Writing for "Revolver" magazine on the 25th anniversary of "Broken", musician Greg Puciato stated that one of the few vivid musical memories of his teenage years was listening to the EP at age 12, front-to-back, in the first digipak he had seen. Later, after discovering the story behind its release, it became a giant influence on him, particularly "when it comes to own artistic path or output". Timbaland has cited Reznor as his favorite studio producer. Drummer Chris Pennie of the Dillinger Escape Plan said "The Fragile" changed his compositional mindset from drums to production, as he was "blown away" by its dense yet elegant mix and vocal ideas. He called it one of his two favorite albums of all time.