Pretty Hate Machine
| Nine Inch Nails
Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on October 20, 1989 by TVT Records. The album is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as songs composed after its original recording. Production of the record was handled by Flood and Trent Reznor, among other contributors.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Much of Pretty Hate Machine concerns a simple scenario: Being young but feeling that your life is already over, that your best days are already behind you.
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Revolver
Released on October 20th, 1989, Nine Inch Nails' milestone debut Pretty Hate Machine helped launch the underground industrial-dance-music scene into the mainstream, leading to a decade-long obsession with the genre that Trent Reznor and his cohorts never truly intended to break big. The poetic thrill of the singer and composer's personal journal entries set to throbbing, hard-hitting beats was accessible, exciting and more far-reaching than perhaps anyone thought possible at the time.
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All Music
Pretty Hate Machine's bleak electronics were subordinate to catchy riffs and verse-chorus song structures, which was why it built such a rabid following with so little publicity. That innovation was the most important step in bringing industrial music to a wide audience, as proven by the frequency with which late-'90s alternative metal bands copied NIN's interwoven guitar/synth textures. It was a new soundtrack for adolescent angst -- noisily aggressive and coldly detached, tied together by a dominant personality. Reznor's tortured confusion and self-obsession gave industrial music a human voice, a point of connection. His lyrics were filled with betrayal, whether by lovers, society, or God; it was essentially the sound of childhood illusions shattering, and Reznor was not taking it lying down.
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NIN
Pretty Hate Machine (also known as Halo 2) is the first studio album by Nine Inch Nails, released on October 20, 1989 by TVT Records and was a huge success. The first single off of the album, Down In It, was released on September 27, 1989. It received radio airplay for the aforementioned single as well as subsequent singles Head Like A Hole and Sin. The former also serves as a companion remix album of sorts to Pretty Hate Machine.
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Loudwire
The album has generated plenty of listens over the years. Pretty Hate Machine peaked at No. 75 on Billboard's 200 Album Chart, but has gone on to be certified triple platinum. Meanwhile, the disc holds the distinction of being the very first independently released album to achieve platinum status.
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Spin
Pretty Hate Machine has it all: despondent industrial dance tracks; provocative, riff-fueled rockers; and seductively somber, anthemic pop tunes.
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All Music
Pretty Hate Machine's bleak electronics were subordinate to catchy riffs and verse-chorus song structures, which was why it built such a rabid following with so little publicity. That innovation was the most important step in bringing industrial music to a wide audience, as proven by the frequency with which late-'90s alternative metal bands copied NIN's interwoven guitar/synth textures. It was a new soundtrack for adolescent angst -- noisily aggressive and coldly detached, tied together by a dominant personality. Reznor's tortured confusion and self-obsession gave industrial music a human voice, a point of connection. His lyrics were filled with betrayal, whether by lovers, society, or God; it was essentially the sound of childhood illusions shattering, and Reznor was not taking it lying down.
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NIN
Pretty Hate Machine (also known as Halo 2) is the first studio album by Nine Inch Nails, released on October 20, 1989 by TVT Records and was a huge success. The first single off of the album, Down In It, was released on September 27, 1989. It received radio airplay for the aforementioned single as well as subsequent singles Head Like A Hole and Sin. The former also serves as a companion remix album of sorts to Pretty Hate Machine.
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Loudwire
The album has generated plenty of listens over the years. Pretty Hate Machine peaked at No. 75 on Billboard's 200 Album Chart, but has gone on to be certified triple platinum. Meanwhile, the disc holds the distinction of being the very first independently released album to achieve platinum status.
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Spin
Pretty Hate Machine has it all: despondent industrial dance tracks; provocative, riff-fueled rockers; and seductively somber, anthemic pop tunes.
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U Discover
Taking industrial music into the mainstream, Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ remains an uncompromising, genre-defining album.
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Rate Your Music
Nine Inch Nails is pretty much the Kleenex of 'crossover industrial' acts. The name brand, so to speak. Everyone knows what they're all about. Fairly catchy, fairly angry, mostly pretentious, but not overly bad, really.
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The Quietus
Pretty Hate Machine is the work of someone assembling all the pieces together and nodding to all the role models that could exist then .
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The Verge
Pretty Hate Machine now stands an intimate, personal view of an artist figuring out exactly who he’ll be, finding the key components of his sound, and making some entertaining missteps along the way.
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Last Fm
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. The album was out of print from around 1997 to 2005 due to the much publicized falling out between Nine Inch Nails' core member, Trent Reznor, and the original publishing label of the album, TVT Records. Rykodisc re-released the album around the world in 2005. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after the Purest Feeling 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.
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Rolling Stone
Nine Inch Nails’ sound is dominated by clanging synths and sardonic, shrieking vocals. But Reznor stretches that industrial-strength noise over a pop framework, and his harrowing but catchy music has taken the college charts by storm.
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NME
Nine Inch Nails originally released ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ in 1989 and Reznor worked with sound engineer Tom Baker on a remastered version of the LP which was released in November last year. That version also featured a cover of Queen’s ‘Get Down, Make Love’, which was on the B-side of their 1991 single ‘Sin’.
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Genius
Pretty Hate Machine, the first Nine Inch Nails album, was released on 18 October 1989, as Halo 2 and featured three singles.
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Britannica
Popularity with its debut release, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), which eventually sold more than three million copies in the United States and signaled a breakthrough into the American mainstream for industrial music.
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Barnes and Noble
Reznor had a background in synth-pop, and the vast majority of Pretty Hate Machine was electronic. Synths voiced all the main riffs, driven by pounding drum machines; distorted guitars were an important textural element, but not the primary focus. Pretty Hate Machine was something unique in industrial music -- certainly no one else was attempting the balladry of "Something I Can Never Have," but the crucial difference was even simpler. Instead of numbing the listener with mechanical repetition, Pretty Hate Machine's bleak electronics were subordinate to catchy riffs and verse-chorus song structures, which was why it built such a rabid following with so little publicity.
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Independent
Far less heralded at the time, yet no less influential in the long run, was Nine Inch Nail’s dissonant, almost transgressively catchy Pretty Hate Machine. As it marks its three-decade anniversary this week, it is clear that it belongs to that exclusive club of definitive debut albums. It is very nearly perfect.
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Daily Collegian
“Pretty Hate Machine” is truly a product of its time. Released as 1989 was coming to a close, it’s both a departure from and an ode to the overproduced synth-pop of the 80s, coupled with the angry and desperate lyricism that would come to characterize much of 90s rock. On paper, it should be a niche album, unable to escape its era, and yet, it remains just as heady and intriguing thirty years later.
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American Songwriter
To call Pretty Hate Machine a seminal record is an understatement. Originally released in 1989, it’s an album that not only introduced the world to volatile NIN frontman Trent Reznor, but to industrial music to boot.
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Metal Injection
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.
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Urban Dictionary
A term for an angst-filled youth who tries too hard to look the part of a rebellious teen. Also the name of the first Nine Inch Nails album.
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COS
Pretty Hate Machine is the primordial soup of NIN: ’80s New Wave synth and mild industrial deference, a result of DIY demos and youthful tenacity.
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Good Reads
Tracing NIN's career arc is like trying to map the trajectory of an angry star that burns and burns until finally transforming itself into a nightlight. It's kind of a sad story and one that comments on the trajectory of this country.
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Box Lunch
Nine Inch Nails’ debut album gets reissued on vinyl. 10 tracks including Head Like a Hole and Something I Can Never Have. We love Mr. Reznor.
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Roughtrade
Although nine inch nails mastermind trent reznor became the poster boy for industrial rock in the early 1990s, his '89 debut, 'pretty hate machine', actually has a stronger foothold in '80s synth-pop. the guitar-heavy opener, 'head like a hole,' is the most aggressive track on the album and proved to be the signature song for reznor's initial breakthrough, but much of the disc sounds like depeche mode in a particularly bad mood. all of the tracks on 'pretty hate machine' are based on synthesizer lines and programmed beats, with other elements - such as the distinctive bass on 'sanctified' and sampled explosions on 'that's what i get' - filling out the sound. despite reznor's morose lyrics, a number of hate machine's finest moments are energetic dance tunes, particularly 'down in it' and the surging 'sin.' oddly enough, reznor's fiercer - and seemingly less accessible - subsequent work (the 'broken' ep and 'the downward spiral') led directly to his mainstream success, but 'pretty hate machine' reveals where the nine inch nails aesthetic started out.
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Hall Leonard
Trent Reznor's 1989 breakout album helped shape the future of industrial music.
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Waaf
Reznor was very adept in math, electronics and music, but never thought about combining all of them together until he bought himself a Moog Prodigy analog synthesizer as a teenager. From there he made his first demo known as Purest Feeling, which he would later take some song and retune them on Pretty Hate Machine.
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Get Song
This album has an average beat per minute of 107 BPM (slowest/fastest tempos: 87/128 BPM).
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Vinyl Chapters
Whether Pretty Hate Machine was a critical or commercial success is irrelevant. The fact that it is such a creative victory is the key point here, proving that Trent Reznor is nothing short of a musical genius.
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Scribd
(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook). Just re-issued, Trent Reznor's 1989 breakout album helped shape the future of industrial music. Our matching folio features all 10 tracks, including the megahit "Head like a Hole" and: Down in It * Kinda I Want To * The Only Time * Ringfinger * Sanctified * Sin * Something I Can Never Have * Terrible Lie * That's What I Get.
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Sound Cloud
Pretty Hate Machine (also known as Halo 2) is the first studio album by Nine Inch Nails, released on October 20, 1989 by TVT Records and was a huge success. The first single off of the album, Down In It, was released on September 27, 1989. It received radio airplay for the aforementioned single as well as subsequent singles Head Like A Hole and Sin. The former also serves as a companion remix album of sorts to Pretty Hate Machine.
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Kzsc
In celebration of the recent Nine Inch Nails come back, I’ve been returning to their seminal debut, Pretty Hate Machine. It seems that its dark grooves have been syphoning out my negative energy like it’s popping some sort of cathartic pimple. This record is very near and dear to my heart. It is a classic in the genre of industrial music, but also a classic in my personal music canon. Its an album loaded to the brim with emotional energies, despite being composed, recorded and produced solely by Trent Reznor.
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Brown Paper Tickets
A fabulous lineup of performers will be taking you straight through Pretty Hate Machine, the iconic Nine Inch Nails Album which turns 30 this October.
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Sputnik
Pretty Hate Machine thrusts you into a truly dark place and pummels you with aggression and obsession before letting go.
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Bloomsbury
Pretty Hate Machine is an accessible piece of art is fortified by her ability to include everyone - fans, critics, NIN virgins - into her dialogue. Here, PHM is transformed from an album for outcasts into a work that applies more generally to mass culture.
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Post Punk
On October 20th, 1989 Nine Inch Nails released their iconic debut LP Pretty Hate Machine. The album’s demo was a labor of love produced and recorded in between shifts while singer-songwriter Trent Reznor was working nights as a custodian at the Right Track Studio in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Kxci
Commercially, it took some time for Pretty Hate Machine to be noticed. Although it peaked at number 75 on the Billboard 200, it took some time via word of mouth to reach this level. It stayed on the charts a long time however, spending a total of 115 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts. By mid-1992, Pretty Hate Machine was certified gold. In 1995, it had become one of the very first independently released albums to attain a platinum certification.
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Medium
Pretty Hate Machine is an incredibly curious beast, there’s a lot of elements here that, even 20 years on, still show up in Reznor’s musical output today. His ability to compose dark, yet infectiously catchy songs can be seen in its infancy throughout PHM, not least in the title track, Head Like A Hole.
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Forums
The remaster has zero dynamic range. Drums and bass no longer pound as they used to on the original master. Rather, the remaster sounds wimpy when compared to the original.
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Post Punk
On October 20th, 1989 Nine Inch Nails released their iconic debut LP Pretty Hate Machine. The album’s demo was a labor of love produced and recorded in between shifts while singer-songwriter Trent Reznor was working nights as a custodian at the Right Track Studio in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Kxci
Commercially, it took some time for Pretty Hate Machine to be noticed. Although it peaked at number 75 on the Billboard 200, it took some time via word of mouth to reach this level. It stayed on the charts a long time however, spending a total of 115 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts. By mid-1992, Pretty Hate Machine was certified gold. In 1995, it had become one of the very first independently released albums to attain a platinum certification.
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Medium
Pretty Hate Machine is an incredibly curious beast, there’s a lot of elements here that, even 20 years on, still show up in Reznor’s musical output today. His ability to compose dark, yet infectiously catchy songs can be seen in its infancy throughout PHM, not least in the title track, Head Like A Hole.
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The album: an dance underground to mainstream alternative sleeper hit that began as after-hours demos by mercenary new wave keyboardist Trent Reznor, sharped by listening to the electro funk and black pop of mid-80s Cleveland, and disciplined into sparse industrial dance by a handful of the UK’s best industrial producers.
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Daphne Carr
The album: an dance underground to mainstream alternative sleeper hit that began as after-hours demos by mercenary new wave keyboardist Trent Reznor, sharped by listening to the electro funk and black pop of mid-80s Cleveland, and disciplined into sparse industrial dance by a handful of the UK’s best industrial producers.
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Fat Beats
The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tack head). The result was Pretty Hate Machine.
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Music Mania
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on October 20, 1989 by TVT Records in the United States, Island Records in Europe and by Interscope Records and Atlantic Records internationally. The album is compiled of reworked tracks from the band's Purest Feeling demo, as well as songs composed after its original recording. Although it was critically and commercially successful (especially for an independent label), Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails' only constant band member) feuded with TVT Records during the album's promotion.
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Bull City Records
Remastered edition of the 1989 debut album from Trent Reznor and Co. Featuring the original tracklisting and artwork. As a young musician in Cleveland, Ohio, Trent Reznor took a job at a local recording studio and employed unused studio time to develop his own material. The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tack head). The result was Pretty Hate Machine. All songs were written, arranged, programmed and performed by Reznor.
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Av Club
Pretty Hate Machine sounds great, but remains the work of an artist just discovering his voice.
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Strange Ways Radio
This album features the singles Down In It, Head Like A Hole and Sin. This album is a bit more synth oriented that the records that followed.
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Run For Cover Records
Remastered edition of the 1989 debut album from Trent Reznor and Co. featuring the original tracklisting and artwork. As a young musician in Cleveland, Ohio, Trent Reznor took a job at a local recording studio and employed unused studio time to develop his own material. The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tackhead). The result was Pretty Hate Machine. All songs were written, arranged, programmed and performed by Reznor.
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Elusive Disc
From the opening shot of "Head Like A Hole" to the radio and club staples "Terrible Lie" and "Down In It", Pretty Hate Machine set the stage for NIN to become one of the world's biggest acts and is also responsible for bringing Industrial music out of the underground to a huge new audience. It is rightly considered one of the most important, groundbreaking albums of its era.
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Gear Slutz
This is Trent Reznor's best album.
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Jam Base
On November 22, UMe and Bicycle Music Company will release a remastered version of Pretty Hate Machine, the 1989 debut studio album by Nine Inch Nails. The album was previously reissued in 2005, but this will be the first remastering overseen by Trent Reznor. The album includes completely remastered music, updated artwork and a cover of the Queen song “Get Down, Make Love” originally available on the “Sin” single in 1990.
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Exclaim
While earlier this year it was announced that his NIN debut Pretty Hate Machine was getting a deluxe reissue, there is some even more exciting news regarding the industrial legends. TwentyFourBit points to an eBay auction hosted by former Nine Inch Nails and Ministry drummer Martin Atkins that's offering up an extremely rare demo tape featuring early attempts at some Pretty Hate Machine classics.
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Blabbermouth
The "Pretty Hate Machine" reissue is scheduled to arrive November 22 through Rykodisc. The re-release will feature the same 10 tracks as the original, and the artwork remains unchanged, according to MTV.com. Rykodisc is licensing the rights to the record from Prudential Securities, which had put "Pretty Hate Machine", along with several other TVT Records titles, on the auction block in mid-August; the label presented a bulk of its industrial catalog to Prudential in 1999 as collateral against a $32 million loan. When it failed to attract a credible bid for the material, Prudential opted to hold onto the records' rights and license them out.
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Tiny Mixtapes
This latest reissue (not remastered, we might add), is not to be mistaken with Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster, which came out last November. The latter includes a bonus track — a cover of “Get Down, Make Love” by Queen — and is a “greatly improved sonic experience,” Reznor said. But hey, if you don’t already have four copies of the CD and you don’t like quality sound or Queen, then sure, go for the newer reissue, which is reportedly very much like the original version released on TVT in 1989. It’s not like it sounded bad then, after all.
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Albumism
The sheer amount of angst and pent up sexual aggression on this album just takes me back to a simpler time in life. Classics such as “Head Like a Hole” and “Terrible Lie” began the Industrial Revolution of the 1990s. Superficial listeners who might be turned off by Trent Reznor’s divisive lyrics are definitely missing out on a classic. What’s so distinctive about this album is how he managed to make electronic music so catchy. Listen to the new wave-inspired “Ringfinger” and hard bass on “Sanctified,” and tell me you don’t want to have a dance party right now. In contrast, tracks like “Something I Can Never Have” feature Reznor’s complex and introverted spirit. Nine Inch Nails’ future catalogue never strayed too far from their early roots of foreboding techno and emo-infused synthpop.
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Sonic More Music
Nine Inch Nails debut album ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ was let loose upon the world on the 20th of October 1989 and the world never looked back. Unlike Trent Reznor‘s later NIN albums ‘Pretty Hate Machine’ not only had the industrial smell it also reeked of a late night club zone…which made it a classic.
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Eil
Album exactly as described.
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Throwbacks
The band's fiery debut and Reznor's dedication to a relationship gone wrong, Pretty Hate Machine was an instant hit thanks to singles like "Head Like a Hole" and "Down In It."
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