"Sin" is the third single by American artist Nine Inch Nails from the album ''

Pretty Hate Machine ''Pretty Hate Machine'' is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by NIN frontman Trent Reznor and English producer Flood, amon ...

''. Released in October 1990, the song peaked at number 35 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. "Sin" has been commonly a staple of

Nine Inch Nails live performances Nine Inch Nails, an American industrial rock band fronted by Trent Reznor, has toured all over the world since its creation in 1988. While Reznor—the only official member until adding Atticus Ross in 2016—controls its creative and musical ...

for many years; setlist.fm lists it as the band's ninth most played live song. Its versions on the single differentiate heavily from the album cut, with more an EBM sound with distorted vocals and alternate instrumentation that became the foundation for its many live renditions, as opposed to the synth-pop style featured on ''Pretty Hate Machine''.

Single

Stylized as 5in, it is the fourth official Nine Inch Nails release and final single for ''

'', containing three variations of the track and Nine Inch Nails' first cover song. The spine of the US version refers to the single as "Sin ''Long, Dub & Short''". The lyric "Stale incense, old sweat, and lies..." directly quotes the short story "In the Hills, the Cities" by

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

, from '' Books of Blood''. All three versions were produced by Keith LeBlanc and Adrian Sherwood of

Tackhead Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, in ...

. " Get Down, Make Love" is a cover of the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

song originally released on '' News of the World''. This version of "Get Down, Make Love" samples Dan O'Herlihy from ''

The Cabinet of Caligari ''The Cabinet of Caligari'' is a 1962 American horror film by Roger Kay, starring Glynis Johns, Dan O'Herlihy, and Richard Davalos, and released by 20th Century Fox. Although the film's title is very similar to the German silent horror film ...

'', as well as a brief snippet of "

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at num ...

" in the final seconds. It was co-produced by

Al Jourgensen Alain David Jourgensen (born Alejandro Ramírez Casas; October 9, 1958) is a Cuban-American singer, musician and music producer. Closely related with the independent record label Wax Trax! Records, his musical career spans four decades. He is b ...

of Ministry under the alias of Hypo Luxa and was later released again as a bonus track on the 2010 remaster of ''Pretty Hate Machine''. The single was included in the

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

– Black Friday exclusive box set, '' Halo I–IV''.

Music video

A music video, directed by Brett Turnbull and produced by Sarah Bayliss was released, using the "(short)" remix of the song. It features two girls dancing with each other at the beginning, cutting to a black-and-white footage of a woman, naked except for what looks like straps to

spelunking Caving – also known as spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland – is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is ...

gear and a halogen lamp, walking a wrist-bound

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

with a bag over his head through what looks like an industrial warehouse complex and eventually to strap him into an

Aerotrim An aerotrim (also known as Multi-Axis Trainer or MAT) is a 3-axis gimbal large enough to contain a human being, used for cardiovascular workout and equilibrioception (balance) training in pilots and astronauts. Aerotrims saw use in gyms during ...

where she spins him throughout the video. These scenes are intercut with two young

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

lovers, a man and woman wearing ritualistic dressings and dancing, as well as visuals of a

pierced Body piercing, which is a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn, or where an implant could be inserted. The word ''piercing'' can refer to ...

phallus and clitoris, all reflecting the song's dark, sexual aspects. Though the video never aired, an edited version appears on '' Closure''. The original video later became available through TVT's website.

Track listing

US version

UK version

References

{{Authority control 1990 singles 1989 songs Nine Inch Nails songs TVT Records singles Songs written by Trent Reznor Song recordings produced by Keith LeBlanc Song recordings produced by Adrian Sherwood Island Records singles Get Down, Make Love (Nine Inch Nails song)