Nine Inch Nails
Encyclopedia
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock
project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor
in Cleveland
, Ohio
. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. Nine Inch Nails' music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing. After recording a new album, Reznor (until the 2009 Wave Goodbye Tour
) usually assembles a live band
to perform with him. The touring band features a revolving lineup that often rearranges songs to fit a live setting. On stage, Nine Inch Nails often employs visual elements to accompany performances, which frequently include light shows.
Underground music
audiences warmly received Nine Inch Nails in its early years. Reznor produced several highly influential records in the 1990s that achieved widespread popularity: many Nine Inch Nails songs became radio hits; two Nine Inch Nails recordings have won Grammy Award
s; and their entire catalog
has reached record sales exceeding over 30 million albums worldwide, with 11 million sales certified in the United States alone. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time
magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music."
In 2004, Rolling Stone
placed Nine Inch Nails at 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Despite this acclaim, the band has had several feuds with the corporate side of the recording industry. In 2007, these corporate entanglements resulted in Reznor announcing that Nine Inch Nails would split from its label and release future material independently.
Since 1989, Nine Inch Nails has made eight major studio releases. The most recent releases, Ghosts I–IV
and The Slip
, both released in 2008, were released under Creative Commons
licenses (BY-NC-SA). Both were initially released digitally, with physical releases coming later. The digital release of The Slip was made available completely free of charge. Nine Inch Nails has been nominated for twelve Grammy Award
s and won twice for the songs "Wish
" and "Happiness in Slavery
", in 1992 and 1995 respectively.
In 1987, Trent Reznor played keyboards with a Cleveland band called the Exotic Birds
, then managed by John Malm, Jr.
Reznor and Malm became friends, and when Reznor left the Exotic Birds to work on music of his own, Malm informally became his manager. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios; he asked studio owner Bart Koster for permission to record some demos
of his own material for free during unused studio time. Koster agreed, commenting that it cost him "just a little wear on [his] tape heads". While assembling these, the earliest Nine Inch Nails recordings, Reznor was unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired. Instead, inspired by Prince
, Reznor played all the instruments except drums himself. This role remains Reznor's on most of the band's studio recordings, though he has occasionally involved other musicians and assistants. In 1988, after playing its first shows supporting Skinny Puppy
(which were widely panned by concert critics), Reznor's ambitions for Nine Inch Nails were to release one 12-inch single
on a small European label. Several labels responded favorably to the demo material and Reznor signed with TVT Records
. Nine selections from the Right Track demos recorded live in November 1988, collectively known as Purest Feeling, were later released in revised form on the band's first full-length studio release, Pretty Hate Machine
(1989).
Reznor said in 1994 that he coined the name "Nine Inch Nails" because it "abbreviated easily", rather than for "any literal meaning". Other rumored explanations have circulated, alleging that Reznor chose to reference Jesus
' crucifixion with nine-inch spikes, or Freddy Krueger
's nine-inch fingernails. The Nine Inch Nails' logo, which consists of the letters [NIИ] set inside a border, was designed by Reznor and Gary Talpas
. The logo first appeared on the music video for Nine Inch Nails' debut single, "Down in It
", and was inspired by Tibor Kalman
's typography on the Talking Heads
album Remain in Light
. Talpas, a native of Cleveland, would continue to design Nine Inch Nails packaging art until 1997.
Written, arranged, and performed by Reznor, Nine Inch Nails' first album Pretty Hate Machine
debuted in 1989. It marked his first collaboration with Adrian Sherwood
(who produced the lead single "Down in It" in London, England without having met Reznor face-to-face) and Mark "Flood" Ellis. Flood's production would appear on each major Nine Inch Nails release until 1994, and Sherwood has made remixes for the band as recently as 2000. Reznor and his co-producers expanded upon the Right Track Studio demos by adding singles "Head Like a Hole
" and "Sin
". Rolling Stone
s Michael Azerrad
described the album as "industrial-strength noise over a pop framework" and "harrowing but catchy music"; Reznor proclaimed this combination "a sincere statement" of "what was in [his] head at the time". Although the album failed to break into the Top 70, after spending 113 weeks on the Billboard 200
, Pretty Hate Machine became one of the first independently released records to attain platinum certification
.
Reznor asked Sean Beavan
to mix the demos of Pretty Hate Machine, which had received multiple offers for record deals. He mixed sound during Nine Inch Nails' live concerts for many years, eventually becoming an unofficial member of the live band, even singing live backup vocals from his place at the mixing console. Reznor later invited Beavan to work on The Downward Spiral
as well as mix several songs on Marilyn Manson
's debut album Portrait of an American Family
, both released in 1994. After contributing to several Nine Inch Nails remix releases (including the "Closer to God
" single), he mixed and co-produced Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar
in 1996.
Three music videos were created in promotion of the album. MTV
aired the videos for "Down in It" and "Head Like a Hole", but an explicit video for "Sin" was only released in partial form on the 1997 home video Closure
. The original version of the "Down in It" video ended with the implication that Reznor's character had fallen off a building and died in the street. This footage attracted the attention of the FBI
. As Reznor explains in an interview with Convulsion Magazine:
-esque pose and we had a camera with a big weather balloon filled with helium hooked up to it... the first one we did, we started the film, I was on the ground and the ropes that were holding the balloon snapped, the camera just took off into the atmosphere... the camera landed two hundred miles away in a farmer's field somewhere. He finds it and takes it to the police, thinking that it's a surveillance camera for marijuana, they develop the film and think that it's some sort of snuff film of a murder, give it to the FBI and have pathologists looking at the body saying, 'yeah, he's rotting,' (I had corn starch on me, right) 'he's been decomposing for 3 weeks.' You could see the other members of the band walking away and they had these weird outfits on, and they thought it was some kind of gang slaying.
In 1990, Nine Inch Nails began the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series
, in which they toured North America as an opening act for alternative rock
artists such as Peter Murphy
and The Jesus and Mary Chain
. At some point, Reznor began smashing his equipment while on stage; Rockbeat interviewer Mike Gitter attributed the live band's early success in front of rock oriented audiences to this aggressive attitude. Nine Inch Nails then embarked on a world tour that continued through the first Lollapalooza
festival in 1991.
Broken (1992–1993)
After a poor European reception opening for Guns N' Roses
, the band returned to America amid pressure from TVT to produce a follow-up to Pretty Hate Machine. After finding out they were taking hindering control over his project, Reznor eventually dismissed their classification of Nine Inch Nails as a synthpop
band. He also demanded his label terminate his contract, but they ignored his plea. In response, Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference. The frontman later said that he hated TVT, and reached a deal with the record label that he'd sign to Interscope Records
, while recording an extended play
named Broken (1992):
got involved with Interscope, and we kind of got slave-traded. It wasn't my doing. I didn't know anything about Interscope. And I was real pissed off at him at first because it was going from one bad situation to potentially another one. But Interscope went into it like they really wanted to know what I wanted. It was good, after I put my raving lunatic act on.
In 1992 Nine Inch Nails released Broken (Nothing Records
' first album ever), an EP
featuring six songs and two bonus tracks, providing the act's first charting appearance in the Top 10. In the liner notes
, Reznor credited the 1991 Nine Inch Nails touring band as an influence on the EP's sound. Reznor characterized Broken as a guitar-based "blast of destruction", and as "a lot harder [...] than Pretty Hate Machine". Songs from Broken earned Nine Inch Nails both of its two Grammy Awards: a performance of the EP's first single "Happiness in Slavery
" from Woodstock '94
, and the second single "Wish
". Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read: "REZNOR: Died. Said 'fist fuck', won a Grammy."
Peter Christopherson
of the bands Coil
and Throbbing Gristle
directed a performance video for "Wish", but the EP's most infamous video accompanied "Happiness in Slavery". The video was almost universally banned for its graphic depiction of performance art
ist Bob Flanagan
disrobed and lying on a machine that pleasures, tortures, then kills him. A third video for "Pinion", partially incorporated into MTV's Alternative Nation opening sequence, showed a toilet that apparently flushes into the mouth of a person in bondage
. Reznor and Christopherson compiled these three clips along with footage for "Help Me I Am in Hell" and "Gave Up" into a longform music video also called Broken. It depicts the murder of a young man who is kidnapped and tortured while forced to watch the videos. This footage was never officially released, but instead appeared covertly among tape trading circles.
A separate performance video for "Gave Up" featuring Richard Patrick
and Marilyn Manson
was filmed at 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles (then renamed "Le Pig studios" by Reznor), site of the Tate murders; a live recording of "Wish" was also filmed, and both videos appeared on the Closure video compilation in 1997.
Broken was followed by its companion remix EP Fixed in late 1992. The only track that was left off the final version of the release is Butch Vig
's remix of "Last" (the outro of the "Last" remix is heard in "Throw This Away", which also includes Vig's remix of "Suck"). The unedited version appeared on the internet as an 8-bit mono 11 kHz file, "NIN_LAST.AIFF", available by FTP from cyberden.com in 1993; it has been removed from the website, but can still be found on p2p
networks (Reznor subsequently made it available in higher quality (256kbit/s mp3) at remix.nin.com). Vig later spoke about his remix while answering questions on a music production forum, saying "I started recording a lot of new parts, and took it in a much different direction. When it was finished, Trent thought the front part of the mix didn't fit the EP, so he just used the ending. I'm glad it's on his website. Duke and Steve worked with me on the remix, in the very early days of Garbage
."
Rather than tour in support of the new material, Reznor began living and recording full-time at Le Pig, working on a follow-up free of restrictions from his record label.
Early ideas for The Downward Spiral were conceived after the Lollapalooza
1991 festival concerts ended in September of that year. Though production on 1992's Broken extended play
had begun in late 1991, the writing process for the act's second album did not start until 1992. He created several poems after his stay at there, and penned the themes he will explore on the album in his journals. Initially, Reznor was to record the album in New Orleans, but due to financial duties, he changed his mind. He often checked out 15 houses in a day, settling to stay at a building that was constructed at a residential area in Los Angeles
. 10050 Cielo Drive was his final choice to record the album, though he entered the house for the first time on July 4, 1992.
Nine Inch Nails' second full-length album, The Downward Spiral
, entered the Billboard 200 in 1994 at number two (ahead of Soundgarden
's Superunknown
, released the same day as The Downward Spiral), and remains the highest-selling Nine Inch Nails release in the United States for shipments of over four million copies, in addition to selling five million copies worldwide. Influenced by late-1970s rock albums The Wall
by Pink Floyd
and Low by David Bowie
, The Downward Spiral features a wide range of textures and moods to illustrate the mental progress of a central character. Flood once again co-produced several tracks on the album, though it proved to be his last collaboration with Nine Inch Nails. Longtime Flood-collaborator Alan Moulder
mixed
most of The Downward Spiral and subsequently took on more extensive production duties for future album releases. It was recorded at Le Pig Studios (a reincarnation of the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive), Beverly Hills – built by Reznor in the house where Charles Manson
's "family" murdered Sharon Tate
, wife of noted film director Roman Polanski
, and four of her friends.
The album was anchored by two singles, "March of the Pigs
" and "Closer", along with "Hurt" and "Piggy
" which were issued to radio without a commercial single release. All singles did not top any charts, only to have "Closer" peak at number 41 at the Billboard Hot 100
. The music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek
and received frequent rotation on MTV, though the network made extensive edits to the original version, which they perceived to be too graphic. A radio edit that partially mutes the song's explicit lyrics also received extensive airtime. The Closure video documented highlights from the band's Self Destruct
tour, including full live videos of "Eraser", "Hurt" and a one-take
"March of the Pigs" clip made for MTV.
Critical response to The Downward Spiral has generally been favorable: in 2005 the album was ranked 25th in Spin
's list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", and in 2003 Rolling Stone ranked the album number 200 on their "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
" list. Blender
named it the 80th Greatest American Album. It was ranked #488 in the book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time by Martin Popoff
. In 2001 Q
named The Downward Spiral as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time; in 2010 the album was ranked #102 on their 250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime (1986-2011) list. After The Downward Spiral's release, Reznor produced an accompanying remix album
entitled Further Down the Spiral
, the only non-major Nine Inch Nails release to be certified gold
in the United States. It featured contributions from Coil
with Danny Hyde
, electronic musician Aphex Twin
, producer Rick Rubin
, and Jane's Addiction
guitarist Dave Navarro
, among others.
The Self Destruct tour in support of the album reached its widest mainstream audience with a mud-drenched performance at Woodstock '94
that was broadcast on Pay-Per-View
and seen in as many as 24 million homes. Nine Inch Nails received considerable mainstream success thereafter, performing with significantly higher production values and adding theatrical visual elements to the live show. Around this time, Reznor's studio perfectionism, struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer's block prolonged the production of a follow-up record.
During preparation for the 1995 Grammy Awards (where "Hurt" was nominated for but did not win the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
), after the album slowly fell to number 192 (its lowest ranking in the United States), sales of The Downward Spiral sped up. The album reached number 139 in February 1996, then finally exited the Billboard 200 on June 16, 1996, after it dropped to number 190.
Whilst on tour, Reznor produced the soundtrack
to the Oliver Stone
film Natural Born Killers
using a portable Pro Tools
in his hotel room. The compilation featured a new Nine Inch Nails track "Burn
" written exclusively for the film. Throughout early 1996 Reznor collaborated with id Software
to help create the music and sound effects to the first-person shooter
video game Quake. In homage to him, the entire Quake series features the Nine Inch Nails band logo on ammo crates that supply ammunition for the in-game nail gun weapon. In 1997, Reznor produced the soundtrack to the David Lynch
film Lost Highway. The release spawned the single "The Perfect Drug
", the music video for which was again directed by Mark Romanek. A tenth anniversary deluxe reissue of The Downward Spiral was released on November 23, 2004.
The Fragile (1999–2002) Five years elapsed between The Downward Spiral and Nine Inch Nails' next studio album, The Fragile
, which arrived as a double album
in September 1999. On the heels of the band's previous successes, media anticipation surrounded The Fragile more than a year before its release, when it was already described as "oft-delayed". When the album was finally released, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 (Nine Inch Nails' first appearance at the top spot for an album), selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving mixed to positive reviews. Spin hailed The Fragile as the "album of the year", whereas Pitchfork Media
panned it for the inclusion of overly melodramatic lyrics. Several songs from the album became regular features on alternative rock radio stations, however the album dropped to number 16 and slipped out of the Billboard Top 10 only a week after its release, resulting in the band setting a record for the biggest drop from number one, a record that has since been broken. Reznor funded the subsequent North American tour out of his own pocket.
According to Reznor, The Fragile was conceived by making "songwriting and arranging and production and sound design [...] the same thing. A song would start with a drum loop or a visual and eventually a song would emerge out of it and that was the song." Canadian rock producer Bob Ezrin
was consulted on the album's track listing; the liner notes state that he "provided final continuity and flow."
Before the album's release, the song "Starfuckers, Inc.
" provoked media speculation about whom Reznor had intended its acerbic lyrics to satirize. Cinesexuality
critic Patricia MacCormack interprets the song as a "scathing attack on the alternative music scene", particularly Reznor's former friend and protégé Marilyn Manson. The two artists put aside their differences when Manson appeared in the song's music video, retitled "Starsuckers, Inc." and performed on stage with Nine Inch Nails at Madison Square Garden
in 2000. Nine Inch Nails released three commercial singles from the album in different territories: "The Day the World Went Away
" (the act's first successful attempt at reaching the number one position for a singles chart) in North America; "We're in This Together
" in the EU and Japan (on three separate discs); and "Into the Void
" in Australia.
Reznor followed The Fragile with another remix album, Things Falling Apart
, released in November 2000 to critically panning reviews, a few months after the 2000 Fragility
tour, which itself was recorded and released on CD
, DVD, and VHS
in 2002 as And All That Could Have Been
. A deluxe edition of the live CD came with the companion disc Still, featuring stripped-down versions of songs from the Nine Inch Nails catalog along with several new pieces of music.
With Teeth (2005–2006)
A further six years elapsed before Nine Inch Nails' fourth full-length album, With Teeth
, was released in 2005, though it was leaked prior to its official release date. The album was written and recorded following Reznor's battle with alcoholism and substance abuse. Like The Fragile, With Teeth debuted on top of the Billboard 200. The album's package lacks typical liner notes; instead it simply lists the names of songs and co-producers, and the URL
for an online PDF
poster with lyrics and full credits. The entire album was made available in streaming audio on the band's official MySpace
page in advance of its release date. Critical reception of the album was mostly positive: Rolling Stones Rob Sheffield
described the album as "vintage Nine Inch Nails". On the other hand, PopMatters
critically slammed the album by simply saying that he "ran out of ideas."
A promotional video for the song "The Hand That Feeds
" premiered on Reznor's official website in March 2005, rather than the traditional music channels. Reznor also released the source files for the song in GarageBand
format a month later, allowing fans to remix the song. Reznor similarly released files for the album's second single "Only
" in a wider range of formats, including Pro Tools
and ACID Pro
. David Fincher
directed a video for "Only" using primarily computer-generated imagery
. The third single, "Every Day Is Exactly the Same
", was released in April 2006, but a planned Francis Lawrence
-directed music video was reportedly scrapped in the post-production stage. The song topped Billboards Alternative Songs charts, like "Only" and "The Hand That Feeds".
Nine Inch Nails launched a North American arena tour
in Autumn 2005, supported by Queens of the Stone Age
, Autolux
and Death from Above 1979
. Another opening act on this tour, hip-hop artist Saul Williams
, performed on stage with Nine Inch Nails at the Voodoo Music Experience festival during a headlining appearance in hurricane-stricken New Orleans, Reznor's former home. To conclude the With Teeth era of the band, the Nine Inch Nails live band completed a tour of North American amphitheaters in the summer of 2006, joined by Bauhaus
, TV on the Radio
, and Peaches
. A tour documentary entitled Beside You in Time
was released in February 2007 via three formats: DVD
, High Definition DVD
and Blu-ray Disc. The home video
release debuted at number one on both the Billboard Top Music Videos and Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos charts in the United States.
Year Zero (2007)
Nine Inch Nails' fifth studio album, Year Zero
, was released only two years after With Teeth, a marked change in pace from the release of previous albums, and did not top any charts, thus beginning the act's diminishing returns
. With lyrics written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters, Year Zero is a concept album
that criticizes the United States government's current policies and how they will impact the world 15 years in the future.
The story takes place in the United States in the year 2022, which has been termed "Year 0", by the American government, being the year that America was reborn. The United States
had suffered several major terrorist attacks, apparently by Islamic fundamentalists, including attacks on Los Angeles
and Seattle, and in response, the government seized absolute control on the country. The Government of the United States is now a Christian fundamentalist theocracy, maintaining control of the populace through institutions like the Bureau of Morality and the First Evangelical Church of Plano. The government corporation Cedocore distributes the drug Parepin through the water supply, making Americans who drink the water apathetic and carefree. There are several underground rebel groups, mainly operating online, most notably Art is Resistance and Solutions Backwards Initiative. In response to the increasing oppression of the government, several corporate, government, and subversive websites were transported back in time to the present by a group of scientists working clandestinely against the authoritarian government. The websites-from-the-future were sent to the year 2007 to warn the American people of the impending dystopian future and to prevent it from ever forming in the first place.
Critical response to the album was generally favorable, with an average rating of 76% on MetaCritic
, a better aggregate rating than With Teeth.
An alternate reality game emerged parallel to the Year Zero concept, expanding upon its storyline. Clues hidden on tour merchandise initially led fans to discover a network of fictitious, in-game websites that describe an "Orwellian
picture of the United States circa the year 2022". Before Year Zeros release, unreleased songs from the album were found on USB drives hidden at Nine Inch Nails concert venues
in Lisbon and Barcelona, as part of the alternate reality game. Fan participation in the alternate reality game
caught the attention of media outlets such as USA Today
and Billboard, who have cited fan-site The NIN Hotline, forum Echoing the Sound, fan club The Spiral, and NinWiki as sources for new discoveries.
The album's first single, "Survivalism
" (which became the final time a Nine Inch Nails single topped a chart), and other tracks from Year Zero were released as multitrack
audio files for fans to remix. A remix album titled Year Zero Remixed
was later released, featuring remixes from Year Zero from other artists. The remix album proved to be Nine Inch Nails' final new release on a major record label, as the act had completed its contractual obligation to Interscope Records
and did not renew its contract. The remix album was accompanied by an interactive remix site with multitrack downloads and the ability to post remixes, after legal issues delayed its debut.
Reznor was planning to create a movie adaption of the album. He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on. Essentially, I wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Having thought a film project would be too expensive for him, he revamped it into a television project. He has stated that he has a producer and has met with writers.
On August 10, 2007, Reznor announced that they would soon be taking the concept to television networks in an attempt to secure a deal: "We're about to pitch it to the network, so we're a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we'll see what happens." Since first announcing his plans for a television series, progress has slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike
. Despite this, Reznor has reported that the project is "still churning along", and that he has begun working with American film producer Lawrence Bender
. The resultant miniseries, also named Year Zero, is currently in development with HBO and BBC
Worldwide Productions, with the screenplay and script being written by Reznor and Carnivàle
writer Daniel Knauf
.
In February 2008, Reznor posted a news update on the Nine Inch Nails website entitled "2 weeks." On March 2, Ghosts I–IV
(The Null Corporation
's first album ever), a 36-track instrumental album, became available via the band's official website. Ghosts I–IV was made available in a number of different formats and forms, ranging from a free download of the first volume, to a $300 Ultra-Deluxe limited edition package. All 2,500 copies of the $300 package sold out in three days, while each edition of the album did not top the charts. The album is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
licence. The album was created improvisationally over a 10-week period and contributors included Atticus Ross
, Alan Moulder
, Alessandro Cortini
, Adrian Belew
, and Brian Viglione
.
Similar to the announcement that ultimately led to the release of Ghosts I–IV, a post on the band's website in April 2008 read "2 weeks!" On May 5, Nine Inch Nails released The Slip
(which failed to reach the Top 10 outside Australia) via their website without any advertisement or promotion. The album was made available for download free of charge with a message from Reznor, "this one's on me," protected under the same Creative Commons licence as Ghosts, and has seen individual downloads surpassing 1.4 million. The Slip has since been released on CD as a limited edition set of 250,000.
Since the release of Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, a 25-date tour titled Lights in the Sky, was announced in several North American cities, and was later expanded to include several more North American dates as well as dates in South America. Cortini and Freese returned as members from the previous tour, while Robin Finck
rejoined the band and Justin Meldal-Johnsen
was added on bass guitar. Overshadowed by Finck and Medal-Johnsen, Freese and Cortini decided to quit the live band, but with the addition of Ilan Rubin
on drums, the band became a four-piece lineup.
On January 7, 2009, Reznor uploaded unedited HD-quality footage from three shows as a download of over 400 GB
via BitTorrent. In an immediate response, a fan organization known as This One Is On Us quickly downloaded the data and had begun to assemble the footage alongside their own video recordings to create a professional 3-part digital film, followed by a physical release created "by fans for fans". This tour documentary became collectively known as Another Version of the Truth
and was released throughout late December 2009 to February 2010 via three formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc and BitTorrent. To date, the group and the project has received significant attention from media outlets such as USA Today
, Rolling Stone
, Techdirt
and Pitchfork TV
, and holds the support of both Reznor and the fan community with theatrical screenings being held all over the world. Nine Inch Nails art director and webmaster Rob Sheridan
noted on the band's official website:
Nine Inch Nails Revenge
, a iPhone
/iPod touch
-exclusive rhythm game
developed by Tapulous
, was released on March 8, 2009 (five months after the company announced the development of the game). This installment in the Tap Tap
video game franchise was themed after Nine Inch Nails, and included tracks from Ghosts I–IV and The Slip.
-curated Sonisphere Festival
, while on September 10, 2009, they played their final show at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles
. The following month, the band started selling excess touring equipment on eBay.
In an interview with The Quietus following the Wave Goodbye
tour, Gary Numan
said that he expected to begin collaborating with Reznor. Discussing the form that this new material might take, Numan was quoted as saying, "probably just a few songs to start with and see how it goes on. It'll be cool."
Although the live band ended its lifespan, Reznor is continuing work on Nine Inch Nails and other projects after the Wave Goodbye tour, with plans to release a new album in the first half of the 2010s decade. The theme song for the film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
was released, making it the first new track since the live band was disbanded, and an entry on the Nine Inch Nails official Twitter
page hinted at a deluxe reissue of The Fragile scheduled for 2011. Beginning February 9, 2010, Reznor started posting images of studio recording equipment, including a synthesizer and Reznor singing into a recording microphone, on the front page of nin.com accompanied by a "?
".
Reznor married Mariqueen Maandig
and formed a project with Atticus Ross
dubbed How to Destroy Angels
. Their first release, a six-track self titled EP
, was made available for free download on June 1, 2010. Reznor's next collaboration with Ross was co-writing and producing the official score
for David Fincher
's 2010 film, The Social Network
. Fincher was previously involved in directing the music video for "Only", released in June 2005, and used both "Mr. Self-Destruct" in a 1996 Levi's television advertisement and the Precursor remix of "Closer" during the opening credits of his 1995 film Se7en
. A five-track downloadable sampler was released on September 17, 2010 and the entire album became available digitally on September 28. Various physical formats of the album were released in October. The soundtrack won two trophies, a 2010 Golden Globe Award
for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture, and a 2010 Oscar
for Best Original Score
.
Following the film was a remastered reissue of the band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, released on November 22, 2010.
After rejecting a minor acting role as a protagonist in the film adaptation
of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and a job to compose its soundtrack, Reznor focused on collaborating with Ross again to compose the soundtrack for another Fincher-directed film, the American adaptation
of the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
and its sequels. The song appearing on the film's trailer, a cover of Led Zeppelin
's "Immigrant Song
", was Reznor's collaboration with Yeah Yeah Yeahs
frontwoman Karen O
. A Nine Inch Nails cover of U2
's "Zoo Station
" was included in an Achtung Baby
tribute album entitled, AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered. The tribute album was released by Q
on October 25, 2011 as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby.
Reznor indicated on Twitter that there would be new material released in the future. On October 27, 2011, he tweeted: "OK, back to work. LOTS of new music coming your way very soon..."
group ever and were largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass audience." Reznor has never referred to his own work as industrial music, but admits to borrowing techniques from such early industrial bands as Throbbing Gristle
and Test Dept. Despite the disparity between those artists initially operating under the term "industrial" and Nine Inch Nails, it has become common in journalistic descriptions of Reznor's body of work to describe it as such. Reznor acknowledged in Spin magazine that "Down in It
" was influenced by early Skinny Puppy
, particularly their song "Dig It
"; other songs from Pretty Hate Machine were described in the same interview as synthpop
. Reviewing The Fragile
, critic Steve Cooper noted that the album juxtaposes widely varied genres, such as solo piano in "The Frail" and drum and bass
elements in "Starfuckers, Inc.
"
Certain techniques and styles can be found throughout Nine Inch Nails' catalog. Songs such as "Wish
", and "The Day the World Went Away
" exhibit terraced dynamics
. Reznor's singing follows a similar pattern, frequently moving from whispers to screams. He also has used software to alter his voice in several songs, as evident in "Starfuckers, Inc." and "Burn
". The band's music also occasionally features complex time signatures, notably in "The Collector", from With Teeth, and concert favorite "March of the Pigs
". Reznor regularly uses noise
and distortion in his song arrangements, and incorporates dissonance
with chromatic melody and/or harmony. These techniques are all used in the song "Hurt", which features a highly dissonant tritone
played on guitar during the verses, a B5#11, emphasized when Reznor sings the eleventh
note on the word "I" every time the B/E# dyad
is played. "Closer" concludes with a chromatic piano motif
: The melody is debuted during the second verse of "Piggy
" on organ, then reappears in power chords at Drop D tuning
throughout the chorus of "Heresy", whilst an inverted (ascending) version is used throughout "A Warm Place", and then recurs in its original state for the final time on "The Downward Spiral". On The Fragile, Reznor revisits this technique of repeating a motif multiple times throughout different songs, either on a different musical instrument, with a transposed harmony, or in an altered tempo. Many of the songs on Year Zero
feature an extended instrumental ending, which encompasses the entire second half of the three-minute long "The Great Destroyer". Allmusic's review described the album's laptop-mixed sound: "guitars squall against glitches, beeps, pops, and blotches of blurry sonic attacks. Percussion looms large, distorted, organic, looped, screwed, spindled and broken."
Lyrical themes found in Nine Inch Nails songs are largely concerned with dark explorations of the self ranging from personal issues, society
, religion
, existentialism
, deconstruction, and occasionally politics
, with the latter topic often being scrutinized in Year Zero. Three of Nine Inch Nails' recordings are concept album
s: The Downward Spiral, follow-up The Fragile, and the aforementioned Year Zero. With Teeth
was to be a concept album about a never-ending dream
occurring in reality
, but Reznor stung this idea out of the record. There are also multiple recurring lyrics that are thematically similar across albums, particularly "you're going to get what you deserve" (from "Head Like a Hole
"), "nothing can stop me now" (from "Piggy"), and "a million miles away" (from "Hurt"). The most recent appearances of these three lines are located in "Meet Your Master", "Sunspots", and "1,000,000" respectively.
. Bob Ezrin, producer for Pink Floyd
, Kiss
, Alice Cooper
, and Peter Gabriel
, described Reznor in 2007 as a "true visionary" and advised aspiring artists to take note of his no-compromise attitude.
The act has received four awards from 25 nominations, including two Grammy Award
s for the songs "Wish
" and "Happiness in Slavery
" in 1993 and 1996 respectively. Nine Inch Nails have received two Kerrang! Awards; one of these being the Kerrang! Icon in 2006, honoring the band's overall contributions since 1988 and long-standing influence on rock music. The band has also received nine nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards
for several of its videos, including two nominations for the "Closer" music video and five nominations for "The Perfect Drug" music video, including Video of the Year
.
In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time
magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music". The Recording Industry Association of America
certified sales for 10.5 million units of the band's albums in the United States, which accounted for roughly half of the band's reported sales worldwide at that time. In 2003, Rolling Stone
magazine placed The Downward Spiral at #200 in a 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
, and by the following year ranked Nine Inch Nails at #94 in their The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
did an obvious parody of his style of music entitled "Germs", though it was not acknowledged as a parody of his songs because it did not parody one of his songs in particular, but rather what Yankovic referred to as a "style parody". The song is likely based on the sound of "Terrible Lie" (general melody), "Mr. Self Destruct" (in the pre-chorus) and "Closer" (drum beat). Another parody of Nine Inch Nails is showcased in the 206th episode of Muppets Tonight
(aired November 2, 1997), where a spoof band called Nine Inch Snails (whose lineup consisted of four snail
s dressed in a gothic clothing attire) performed "This Living Shell". The fictitious Windows Media Player
-compatible Strobe Light album (portrayed as being produced by Timbaland
requiring about US$
18.98 to download) was a 2009 April Fools' Day
joke. Upon users confirming their e-mail
addresses, they receive a page parodying the infamous Blue Screen of Death
, with the phrase "Aprl_Fls" substituted for the word "error".
Reznor is the sole official member of Nine Inch Nails. However, he has typically formed a backing group of musicians to perform the songs in a live setting. This live band, also known as Nine Inch Nails, rearranges the band's studio catalog and creates a different sound than that of Reznor's studio recordings. Band members have occasionally been invited to participate in the recording process, but creative control within the studio has always been exclusively with Reznor.
The Tapeworm
project was created in 1995 as a Nine Inch Nails side-project between Reznor and various live-band members as a more "democratic" creative environment. The band initially included live band members Danny Lohner
and Charlie Clouser
, but eventually expanded to feature other frequent Nine Inch Nails contributors Josh Freese
, Atticus Ross
, and Alan Moulder
. However, after 9 years of studio sessions, no material was ever officially released from the group, and it was confirmed to be no longer active in 2005.
The lineup of the live band had a tendency to change drastically between major tours: aside from Reznor remaining on lead vocals, keyboards and guitar, no member of the live band had remained constant since its inception. Reznor cited the long gestation period between studio albums as part of the reason for these frequent personnel changes, as well as his desire for fresh interpretations of his music. In 2009, the final incarnation of the live band featured Reznor with Robin Finck
(besides Reznor, Finck has played on the most tours), Justin Meldal-Johnsen
, and Ilan Rubin
.
imprint. In 2005, Reznor sued his former friend and manager John Malm, co-founder of Nothing, for fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, and other claims. Their relationship was formally severed in a New York courtroom, with damages awarded to Reznor in excess of three million US dollars.
At the behest of Prudential Securities
bankruptcy proceedings, TVT put the rights to Reznor's recordings for the label on auction in 2005. This offer included the whole TVT catalog, including Pretty Hate Machine and a percentage of royalties from Reznor's song publishing company, Leaving Hope Music/TVT Music. Rykodisc
, which did not win the auction but was able to license the rights from Prudential, reissued the out-of-print Pretty Hate Machine CD on November 22, 2005. Ryko also reissued the "Head Like a Hole" CD and a vinyl edition of Pretty Hate Machine in 2006. The label considered releasing a deluxe edition, just as Interscope had done for The Downward Spiral. They were influenced by Reznor and liked the idea, but did not want to pay him for the album and the idea was scrapped.
(parent company of Nine Inch Nails' record label, Interscope Records
) for their pricing and distribution plans for Year Zero. He criticized (and parodied) the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD", concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off." Reznor went on to say that he hated Interscope, and in later years the "climate" of record labels may have an increasingly ambivalent impact on consumers who buy music. Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention. In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on UMG at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to "steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'."
Reznor announced on October 8, 2007 that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to Interscope Records and was now free to proceed as a "totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label". Reznor also speculated that he would release the next Nine Inch Nails album online in a similar fashion to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
, which he produced. Reznor later released the first nine tracks of Ghosts I–IV
and the entirety of The Slip
in 2008 for free download.
In another post on his website, Reznor again openly criticized Universal Music Group for preventing him from launching an official interactive fan remix website. Universal declined to host the site just days before its scheduled launch, citing the potential "accusation", in Reznor's words, "that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing [other media companies] for". Reznor wrote in response that he was "challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other's feet". Despite these obstacles, the remix website was launched in November 2007.
, but withdrew from the show due to a disagreement with the network over the use of an unaltered image of George W. Bush
as a backdrop to the band's performance of "The Hand that Feeds
". Soon afterwards, Reznor wrote on his official website: "apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me." MTV replied that it respected Reznor's point of view, but was "uncomfortable" with the performance being "built around partisan political statements." A performance by Foo Fighters
replaced Nine Inch Nails' time slot on the show. During the Lights in the Sky tour in 2008, some performances of "The Hand that Feeds" had the image of Bush on a video screen behind the band. At some gigs leading up to the election, the face of Bush slowly morphed during the song into the face of John McCain
.
In 2006, after being alerted by a fan website, Reznor issued a cease and desist
to Fox News Channel
for using three songs from The Fragile on air without permission. The songs "La Mer", "The Great Below", and "The Mark Has Been Made" appeared in an episode of War Stories with Oliver North
detailing the battle of Iwo Jima
. A post appeared on Reznor's blog, which read: "Thanks for the Fox News heads-up. A cease and desist has been issued. FUCK Fox Fucking News."
As part of the alternate reality game which accompanied the release of Year Zero, three tracks from the album were intentionally "leaked" prior to their official release at a number of Nine Inch Nails concerts on USB flash drive
s. The high-quality audio files quickly circulated the internet, and owners of websites hosting the files soon received cease and desist orders from the Recording Industry Association of America
, despite the fact that the viral campaign, and the use of USB drives, was sanctioned by Nine Inch Nails' record label. The source that broke the story was quoted as saying, "These fucking idiots are going after a campaign that the label signed off on." Reznor also objected to the company's request that he alter tracks on Year Zero in order to make them as accessible as possible; in particular the label wanted to get them played in clubs. Reznor saw this as an infringement of his artistic freedom.
The music of Nine Inch Nails has reportedly been used by the U.S. military
as music torture
to break down the resolve of detainees. Reznor objected to the use of his music in this way with the following message on the front page of the Nine Inch Nails website: "It's difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you've put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture. If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities. Thank GOD this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration's reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us."
In 2009, Apple rejected an update to Nine Inch Nails' iPhone
application, NIN: Access, because it found the contents of The Downward Spiral to be "offensive, obscene and/or objectionable."
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. Nine Inch Nails' music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing. After recording a new album, Reznor (until the 2009 Wave Goodbye Tour
Wave Goodbye Tour
Wave Goodbye Tour was a 2009 concert tour by industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails.-Tour dates:* 1'^ Headline show; non-festival appearance....
) usually assembles a live band
Nine Inch Nails live performances
Nine Inch Nails, an industrial rock band fronted by Trent Reznor, did various live performances throughout the world, including tours in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and China. While Reznor controls the creative and musical direction of Nine Inch Nails in-studio, the...
to perform with him. The touring band features a revolving lineup that often rearranges songs to fit a live setting. On stage, Nine Inch Nails often employs visual elements to accompany performances, which frequently include light shows.
Underground music
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
audiences warmly received Nine Inch Nails in its early years. Reznor produced several highly influential records in the 1990s that achieved widespread popularity: many Nine Inch Nails songs became radio hits; two Nine Inch Nails recordings have won Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s; and their entire catalog
Nine Inch Nails discography
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock band formed in 1988 by Trent Reznor. Nine Inch Nails has released eight major studio releases, as well as numerous remix albums, singles with extensive b-sides, music videos, and tour documentaries...
has reached record sales exceeding over 30 million albums worldwide, with 11 million sales certified in the United States alone. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music."
In 2004, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
placed Nine Inch Nails at 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Despite this acclaim, the band has had several feuds with the corporate side of the recording industry. In 2007, these corporate entanglements resulted in Reznor announcing that Nine Inch Nails would split from its label and release future material independently.
Since 1989, Nine Inch Nails has made eight major studio releases. The most recent releases, Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
and The Slip
The Slip (album)
The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder...
, both released in 2008, were released under Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
licenses (BY-NC-SA). Both were initially released digitally, with physical releases coming later. The digital release of The Slip was made available completely free of charge. Nine Inch Nails has been nominated for twelve Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s and won twice for the songs "Wish
Wish (song)
"Wish" is the second promotional single from Nine Inch Nails' Broken. The most successful song from the EP, "Wish" cemented Trent Reznor's image as a rage-fueled star to the public. "Wish" won the Best Metal Performance in the 1993 Grammy Awards. Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read:...
" and "Happiness in Slavery
Happiness in Slavery
"Happiness in Slavery" is a song by the American act Nine Inch Nails. The song takes its title and refrain from Jean Paulhan's preface to Story of O. It is available on the Broken EP and was also released as a 12" promotional single in November 1992. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S...
", in 1992 and 1995 respectively.
Formation (1988–1989)
Exotic Birds
The Exotic Birds was a synthpop music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1983 by three Cleveland Institute of Music percussion students, Andy Kubiszewski, Tom Freer and Tim Adams. They wrote their own music, and were described as synth pop and dance...
, then managed by John Malm, Jr.
John Malm, Jr.
John Malm Jr. is the former manager of Trent Reznor and his band Nine Inch Nails . He was also a co-founder, along with Reznor, of Nothing Records.-Early career and collaboration with Trent Reznor:...
Reznor and Malm became friends, and when Reznor left the Exotic Birds to work on music of his own, Malm informally became his manager. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios; he asked studio owner Bart Koster for permission to record some demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
of his own material for free during unused studio time. Koster agreed, commenting that it cost him "just a little wear on [his] tape heads". While assembling these, the earliest Nine Inch Nails recordings, Reznor was unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired. Instead, inspired by Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
, Reznor played all the instruments except drums himself. This role remains Reznor's on most of the band's studio recordings, though he has occasionally involved other musicians and assistants. In 1988, after playing its first shows supporting Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
(which were widely panned by concert critics), Reznor's ambitions for Nine Inch Nails were to release one 12-inch single
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
on a small European label. Several labels responded favorably to the demo material and Reznor signed with TVT Records
TVT Records
TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
. Nine selections from the Right Track demos recorded live in November 1988, collectively known as Purest Feeling, were later released in revised form on the band's first full-length studio release, Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording...
(1989).
Reznor said in 1994 that he coined the name "Nine Inch Nails" because it "abbreviated easily", rather than for "any literal meaning". Other rumored explanations have circulated, alleging that Reznor chose to reference Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
' crucifixion with nine-inch spikes, or Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...
's nine-inch fingernails. The Nine Inch Nails' logo, which consists of the letters [NIИ] set inside a border, was designed by Reznor and Gary Talpas
Gary Talpas
Gary Talpas is an American art director and photographer. Talpas worked as designer and art director for Nine Inch Nails on Pretty Hate Machine, "Head Like A Hole", The Downward Spiral and Further Down the Spiral. Talpas also worked on Smells Like Children for Marilyn Manson.-References:...
. The logo first appeared on the music video for Nine Inch Nails' debut single, "Down in It
Down in It
"Down in It" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released in 1989. Released as the project's debut single, the song was the first to be written by Trent Reznor, the only constant member of the act. It was released as a teaser single prior to the group's debut album, Pretty...
", and was inspired by Tibor Kalman
Tibor Kalman
Tibor Kalman was an influential American graphic designer of Hungarian origin, well-known for his work as editor-in-chief of Colors magazine....
's typography on the Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
album Remain in Light
Remain in Light
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American New Wave band Talking Heads, released on 8 October 1980 on Sire Records. It was recorded at locations in the Bahamas and the United States between July and August 1980 and was produced by the quartet's long-time collaborator...
. Talpas, a native of Cleveland, would continue to design Nine Inch Nails packaging art until 1997.
Pretty Hate Machine (1989–1991)
Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording...
debuted in 1989. It marked his first collaboration with Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy...
(who produced the lead single "Down in It" in London, England without having met Reznor face-to-face) and Mark "Flood" Ellis. Flood's production would appear on each major Nine Inch Nails release until 1994, and Sherwood has made remixes for the band as recently as 2000. Reznor and his co-producers expanded upon the Right Track Studio demos by adding singles "Head Like a Hole
Head Like a Hole
"Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails. A song influenced by industrial metal group Ministry, it was released as the second single from the group's debut album Pretty Hate Machine...
" and "Sin
Sin (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Sin" is the third single by Nine Inch Nails from the album Pretty Hate Machine. Released in October 1990, the song peaked at #35 in the UK Singles Chart .-The single:...
". Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
s Michael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad
Michael Azerrad is an American author, journalist and musician. He grew up in the New York City area and received his BA degree from Columbia College in 1983...
described the album as "industrial-strength noise over a pop framework" and "harrowing but catchy music"; Reznor proclaimed this combination "a sincere statement" of "what was in [his] head at the time". Although the album failed to break into the Top 70, after spending 113 weeks on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, Pretty Hate Machine became one of the first independently released records to attain platinum certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
.
Reznor asked Sean Beavan
Sean Beavan
Sean Beavan is a musician, record producer, and audio engineer best known for his work with Guns N Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, God Lives Underwater, and Slayer...
to mix the demos of Pretty Hate Machine, which had received multiple offers for record deals. He mixed sound during Nine Inch Nails' live concerts for many years, eventually becoming an unofficial member of the live band, even singing live backup vocals from his place at the mixing console. Reznor later invited Beavan to work on The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
as well as mix several songs on Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (band)
Marilyn Manson is an American metal band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by Brian Warner and Scott Putesky, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their uniquely theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early '90s. This attention...
's debut album Portrait of an American Family
Portrait of an American Family
Portrait of an American Family is the debut full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on July 19, 1994 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. It was produced by the band's frontman and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails...
, both released in 1994. After contributing to several Nine Inch Nails remix releases (including the "Closer to God
Closer to God
"Closer" is a song written by Trent Reznor and featured on the 1994 Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral. In mid-1994, the song was released as the second single from the album. Most versions of the single are titled "Closer to God", a rare example in music of a single's title differing from...
" single), he mixed and co-produced Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar is the second full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. The record's success in mainstream charts propelled the band into a household name and turned its frontman overnight...
in 1996.
Three music videos were created in promotion of the album. MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
aired the videos for "Down in It" and "Head Like a Hole", but an explicit video for "Sin" was only released in partial form on the 1997 home video Closure
Closure (Nine Inch Nails VHS)
Closure is a double VHS set by Nine Inch Nails released in 1997. Closure is the 12th official Nine Inch Nails release. It consists of one tape of live concert and behind-the-scenes footage from the Self-Destruct tour and one tape of music videos....
. The original version of the "Down in It" video ended with the implication that Reznor's character had fallen off a building and died in the street. This footage attracted the attention of the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. As Reznor explains in an interview with Convulsion Magazine:
There was a scene were I was lying on the ground, appearing to be dead, in aLodger
Lodger (album)
Lodger is an album by British singer-songwriter David Bowie, released in 1979. The last of the 'Berlin Trilogy' recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno , it was more accessible than its immediate predecessors Low and "Heroes", having no instrumentals and being somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented...
-esque pose and we had a camera with a big weather balloon filled with helium hooked up to it... the first one we did, we started the film, I was on the ground and the ropes that were holding the balloon snapped, the camera just took off into the atmosphere... the camera landed two hundred miles away in a farmer's field somewhere. He finds it and takes it to the police, thinking that it's a surveillance camera for marijuana, they develop the film and think that it's some sort of snuff film of a murder, give it to the FBI and have pathologists looking at the body saying, 'yeah, he's rotting,' (I had corn starch on me, right) 'he's been decomposing for 3 weeks.' You could see the other members of the band walking away and they had these weird outfits on, and they thought it was some kind of gang slaying.
In 1990, Nine Inch Nails began the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series
Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series
Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series was a series of tours in support of Nine Inch Nails' debut album Pretty Hate Machine. The series took place over much of North America and Europe from 1989 to 1991...
, in which they toured North America as an opening act for alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
artists such as Peter Murphy
Peter Murphy (musician)
Peter John Murphy is an English rock vocalist. He was the vocalist of the rock group Bauhaus, and later went on to release a number of solo albums, such as Deep and Love Hysteria...
and The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride, Glasgow in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid...
. At some point, Reznor began smashing his equipment while on stage; Rockbeat interviewer Mike Gitter attributed the live band's early success in front of rock oriented audiences to this aggressive attitude. Nine Inch Nails then embarked on a world tour that continued through the first Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
festival in 1991.
Broken (1992–1993)
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
, the band returned to America amid pressure from TVT to produce a follow-up to Pretty Hate Machine. After finding out they were taking hindering control over his project, Reznor eventually dismissed their classification of Nine Inch Nails as a synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
band. He also demanded his label terminate his contract, but they ignored his plea. In response, Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference. The frontman later said that he hated TVT, and reached a deal with the record label that he'd sign to Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
, while recording an extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
named Broken (1992):
We made it very clear we were not doing another record for TVT. But they made it pretty clear they weren't ready to sell. So I felt like, well, I've finally got this thing going but it's dead. Flood and I had to recordBroken under a different band name, because if TVT found out we were recording, they could confiscate all our shit and release it. Jimmy Iovine
Jimmy Iovine
James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...
got involved with Interscope, and we kind of got slave-traded. It wasn't my doing. I didn't know anything about Interscope. And I was real pissed off at him at first because it was going from one bad situation to potentially another one. But Interscope went into it like they really wanted to know what I wanted. It was good, after I put my raving lunatic act on.
In 1992 Nine Inch Nails released Broken (Nothing Records
Nothing Records
Nothing Records was an American record label, specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992...
' first album ever), an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
featuring six songs and two bonus tracks, providing the act's first charting appearance in the Top 10. In the liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
, Reznor credited the 1991 Nine Inch Nails touring band as an influence on the EP's sound. Reznor characterized Broken as a guitar-based "blast of destruction", and as "a lot harder [...] than Pretty Hate Machine". Songs from Broken earned Nine Inch Nails both of its two Grammy Awards: a performance of the EP's first single "Happiness in Slavery
Happiness in Slavery
"Happiness in Slavery" is a song by the American act Nine Inch Nails. The song takes its title and refrain from Jean Paulhan's preface to Story of O. It is available on the Broken EP and was also released as a 12" promotional single in November 1992. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S...
" from Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...
, and the second single "Wish
Wish (song)
"Wish" is the second promotional single from Nine Inch Nails' Broken. The most successful song from the EP, "Wish" cemented Trent Reznor's image as a rage-fueled star to the public. "Wish" won the Best Metal Performance in the 1993 Grammy Awards. Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read:...
". Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read: "REZNOR: Died. Said 'fist fuck', won a Grammy."
Peter Christopherson
Peter Christopherson
Peter Martin Christopherson, a.k.a. Sleazy was a musician, video director and designer, and former member of the influential British design agency Hipgnosis....
of the bands Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
and Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
directed a performance video for "Wish", but the EP's most infamous video accompanied "Happiness in Slavery". The video was almost universally banned for its graphic depiction of performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist Bob Flanagan
Bob Flanagan
Bob Flanagan was an American performance artist, comic, writer, poet, and musician.-Early life:...
disrobed and lying on a machine that pleasures, tortures, then kills him. A third video for "Pinion", partially incorporated into MTV's Alternative Nation opening sequence, showed a toilet that apparently flushes into the mouth of a person in bondage
Bondage (BDSM)
Bondage is the use of restraints for the sexual pleasure of the parties involved. It may be used in its own right, as in the case of rope bondage and breast bondage, or as part of sexual activity or BDSM activity.- Private bondage :...
. Reznor and Christopherson compiled these three clips along with footage for "Help Me I Am in Hell" and "Gave Up" into a longform music video also called Broken. It depicts the murder of a young man who is kidnapped and tortured while forced to watch the videos. This footage was never officially released, but instead appeared covertly among tape trading circles.
A separate performance video for "Gave Up" featuring Richard Patrick
Richard Patrick
Richard Patrick is an American rock musician. He is the frontman for the band Filter, a founding member of the supergroup Army of Anyone, and has served as a touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails....
and Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
was filmed at 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles (then renamed "Le Pig studios" by Reznor), site of the Tate murders; a live recording of "Wish" was also filmed, and both videos appeared on the Closure video compilation in 1997.
Broken was followed by its companion remix EP Fixed in late 1992. The only track that was left off the final version of the release is Butch Vig
Butch Vig
Butch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....
's remix of "Last" (the outro of the "Last" remix is heard in "Throw This Away", which also includes Vig's remix of "Suck"). The unedited version appeared on the internet as an 8-bit mono 11 kHz file, "NIN_LAST.AIFF", available by FTP from cyberden.com in 1993; it has been removed from the website, but can still be found on p2p
Peer-to-peer file sharing
P2P or Peer-to-peer file sharing allows users to download files such as music, movies, and games using a P2P software client that searches for other connected computers. The "peers" are computer systems connected to each other through internet. Thus, the only requirements for a computer to join...
networks (Reznor subsequently made it available in higher quality (256kbit/s mp3) at remix.nin.com). Vig later spoke about his remix while answering questions on a music production forum, saying "I started recording a lot of new parts, and took it in a much different direction. When it was finished, Trent thought the front part of the mix didn't fit the EP, so he just used the ending. I'm glad it's on his website. Duke and Steve worked with me on the remix, in the very early days of Garbage
Garbage (band)
Garbage are an alternative rock band formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1994. The group consists of Scottish singer Shirley Manson and American musicians Duke Erikson , Steve Marker and Butch Vig . All four members are involved in songwriting and production...
."
Rather than tour in support of the new material, Reznor began living and recording full-time at Le Pig, working on a follow-up free of restrictions from his record label.
The Downward Spiral (1994–1997)
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. The music festival hosts more than 160,000 people over a...
1991 festival concerts ended in September of that year. Though production on 1992's Broken extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
had begun in late 1991, the writing process for the act's second album did not start until 1992. He created several poems after his stay at there, and penned the themes he will explore on the album in his journals. Initially, Reznor was to record the album in New Orleans, but due to financial duties, he changed his mind. He often checked out 15 houses in a day, settling to stay at a building that was constructed at a residential area in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. 10050 Cielo Drive was his final choice to record the album, though he entered the house for the first time on July 4, 1992.
Nine Inch Nails' second full-length album, The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
, entered the Billboard 200 in 1994 at number two (ahead of Soundgarden
Soundgarden
Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1984 by singer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto...
's Superunknown
Superunknown
Superunknown is the fourth album by American grunge band Soundgarden, released on March 8, 1994 through A&M Records. Soundgarden began work on the album after touring in support of its previous album, Badmotorfinger...
, released the same day as The Downward Spiral), and remains the highest-selling Nine Inch Nails release in the United States for shipments of over four million copies, in addition to selling five million copies worldwide. Influenced by late-1970s rock albums The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
by Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
and Low by David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, The Downward Spiral features a wide range of textures and moods to illustrate the mental progress of a central character. Flood once again co-produced several tracks on the album, though it proved to be his last collaboration with Nine Inch Nails. Longtime Flood-collaborator Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
mixed
Mix engineer
A mix engineer, also referred to as "mixing engineer", is a person who, once all instruments, voices, and sounds, etc., have been recorded, creates what is called the final version of a song, hence the term "mix engineer"...
most of The Downward Spiral and subsequently took on more extensive production duties for future album releases. It was recorded at Le Pig Studios (a reincarnation of the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive), Beverly Hills – built by Reznor in the house where Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
's "family" murdered Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
, wife of noted film director Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
, and four of her friends.
The album was anchored by two singles, "March of the Pigs
March of the Pigs
"March of the Pigs" is a song written by Trent Reznor of American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It was released in 1994 as the first single from The Downward Spiral , the second album by Nine Inch Nails.-The song:...
" and "Closer", along with "Hurt" and "Piggy
Piggy (song)
"Piggy" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, and the second track of The Downward Spiral . It was written by Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood, and recorded in "Le Pig", a reincarnation of the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive....
" which were issued to radio without a commercial single release. All singles did not top any charts, only to have "Closer" peak at number 41 at the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek is an American filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and commercials.He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 2002 film One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams...
and received frequent rotation on MTV, though the network made extensive edits to the original version, which they perceived to be too graphic. A radio edit that partially mutes the song's explicit lyrics also received extensive airtime. The Closure video documented highlights from the band's Self Destruct
Self Destruct Tour
Self-Destruct Tour was a concert tour in support of industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral album, which took place in early 1994, running until mid-1996, and was broken into 8 legs....
tour, including full live videos of "Eraser", "Hurt" and a one-take
Long take
A long take is an uninterrupted shot in a film which lasts much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general, usually lasting several minutes. It can be used for dramatic and narrative effect if done properly, and in moving shots is often accomplished...
"March of the Pigs" clip made for MTV.
Critical response to The Downward Spiral has generally been favorable: in 2005 the album was ranked 25th in Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
's list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", and in 2003 Rolling Stone ranked the album number 200 on their "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
" list. Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
named it the 80th Greatest American Album. It was ranked #488 in the book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time by Martin Popoff
Martin Popoff
Martin Popoff is a Canadian-born music journalist and critic who covers the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles magazine, he has additionally written over twenty books that both critically evaluate heavy metal and document its history...
. In 2001 Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
named The Downward Spiral as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time; in 2010 the album was ranked #102 on their 250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime (1986-2011) list. After The Downward Spiral
Remix album
A remix album is an album consisting mostly of remixes or re-recorded versions of a music artists' earlier released material.One of the earliest remix albums was 1971's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet by Harry Nilsson, which was released by Nilsson after the successes of Everybody's Talkin and The Point!...
entitled Further Down the Spiral
Further Down the Spiral
Further Down the Spiral is a remix album by Nine Inch Nails, and was released on June 1, 1995. It is the tenth official Nine Inch Nails release and is the companion remix disc to The Downward Spiral...
, the only non-major Nine Inch Nails release to be certified gold
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the United States. It featured contributions from Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
with Danny Hyde
Danny Hyde
Danny Hyde is an experimental musician and renowned remix artist. Hyde has contributed to production and mixing on many Coil albums, including Horse Rotorvator, Love's Secret Domain, The Remote Viewer, Black Antlers, and The New Backwards. Hyde has also worked with Psychic TV and Pop Will Eat Itself...
, electronic musician Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
, producer Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
, and Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985. The band's original line-up featured Perry Farrell , Dave Navarro , Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins . After breaking up in 1991, Jane's Addiction briefly reunited in 1997 and again in 2001, both times...
guitarist Dave Navarro
Dave Navarro
David Michael "Dave" Navarro is an American guitarist who plays in the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction and cover band Camp Freddy. He has also played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Panic Channel, and many others.- Early life :...
, among others.
The Self Destruct tour in support of the album reached its widest mainstream audience with a mud-drenched performance at Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...
that was broadcast on Pay-Per-View
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
and seen in as many as 24 million homes. Nine Inch Nails received considerable mainstream success thereafter, performing with significantly higher production values and adding theatrical visual elements to the live show. Around this time, Reznor's studio perfectionism, struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer's block prolonged the production of a follow-up record.
During preparation for the 1995 Grammy Awards (where "Hurt" was nominated for but did not win the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, for works containing quality performances in the hard rock music genre...
), after the album slowly fell to number 192 (its lowest ranking in the United States), sales of The Downward Spiral sped up. The album reached number 139 in February 1996, then finally exited the Billboard 200 on June 16, 1996, after it dropped to number 190.
Whilst on tour, Reznor produced the soundtrack
Natural Born Killers (soundtrack)
Natural Born Killers is the soundtrack to the film Natural Born Killers, produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor reportedly produced the soundtrack using a portable Pro Tools in his hotel room while on tour...
to the Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
film Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
using a portable Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
in his hotel room. The compilation featured a new Nine Inch Nails track "Burn
Burn (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Burn" is a promotional single by Nine Inch Nails released from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. Because this is a promo-only single, it has never been featured with its own official halo. It was included as a bonus track on the tenth anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Downward Spiral, and also...
" written exclusively for the film. Throughout early 1996 Reznor collaborated with id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
to help create the music and sound effects to the first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game Quake. In homage to him, the entire Quake series features the Nine Inch Nails band logo on ammo crates that supply ammunition for the in-game nail gun weapon. In 1997, Reznor produced the soundtrack to the David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
film Lost Highway. The release spawned the single "The Perfect Drug
The Perfect Drug
"The Perfect Drug" or ' is a song by Nine Inch Nails. It was written for the David Lynch film Lost Highway and originally appeared on the Lost Highway soundtrack and as a single from the score in 1997...
", the music video for which was again directed by Mark Romanek. A tenth anniversary deluxe reissue of The Downward Spiral was released on November 23, 2004.
The Fragile (1999–2002) Five years elapsed between The Downward Spiral and Nine Inch Nails' next studio album, The Fragile
The Fragile
In terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
, which arrived as a double album
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
in September 1999. On the heels of the band's previous successes, media anticipation surrounded The Fragile more than a year before its release, when it was already described as "oft-delayed". When the album was finally released, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 (Nine Inch Nails' first appearance at the top spot for an album), selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving mixed to positive reviews. Spin hailed The Fragile as the "album of the year", whereas Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
panned it for the inclusion of overly melodramatic lyrics. Several songs from the album became regular features on alternative rock radio stations, however the album dropped to number 16 and slipped out of the Billboard Top 10 only a week after its release, resulting in the band setting a record for the biggest drop from number one, a record that has since been broken. Reznor funded the subsequent North American tour out of his own pocket.
According to Reznor, The Fragile was conceived by making "songwriting and arranging and production and sound design [...] the same thing. A song would start with a drum loop or a visual and eventually a song would emerge out of it and that was the song." Canadian rock producer Bob Ezrin
Bob Ezrin
Robert Alan "Bob" Ezrin is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, known for his work with artists including Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2004.-Biography:...
was consulted on the album's track listing; the liner notes state that he "provided final continuity and flow."
Before the album's release, the song "Starfuckers, Inc.
Starfuckers, Inc.
"Starfuckers, Inc." is a song by Nine Inch Nails.The song is released as the fourth single from the double album, The Fragile...
" provoked media speculation about whom Reznor had intended its acerbic lyrics to satirize. Cinesexuality
Cinesexuality
Cinesexuality is a concept developed by the feminist film theorist Patricia MacCormack. It emerges from the poststructuralist philosophy of desire found in the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari....
critic Patricia MacCormack interprets the song as a "scathing attack on the alternative music scene", particularly Reznor's former friend and protégé Marilyn Manson. The two artists put aside their differences when Manson appeared in the song's music video, retitled "Starsuckers, Inc." and performed on stage with Nine Inch Nails at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
in 2000. Nine Inch Nails released three commercial singles from the album in different territories: "The Day the World Went Away
The Day the World Went Away
"The Day the World Went Away" is a song by Nine Inch Nails, released in 1999 as the first single from the act's then-forthcoming album The Fragile...
" (the act's first successful attempt at reaching the number one position for a singles chart) in North America; "We're in This Together
We're in This Together
"We're in This Together" is a 3-disc single by Nine Inch Nails for the song of the same name released in 1999. It is the fifteenth official Nine Inch Nails release and is a single for the album The Fragile....
" in the EU and Japan (on three separate discs); and "Into the Void
Into the Void (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Into the Void" is a single by Nine Inch Nails, released in 2000. The song was the third single from the album The Fragile, released in 1999...
" in Australia.
Reznor followed The Fragile with another remix album, Things Falling Apart
Things Falling Apart
-Vinyl version:-Chart positions:-External links:* * * * * *...
, released in November 2000 to critically panning reviews, a few months after the 2000 Fragility
Fragility Tour
Fragility Tour was a concert tour in support of industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile album, which took place in late 1999, running until mid-2000, and was broken into two major legs, Fragility v1.0 and Fragility v2.0 respectively...
tour, which itself was recorded and released on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, DVD, and VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
in 2002 as And All That Could Have Been
And All that Could Have Been
And All That Could Have Been is a double album released by Nine Inch Nails in 2002. The live album contains music recorded during the Fragility v2.0 US tour in 2000; Disc 1 is a live album of their normal set list of the time, while disc B contains a studio album titled Still containing...
. A deluxe edition of the live CD came with the companion disc Still, featuring stripped-down versions of songs from the Nine Inch Nails catalog along with several new pieces of music.
With Teeth (2005–2006)
With Teeth
With Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...
, was released in 2005, though it was leaked prior to its official release date. The album was written and recorded following Reznor's battle with alcoholism and substance abuse. Like The Fragile, With Teeth debuted on top of the Billboard 200. The album's package lacks typical liner notes; instead it simply lists the names of songs and co-producers, and the URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
for an online PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
poster with lyrics and full credits. The entire album was made available in streaming audio on the band's official MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page in advance of its release date. Critical reception of the album was mostly positive: Rolling Stones Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield
Rob Sheffield is an American music journalist and author. He is currently a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, writing music reviews and essays on pop culture. Prior to that, he was a contributing editor at Blender before the print version of the magazine folded in 2009, and at Spin...
described the album as "vintage Nine Inch Nails". On the other hand, PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
critically slammed the album by simply saying that he "ran out of ideas."
A promotional video for the song "The Hand That Feeds
The Hand that Feeds
"The Hand That Feeds" is a song by the American industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, released as the lead single for the album With Teeth . It is the highest charting song by Nine Inch Nails on all charts except for U.S...
" premiered on Reznor's official website in March 2005, rather than the traditional music channels. Reznor also released the source files for the song in GarageBand
GarageBand
GarageBand is a software application for Mac OS X and iOS that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is developed by Apple Inc. as a part of the iLife software package on Mac OS X.-Audio recording:...
format a month later, allowing fans to remix the song. Reznor similarly released files for the album's second single "Only
Only (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Only" is a song by Nine Inch Nails. It was released as the second single from Nine Inch Nails' fourth album With Teeth. "Only" reached number one on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, where it stayed for seven weeks...
" in a wider range of formats, including Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
and ACID Pro
ACID Pro
Sony ACID Pro is a professional digital audio workstation software program. It was originally called "ACID pH1" and published by Sonic Foundry, but is now developed and sold by Sony Creative Software....
. David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
directed a video for "Only" using primarily computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. The third single, "Every Day Is Exactly the Same
Every Day Is Exactly the Same
"Every Day Is Exactly the Same" is the third single by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their album With Teeth. It is the twenty-first official Nine Inch Nails release. The commercial single was released on April 4, 2006 as an EP. It was also billed as the companion remix disc to...
", was released in April 2006, but a planned Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Lawrence was born in Vienna, Austria. His father is a physicist who taught at California State University, Northridge and his mother is V.P. Technology at a PR agency. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of three...
-directed music video was reportedly scrapped in the post-production stage. The song topped Billboards Alternative Songs charts, like "Only" and "The Hand That Feeds".
Nine Inch Nails launched a North American arena tour
Live: With Teeth Tour
Live: With Teeth Tour was a concert tour in support of industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails' With Teeth album, which took place in early 2005, running until mid-2006, and was broken into five legs....
in Autumn 2005, supported by Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
, Autolux
Autolux
Autolux is an avant-garde rock group consisting of Eugene Goreshter , Greg Edwards and Carla Azar...
and Death from Above 1979
Death from Above 1979
Death from Above 1979 are a Toronto-based Canadian dance-punk/noise rock duo. Their album, You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, was released in late 2004. The band broke up in 2006, but announced a reunion in 2011.-History:...
. Another opening act on this tour, hip-hop artist Saul Williams
Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...
, performed on stage with Nine Inch Nails at the Voodoo Music Experience festival during a headlining appearance in hurricane-stricken New Orleans, Reznor's former home. To conclude the With Teeth era of the band, the Nine Inch Nails live band completed a tour of North American amphitheaters in the summer of 2006, joined by Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
, TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....
, and Peaches
Peaches (musician)
Merrill Beth Nisker , better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her songs are noted for disregarding traditional gender norms and their use of sexually explicit lyrics...
. A tour documentary entitled Beside You in Time
Beside You in Time
Beside You in Time is a live home video release by Nine Inch Nails, issued in Europe on February 26, 2007, and the United States on February 27, 2007. Beside You in Time is also the title of a track on the NIN album With Teeth. The video documents NIN's 2006 Live: With Teeth tour, and is available...
was released in February 2007 via three formats: DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, High Definition DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
and Blu-ray Disc. The home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
release debuted at number one on both the Billboard Top Music Videos and Billboard Comprehensive Music Videos charts in the United States.
Year Zero (2007)
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
, was released only two years after With Teeth, a marked change in pace from the release of previous albums, and did not top any charts, thus beginning the act's diminishing returns
Diminishing returns
In economics, diminishing returns is the decrease in the marginal output of a production process as the amount of a single factor of production is increased, while the amounts of all other factors of production stay constant.The law of diminishing returns In economics, diminishing returns (also...
. With lyrics written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters, Year Zero is a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
that criticizes the United States government's current policies and how they will impact the world 15 years in the future.
The story takes place in the United States in the year 2022, which has been termed "Year 0", by the American government, being the year that America was reborn. The United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had suffered several major terrorist attacks, apparently by Islamic fundamentalists, including attacks on Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Seattle, and in response, the government seized absolute control on the country. The Government of the United States is now a Christian fundamentalist theocracy, maintaining control of the populace through institutions like the Bureau of Morality and the First Evangelical Church of Plano. The government corporation Cedocore distributes the drug Parepin through the water supply, making Americans who drink the water apathetic and carefree. There are several underground rebel groups, mainly operating online, most notably Art is Resistance and Solutions Backwards Initiative. In response to the increasing oppression of the government, several corporate, government, and subversive websites were transported back in time to the present by a group of scientists working clandestinely against the authoritarian government. The websites-from-the-future were sent to the year 2007 to warn the American people of the impending dystopian future and to prevent it from ever forming in the first place.
Critical response to the album was generally favorable, with an average rating of 76% on MetaCritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, a better aggregate rating than With Teeth.
An alternate reality game emerged parallel to the Year Zero concept, expanding upon its storyline. Clues hidden on tour merchandise initially led fans to discover a network of fictitious, in-game websites that describe an "Orwellian
Orwellian
"Orwellian" describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society...
picture of the United States circa the year 2022". Before Year Zeros release, unreleased songs from the album were found on USB drives hidden at Nine Inch Nails concert venues
Performance 2007 Tour
Two months before the release of their fifth full-length album, Year Zero, industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails began a new tour, officially called Performance 2007...
in Lisbon and Barcelona, as part of the alternate reality game. Fan participation in the alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
caught the attention of media outlets such as USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
and Billboard, who have cited fan-site The NIN Hotline, forum Echoing the Sound, fan club The Spiral, and NinWiki as sources for new discoveries.
The album's first single, "Survivalism
Survivalism (song)
"Survivalism" is the first single by Nine Inch Nails from their 2007 album Year Zero. The song is the third track on the album...
" (which became the final time a Nine Inch Nails single topped a chart), and other tracks from Year Zero were released as multitrack
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
audio files for fans to remix. A remix album titled Year Zero Remixed
Year Zero Remixed
-Vinyl:-Critical reception:Year Zero Remixed received generally positive reviews. Virgin Media's review described the album as "a real cornucopia of treats" and "Highly recommended." Pitchfork Media's review, however, criticized the album, writing that it "lacks cohesion and is predictably...
was later released, featuring remixes from Year Zero from other artists. The remix album proved to be Nine Inch Nails' final new release on a major record label, as the act had completed its contractual obligation to Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
and did not renew its contract. The remix album was accompanied by an interactive remix site with multitrack downloads and the ability to post remixes, after legal issues delayed its debut.
Reznor was planning to create a movie adaption of the album. He had earlier noted Year Zero as "part of a bigger picture of a number of things I'm working on. Essentially, I wrote the soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist." Having thought a film project would be too expensive for him, he revamped it into a television project. He has stated that he has a producer and has met with writers.
On August 10, 2007, Reznor announced that they would soon be taking the concept to television networks in an attempt to secure a deal: "We're about to pitch it to the network, so we're a couple of weeks away from meeting all of the main people, and we'll see what happens." Since first announcing his plans for a television series, progress has slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. Despite this, Reznor has reported that the project is "still churning along", and that he has begun working with American film producer Lawrence Bender
Lawrence Bender
Lawrence Bender is an American film producer. He rose to fame by producing Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and has since produced all of Quentin Tarantino's films with the exception of Death Proof....
. The resultant miniseries, also named Year Zero, is currently in development with HBO and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Worldwide Productions, with the screenplay and script being written by Reznor and Carnivàle
Carnivàle
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...
writer Daniel Knauf
Daniel Knauf
Daniel Knauf, sometimes credited under the pseudonyms Wilfred Schmidt and Chris Neal, is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, director and producer best known for his creation of the 2003 HBO series Carnivàle.-Biography:...
.
Ghosts I–IV and The Slip (2008)
Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
(The Null Corporation
The Null Corporation
The Null Corporation is an independent record label which releases the work of Nine Inch Nails and How to Destroy Angels. The Nine Inch Nails albums, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, have been released in physical formats under the Null Corporation imprint...
's first album ever), a 36-track instrumental album, became available via the band's official website. Ghosts I–IV was made available in a number of different formats and forms, ranging from a free download of the first volume, to a $300 Ultra-Deluxe limited edition package. All 2,500 copies of the $300 package sold out in three days, while each edition of the album did not top the charts. The album is licensed under a Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
Creative Commons licenses
Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
licence. The album was created improvisationally over a 10-week period and contributors included Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
, Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
, Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini
Alessandro Cortini is an Italian musician best known for touring and recording with the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 2004 to 2008. Currently, Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles based electronic-alternative band SONOIO. In addition, he was a touring member of The...
, Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew
Adrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...
, and Brian Viglione
Brian Viglione
Brian Viglione is the drummer for The Dresden Dolls. Additionally, he was a prominent member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra, The WORLD/INFERNO Friendship Society...
.
Similar to the announcement that ultimately led to the release of Ghosts I–IV, a post on the band's website in April 2008 read "2 weeks!" On May 5, Nine Inch Nails released The Slip
The Slip (album)
The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder...
(which failed to reach the Top 10 outside Australia) via their website without any advertisement or promotion. The album was made available for download free of charge with a message from Reznor, "this one's on me," protected under the same Creative Commons licence as Ghosts, and has seen individual downloads surpassing 1.4 million. The Slip has since been released on CD as a limited edition set of 250,000.
Since the release of Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, a 25-date tour titled Lights in the Sky, was announced in several North American cities, and was later expanded to include several more North American dates as well as dates in South America. Cortini and Freese returned as members from the previous tour, while Robin Finck
Robin Finck
Robin Finck is an American guitarist of Nine Inch Nails and former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses. He is one of only a few artists who has played in two different bands listed on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock"; Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses .-Career:Finck grew up in Marietta,...
rejoined the band and Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work with Grammy Award-winning artist Beck. He served as the touring bassist for Nine Inch Nails during their final tours.-Recording career:...
was added on bass guitar. Overshadowed by Finck and Medal-Johnsen, Freese and Cortini decided to quit the live band, but with the addition of Ilan Rubin
Ilan Rubin
Ilan Rubin is an American musician, best known for being former drummer of Lostprophets & industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails during their last tour...
on drums, the band became a four-piece lineup.
On January 7, 2009, Reznor uploaded unedited HD-quality footage from three shows as a download of over 400 GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
via BitTorrent. In an immediate response, a fan organization known as This One Is On Us quickly downloaded the data and had begun to assemble the footage alongside their own video recordings to create a professional 3-part digital film, followed by a physical release created "by fans for fans". This tour documentary became collectively known as Another Version of the Truth
Another Version of the Truth
Another Version of the Truth is an independently released live concert video documenting Nine Inch Nails' 2008 Lights in the Sky Tour made available throughout late 2009/early 2010 on Blu-ray, DVD, and various other online formats. Another Version of the Truth is also the title of an instrumental...
and was released throughout late December 2009 to February 2010 via three formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc and BitTorrent. To date, the group and the project has received significant attention from media outlets such as USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Techdirt
Techdirt
Techdirt is a weblog that reports on technology trends, and related business and economic policy issues, often focusing on copyright and patent reform. The website was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and it was originally based on the weblog Slash. Techdirt has been named among the favorite blogs...
and Pitchfork TV
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
, and holds the support of both Reznor and the fan community with theatrical screenings being held all over the world. Nine Inch Nails art director and webmaster Rob Sheridan
Rob Sheridan
Rob Sheridan is an American graphic designer, director, and photographer best known for his extensive work with the band Nine Inch Nails....
noted on the band's official website:
This is yet another example of a devoted fanbase and a policy of openness combining to fill in blanks left by old media barriers. The entire NIN camp is absolutely thrilled that treating our fans with respect and nurturing their creativity has led to such an overwhelming outpour of incredible content, and that we now have such a high quality souvenir from our most ambitious tour ever.
Nine Inch Nails Revenge
Nine Inch Nails Revenge
Nine Inch Nails Revenge is a rhythm game developed by Tapulous available for the iOS and Android platforms. The video game has been themed to American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails...
, a iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
/iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
-exclusive rhythm game
Rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
developed by Tapulous
Tapulous
Tapulous, Inc. is an American software and video game developer and publisher headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company as part of the Disney Interactive Media Group...
, was released on March 8, 2009 (five months after the company announced the development of the game). This installment in the Tap Tap
Tap Tap Revenge
Tap Tap is a series of rhythm games by Tapulous available for the iOS of which several versions, both purchasable and free, have been produced. The goal of the game is to tap each of the colored balls when they reach a line at the bottom of the screen. If the ball is hit on the beat, the player...
video game franchise was themed after Nine Inch Nails, and included tracks from Ghosts I–IV and The Slip.
End of touring, and subsequent events (2009–present)
In February 2009, Reznor posted his thoughts about the future of Nine Inch Nails on his official website, stating that "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while." Since then he has said outright in another interview that he "isn't done creating music under the moniker, but that Nine Inch Nails is done touring for the foreseeable future." Nine Inch Nails' final live performance in Europe was located at the MetallicaMetallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
-curated Sonisphere Festival
Sonisphere Festival
The Sonisphere Festival is a touring music festival which takes place across Europe between June and August. The festival is owned by John Jackson and Kilimanjaro Live. It is jointly-promoted by K2 and Kilimanjaro Live...
, while on September 10, 2009, they played their final show at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The following month, the band started selling excess touring equipment on eBay.
In an interview with The Quietus following the Wave Goodbye
Wave Goodbye Tour
Wave Goodbye Tour was a 2009 concert tour by industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails.-Tour dates:* 1'^ Headline show; non-festival appearance....
tour, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
said that he expected to begin collaborating with Reznor. Discussing the form that this new material might take, Numan was quoted as saying, "probably just a few songs to start with and see how it goes on. It'll be cool."
Although the live band ended its lifespan, Reznor is continuing work on Nine Inch Nails and other projects after the Wave Goodbye tour, with plans to release a new album in the first half of the 2010s decade. The theme song for the film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man
Tetsuo: The Bullet Man is the third film in Shinya Tsukamoto's cyberpunk film series, and the first to be filmed in English.-Plot:Anthony is a man with an American father and a deceased Japanese mother living and working in Tokyo. One day his son is run over and killed by Yatsu, this film's version...
was released, making it the first new track since the live band was disbanded, and an entry on the Nine Inch Nails official Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page hinted at a deluxe reissue of The Fragile scheduled for 2011. Beginning February 9, 2010, Reznor started posting images of studio recording equipment, including a synthesizer and Reznor singing into a recording microphone, on the front page of nin.com accompanied by a "?
?
or is a letter derived from the Latin alphabet. Both glyphs of the majuscule and minuscule forms of this letter are based on the rotated form of a minuscule e; a similar letter with identical minuscule is used in the Pan-Nigerian Alphabet and some alphabets based on the African reference...
".
Reznor married Mariqueen Maandig
Mariqueen Maandig
Mariqueen Maandig Reznor is a musician and singer of Filipino descent, currently with the band How to Destroy Angels.- Career :Maandig was a vocalist for the band West Indian Girl from 2004 to 2009, performing on the albums West Indian Girl and 4th & Wall...
and formed a project with Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
dubbed How to Destroy Angels
How to Destroy Angels (band)
How to Destroy Angels is a musical group featuring Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross. Rob Sheridan is the group's art director.The group is named after a 1984 Coil single of the same name....
. Their first release, a six-track self titled EP
How to Destroy Angels (album)
-Album Personnel:Written, Arranged, Produced, Performed and Art Directed by How To Destroy Angels*How To Destroy Angels:**Mariqueen Maandig**Trent Reznor**Atticus Ross**Rob Sheridan*Mixed by Alan Moulder*Engineering: Blumpy*Mastering: Tom Baker...
, was made available for free download on June 1, 2010. Reznor's next collaboration with Ross was co-writing and producing the official score
The Social Network (soundtrack)
The Social Network is a dark ambient soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for David Fincher's film of the same name. It was released on September 28, 2010. On September 17, a five-track sampler was also made available for free...
for David Fincher
David Fincher
David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
's 2010 film, The Social Network
The Social Network
The Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
. Fincher was previously involved in directing the music video for "Only", released in June 2005, and used both "Mr. Self-Destruct" in a 1996 Levi's television advertisement and the Precursor remix of "Closer" during the opening credits of his 1995 film Se7en
Se7en
Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
. A five-track downloadable sampler was released on September 17, 2010 and the entire album became available digitally on September 28. Various physical formats of the album were released in October. The soundtrack won two trophies, a 2010 Golden Globe Award
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture, and a 2010 Oscar
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
for Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
.
Following the film was a remastered reissue of the band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, released on November 22, 2010.
After rejecting a minor acting role as a protagonist in the film adaptation
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (film)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a 2012 American supernatural film based on the 2010 mashup novel Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. The film is directed by Timur Bekmambetov and is produced by Bekmambetov and Tim Burton. The novel's author, Seth Grahame-Smith, wrote the adapted screenplay...
of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and a job to compose its soundtrack, Reznor focused on collaborating with Ross again to compose the soundtrack for another Fincher-directed film, the American adaptation
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an upcoming English-language drama thriller film that is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first film was the 2009 Swedish-language adaptation. The upcoming film is written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David...
of the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an award-winning crime novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson. It is the first book in the trilogy known as the "Millennium series"....
and its sequels. The song appearing on the film's trailer, a cover of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's "Immigrant Song
Immigrant Song
"Immigrant Song" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, in 1970.-Overview:...
", was Reznor's collaboration with Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...
frontwoman Karen O
Karen O
Karen Lee Orzolek , better known by her stage name Karen O, is the vocalist for New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.-Early life:...
. A Nine Inch Nails cover of U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's "Zoo Station
Zoo Station
"Zoo Station" is a song by the rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby, a record on which the group reinvented themselves musically by incorporating influences from alternative rock, industrial, and electronic dance music...
" was included in an Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by the criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate alternative...
tribute album entitled, AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered. The tribute album was released by Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
on October 25, 2011 as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Achtung Baby.
Reznor indicated on Twitter that there would be new material released in the future. On October 27, 2011, he tweeted: "OK, back to work. LOTS of new music coming your way very soon..."
Musical characteristics and lyrics
Allmusic's Steve Huey states that "Nine Inch Nails were the most popular industrialIndustrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
group ever and were largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass audience." Reznor has never referred to his own work as industrial music, but admits to borrowing techniques from such early industrial bands as Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
and Test Dept. Despite the disparity between those artists initially operating under the term "industrial" and Nine Inch Nails, it has become common in journalistic descriptions of Reznor's body of work to describe it as such. Reznor acknowledged in Spin magazine that "Down in It
Down in It
"Down in It" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released in 1989. Released as the project's debut single, the song was the first to be written by Trent Reznor, the only constant member of the act. It was released as a teaser single prior to the group's debut album, Pretty...
" was influenced by early Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy
Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial musical group, formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1982. The group is widely considered to be the founders of the electro-industrial genre....
, particularly their song "Dig It
Dig It (Skinny Puppy song)
"Dig It" is a single by the band Skinny Puppy, taken from their 1986 album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse. Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor once mentioned that the song influenced the first song he wrote, Down in It.-Track listing:...
"; other songs from Pretty Hate Machine were described in the same interview as synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
. Reviewing The Fragile
The Fragile
In terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
, critic Steve Cooper noted that the album juxtaposes widely varied genres, such as solo piano in "The Frail" and drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
elements in "Starfuckers, Inc.
Starfuckers, Inc.
"Starfuckers, Inc." is a song by Nine Inch Nails.The song is released as the fourth single from the double album, The Fragile...
"
Certain techniques and styles can be found throughout Nine Inch Nails' catalog. Songs such as "Wish
Wish (song)
"Wish" is the second promotional single from Nine Inch Nails' Broken. The most successful song from the EP, "Wish" cemented Trent Reznor's image as a rage-fueled star to the public. "Wish" won the Best Metal Performance in the 1993 Grammy Awards. Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read:...
", and "The Day the World Went Away
The Day the World Went Away
"The Day the World Went Away" is a song by Nine Inch Nails, released in 1999 as the first single from the act's then-forthcoming album The Fragile...
" exhibit terraced dynamics
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
. Reznor's singing follows a similar pattern, frequently moving from whispers to screams. He also has used software to alter his voice in several songs, as evident in "Starfuckers, Inc." and "Burn
Burn (Nine Inch Nails song)
"Burn" is a promotional single by Nine Inch Nails released from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack. Because this is a promo-only single, it has never been featured with its own official halo. It was included as a bonus track on the tenth anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Downward Spiral, and also...
". The band's music also occasionally features complex time signatures, notably in "The Collector", from With Teeth, and concert favorite "March of the Pigs
March of the Pigs
"March of the Pigs" is a song written by Trent Reznor of American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails. It was released in 1994 as the first single from The Downward Spiral , the second album by Nine Inch Nails.-The song:...
". Reznor regularly uses noise
Noise (audio)
Noise in audio, recording, and broadcast systems refers to the residual low level sound that is heard in quiet periods of a programme....
and distortion in his song arrangements, and incorporates dissonance
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
with chromatic melody and/or harmony. These techniques are all used in the song "Hurt", which features a highly dissonant tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
played on guitar during the verses, a B5#11, emphasized when Reznor sings the eleventh
Eleventh
In music or music theory an eleventh is the note eleven scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the eleventh....
note on the word "I" every time the B/E# dyad
Dyad (music)
In music, a dyad is a set of two notes or pitches. Although most chords have three or more notes, in certain contexts a dyad may be considered to be a chord. The most common two-note chord is made from the interval of a perfect fifth, which may be suggestive of music of the Medieval or Renaissance...
is played. "Closer" concludes with a chromatic piano motif
Motif (music)
In music, a motif or motive is a short musical idea, a salient recurring figure, musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance in or is characteristic of a composition....
: The melody is debuted during the second verse of "Piggy
Piggy (song)
"Piggy" is a song by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, and the second track of The Downward Spiral . It was written by Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood, and recorded in "Le Pig", a reincarnation of the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive....
" on organ, then reappears in power chords at Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...
throughout the chorus of "Heresy", whilst an inverted (ascending) version is used throughout "A Warm Place", and then recurs in its original state for the final time on "The Downward Spiral". On The Fragile, Reznor revisits this technique of repeating a motif multiple times throughout different songs, either on a different musical instrument, with a transposed harmony, or in an altered tempo. Many of the songs on Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
feature an extended instrumental ending, which encompasses the entire second half of the three-minute long "The Great Destroyer". Allmusic's review described the album's laptop-mixed sound: "guitars squall against glitches, beeps, pops, and blotches of blurry sonic attacks. Percussion looms large, distorted, organic, looped, screwed, spindled and broken."
Lyrical themes found in Nine Inch Nails songs are largely concerned with dark explorations of the self ranging from personal issues, society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
, deconstruction, and occasionally politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, with the latter topic often being scrutinized in Year Zero. Three of Nine Inch Nails' recordings are concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
s: The Downward Spiral, follow-up The Fragile, and the aforementioned Year Zero. With Teeth
With Teeth
With Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...
was to be a concept album about a never-ending dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
occurring in reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
, but Reznor stung this idea out of the record. There are also multiple recurring lyrics that are thematically similar across albums, particularly "you're going to get what you deserve" (from "Head Like a Hole
Head Like a Hole
"Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails. A song influenced by industrial metal group Ministry, it was released as the second single from the group's debut album Pretty Hate Machine...
"), "nothing can stop me now" (from "Piggy"), and "a million miles away" (from "Hurt"). The most recent appearances of these three lines are located in "Meet Your Master", "Sunspots", and "1,000,000" respectively.
Influence and legacy
Nine Inch Nails has influenced many newer artists, which according to Reznor range from "generic imitations" dating from his initial success to younger bands echoing his style in a "truer, less imitative way". Following the release of The Downward Spiral, mainstream artists began to take notice of Nine Inch Nails' influence: David Bowie compared Reznor's impact to that of The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
. Bob Ezrin, producer for Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, and Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, described Reznor in 2007 as a "true visionary" and advised aspiring artists to take note of his no-compromise attitude.
The act has received four awards from 25 nominations, including two Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for the songs "Wish
Wish (song)
"Wish" is the second promotional single from Nine Inch Nails' Broken. The most successful song from the EP, "Wish" cemented Trent Reznor's image as a rage-fueled star to the public. "Wish" won the Best Metal Performance in the 1993 Grammy Awards. Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read:...
" and "Happiness in Slavery
Happiness in Slavery
"Happiness in Slavery" is a song by the American act Nine Inch Nails. The song takes its title and refrain from Jean Paulhan's preface to Story of O. It is available on the Broken EP and was also released as a 12" promotional single in November 1992. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S...
" in 1993 and 1996 respectively. Nine Inch Nails have received two Kerrang! Awards; one of these being the Kerrang! Icon in 2006, honoring the band's overall contributions since 1988 and long-standing influence on rock music. The band has also received nine nominations from the MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
for several of its videos, including two nominations for the "Closer" music video and five nominations for "The Perfect Drug" music video, including Video of the Year
MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year
The MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year is the main award handed out at the yearly MTV Video Music Awards. It was first awarded in , when The Cars won it, and has been given out since. Eminem has been the most nominated solo artist, male solo artist, and act in this category, having been...
.
In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music". The Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
certified sales for 10.5 million units of the band's albums in the United States, which accounted for roughly half of the band's reported sales worldwide at that time. In 2003, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine placed The Downward Spiral at #200 in a 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
, and by the following year ranked Nine Inch Nails at #94 in their The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
Notable parodies
"Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
did an obvious parody of his style of music entitled "Germs", though it was not acknowledged as a parody of his songs because it did not parody one of his songs in particular, but rather what Yankovic referred to as a "style parody". The song is likely based on the sound of "Terrible Lie" (general melody), "Mr. Self Destruct" (in the pre-chorus) and "Closer" (drum beat). Another parody of Nine Inch Nails is showcased in the 206th episode of Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight
Muppets Tonight is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio, rather than a theater.-Format:The...
(aired November 2, 1997), where a spoof band called Nine Inch Snails (whose lineup consisted of four snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s dressed in a gothic clothing attire) performed "This Living Shell". The fictitious Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
-compatible Strobe Light album (portrayed as being produced by Timbaland
Timbaland
Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....
requiring about US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
18.98 to download) was a 2009 April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
joke. Upon users confirming their e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
addresses, they receive a page parodying the infamous Blue Screen of Death
Blue Screen of Death
To forse a BSOD Open regedit.exe,Then search: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\i8042prt\ParametersThen make a new DWORD called "CrashOnCtrlScroll" And set the value to 1....
, with the phrase "Aprl_Fls" substituted for the word "error".
Live performances
The Tapeworm
Tapeworm (band)
Tapeworm is a defunct side project of Nine Inch Nails which existed in various forms from 1995 to roughly 2004. Tapeworm never released any recordings, but was frequently referenced in interviews. The band started as a side-project between Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and live-band...
project was created in 1995 as a Nine Inch Nails side-project between Reznor and various live-band members as a more "democratic" creative environment. The band initially included live band members Danny Lohner
Danny Lohner
Daniel Patrick "Danny" Lohner , frequently known as Renholdër, is an American rock musician who plays bass guitar, electric guitar, and keyboards. He worked with Trent Reznor on numerous occasions, both with Nine Inch Nails and on the now defunct Tapeworm project...
and Charlie Clouser
Charlie Clouser
Charles Alexander "Charlie" Clouser is an American musician whose activities include playing keyboard, synth, theremin, and drums. He is known for his abilities in music programming, engineering, mixing, and remixing. He was a member of the band Nine Inch Nails 1994–2000. Before he was in Nine...
, but eventually expanded to feature other frequent Nine Inch Nails contributors Josh Freese
Josh Freese
Josh Freese is an American session drummer and songwriter. He is a permanent member of A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, and Devo, having formerly played drums for Nine Inch Nails from late 2005 until late 2008, and for Guns N' Roses from mid-1998 to 2001. Freese has appeared on close to 300 records....
, Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross
Atticus Ross is an English musician, composer and producer. Ross, along with Trent Reznor, won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network in 2011.-Early career:...
, and Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
. However, after 9 years of studio sessions, no material was ever officially released from the group, and it was confirmed to be no longer active in 2005.
The lineup of the live band had a tendency to change drastically between major tours: aside from Reznor remaining on lead vocals, keyboards and guitar, no member of the live band had remained constant since its inception. Reznor cited the long gestation period between studio albums as part of the reason for these frequent personnel changes, as well as his desire for fresh interpretations of his music. In 2009, the final incarnation of the live band featured Reznor with Robin Finck
Robin Finck
Robin Finck is an American guitarist of Nine Inch Nails and former lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses. He is one of only a few artists who has played in two different bands listed on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock"; Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses .-Career:Finck grew up in Marietta,...
(besides Reznor, Finck has played on the most tours), Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Justin Meldal-Johnsen is an American musician and bassist, best known for his work with Grammy Award-winning artist Beck. He served as the touring bassist for Nine Inch Nails during their final tours.-Recording career:...
, and Ilan Rubin
Ilan Rubin
Ilan Rubin is an American musician, best known for being former drummer of Lostprophets & industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails during their last tour...
.
Corporate entanglements
Reznor is an outspoken critic of the music industry, particularly corporate influence on his artistic freedom. As a result, Nine Inch Nails has clashed with several corporations, culminating in a decision to proceed as a free agent without any recording label contracts.Disputes with TVT Records
In the early 1990s, Nine Inch Nails was involved in a much-publicized feud with TVT Records, the first record label to sign the band. Reznor objected to the label's attempted interference with his intellectual property. Ultimately, they entered into a joint venture with Interscope Records in which Reznor forfeited a portion of his publishing rights to TVT Music in exchange for the freedom of having his own Nothing RecordsNothing Records
Nothing Records was an American record label, specializing in industrial rock and electronic music, founded by John Malm Jr. and Trent Reznor in 1992...
imprint. In 2005, Reznor sued his former friend and manager John Malm, co-founder of Nothing, for fraud, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, and other claims. Their relationship was formally severed in a New York courtroom, with damages awarded to Reznor in excess of three million US dollars.
At the behest of Prudential Securities
Prudential Financial
The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...
bankruptcy proceedings, TVT put the rights to Reznor's recordings for the label on auction in 2005. This offer included the whole TVT catalog, including Pretty Hate Machine and a percentage of royalties from Reznor's song publishing company, Leaving Hope Music/TVT Music. Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
, which did not win the auction but was able to license the rights from Prudential, reissued the out-of-print Pretty Hate Machine CD on November 22, 2005. Ryko also reissued the "Head Like a Hole" CD and a vinyl edition of Pretty Hate Machine in 2006. The label considered releasing a deluxe edition, just as Interscope had done for The Downward Spiral. They were influenced by Reznor and liked the idea, but did not want to pay him for the album and the idea was scrapped.
Disputes with Universal Music Group
In May 2007, Reznor made a post on the official Nine Inch Nails website, which was skeptical of Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
(parent company of Nine Inch Nails' record label, Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
) for their pricing and distribution plans for Year Zero. He criticized (and parodied) the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD", concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off." Reznor went on to say that he hated Interscope, and in later years the "climate" of record labels may have an increasingly ambivalent impact on consumers who buy music. Reznor's post, specifically his criticism of the recording industry at large, elicited considerable media attention. In September 2007, Reznor continued his attack on UMG at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally. Reznor went on to encourage the crowd to "steal and steal and steal some more and give it to all your friends and keep on stealin'."
Reznor announced on October 8, 2007 that Nine Inch Nails had fulfilled its contractual commitments to Interscope Records and was now free to proceed as a "totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label". Reznor also speculated that he would release the next Nine Inch Nails album online in a similar fashion to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! is the third album by Saul Williams, released on November 1, 2007. Williams worked closely with Trent Reznor on the album. The title of the album is a reference to David Bowie's 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from...
, which he produced. Reznor later released the first nine tracks of Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV
Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
and the entirety of The Slip
The Slip (album)
The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder...
in 2008 for free download.
In another post on his website, Reznor again openly criticized Universal Music Group for preventing him from launching an official interactive fan remix website. Universal declined to host the site just days before its scheduled launch, citing the potential "accusation", in Reznor's words, "that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing [other media companies] for". Reznor wrote in response that he was "challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other's feet". Despite these obstacles, the remix website was launched in November 2007.
Disputes with other corporations
Nine Inch Nails was scheduled to perform at the 2005 MTV Movie AwardsMTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
, but withdrew from the show due to a disagreement with the network over the use of an unaltered image of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
as a backdrop to the band's performance of "The Hand that Feeds
The Hand that Feeds
"The Hand That Feeds" is a song by the American industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, released as the lead single for the album With Teeth . It is the highest charting song by Nine Inch Nails on all charts except for U.S...
". Soon afterwards, Reznor wrote on his official website: "apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me." MTV replied that it respected Reznor's point of view, but was "uncomfortable" with the performance being "built around partisan political statements." A performance by Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
replaced Nine Inch Nails' time slot on the show. During the Lights in the Sky tour in 2008, some performances of "The Hand that Feeds" had the image of Bush on a video screen behind the band. At some gigs leading up to the election, the face of Bush slowly morphed during the song into the face of John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
In 2006, after being alerted by a fan website, Reznor issued a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
to Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
for using three songs from The Fragile on air without permission. The songs "La Mer", "The Great Below", and "The Mark Has Been Made" appeared in an episode of War Stories with Oliver North
War Stories with Oliver North
War Stories is a military history program on the Fox News Channel. Hosted by Oliver North , the program covers a number of different stories relating to war and national defense, featuring individuals who were directly involved with the topic covered in...
detailing the battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. A post appeared on Reznor's blog, which read: "Thanks for the Fox News heads-up. A cease and desist has been issued. FUCK Fox Fucking News."
As part of the alternate reality game which accompanied the release of Year Zero, three tracks from the album were intentionally "leaked" prior to their official release at a number of Nine Inch Nails concerts on USB flash drive
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
s. The high-quality audio files quickly circulated the internet, and owners of websites hosting the files soon received cease and desist orders from the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
, despite the fact that the viral campaign, and the use of USB drives, was sanctioned by Nine Inch Nails' record label. The source that broke the story was quoted as saying, "These fucking idiots are going after a campaign that the label signed off on." Reznor also objected to the company's request that he alter tracks on Year Zero in order to make them as accessible as possible; in particular the label wanted to get them played in clubs. Reznor saw this as an infringement of his artistic freedom.
The music of Nine Inch Nails has reportedly been used by the U.S. military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
as music torture
Music torture
Music has been used in psychological operations. The term music torture is sometimes used by critics of the practice of playing loud music incessantly to prisoners or people besieged....
to break down the resolve of detainees. Reznor objected to the use of his music in this way with the following message on the front page of the Nine Inch Nails website: "It's difficult for me to imagine anything more profoundly insulting, demeaning and enraging than discovering music you've put your heart and soul into creating has been used for purposes of torture. If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued, with any potential monetary gains donated to human rights charities. Thank GOD this country has appeared to side with reason and we can put the Bush administration's reign of power, greed, lawlessness and madness behind us."
In 2009, Apple rejected an update to Nine Inch Nails' iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
application, NIN: Access, because it found the contents of The Downward Spiral to be "offensive, obscene and/or objectionable."
Discography
Studio releases- Pretty Hate MachinePretty Hate MachinePretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording...
(1989) - Broken (EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
) (1992) - The Downward SpiralThe Downward SpiralThe Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
(1994) - The FragileThe FragileIn terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
(1999) - With TeethWith TeethWith Teeth is the fourth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on May 3, 2005, by Interscope Records. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It was Reznor's first original studio album since The...
(2005) - Year ZeroYear Zero (album)Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
(2007) - Ghosts I–IVGhosts I–IVGhosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
(2008) - The SlipThe Slip (album)The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder...
(2008)
Awards
Nine Inch Nails has been nominated for twelve Grammy Awards and has won twice. Winning nominations are listed below in bold.- "WishWish (song)"Wish" is the second promotional single from Nine Inch Nails' Broken. The most successful song from the EP, "Wish" cemented Trent Reznor's image as a rage-fueled star to the public. "Wish" won the Best Metal Performance in the 1993 Grammy Awards. Reznor later joked that his epitaph should read:...
" – Best Metal Performance, 1992 - The Downward SpiralThe Downward SpiralThe Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
– Best Alternative Music Performance, 1995 (nomination) - "Happiness in SlaveryHappiness in Slavery"Happiness in Slavery" is a song by the American act Nine Inch Nails. The song takes its title and refrain from Jean Paulhan's preface to Story of O. It is available on the Broken EP and was also released as a 12" promotional single in November 1992. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S...
" – Best Metal Performance, 1995 (from Woodstock '94Woodstock '94Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...
compilation) - "Hurt" – Best Rock Song, 1995 (nomination)
- "The Perfect DrugThe Perfect Drug"The Perfect Drug" or ' is a song by Nine Inch Nails. It was written for the David Lynch film Lost Highway and originally appeared on the Lost Highway soundtrack and as a single from the score in 1997...
" – Best Hard Rock Performance, 1997 (nomination) - The FragileThe FragileIn terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
– Best Alternative Music Performance, 1999 (nomination) - "Starfuckers, Inc.Starfuckers, Inc."Starfuckers, Inc." is a song by Nine Inch Nails.The song is released as the fourth single from the double album, The Fragile...
" – Best Metal Performance, 1999 (nomination) - "Into the VoidInto the Void (Nine Inch Nails song)"Into the Void" is a single by Nine Inch Nails, released in 2000. The song was the third single from the album The Fragile, released in 1999...
" – Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, 2000 (nomination) - "The Hand That FeedsThe Hand that Feeds"The Hand That Feeds" is a song by the American industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, released as the lead single for the album With Teeth . It is the highest charting song by Nine Inch Nails on all charts except for U.S...
" – Best Hard Rock Performance, 2005 (nomination) - "Every Day Is Exactly the SameEvery Day Is Exactly the Same"Every Day Is Exactly the Same" is the third single by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their album With Teeth. It is the twenty-first official Nine Inch Nails release. The commercial single was released on April 4, 2006 as an EP. It was also billed as the companion remix disc to...
" – Best Hard Rock Performance, 2006 (nomination) - "34 Ghosts IV" – Best Rock Instrumental Performance, 2009 (nomination)
- Ghosts I–IVGhosts I–IVGhosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on March 2, 2008. The team behind the project included Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, studio-collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini,...
– Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package, 2009 (nomination)