Welcome to Throwback Thursday! This is the place where we get to indulge in nostalgia and wax poetic about excellent metal of years past. For this, the 52nd edition of this series, we take a look at an album that hypes up any person prone to wearing a wardrobe comprised of mostly black.
If misanthropy and any part of the 90's counter culture is important to you, this album is likely part of the soundtrack to your delve into moody misalignment. Nine Inch Nail's Pretty Hate Machine has achieved an exulted state and is often referred to as a 'masterpiece' and 'iconic'. Fans of all genres agree that the record is a staple and a heavy influence on modern industrial music.
Grab your check list: Soul – black; Lies – Terrible; and escape into…
NINE INCH NAIL'S PRETTY HATE MACHINE
Release Date: October 1989
Record Label: TVT/Interscope Records, Rykodisc, UMe/Bicycle Music Company
Where weren't Nine Inch Nails in the 90's? The decade that brought us some of the heaviest hitting acts in metal history also ushered in a darker, twistier form of new wave and synth. This evolution of industrial music took the 80's inability to make sad things sad (Google the original video for "Mad World" by Tears for Fears for proof) and combined the angst and depth of gothy predecessors like Joy Division and The Cure and turned it into something disturbing and decadent. The debut album from Nine Inch Nails is essentially a synth/alt-rock album that has managed to nestle in alongside the metal community thanks to it's dark lyrics and creepy atmosphere.
I'll be the first to admit that not every track on the album is a banger. However, all 48 minutes of Pretty Hate Machine rely so much upon atmosphere and lyrics that the songs which don't hold up to the technical execution of "Head Like a Hole" still thrive with character and intelligence.
For metal fans, songs like "Head Like a Hole" have just enough edge and aggression that those of us who indulge in the fantasy of hostility oft found in metal find a familiar catharsis in tracks like these. But it wasn't just metal fans who dug this catchy dark pop – Pretty Hate Machine did well commercially, even scoring a lengthy run on the Billboard 200 and ultimately sold over 3 million copies, reaching Triple Platinum sales.
Pretty Hate Machine landed Nine Inch Nails on gigantic tours including the first-ever Lollapalooza tour of 1991. You of course can't mention Nine Inch Nails or the nascent Pretty Hate Machine without talking about the genius of musical puppeteer Trent Reznor. In a 1990 interview from VidMag Media, a young Reznor recalls how Nine Inch Nails, and Pretty Hate Machine, came to be, "I just kind hung out in my room and wrote some songs. At the same time I was working in a studio here in Cleveland. I sent some tapes out, and got a record deal." He also quips how he hated MTV, and made the video for "Sin" to be "not a commercial for the music" and that these videos were made to be "outlets for the art" that "MTV wouldn't play." Here is the original video for "Sin":
The other popular single from Pretty Hate Machine also comes with a music video, "Down In It":
In the two reissues since the album's release, the second inception from 2010 had a personal hand in it from Reznor himself – and is, in my opinion, the best version of Pretty Hate Machine to listen to. It's cover is a little different too:
If you've never checked out this album or bands like Nine Inch Nails or Ministry, it's worth spending the time getting to know these preeminent bands of the great moody/grunge/industrial movement of the 90's.
