Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band until his frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross, joined in 2016. The band's debut album, ''Pretty Hate Machine'' (1989), was released via TVT Records. After disagreeing with TVT about how to promote the album, the band signed with Interscope Records and released the EP ''Broken'' (1992). The following albums, ''The Downward Spiral'' (1994) and ''The Fragile'' (1999), were released to critical acclaim and commercial success.

Following a hiatus, Nine Inch Nails resumed touring in 2005 and released the album ''With Teeth'' (2005). Following the release of the album ''Year Zero'' (2007), the band left Interscope after a feud. Nine Inch Nails continued touring and independently released ''Ghosts I–IV'' (2008) and ''The Slip'' (2008) before a second hiatus. Their eighth album, ''Hesitation Marks'' (2013), was followed by a trilogy which consisted of the EPs ''Not the Actual Events'' (2016) and '' Add Violence'' (2017) and their ninth album '' Bad Witch'' (2018). In 2020, Nine Inch Nails simultaneously released two further instalments in the ''Ghosts'' series: '' Ghosts V: Together'' and '' Ghosts VI: Locusts''.

When touring, Reznor typically assembles a live band to perform with him under the Nine Inch Nails name. This live band has varied over the decades, with various members leaving and returning; the most recent lineup consists of Robin Finck (who initially joined in 1994), Alessandro Cortini (who initially joined in 2005), and Ilan Rubin (who initially joined in 2009) alongside Reznor and Ross. The band's concerts are noted for their extensive use of thematic visual elements, complex special effects, and elaborate lighting. Songs are often rearranged to fit any given performance, and melodies or lyrics of songs that are not scheduled to be performed are sometimes assimilated into other songs.

Nine Inch Nails have sold over 20 million records and been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning for the songs "Wish" in 1992 and "Happiness in Slavery" in 1996. ''Time'' magazine named Reznor one of its most influential people in 1997, while ''Spin'' magazine has described him as "the most vital artist in music". In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' placed Nine Inch Nails at No. 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Nine Inch Nails were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, after being nominated in 2014 (their first year of eligibility) and again in 2015.

History

Formation (1987–1988)

While living in Cleveland in 1987, Trent Reznor played keyboards in the Exotic Birds, a synthpop band managed by John Malm Jr. Reznor became friends with Malm, who informally became his manager when he left to work on his own music. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios. Studio owner Bart Koster granted Reznor free access to the studio between bookings to record demos, commenting that it cost him nothing more than "a little wear on istape heads". Unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired, Reznor was inspired by Prince to play all instruments himself except drums, which he programmed electronically. He has continued to play most parts on Nine Inch Nails recordings ever since.

The first Nine Inch Nails performance took place at the Phantasy Theater in Lakewood, Ohio, on October 21, 1988. Soon after, following their live support of Skinny Puppy, Reznor aimed 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 demos, recorded live in November 1988 and collectively known as ''Purest Feeling'', were released in revised form on the first studio album, ''Pretty Hate Machine'' (1989). The overall sound on ''Purest Feeling'' is lighter than that of ''Pretty Hate Machine''; several songs contain more live drumming and guitar, as well as a heavier use of film samples.

Reznor chose 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 English letters "NIN" are also noted for their resemblance to the modern Hebrew characters of the Tetragrammaton. The Nine Inch Nails logo first appeared on the music video for their debut single, " Down in It". Reznor and Gary Talpas designed the logo, inspired by Tibor Kalman's typography on the Talking Heads album ''Remain in Light''. The logo features the band's initials, with the second N mirrored. Talpas, a native of Cleveland, continued to design Nine Inch Nails packaging until 1997.

''Pretty Hate Machine'' (1988–1991)

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 without meeting Reznor face-to-face) and Mark "Flood" Ellis. 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 several years, eventually becoming an unofficial member of the live band and singing live backup vocals from his place at the mixing console. 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 ishead at the time". In fact, the song "Down in It" spent over two months on ''Billboard'' club-play dance chart. After spending 113 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200, ''Pretty Hate Machine'' became one of the first independently released records to attain platinum certification.

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 for '' 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.

In 1989, while doing promotion for the album, the band members were asked what shows they would like to appear on. They jokingly replied (possibly while intoxicated) that they would like to appear on ''Dance Party USA'', since it was the most absurd option they could think of at the time. Much to their surprise, they were booked on the show, and made an appearance.

In 1990, Nine Inch Nails began the ''Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series'', in which it toured North America as an opening act for alternative rock artists such as Peter Murphy and The Jesus and Mary Chain. 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 hindering control of his project, Reznor criticized the labeling of Nine Inch Nails as a commercially oriented band and 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. Involved in a feud with TVT, he signed a record deal with Interscope Records and created Nothing Records:

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 record ''Broken'' under a different band name, because if TVT found out we were recording, they could confiscate all our shit and release it. Jimmy Iovine 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 relocated to 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles (renamed "Le Pig" by Reznor), the site of the Tate murders, when Charles Manson's "family" murdered Sharon Tate, wife of noted film director Roman Polanski, and four of her friends. The band used it to record ''Broken'', an extended play (EP) that was the first Nine Inch Nails release distributed by Interscope Records and reached the top 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In the liner notes, Reznor credited the 1991 Nine Inch Nails touring band as an influence on the EP's sound. He characterized ''Broken'' as a guitar-based "blast of destruction", and as "a lot harder ... than ''Pretty Hate Machine''". The inspiration for the harder sound came from the way the live band played during concerts such as Lollapalooza. Songs from ''Broken'' earned Nine Inch Nails two Grammy Awards: a performance of the EP's first single "Happiness in Slavery" from Woodstock '94, and the second single "Wish". In reference to receiving the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "Wish", Reznor joked that "Wish" became "the only song to ever win a Grammy that says 'fist fuck' in the lyrics." Against touring of the brand new material, Reznor began living and recording full-time at Le Pig, working on a follow-up free of restrictions from his record label.

Peter Christopherson of the bands Coil and Throbbing Gristle directed a performance video for "Wish", but the EP's most controversial video accompanied "Happiness in Slavery". The video was almost universally banned for its graphic depiction of performance artist Bob Flanagan disrobed and lying on a machine that pleasures, tortures, then (apparently) 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 the three clips along with footage for "Help Me I Am in Hell" and "Gave Up" into a longform music video titled '' 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 Le Pig. A live recording of "Wish" was also filmed, and both videos appeared in ''Closure''.

''Broken'' was followed by the companion remix EP ''Fixed'' in late 1992. The only track that was left off the final version of the release is the remix of "Last", produced by Butch Vig (the outro of the "Last" remix is heard in "Throw This Away", which also includes Reznor'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."

''The Downward Spiral'' (1993–1997)

Early ideas for ''The Downward Spiral'' arose after the Lollapalooza 1991 festival's concerts ended in September. Reznor elaborated the album's themes into lyrics. Despite initially choosing to record the album in New Orleans, Reznor searched for and moved to 10050 Cielo Drive, in Los Angeles (known as The Manson Murder House) renting it for $11,000 per month from July 4, 1992, the start of the making of both ''Broken'' and ''The Downward Spiral''.

Nine Inch Nails' second studio album, ''The Downward Spiral'', entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number two, and is the band's highest seller in the US, over four million copies, among five million worldwide. Influenced by Pink Floyd and by David Bowie of the 1970s, ''The Downward Spiral'''s diverse textures and moods depict a protagonist's mental progress. Flood co-produced several tracks, while Alan Moulder mixed most, and later found more extensive production duties on future albums. Reznor invited Sean Beavan to work on ''The Downward Spiral''. After contributing to remixes of Nine Inch Nails songs, such as " Closer", Beavan mixed and co-produced Marilyn Manson's ''Antichrist Superstar'' in 1996. ''The Downward Spiral'', alike ''Broken'', was recorded at Le Pig Studios. "March of the Pigs" and " Closer" were singles. Two other tracks, " Hurt" and " Piggy", though not singles, were issued to radio. Also in 1994, the band released the promotional single "Burn", which Reznor produced, on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone film ''Natural Born Killers''. as well as a cover of the Joy Division song "Dead Souls" on the soundtrack to the film ''The Crow'', which went to number 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The music video for "Closer", directed by Mark Romanek, was in MTV's frequent rotation, although the network, deeming it too graphic, heavily censored the original. The video shows events in a laboratory dealing with religion, sexuality, animal cruelty, politics, and terror; controversial imagery included a nude bald woman with a crucifix mask, a monkey tied to a cross, a pig's head spinning on some type of machine, a diagram of a vulva, Reznor wearing an S&M mask while swinging in shackles, and of him wearing a ball gag. A radio edit that partially mutes the song's explicit lyrics also received extensive airtime.

Contemporary critics generally praised ''The Downward Spiral'', now classed among the most important albums of the 1990s. In 2005, Spin ranked it 25th among the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005". In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it 200 among "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". ''Blender'' named it the 80th ''Greatest American Album''. It was ranked No. 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 No. 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 and among the best-selling remix albums of all time. It contained contributions from Coil with Danny Hyde, electronic musician Aphex Twin, producer Rick Rubin, and Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, among others.

After ''The Downward Spiral'''s 1994 release, the live band supported it by embarking on the Self Destruct Tour. The stage set-up featured dirty curtains, rising and lowering for visuals shown during songs such as "Hurt". The tour debuted the band's grungy, messy image as the members appeared in ragged attire slathered in corn starch. Performances were violent and chaotic, band members often injuring themselves by attacking each other, diving into the crowd, and destroying their instruments to close. The widest mainstream audience was a mud-soaked performance at Woodstock '94, and seen by Pay-Per-View in up to 24 million homes. Enjoying mainstream success thereafter, Nine Inch Nails then performed amid greater production values, adding theatrical visual elements. Supporting acts on tour included The Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson. Released in 1997, the ''Closure'' video documented highlights from the tour, including full live videos of "Eraser", "Hurt" and a one-take "March of the Pigs" clip directed by Peter Christoperson. In 1997 Reznor also produced the soundtrack to the David Lynch film '' Lost Highway'', which featured one new Nine Inch Nails song, "The Perfect Drug". Around this time, Reznor's studio perfectionism, struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer's block prolonged the production of ''The Fragile''.

''The Fragile'' (1998–2002)

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. ''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."

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". The album debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving generally positive reviews. ''Spin'' hailed ''The Fragile'' as the "album of the year", whereas Pitchfork Media panned its "melodramatic" lyrics. Nine Inch Nails released three commercial singles from the album in different territories: " The Day the World Went Away" in North America; " We're in This Together" in the EU and Japan (on three separate discs); and " Into the Void" in Australia. Several songs from the album became regulars 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, which has since been broken. Reznor funded the subsequent North American tour out of his own pocket.

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.

Reznor followed ''The Fragile'' with another remix album, ''Things Falling Apart'', released in November 2000 to poor 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'', containing stripped-down versions of songs from the Nine Inch Nails catalog along with several new pieces of music.

During the ''Fragility 2.0'' tour, Reznor suffered a heroin overdose in London in June 2000, forcing a gig which was to be played that night to be cancelled. The incident pushed Reznor into entering rehab, putting Nine Inch Nails on hold while he attempted to become sober.

In 2002, Johnny Cash covered the Nine Inch Nails' " Hurt" for his album, '' American IV: The Man Comes Around'', to critical acclaim. After seeing the music video, which later won a Grammy, Reznor himself became a fan of the rendition:

I pop the video in, and wow ... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps ... Wow. felt likeI just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore ... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. omehowthat winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning—different, but every bit as pure.

''With Teeth'' (2004–2006)

A further six years elapsed before Nine Inch Nails' fourth full-length album. ''With Teeth'' was released in May 2005, though it was leaked prior to its official release date. The album was written and recorded throughout 2004 following Reznor's battle with alcoholism and substance abuse and legal issues with his former manager, John Malm Jr. ''With Teeth'' debuted on top of the ''Billboard'' 200, Nine Inch Nails' second reign at number one with an album. 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 Stone'''s Rob Sheffield described the album as "vintage Nine Inch Nails". PopMatters condemned the album, claiming Reznor "ran out of ideas."

A music video for the song "The Hand That Feeds" premiered on the Nine Inch Nails official website in March 2005. Reznor released the source files for it in GarageBand format a month later, allowing fans to remix the song. He 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" with primarily computer-generated imagery. The planned music video for its third single, " Every Day Is Exactly the Same", was directed by Francis Lawrence but reportedly scrapped in the post-production stage. All three singles topped the ''Billboard'' Alternative Songs chart.

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 the 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. 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. The '' Beside You in Time'' tour documentary was released in February 2007 via three formats: DVD, HD 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'' (2006–2007)

Nine Inch Nails' fifth studio album, ''Year Zero'', was released on April 17, 2007, only two years after ''With Teeth'', a marked change in the slow pace from the release of previous albums. With lyrics written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters, ''Year Zero'' is a concept album criticizing the United States government's policies and their impact on the world 15 years in the future. Critical response to the album was generally favorable, with an average rating of 76% on Metacritic.

The story takes place in the United States in 2022, which has been termed "Year 0", by the government, being the year America was reborn. It 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 of the country. The government is 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 water apathetic and carefree. Note: DVD included with pre-ordered copies of ''Year Zero'' from Best Buy. 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 authorities. The websites-from-the-future were sent to the year 2007 to warn American people of the impending dystopian future and to prevent it from ever forming in the first place.

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 Zero'''s 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", 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, containing remixes from ''Year Zero'' by other artists. The remix album was Nine Inch Nails' final release on a major record label for over five years, 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.

Reznor planned a film adaption of the album and 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." The project moved into the television medium because of high costs for ''Year Zero'' as a film, then Reznor found American film producer Lawrence Bender and met with writers.
On August 10, 2007, Reznor announced that they would 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 slowed, reportedly due to the 2007–2008 Writer's Guild strike, but it nevertheless continued. In 2010, the resultant miniseries, also named ''Year Zero'', was reported to be in development with HBO and BBC
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