[b]Cover:[/b]

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[b]Artist:[/b]

Nine Inch Nails

[img]https://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drp200/p238/p23

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[b]Album:[/b]

Head Like A Hole

[b]Bio:[/b]

Nine Inch Nails was the most popular industrial group ever 

and was largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass 

audience. It isn't really accurate to call NIN a group; the 

only official member is 

singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, who 

always remained solely responsible for NIN's musical 

direction (he was, however, supported in concert by a 

regular backing band). Unlike the vast majority of 

industrial artists, Reznor wrote melodic, traditionally 

structured songs where lyrics were a focal point. His pop 

instincts not only made the harsh electronic beats of 

industrial music easier to digest, but also put a human face 

on a style that usually tried to sound as mechanical as 

possible. While Ministry crossed over to heavy metal 

audiences, NIN built up a large alternative rock fan base 

right around the time of Nirvana's mainstream breakthrough. 

As a result, Reznor became a genuine star and his 

notoriously dark, brooding persona and provocateur instincts 

made him a Jim Morrison-esque sex symbol for the '90s. A 

long period of inactivity and writer's block followed, which 

gave virtually every alternative metal band of the late '90s 

a chance to rip off elements of NIN's sound. By the time 

Reznor's five-year hiatus finally ended, he was still a 

popular figure but his commercial momentum had slowed 

somewhat.

Michael Trent Reznor was born May 17, 1965, in the small 

town of Mercer, PA; he went by his middle name to avoid 

confusion with his father Michael. At age five, Reznor's 

parents divorced and he wound up being raised mostly by his 

maternal grandparents; even so, Reznor stated repeatedly 

that his childhood was mostly happy. He began playing the 

piano at age five, studying classical music, and later 

learned tenor sax and tuba in the school band; he also acted 

in musicals and became an avid Kiss fan. Reznor spent a year 

studying music and computers at Allegheny College, but 

dropped out after a year to pursue music full-time; he soon 

packed up and moved to Cleveland with high school friend 

Chris Vrenna. Around the same time, he was discovering new 

wave and assorted underground music; he was most fascinated 

with early industrial, since it offered an edgy, aggressive 

way to use electronic instruments. At age 19, he 

successfully auditioned to join an AOR band called the 

Innocent, which released one album, Livin' in the Streets 

(Reznor's picture does appear on the jacket). He quit the 

Innocent after just three months and subsequently gigged 

with local bands; he also worked in a keyboard store and as 

a janitor in the local Right Track recording studio. 

Eventually, he became a studio engineer, teaching himself 

various computer applications and working on his own 

material during off hours. In 1987, Reznor appeared in the 

Michael J. Fox/Joan Jett film Light of Day, where he played 

keyboards with a trio dubbed the Problems during a bar 

scene.

As Nine Inch Nails, Reznor began recording his own Ministry 

and Skinny Puppy-influenced compositions in 1988, playing 

all the instruments himself. At first, he simply hoped to 

release a 12" single on a small European label, but when he 

sent demo tapes to around ten American labels, nearly every 

one offered him a deal. He wound up signing with TVT, which 

released NIN's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine, in 1989 

(after having rejected an initial effort called Industrial 

Nation). Reznor quickly assembled a backing band and toured 

with Skinny Puppy for a short time, but soon tired of 

playing for strictly industrial artists. With a tighter 

outfit featuring Chris Vrenna on drums and Richard Patrick 

on guitar (plus several revolving-door keyboardists), he 

consciously chose to open for alt-rock acts (including, 

early on, the Jesus & Mary Chain and Peter Murphy), partly 

for the challenge of winning over fans who might not have 

liked industrial music. The strategy helped expand Nine Inch 

Nails' fan base substantially; the single "Down in It" got 

some airplay in dance clubs, reaching Billboard's dance and 

modern rock charts, and MTV later picked up on the video for 

the more rock-oriented "Head Like a Hole." In 1991, after 

settling on keyboardist James Woolley, Nine Inch Nails 

became part of the inaugural Lollapalooza tour, which 

expanded their fan base by leaps and bounds. Pretty Hate 

Machine's momentum kept building slowly and although it 

never climbed higher than number 75, it spent over two years 

on the album charts and eventually sold over a million 

copies -- one of the first indie-label rock albums to do so.

TVT had a massive hit on their hands and to ensure that 

Reznor would produce another one, they attempted to take 

control of the follow-up's creative direction. Enraged by 

the outside meddling, Reznor tried to secure a release from 

his contract, leading to a vicious court battle. His only 

recording outlets were side projects; in 1990, he co-wrote 

and sang on "Suck," a track on Pigface's debut album, Gub, 

and also sang on the Al Jourgensen-led 1000 Homo DJs cover 

of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut." (TVT ordered Reznor's vocals 

removed from the track, but Jourgensen actually just altered 

them slightly and said he'd re-recorded it.) Eventually, he 

was able to sign with Interscope, which helped him set up 

his own label, the Cleveland-based Nothing imprint. Reznor 

had been recording new material on the sly and in 1992, 

Nothing released the EP Broken, as well as a concurrent 

remix disc titled Fixed. Broken featured more (and heavier) 

guitars than Pretty Hate Machine, partly in response to 

NIN's live sound and partly as a sonic evocation of Reznor's 

boiling frustration in the wake of the legal wars; it also 

featured two bonus cuts, a version of "Suck" and the Adam 

Ant cover "(You're So) Physical," a nod to Reznor's new wave 

roots. Despite many reviews characterizing the EP as a 

harrowing, difficult listen, Broken -- supported by NIN's 

now-considerable fan base -- debuted in the Top Ten and the 

first single/video, "Wish," won a Grammy for Best Heavy 

Metal Performance. Reznor enhanced his reputation as a 

provocateur with a widely banned clip for "Happiness in 

Slavery," which depicted S&M performance artist Bob Flanagan 

being torn apart by a machine; there was also a long-form 

clip for Broken that was never released commercially due to 

its graphic content (a torture victim is dismembered while 

viewing NIN videos).

Reznor moved to Los Angeles to craft the second full-length 

NIN album, assembling a studio in the house where actress 

Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's associates. The 

Downward Spiral was a highly ambitious work, a concept album 

indebted to progressive rock that featured the most 

detailed, layered studiocraft of any NIN album yet. Hugely 

anticipated, the album debuted at number two and became one 

of the bleakest multi-platinum albums ever. Richard Patrick 

had departed the touring band to form Filter and Reznor 

revamped the group with drummer Vrenna, keyboardist Woolley, 

guitarist Robin Finck, and bassist Danny Lohner. NIN caused 

a sensation at that summer's 25th-anniversary Woodstock 

concert, performing a ferocious set after horsing around and 

covering themselves in mud just before hitting the stage. 

Meanwhile, MTV had put an edited version of the video for 

"Closer" in heavy rotation and NIN scored one of the year's 

unlikeliest hits: a song whose chorus began "I want to f*ck 

you like an animal," which helped make Reznor one of 

alternative rock's biggest sex symbols. The subdued ballad 

"Hurt" gained some further airplay, even though it lacked 

the titillating shock value of "Closer." Later in the year, 

Reznor assembled the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's 

controversial Natural Born Killers, editing the songs 

together to create an innovative collage; he also guested on 

"Past the Mission," a track on Tori Amos' second album Under 

the Pink. In 1995, with new keyboardist Charlie Clouser, 

Nine Inch Nails hit the road with David Bowie, whose 

late-'70s albums (along with Pink Floyd) had been a major 

influence on The Downward Spiral. He also contributed a 

cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls" to the soundtrack of 

The Crow and issued the remix album Further Down the Spiral, 

which nearly reached the Top 20 (a testament to his 

popularity).

Using money from The Downward Spiral, Reznor built a 

state-of-the-art studio in New Orleans in a building that 

had once been a funeral home. While pondering his next move 

in the wake of his sudden stardom, he produced Nothing 

signee Marilyn Manson's second album, Antichrist Superstar, 

which did indeed make him a superstar. In 1997, longtime 

friend Vrenna had a falling out with Reznor and eventually 

was replaced by Jerome Dillon; Reznor's maternal grandmother 

also passed away that year and his friendship with Manson 

soon deteriorated. Even so, he produced another movie 

soundtrack for David Lynch's Lost Highway, and contributed 

the new single "The Perfect Drug," which flitted 

unpredictably between several different rhythm tracks. 

Though "The Perfect Drug" kept him in the public eye for a 

time, Reznor was still unsure what kind of statement would 

be an appropriate follow-up to The Downward Spiral; that 

uncertainty resulted in a severe case of writer's block. In 

the meantime, NIN was proving vastly influential on a new 

crop of bands; major labels signed up industrial metal 

outfits like Filter and Stabbing Westward, and an assortment 

of alternative metal bands started grafting industrial 

production flourishes onto their music; Guns N' Roses lead 

singer Axl Rose even fired the rest of his band and holed up 

in a studio to pursue a more NIN-influenced direction.

Nine Inch Nails finally returned in 1999 with the double-CD 

opus The Fragile. It debuted at number one, with massive 

first-week sales, but slipped down the charts rather quickly 

afterwards, perhaps because the musical climate had changed 

a great deal over the past five years. The remix album 

Things Falling Apart followed a year later, as did an 

extensive world tour. An album of live performances culled 

from the tour, And All That Could Have Been, was released in 

early 2002. Reznor was largely quiet during the next three 

years, until re-emerging in 2005 with another chart-topper, 

With Teeth. Touring continued into 2006, where NIN spent the 

spring and summer on the road with various support acts 

including Saul Williams, Bauhaus, TV on the Radio, and 

Peaches. The EP, Every Day is Exactly the Same, appeared in 

April 2006; it contained the title track and five various 

remixes (all originally from With Teeth).   

[b]Tracks:[/b]

   1.  Head Like A Hole (Slate)
   2. Head Like a Hole (Clay)
   3. Terrible Lie (Sympathetic Mix)
   4. Head Like A Hole (Copper)
   5. You Know Who You Are
   6. Head Lika A Ho