The official Nine Inch Nails logo Nine Inch Nails (NIN, the second "N" is flipped horizontally on album cover art) was formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988 as an industrial rock band.
History
The founder of the band, Trent Reznor, is its principal member and does most of the work on Nine Inch Nails albums; when the band plays live he is joined by a full line-up which has rotated considerably since the band's formation, though Reznor maintains most of the creative control.
Their first album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), largely consisting of studio versions of demo recordings, went triple platinum in the US. It produced the singles "Head Like A Hole," "Down In It" and "Sin." Music videos were made for these three tracks, but only "Head Like a Hole" and "Down In It" were ever completed and released.
The second major Nine Inch Nails release was Broken (1992), an EP of six tracks plus two bonus tracks. The song "Wish" won a Grammy in the "metal" category. Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson of Coil directed a music video for "Happiness In Slavery" which was universally banned due to its graphic content; the video depicts performance artist Bob Flanagan strapping himself to a machine that subsequently pleasures, tortures and eventually causes his death. A video for "Pinion" aired twice before being banned for its objectionable content, although images from it did become a fixture in the opening title sequence of the MTV show 120 Minutes. A full length video entitled Broken - The Movie was also made by Sleazy, but has not seen an official release. Reznor has stated in interviews that "It makes 'Happiness In Slavery' look like a Disney movie"; depictions of torture, mutilation, and staged snuff film-like imagery accompany many of the songs. Some copies of the video can be found on fan sites and file sharing systems. An album of remixes from Broken, entitled Fixed, was officially released in 1993.
The second full album, The Downward Spiral, was released in 1994 and went quadruple platinum. This album is often considered by critics to be NIN's best work, powerfully evoking images of both aggressive and depressive states. There were four singles released, "March of the Pigs", "Closer", "Hurt", and "The Downward Spiral". Two of the singles, "Hurt" and "The Downward Spiral" were only released to radio. Music videos were made for the singles "March of the Pigs","Closer", and "Hurt", with the edited MTV version of Closer becoming very successful. The album's final track, "Hurt", would enjoy success once again when it was covered with slight alterations to the lyrics by Johnny Cash in 2003. Like Broken, The Downward Spiral produced several singles and remix albums, including Further Down the Spiral (which was released in both American and a European editions that contained different track listings), and remix EPs based on "Closer" and "March of the Pigs".
The track "The Perfect Drug", recorded and included on the Lost Highway soundtrack spawned the release of a 5 mix EP The Perfect Drug Versions in May of 1997.
There was a long gap before the release of the next original album, the double disc release The Fragile (1999). It produced three singles, one released in the US ("The Day The World Went Away"), one in the UK ("We're In This Together") and one in Japan and Australia ("Into The Void"). Like the previous two albums it was followed by a remix album, entitled Things Falling Apart. Music videos for "We're In This Together", "Into the Void", and "Starfuckers Inc." were aired in the US. A live album and DVD entitled And All That Could Have Been as well as a special edition EP entitled "Still" that featured unreleased and accoustically performed favorites was released in 2002, following the "Fragility" tour.
Nine Inch Nails used The Phantasy as their practice space and home for many of their concerts.
Trent Reznor is also in possession of John Lennon's mellotron, which he has used on Broken, The Fragile, and Marilyn Manson's second album, Antichrist Superstar
NIN's albums
Each Nine Inch Nails release is given a sequential number, with the word "Halo" preceding it (eg. The Downward Spiral is also known as Halo 8). Many independent and new wave records follow similar numbering schemes. Official halos are as follows (colors denote main album eras):
| Halo
| Released
| Title
| Type
|
| 1
| September 15, 1989
| Down in It
| single
|
| 2
| October 20, 1989
| Pretty Hate Machine
| LP
|
| 3
| March 22, 1990
| Head Like a Hole
| maxi-single
|
| 4
| October 10, 1990
| Sin
| single
|
| 5
| September 22, 1992
| Broken
| EP
|
| 6
| December 7, 1992
| Fixed
| EP
|
| 7
| February 25, 1994
| March of the Pigs
| single
|
| 8
| March 8, 1994
| The Downward Spiral
| LP
|
| 8 DE
| November 23, 2004
| The Downward Spiral: Deluxe Edition
| double hybrid SACD
|
| 8 DVD-A
| November 23, 2004
| The Downward Spiral: DualDisc
| DVD-A/CD
|
| 9
| May 30, 1994
| Closer to God
| single
|
| 10
| June 1, 1995
| Further Down the Spiral
| EP (US release)
|
| 10v2
| May 30, 1995
| Further Down the Spiral
| EP (UK release)
|
| 11
| May 13, 1997
| "The Perfect Drug" Versions
| EP
|
| 12
| November 24, 1997
| Closure
| double VHS
|
| 13
| July 20, 1999
| The Day the World Went Away
| single
|
| 14
| September 21, 1999
| The Fragile
| double LP
|
| 15
| December 6, 1999
| We're in This Together
| 3-disc single (EU release)
|
| 16
| November 21, 2000
| Things Falling Apart
| LP
|
| 17
| January 22, 2002
| And All That Could Have Been
| double LP + double DVD
|
| 18
| ??
| The Hand That Feeds
| (rumored title of the first With Teeth single)
|
| 19
| May 3, 2005
| With Teeth
| LP
|
Many of these releases are now out of print. Halos 1-4 are out of print due to Reznor's conflict with his former label TVT Records. Halo 13, Halo 15 and Still from Halo 17 are also out of print. When any of these will be back in print is unknown.
In 2005, a new album titled With Teeth was completed. The current release date is May 3, 2005, however given Nine Inch Nails' history, delays are possible. Interviews with Reznor indicate that it will feature no instrumentals (the first Nine Inch Nails album since Pretty Hate Machine to have none) and will feature Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on drums. Oasis' guitarist Gem Archer also was working at some point with the band.
In August 2004, Reznor announced a DVD version of Closure, long requested and anticipated by fans, which was to be released in early 2005. It contains over 90 minutes of additional footage compared to the prior VHS release. A teaser trailer shown on the NIN website (http://www.nin.com) included new footage from the 1990 tour, Lollapalooza, Woodstock '94, and also clips from the making of the "Closer" video and the unreleased, original version of the "March of the Pigs" video. It is widely suspected that the DVD will also include the Broken Movie). The set, though finished and ready for printing and release, has been indefinitely postponed until a resolution with Reznor's former manager John A. Malm, Jr. can be reached.
Other NIN works
The most famous NIN moment is probably their mudsoaked performance at Woodstock 1994. The band earned a grammy for Best Metal Performance for their live performance of "Happiness in Slavery" in 1996, after it was included on the Woodstock '94 double disc live album.
Reznor also recorded the background music for the id software computer game Quake, released in 1996, but this is not considered a canonical Nine Inch Nails release. Reznor was also put in charge of compiling the soundtrack to the film Natural Born Killers, which included the original track "Burn". Some of the tracks on the soundtrack to the David Lynch film Lost Highway are credited to Reznor alone, in addition to it featuring the original Nine Inch Nails track "The Perfect Drug." Reznor also contributed the track "Deep" to the soundtrack for the movie Tomb Raider, and a cover of the Joy Division song "Dead Souls" to the soundtrack for the movie The Crow. Though not included on the soundtrack album, Closer (precursor) from the Closer to God EP was used for the opening credits of the movie Seven.
Director Tony Scott has used Nine Inch Nails music in two of his films to date; The Fan featured a clip from "The Art of Self Destruction (Part 1)" from the Further Down the Spiral EP, and Man on Fire featured clips from six Nine Inch
Nails songs - "The Art of Self Destruction, Part One", "Self Destruction, Part Two", and "The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)", all from Further Down the Spiral; "The Mark Has Been Made", and "The Great Below", both from The Fragile; and "The Wretched", from Things Falling Apart. Reznor himself received a 'Music Consultant' credit on the film.
More information on Reznor's work outside of Nine Inch Nails can be found at the Trent Reznor entry.
NIN members
- Trent Reznor is the only official member of the band. He does most of the studio work himself with assistance from producers, engineers and session musicians. He does, however, recruit musicians into a live group that he tours with.
Supporting live bands
With Teeth 2005 Tour
David Bowie Outside Tour: September - October 1995
Self Destruct Tours: 1994 - 1995
- Robin Finck - Guitar, Keyboard
- Danny Lohner - Bass, Guitar, Keyboard
- Chris Vrenna - Drums
- James Woolley - Keyboard (1994)
- Charlie Clouser - Keyboard (1995)
Hate 1990 Tour
- Richard Patrick - Guitar
- Jeff Ward - Drums (beginning of tour)
- Chris Vrenna - Drums (rest of tour)
- James Woolley - Keyboard
External links and references
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