25 years ago "The Downward Spiral" was released and it was anything but, contrary to what Trent Reznor thought. He actually felt he needed apologize to the record label.
“I said to the label, ‘Look — sorry, but I don’t think there’s a fucking single in here. I don’t think it’s going to sell for shit, but I had to make this record, because it’s what I’m about right now; I believe in it 100 percent,'” he told Rolling Stone in 1997. “‘I’m sorry, though, there’s not something to justify the money you gave me to make it.'”
However, after the success of the second single "Closer" the album became number 2 and sold over 3 million copies!