to realize the need for an emotional bond.
- Getting Smaller is about the man realizing that he is essentially "whipped", and yet does nothing to change that ("my world is getting smaller every day and that's okay").
- The Line Begins To Blur is a very hazy and very detached recounting of the man realizing that he may be gay, and the effect his confession has.

I have to work hard to fit some of the songs into the overall interpretation, but it works well enough. And it turns With_Teeth into a much more cohesive album for me.

 

[Ennui]

i think the first two are are good interpretation, but not getting smaller or the line begins to blur.

i personally am fairly sure that With Teeth and The Line Begins to Blur are about heroin - with teeth is about the span of the addiction experience: starting ("she makes you better than anything you've tried"), losing control and becoming addicted ("the rules have changed / the lines begin to blur"), and finally trying to break the habit ("she will not let you go / keeps holding on"). The title "with teeth" also implies that it's sharp and dangerous beneath the surface - heroin feels amazing and sublime, but there's a deadly, evil side to it - overdose and death, which Trent very narrowly escaped.

i think The Line Begins to Blur is about someone becoming addicted, too. the longer you do it, the less you care about control, the line between addiction and moderation begins to blur. the lyrics are pretty self-evident in this case.