Charlie Clouser and Danny Lohner contributed occasional instrumentation and composition to several tracks although the album was predominantly written and performed by Reznor alone.

[2] According to a February 2000 interview in Keyboard Magazine, two of the album's programmers, Charlie Clouser and Keith Hillbrandt, disclosed some synths used in the album's production, among them: Clavia Nord Lead 2, Waldorf Pulse and Microwave, Minimoog, Oberheim Xpander, Novation Bass Station, Sequential Circuits Prophet-VS, and the Access Virus.

"[4] In contrast to the heavily distorted instruments and gritty industrial sounds of their previous album, The Downward Spiral,[5] The Fragile relies more on soundscapes, electronic beats, ambient noise, rock-laden guitar, and the usage of melodies as harmonies.

Hermes views that, like "art-rockers" King Crimson and David Bowie, Reznor incorporates elements of 20th-century classical music on the album, "mixing prepared piano melodies à la John Cage with thematic flavor from Claude Debussy".

[10] Music journalist Ann Powers observes elements of progressive rock bands King Crimson and Roxy Music, Reznor's influences, and the experimentation of electronica artists such as Autechre and Squarepusher, and writes that The Fragile uses funk bass lines, North African minor-key modalities, and the treatment of tonality by Symbolist composers like Debussy.

[14][1] The Bulletin interprets it as an industrial rock album about "fear and loathing that could compete with Pink Floyd's The Wall".

[citation needed] Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk singled out "The Wretched" for comment: "I remember being amazed when I first heard this...

[20]On September 10, 1998, at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, a thirty-second teaser trailer was shown on television to promote the then untitled album.

The B-side "Starfuckers, Inc." was released on the album as a track at the last minute [citation needed], and served as a promotional single for The Fragile.

While making the DVD, Reznor commented on the tour in retrospect by saying "I thought the show was really, really good when we were doing it",[29] but later wrote that "I can't watch it at all.

"[30] On September 21, 2009—the tenth anniversary of the album's release—a Nine Inch Nails official Twitter update hinted that a deluxe 5.1 surround audio reissue of The Fragile was in the works and was scheduled for a 2010 release.

[32]While on tour in 2014 in Australia and New Zealand, Reznor was interviewed by a local reporter and was quoted about the reissue stating: Yeah, we've done a lot of the work for that.

I just stumbled across 40-or-so demos that are from that era that didn't turn into songs, that range from sound effects to full-fledge pieces of music, and I kind of feel like - something should happen with that.

The Fragile: Deviations 1 represents Atticus and I embellishing the original record with a number of tracks from those sessions we didn't use before.

[44] Mojo called it "an impressively multi-textured, satisfyingly violent sonic workout",[45] and Alternative Press found it "nothing short of astounding".

[46] Edna Gundersen of USA Today called it "meticulously honed and twisted to baffle, tantalize, disarm and challenge the listener", and wrote that "the coats of polish ... can't camouflage Trent Reznor's perverse and subversive paths to musical glory.

[11] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that, although he "doesn't approach suicide as he did on" The Downward Spiral, "Reznor can hide in the studio and piece together music that's as cunning, and disquieting, as his raw anger used to be.

"[6] Will Hermes of Entertainment Weekly viewed that, even "if [Reznor's] emotional palette is limited, it remains broader than any of his metalhead peers", and that, "right now, hard rock simply doesn't get any smarter, harder, or more ambitious than this.

"[10] Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times wrote that, despite its length, "this is a profoundly challenging and moving work that strikes at the hollowness of most contemporary pop-rock with bullwhip force.

"[40] The Guardian's Adam Sweeting praised it as "a fearsomely accomplished mix of monster riffing, brooding melodies and patches of minimalist soul-searching".

[47] NME's Victoria Segal panned its music as "background" and accused it of "chas[ing] 'crossover'", with "grey rock sleet masquerading as a storm beneath a haze of 'experimental' textures.

"[41] Scott Seward of The Village Voice facetiously commended Reznor for "once again ... pioneering the marriage of heavy guitars, moody atmospherics, electronic drones and beats, and aggressive singing.

"[48] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was even less receptive: "After six fucking years, genius-by-acclamation Trent Reznor delivers double-hoohah, every second remixed till it glistens like broken glass on a prison wall.

[citation needed] In a retrospective review, The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that, as "NIN's monumental double-disc bid for the art-rock crown, The Fragile sounds fantastic from start to finish, but there aren't enough memorable tunes underneath the alluring surfaces.

"[8] AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine offered similar criticism, writing that "Reznor's music is immaculately crafted and arranged, with every note and nuance gliding into the next — but he spent more time constructing surfaces than songs.

[52][53] The Fragile debuted atop the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 229,000 copies, earning the band their first number-one album on the chart.

[55] On January 4, 2000, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),[56] and by May 2005, it had sold 898,000 copies in the United States.

Hyden also attributes the album's commercial performance to the rise of file-sharing on the Internet, which deviated from the alternative rock movement's emphasis on "fetishized vinyl" and "music festivals as peaceful places for young people to commune and dream of better futures.

"[57] All tracks are written by Trent Reznor, except where notedThis release is identical to the CD pressing, with the exclusive addition of "+Appendage" attached to the end of "Please".

"The Day the World Went Away", "The Wretched", "Even Deeper" and "La Mer" are all extended mixes, while the opening and closing of each side eliminates the crossfading between songs found on the CD and cassette versions, due to the nature of the vinyl medium.