Nine Inch Nails have teamed up with Dr. Martens on the collaboration of ‘The Downward Spiral’ 30th Anniversary boot collection.
The collab was first teased earlier this month and officially announced today (July 15). The footwear collection will be comprised of three boots and a pair of shoes that features artwork from the band’s Grammy-nominated album, as well as a design that was inspired by Nine Inch Nails’ live performances.
The Nine Inch Nails x Dr. Martens collection is set for release this Friday (July 19) at drmartens.com and select retailers. Fans can visit here to sign up to be first in line to get notified when the collection arrives.
The first silhouette is a 1460 Boot which showcases Russell Mills’ ‘Wound’ artwork with multiple fastenings, including a branded ankle zip. The second is the 1461 3-eye shoe displaying the album’s ‘Crystal Teeth’ image with “the downward spiral” in subtle gloss. The third silhouette is a 1490 10-eye boot inspired by NIN’s cornstarch-covered live performances.
Each model boasts unique soles: commando tread, BEN outsole and ice commando outsole respectively. A special edition 1490 boot embossed with the album art will be gifted to select fans.
Speaking about the album’s art in an interview with Revolver back in 2010, Mills revealed that the artwork – titled “Wound” was comprised of a two-foot square wooden panel slathered in plaster, oils, acrylics, rusted metals, dead insects, wax, varnishes, blood (Mills’ own), and surgical bandaging. The piece took roughly two weeks to compete.
“Physically, it’s sinewy and visceral, like the music,” Mills told the outlet. “I’d love to be doing more of this kind of work, especially for Nine Inch Nails, as my work seems like an ideal visual mirror for their music and for Trent’s ideas.”
“This collaboration just makes so much sense,” John Crawford, the band’s creative director, said in a statement. “Not just because of the countless fans I’ve seen wearing Dr. Martens at NIN concerts over the years (myself included), but because NIN and Dr. Martens are both known for rejecting convention and expectation in favour of innovation, with their distinctive ability to transcend genres and styles in a way that unique to each person who experiences them. The goal was always to make this collection feel as authentically Nine Inch Nails as possible, and I believe through close collaboration with the team at Doc’s we’ve succeeded in that.”
Released on March 8, 1994, ‘The Downward Spiral’ was Nine Inch Nail’s second album. The LP is a concept album which detailed the self-destruction of a man from the beginning of his misanthropic “downward spiral” to his suicidal breaking point.
It was a commercial success and landed the Number Two spot on the US Billboard 200 charts and Number Nine on the UK charts upon its release. The seminal album cemented the band as a reputable force in the 90s music scene, with its sound being widely imitated, and the band receiving media attention and multiple honours.
In other news, NIN frontman Trent Reznor opened up on why he apologised to his record label when handing in ‘The Downward Spiral’.
In an interview with GQ, Reznor revealed that he did not see the album’s commercial appeal at first and apologised to the label upon turning it in.
“I felt the record was so uncompromising, ‘The Downward Spiral’. It was an album that I needed to make but it wasn’t reactive to ‘Fuck you, forgive me but I’ll show you.’ I remember I turned it in and I said, ‘Sorry. You shouldn’t have let me do what I was going to do,’” Reznor told the outlet.
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