Nine Inch Nails
On the strength of a three-song demo Nine Inch Nails got signed by TVT Records.
“Industrial Nation,” released in ’88, was a powerful debut. However, the TVT label bosses didn’t think much of it and couldn’t sell it.
Pretty Hate Machine
Frontman Trent Reznor sang and performed most of the instruments. But two years of non-stop touring could only push the set to #75 on the Album Chart.
“Pretty Hate Machine” rolled out next with “Head Like A Hole.” Frantic, dense, driving and lyrically dark, it was Nine Inch Nails most forceful and compelling effort.
Head Like A Hole
Then the inevitable happened in ’92. TVT and Reznor had a falling out. Bottom line, Reznor was kept from recording for a while.
No matter, he and his manager formed Nothing Records which was distributed by Interscope. That took care of that. By the end of the year the EP “Broken” was out and a million seller.
Nine Inch Nails won a Best Metal Performance Grammy for “Wish” in ’93. Amazingly, Reznor’s career didn’t immediately tank like most Grammy winners.
With “The Downward Spiral” and the “Natural Born Killers” soundtrack the following year, Reznor beat the curse. “The Downward Spiral” featured the guitar work of Adrian Belew and the track “March Of The Pigs.”
The Downward Spiral
“Further Down The Spiral” EP came in ’95 and “The Fragile” in ’98. In the meantime, Reznor produced “Antichrist Superstar” for the lovely and talented Marilyn Manson, who later opened for Nine Inch Nails.
With Teeth
A new N.I.N. line-up (vocalist/keyboardist Alessandro Cortini; guitarist Aaron North; A Perfect Circle/ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White; and drummer Jerome Dillon) recorded “With Teeth” and embarked on a supporting tour.
“With Teeth” represented a bit of a departure for N.I.N. The synth laden smash-thrash of the past had been displaced by more melody. Even so, the album claimed the top spot on the Billboard Album chart a week after its release.
Two years later, Nine Inch Nails unleashed “Year Zero.” Reznor claimed the Bush administration was the chief inspiration behind the album’s bleak vision of the future.
“As an American, I’m appalled by the behavior of our government and the direction that it has taken… and its arrogance,” said Reznor. The set contained “My Violent Heart,” “Meet Your Master” and “The Great Destroyer.”
Year Zero
Following “Year Zero” Nine Inch Nails passed once again on working with a record label for distribution, with the “Ghosts I – IV” initially available only on the N.I.N.’s web site.
Just weeks later, N.I.N. issued “The Slip” with blistering, angst ridden vocals. It too was only available on the group’s site.
Looking for another creative outlet, Reznor had produced the soundtracks for Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” and David Lynch’s “Lost Highway.” However, “The Social Network” was the first time Reznor was responsible (with longtime cohort Atticus Ross) for a film’s complete score.
Reznor won the Best Score trophy for “The Social Network” at the ’11 Golden Globes (Hollywood’s Foreign Press Association) in Beverly Hills. Reznor described the win as “surreal.” At the time of the award he was busy writing the score for another Fincher film, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” and then again on Fincher’s 2014 film “Gone Girl.”
“My forays into film, HTDA (the band How To Destroy Angels) and other projects really stimulated me creatively and I decided to focus that energy on taking Nine Inch Nails to a new place,” Reznor said introducing the band’s eighth studio album “Hesitation Marks.” The ’13 set debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with 107,000 copies sold in its first week.
In both ’14 and ’15, N.I.N, were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but failed to get the votes. Despite the snub N.I.N. kept on their own course. They were finally inducted in ’20.
When the EP “Not The Actual Events” dropped in ’16 Reznor framed the work in relation to current music. “A lot of what’s blessed as “the cool thing” feels pretty generic and also feels, a lot of it, like a desperate plea for commercial airplay and success. A kind of daydream I was having led to “let’s make a record that feels challenging, and exciting to us…”
Another EP, “Add Violence,” which was described as “throwing ‘Hesitation Marks’ out the window,” arrived the following year. “Bad Witch,” was the last installment of a trilogy, that included “Not The Actual Events” and “Add Violence.”
“Ghost V: Together” and “Ghosts VI: Locusts” were free downloads in ’20, to show solidarity with fans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
’25 was an important year for the band. First, Reznor and Ross won Best Original Score at the Golden Globe Awards for “Challengers,” a 2024 romantic sports drama.
Ross offered a brief acceptance speech. “This really means a lot. First, I’d like to thank my best friend, my musical partner, the great Trent Reznor. The music never felt like a safe choice, but it always felt like the right one.”
Then, Nine Inch Nails announced “Peel It Back,” marking the band’s first live trek in three years.
Nine Inch Nails’ original music for the film, “Tron: Ares,” the third installment in the groundbreaking “Tron” film franchise, hit theaters later in the year.
It was the first-ever film score by the band as opposed to just Reznor and Ross who had composed 20 scores, winning two Oscars and three Golden Globes.
As Alive As You Need Me To Be
The soundtrack’s techno leaning lead single “As Alive As You Need Me To Be,” was also the first official music from the band in five years.
As the year rolled on, Nine Inch Nails lost touring drummer Ilan Rubin who left to join the Foo Fighters. He replaced Josh Freese who was fired from the Foo Fighters three months earlier.
Meanwhile, Freese, who was N.I.N.’s touring drummer from 2005 to 2008, returned to the Reznor fronted band.
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