Pretty Hate Machine
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| Pretty Hate Machine | |||||
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| Studio album by Nine Inch Nails | |||||
| Released | October 20, 1989 | ||||
| Recorded | Right Track, Cleveland; Blackwing & Roundhouse, London; Unique, New York City; Synchro Sound, Boston | ||||
| Genre | Industrial rock Alternative rock |
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| Length | 48:50 | ||||
| Label | TVT Records | ||||
| Producer | Trent Reznor, Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer | ||||
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| Nine Inch Nails chronology | |||||
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Pretty Hate Machine (also known as Halo 2) is an album by Nine Inch Nails released in 1989. Pretty Hate Machine is Nine Inch Nails' debut album, released on independent label TVT Records in 1989. The album was out of print from around 1997 to 2005 due to Reznor's much publicized falling out with the original publishing label of the album, TVT Records. Rykodisc remastered the album and re-released it around the world in 2005, effectively putting the album back into print. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as tracks recorded after the Purest Feeling recording. The album spawned three successful singles, the most successful being "Head Like a Hole", which has become a staple in Nine Inch Nails live performances.
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[edit] History
Working nights at Right Track Studio as a handyman and janitor,[1] Trent 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.[2]
Teaming up with manager John A. 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. An early effort called The Industrial Nation was rejected by TVT.[3] This led Reznor to take tracks from the denied earlier works and form Pretty Hate Machine, which 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, Trent Reznor refused to record the album with a conventional band, recording Pretty Hate Machine by himself and an outside musician to play drums.
Released on October 20, 1989, the album was a critical and commercial success, receiving radio airplay for the singles "Down in It", "Head Like a Hole" and "Sin". "Terrible Lie" and "Something I Can Never Have" also received moderate airplay along with the three lead singles. Pretty Hate Machine also gained popularity through word-of-mouth and developed an underground following. Reznor quickly hired a band for touring with The Jesus and Mary Chain, including guitarist and future Filter frontman Richard Patrick. Nine Inch Nails' live set during the time was notorious for louder, more aggressive versions of the studio songs, and also for destroying their instruments at the end. Reznor preferred using the heel of his boots to strip the keys from expensive keyboards, most notably the Yamaha DX7.
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 instrumental intro to "Sanctified" called "Slate").
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 not enough to pay Reznor to do so.[4]
[edit] Releases
- TVT Records TVT 2610-1 - 12" Vinyl
- TVT Records TVT 2610-2 - CD
[edit] Track listing
- "Head Like a Hole" – 4:59
- "Terrible Lie" – 4:38
- "Down in It" – 3:46
- "Sanctified" – 5:48
- "Something I Can Never Have" – 5:54
- "Kinda I Want To" – 4:33
- "Sin" – 4:06
- "That's What I Get" – 4:30
- "The Only Time" – 4:47
- "Ringfinger" – 5:40
[edit] Packaging and liner notes
To date, this is the only Nine Inch Nails major studio release to be packaged in a standard jewel case.
Some of the lyrics printed in the booklet are not heard in the songs.
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 intro to "Kinda I Want To".
[edit] Personnel
- Trent Reznor – Vocals, Arranger, Programming, Producer, Engineer, Digital Editing, Mixing
- Doug d'Angelis – Engineer
- Tony Dawsey – Mastering
- Flood – Programming, Producer, Engineer
- John Fryer – Producer, Engineer, Mixing
- Kennan Keating – Engineer
- Keith LeBlanc – Producer, Engineer, Remixing, Mixing
- Richard Patrick – Guitar (A droning guitar sound at the end of "Sanctified")
- Ken Quartarone – Engineer
- Adrian Sherwood – Producer, Engineer, Mixing
- Jeffrey Silverthorne – Photography
- Gary Talpas – Cover Design
- Chris Vrenna – Programming, Digital Editing
[edit] Chart positions
[edit] Album
| Year | Title | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Pretty Hate Machine | The Billboard 200 | No. 75[5] |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Down in It | Hot Dance Music/Club Play | No. 16[6] |
| 1989 | Down in It | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | No. 20 |
| 1989 | Down in It | Modern Rock Tracks | No. 16[6] |
| 1990 | Head Like a Hole | Hot Dance Music/Club Play | No. 17[6] |
| 1990 | Head Like a Hole | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | No. 34 |
| 1990 | Head Like a Hole | Modern Rock Tracks | No. 28[6] |
| 1990 | Sin | Hot Dance Music/Club Play | No. 10[6] |
| 1990 | Sin | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | No. 13 |
[edit] In popular culture
- Musicologist Daphne Carr wrote a book on the album for Continuum International Publishing Group's 33⅓ series, which will be available in Spring 2008.[7]
- Singer/songwriter Tori Amos referenced Pretty Hate Machine on the song "Caught a Lite Sneeze" from her 1996 record Boys for Pele in the following lyric: "Caught a lite sneeze / Dreamed a little dream / Made my own pretty hate machine".
- The term The Hate Machine was adopted by cadets and graduates of the Air Force Academy as a nickname for their school. This eventually was used as the name of a successful flash animation.
[edit] Covers
- In 2005, the entire album was covered by a string quartet on The String Quartet Tribute to Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine, arranged by Eric Gorfain.
- AFI covered "Head Like a Hole" as a bonus track for their 2006 album Decemberunderground.
- Flyleaf covered "Something I Can Never Have" for the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack.
[edit] References
- ^ Huey, Steve. Nine Inch Nails. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
- ^ Mathew Honan. "Pro File: Nailing a New Look", Macworld, 2002-02-01. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Pretty Hate Machine (French). MusiquePlus. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Trent Reznor talks about PHM re-issue, touring. The NIN Hotline. Last accessed January 10, 2008.
- ^ Billboard.com
- ^ a b c d e Billboard.com "Artist History"
- ^ Daphne Carr's book at MySpace
[edit] External links
- Nine Inch Nails' official site
- Halo 2 at NINCollector.com
- discogs.com:
- Pretty Hate Machine Fanlisting
