Pretty Hate Machine

Pretty Hate Machine
Studio album by Nine Inch Nails
Released	October 20, 1989
Recorded	May–June 1989, Right Track, Cleveland; Blackwing & Roundhouse, London; Unique, New York City; Synchro Sound, Boston
Genre	Industrial rock, synthpop, EDM
Length	48:41
Label	TVT – HALO 2
Producer	Trent Reznor, Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer
Nine Inch Nails chronology
Pretty Hate Machine (1989) The Downward Spiral (1994) Halo numbers chronology chronology "HALO 1" (1989) "HALO 2" (1989) "HALO 3" (1990)
Singles from Pretty Hate Machine
"Down in It" Released: September 15, 1989 "Head Like a Hole" Released: March 22, 1990 "Sin" Released: October 10, 1990
Original LP Edition
2010 Remastered

Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording. The album spawned three singles, the most successful being "Head Like a Hole", which has become a staple in Nine Inch Nails live performances.

The album became one of the first independently released records to attain platinum certification. On 12 May 2003 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple platinum, denoting sales of three million in the United States.^[1] It was commercially and critically successful for a independent label, but Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails' only constant band member) feuded with TVT (the original publishing label of the album) during promotion. The album was out of print from around 1997 to 2005, due to the much publicized falling out between Reznor and the record label. Rykodisc re-released the album around the world in 2005, effectively putting the album back into print. A remastered version was released on November 22, 2010.

Slant Magazine listed the album at #50 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980's" saying "Before attempting suicide in The Downward Spiral and living with the wrist scars in The Fragile, Pretty Hate Machine sent out sleek, danceable warning shots".^[2]

Background

Working nights at Right Track Studio as a handyman and janitor in Cleveland, Ohio,^[3] Reznor used studio "down-time" to record and develop his own music. Playing most of the keyboards, drum machines, guitars, and samplers himself, he recorded a demo. The sequencing was done on a Macintosh Plus.^[4]

Teaming up with manager John Malm, Jr., they sent the demo to various record labels. Reznor received serious offers from many of them, but eventually signed a deal with TVT Records who, until then, were known mainly for releasing novelty and television jingle records. Pretty Hate Machine was recorded in various studios around the world with Reznor collaborating with some of his most idolized producers: Flood, Keith LeBlanc, Adrian Sherwood, and John Fryer. Much like his recorded demo, Reznor refused to record the album with a conventional band, recording Pretty Hate Machine mostly by himself.

Since the album was released, a recording known as Purest Feeling surfaced. This bootleg album contains the original demo recordings of most of the tracks found on Pretty Hate Machine, as well as a couple that were not used ("Purest Feeling", "Maybe Just Once" and an instrumental introduction to "Sanctified" called "Slate").^{[citation needed]}

Music

Samples

The bands listed in the liner notes (Prince, Jane's Addiction and Public Enemy, amongst others) were sampled on the album. Parts of Prince's "Alphabet St." and Jane's Addiction's "Had a Dad" are prominently heard in "Ringfinger", while other samples were either edited or distorted to be unrecognizable, such as the introduction to "Kinda I Want To".

A speech from Midnight Express was sampled at a very low volume during the music break in "Sanctified".^{[citation needed]} On the 2010 reissue of the album, this sample is no longer present, most likely due to clearance issues.

Sin contains elements from a widely used sample from the song "Change the Beat" by Fab 5 Freddy.

Promotion

Tour

Reznor during the 1991 Lollapalooza festival

In 1990, Reznor quickly hired a band, including guitarist and future Filter frontman Richard Patrick, and began the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series, in which they toured North America as an opening act for alternative rock artists such as Peter Murphy and The Jesus and Mary Chain.^[5][6] Nine Inch Nails' live set during the time was known for louder, more aggressive versions of the studio songs. At some point, Reznor began smashing his equipment while on stage (Reznor preferred using the heel of his boots to strip the keys from expensive keyboards, most notably the Yamaha DX7);^{[citation needed]} Nine Inch Nails then embarked on a world tour that continued through the first Lollapalooza festival in 1991 and culminated in an opening slot to support Guns N' Roses on their European tour which was poorly received.^[7]

Release

Pretty Hate Machine went out of print through TVT Records, but was reissued by Rykodisc Records on November 22, 2005 with slight changes in the packaging. Reznor had expressed an interest in creating a "deluxe edition" with surround sound remastering and new/rare remixes, similar to the re-release of The Downward Spiral. Rykodisc liked the idea, but wanted Reznor to pay them to do so.^[8]

On March 29, 2010, the master recording rights of Pretty Hate Machine were acquired by the Bicycle Music Company and on October 22, 2010, Reznor announced that a remastered reissue of the album would be released by UMe and Bicycle Music Group on November 22, 2010. The re-release includes new cover art by Rob Sheridan and the bonus track "Get Down, Make Love", a Queen cover originally found on the "Sin" single.^[9] The 2010 remastered reissue was mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering in Hollywood, California.^[10]

Leading up to the re-release of the album, a website was put up for fans featuring content from videos and tours for Pretty Hate Machine. The videos for "Head Like a Hole" and "Down in It" featured newly remastered sound, the uncut video for "Sin" (a remix for the video was used, which did not lead to the song being remastered) and two early live video segments, one with interviews.

Reception

Commercial performance

Released on October 20, 1989, the album was a commercial success, receiving radio airplay for the singles "Down in It", "Head Like a Hole" and "Sin". The songs "Terrible Lie" and "Something I Can Never Have" also received moderate airplay along with the three lead singles.^{[citation needed]} Pretty Hate Machine also gained popularity through word-of-mouth and developed an underground following.

Although the album failed to break into the Top 70, after spending 113 weeks on the Billboard 200^[11] and peaking at number seventy-five,^[12] Pretty Hate Machine became one of the first independently released records to attain platinum certification. On 12 May 2003 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album triple platinum, denoting sales of three million in the United States.^[1]

Canada had certified Pretty Hate Machine gold in April 1994.^[13] The United Kingdom took a similar approach, giving it a readymade silver certification, following its number sixty-seven peak.^[14]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]
The Boston Globe	(favorable)[15]
Chicago Tribune	[16]
CMJ	(favorable)[17]
Los Angeles Times	(favorable)[18]
The New York Times	(favorable)[19]
Pitchfork Media	(9.5/10)[20]
Q	[21]
Rolling Stone	[22]
The Washington Post	(favorable)[23]

Upon its release, Pretty Hate Machine received general acclaim from music critics, with Rolling Stone's Michael Azerrad describing the album as "industrial-strength noise over a pop framework" and "harrowing but catchy music";^[24] Reznor proclaimed this combination "a sincere statement" of "what was in [his] head at the time".^[25]

Track listing

All songs written, composed and performed by Trent Reznor.

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Notes

References

• Nathan Brackett, Christian Hoard (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. 

External links

• Pretty Hate Machine at Discogs
• Album Review at Entertainmentopia
• Album Review at Kevchino
• Halo 2 at NINCollector.com
• Pretty Hate Machine Fanlisting