Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated NIN and stylized NIИ) is an American industrial rock band founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. As their main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and solely responsible for the direction of the band.

Nine Inch Nails' music spans a large number of musical genres, yet maintains a distinctive sound using electronic instruments and recording studio processing. After recording each new studio album, Reznor assembles a group of musicians for tours and concerts. They are usually changeable and make arrangements in the songs to adjust them to live performances. On stage, NIN usually uses spectacular visual elements for their performances, among which the light show or huge LED panels and some tactile ones that serve as sequencers stand out.

Nine Inch Nails were very welcoming to fans of underground music in their early years. Dates in which they produced several highly influential albums that were well received; Many of Nine Inch Nails' songs became hits in the 1990s, two of them won Grammy Awards, and in total they have sold more than twenty million albums worldwide, of which ten and a half have been solo. in the United States. In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time magazine's list of the most influential people, and was described by Spin magazine as "the most important artist in history." the music".

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Nine Inch Nails number 94 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Despite this, they have had several feuds with the corporate part of the music industry. In 2007, due to these corporate issues, Reznor announced that Nine Inch Nails was leaving his record label and would be releasing all future material independently.

Since 1989, Nine Inch Nails have released eleven studio albums. Their releases, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, both from 2008, were released under a Creative Commons license. After their second indefinite, they released their next albums, Hesitation Marks (2013), Bad Witch (2018) and his series of Ghosts V: Together and the Ghosts VI: Locusts (2020). In the first instance, both were released as a digital download, with their physical release later. The digital release of The Slip was completely free. NIN has been nominated twelve times for the Grammy Awards, having won the award twice with "Wish" and "Happiness in Slavery", in 1992 and 1995, respectively.

History

Formation (1988–1989)

The NIN logo designed by Reznor and Gary Talpas.

In 1987, Trent Reznor was playing keyboards for a Cleveland outfit called the Exotic Birds, managed at the time by John Malm, Jr.. Reznor and Malm became friends, so when Reznor left the Exotic Birds to make his own music, Malm became his manager informally. At this time Reznor was working as a sound engineer and janitor for Right Track Studios, and he asked owner Bart Koster for permission to record some demos of his own material while the studio was in operation. empty. Koster agreed, commenting that it only took "a little wear and tear on his tape heads". While assembling the demos, the first Nine Inch Nails recordings, Reznor was unable to find musicians who would play the material the way he wanted. So, inspired by Prince, he played all the instruments except the drums, Reznor has followed this methodology on most of the band's studio albums, though other musicians and assistants have occasionally been involved. In 1988, after doing his first gigs opening for Skinny Puppy, Reznor's only ambition for Nine Inch Nails was to release a twelve-inch single on a small European record label. Several record labels responded favorably to the material, for which landed him a contract with TVT Records. Ten of the tracks from the Right Track demos appear re-recorded on their first studio album, Pretty Hate Machine, on 1989.

Reznor said in 1994 that he chose the name "Nine Inch Nails" because "it was easy to abbreviate", rather than for "any literal meaning", although there are other rumors about the name that Reznor chose it in reference to to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with nine-inch nails, or by Freddy Krueger's nine-inch nails. The Nine Inch Nails logo, consisting of the letters "NIИ" within a box, was designed by Reznor and Gary Talpas and first appeared on their first single, "Down in It", inspired by the typeface designed by Tibor Kalman for the Talking Heads album Remain in Light. Talpas continued to design for NIN until 1997.

Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

Reznor at the 1991 Lollapalooza festival.

Nine Inch Nails' first album, Pretty Hate Machine, written, arranged and performed by Trent Reznor, was released in 1989. It marked Reznor's first collaboration with Adrian Sherwood (who produced the single "Down in It" in London without having seen Reznor face to face) and Mark "Flood"; ellis. Flood served as producer on all major Nine Inch Nails releases until 1994, while Sherwood did remixes for them until 2000. Reznor and his co-producers added to the demos recorded at Right Track Studio the songs 'Head Like a Hole" and "Without". Michael Azerrad, reviewer for Rolling Stone magazine, described the album as "thumping, industrial noise on a pop underpinning" and "angsty but catchy music"; Reznor called this combination "a candid statement" of "what was on my mind at the time". After spending one hundred and thirteen weeks on the Billboard 200, Pretty Hate Machine was one of the first independent music albums in earning an RIAA platinum certification. The video clips for "Down in It" and "Head Like a Hole" were broadcast on the MTV music chain, but an explicit video clip of the song "Sin" in 1997 included in the home video Closure.

In 1990, NIN began the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series tour of the United States opening for alternative rock artists such as Peter Murphy and The Jesus and Mary Chain. At some point, Reznor began to break the material on stage; Rockbeat interviewer Mike Gitter attributed this aggressive attitude to NIN's early success. Nine Inch Nails then embarked on a world tour that spanned the 1991 Lollapalooza festival. in Europe opening for Guns N' Roses, NIN returned to the United States due to pressure from TVT Records to release an album after Pretty Hate Machine. In response, Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid interference from the record company.

Broken (1992–1994)

Marilyn Manson participated in the recording of "Gave Up" video clip, as well as having actively collaborated with Trent Reznor on other projects.

In 1992 Nine Inch Nails released Broken, an EP with six songs and two bonus tracks. In the booklet, Reznor lists the live band members from the 1991 tour as an influence on the EP's sound. Reznor spoke of Broken as "an explosion of destruction" based on guitar, and said it was "much harder [...] than Pretty Hate Machine". Songs from Broken earned NIN the two Grammy Awards he owns: a performance of the first single from the EP "Happiness in Slavery" from Woodstock '94, and the second single "Wish".

Peter Christopherson, a member of the bands Coil and Throbbing Gristle, directed a video for "Wish", although the most famous video from the EP is for "Happiness in Slavery". It was censored almost worldwide for the performance of Bob Flanagan stripping naked on top of a machine that pleasures him, tortures him and finally kills him. A third video for the song "Pinion", partially incorporated into the opening sequence of the MTV television show Alternative Nation, featured a toilet bowl spewing water into the mouth of a bondage-clad person. Reznor and Christopherson compiled these three videos alongside recorded footage of "Help Me I Am In Hell" and "Gave Up" to create a full-length music video called Broken. The film revolves around the murder of a young man who was kidnapped and tortured while being forced to watch the videos. This video was never officially released, although it surfaced covertly in illegal sales circles.

In addition, a video of "Gave Up" with Richard Patrick and Marilyn Manson, filmed at 10050 Cielo Drive (renamed "Le Pig Studios" by Reznor), site of the murder of Sharon Tate; a live video of "Wish" was also recorded both appearing in the 1997 compilation video Closure. Following Broken the remix EP Fixed was released in late 1992. Instead of touring to promote all this new material, Reznor began living and recording full-time at Le Pig, working on the next record, free of restrictions from his record label.

The Downward Spiral (1994–1999)

Nine Inch Nails' second full-length album, The Downward Spiral, peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in 1994, and is to date. to date NIN's best-selling album in the United States. Influenced by late-1970s rock albums such as Low and The Wall, by David Bowie and Pink Floyd respectively, The Downward Spiral contains a wide range of textures and atmospheres to illustrate the mental progress of the central character. Flood was again in charge of co-producing several of the album's tracks, although it was their last collaboration. with training. Regular Flood collaborator Alan Moulder mixed most of The Downward Spiral and after this album he was a regular contributor to subsequent NIN productions. The album was again recorded at Le Pig Studios, Beverly Hills, studios built by Reznor in the house where the "family" of Charles Manson murdered Sharon Tate, wife of film director Roman Polanski. As a souvenir, Reznor took the front door of the house with him.

Reznor on a Self-Destruct tour performance.

Two singles were taken from the album, "March of the Pigs" and "Closer", along with "Hurt" and "Piggy" which were broadcast, but without being released in single format. The music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek and aired regularly on MTV, although the network edited the original version, which they felt was too graphic. In addition, a partially censored version of the song was frequently broadcast. Closure features parts of the Self Destruct Tour, including full live recordings of the songs "Eraser", "Hurt" and a video clip of "March of the Pigs" Made for MTV.

Critical reviews of The Downward Spiral have been generally favourable: in 2005, Spin magazine placed it number 25 on its list of the & #34;100 Greatest Albums of 1985–2005", and was ranked number 200 by Rolling Stone magazine on their 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. times. Following the release of The Downward Spiral, Reznor produced a remix album, Further Down the Spiral, the only release not to be a mainstream album. The studio album has since been certified gold by the RIAA in the United States. The album contains contributions from musician Aphex Twin, producer Rick Rubin, and ex-Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, among others.

The album's promotional tour, the Self Destruct Tour, climaxed with a muddy performance at Woodstock 94 broadcast on pay-per-view television and viewed by some 24 million viewers. homes. From here on Nine Inch Nails achieved relative success in the mainstream, improving productions and adding visual effects to their concerts. The release of their next album was delayed by Reznor's perfectionism in the studio, his addictions and songwriter's block.

In 1997 Reznor produced the soundtrack for the David Lynch film Lost Highway. The single "The Perfect Drug" was extracted from the album, whose video clip was once again directed by Mark Romanek. A deluxe edition of The Downward Spiral was released in 2004.

The Fragile (1999–2005)

Trent Reznor in San Diego in 2005.

Between The Downward Spiral and NIN's follow-up studio album, The Fragile, a double CD released in September 1999, five years passed. Due to their previous successes, the media, hot on their heels, began talking about the release of The Fragile, a year before it happened, describing it as "often delayed". When the album was finally released, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving positive reviews. Spin received acclaim to The Fragile as "album of the year," and several of the songs on the record were featured on alternative rock radio stations on a regular basis. The album dropped out of the top ten chart just a week after its release, so Reznor had to subsidize the album's US tour to promote it with his own money.

According to Reznor, The Fragile was conceived by making "writing, arranging, production and sound design [...] a single thing. A song starts with a drum loop or a certain visual and the song emerges from that and that's it'. To choose the songs and their order on the album, Reznor turned to rock producer Canadian Bob Ezrin; the booklet says that it "provided [the album] with the final flow and continuity".

Prior to the album's release, the song "Starfuckers, Inc." sparked media speculation about who the harsh satirical lyrics were directed at. Cinesexuality journalist Patricia MacCormack interprets the song as "a scathing attack on the alternative music scene" 34;, particularly Reznor's former protégé and friend, Marilyn Manson. However, the two artists put their differences aside when Manson appeared in the music video for the song, retitled "Starsuckers, Inc. &#3. 4; and performing at a Nine Inch Nails concert at New York's Madison Square Garden in 2000. Three singles were taken from the album in different locations around the world: "The Day the World Went Away" in United States; "We're in This Together" in Europe and Japan (on three separate discs); and "Into the Void" in Australia.

The follow-up to The Fragile was another remix album, Things Falling Apart, released after the Fragility tour of 2000, by whose concerts were recorded and released on CD, DVD and VHS in 2002 called And All that Could Have Been. A deluxe edition of the CD was also released with a bonus disc called Still, which includes versions of previous songs from NIN's catalog along with several new compositions.

With Teeth (2005–2007)

NIN during a concert of the tour With Teeth in 2005.

Six years passed until the release of Nine Inch Nails' new studio album, With Teeth, released in 2005, though it was leaked before the official release. The album was written and recorded after Reznor's battle with his addiction to alcohol and substance abuse. Like The Fragile, With Teeth debuted on the first position of the Billboard 200 list in the United States. The album design suppresses the typical booklet; instead, only the songs and the co-producers of each are listed, along with a URL that gives access to a PDF poster with the lyrics and other information related to the album. All songs on the album were available for its direct listening, without the possibility of downloading the files (streaming), on its official MySpace before its physical launch. The reception of specialized critics was, in general, favorable. The critic of Rolling Stone, Rob Sheffield, described the album as "vintage Nine Inch Nails".

In March 2005, a promotional video for the song "The Hand That Feeds" on the official Nine Inch Nails website, to the detriment of its usual premiere on music channels. A month later, Reznor released the source files for the song in GarageBand format, allowing the public to make their own remixes of the song. Reznor similarly released the files for the second single, "Only", on various various formats including Pro Tools and ACID Pro. In addition, David Fincher directed a video for "Only" using computer generated images. The third single, "Every Day Is Exactly the Same", was released in April 2006, although the planned music video for it was scrapped in post-production. 2006 Billboard, Hot Dance Singles Sales, and Hot Digital Songs charts.

Nine Inch Nails embarked on a US tour in the fall of 2005, with Queens of the Stone Age, Autolux and Death from Above 1979 as opening acts. Another of the occasional opening acts on this tour, hip hop artist Saul Williams, performed with Nine Inch Nails at the Voodoo Music Experience festival in New Orleans, Reznor's former hometown, where they headlined. To end the band's With Teeth era, NIN toured US amphitheaters in the summer of 2006, alongside Bauhaus, TV on the Radio and Peaches. In late 2006, the release of a documentary about the tour called Beside You in Time in different formats: DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Year Zero (2007)

NIN during a concert in Munich in 2007. Band members, from left to right: Alessandro Cortini, Jeordie White, Josh Freese (battery), Trent Reznor (high strokes), Aaron North (releasing microphone to the bottom).

Nine Inch Nails' fifth full-length studio album, Year Zero, was released just two years after With Teeth, a departure from the previous ones. The album's lyrics are written from the perspective of multiple fictional characters, and Reznor described it as a concept album criticizing the United States government's policies at the time and the impact they will have fifteen years from now. were generally positive, with an average rating of 76% on MetaCritic.

An alternate reality video game emerged parallel to the Year Zero concept, expanding on the story the album tells. Clues were added at the band's concerts that took fans to a network of websites with games depicting an "Orwellian portrait of America circa 2022". Prior to the release of Year Zero, unreleased songs could be found hidden on USB sticks at Nine Inch Nails concerts in Europe, as part of the alternate reality game. The band's fan participation in the alternate reality game called the attention of the media such as USA Today and Billboard, who have cited the fan-site The NIN Hotline, the forum Echoing the Sound, the fanclub The Spiral and NinWiki as sources of new discoveries.

The first single taken from the album, "Survivalism", and other tracks from the Year Zero album have been released as multitrack audio files for fans to remix. the album called Year Zero Remixed was released, packed with remixes of Year Zero made by other artists. This remix album was the last one released by Nine Inch Nails with a label. multinational, since it meant the end of their contract with Interscope Records and they decided not to renew it. After a delay due to legal problems, they launched a website where they could make remixes and download audio files, as well as being able to post on the website the remixes of the band's followers.

Ghosts I-IV (2008)

Trent Reznor in 2008.

In February 2008, Reznor posted a message on his website titled "2 weeks". On March 2, Ghosts I–IV, a 36-track instrumental album, was released for download via the band's website. Ghosts I–IV marked the continuation of Reznor's experimentation with digital distribution, as the album was released online before its physical release. Like Saul Williams' The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (produced by Reznor), the album is available in various formats and forms, including a free download of the first volume, a digital download of $5, a $10 double CD, a $75 deluxe edition, and a $300 deluxe limited edition. This latest limited edition of 2,500 copies sold out in three days.

Trent Reznor recorded the album in ten weeks and featured collaborations with Atticus Ross (with whom he wrote most of the tracks), Alan Moulder, Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione. Reznor described the collection of 36 songs like "a soundtrack for daydreaming", which he said is "the result of having worked from a very visual perspective - dressing imaginary locations and settings with sounds and textures-&# 34;. The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. Nine Inch Nails also sponsored a film festival through their YouTube channel featuring Ghosts music. as the center of the experience. Reznor has said that "more volumes like Ghosts will surely appear in the future".

The Slip (2008)

In April 2008 a message similar to the one preceding the release of Ghosts I–IV was included on the band's website stating: "2 weeks!" Before any further announcements were made, US radio stations received a single titled 'Discipline'. The radio stations obtained permission to provide their listeners with online links to the song, available at the NIN website for free download with the audio files needed to make remixes.

Trent Reznor at a 2008 concert in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

On May 5, 2008, Nine Inch Nails released The Slip through their website without any advertisement or promotion. The album was available for free download under the Creative Commons Non-commercial Share-alike license. Since its release, it has garnered over one million four hundred thousand downloads. Since then, The Slip has been released physically on CD and in a limited edition of 250,000 copies consisting of the album and one disc. with five songs recorded live during rehearsals for their next tour, plus an LP edition.

Since the release of Ghosts I–IV and The Slip, a twenty-five date US tour called Lights in the Sky has been announced >, which was later expanded to include more dates across the United States and South America. Cortini and Freese joined the live band again and Robin Finck returned to the band. The lineup was originally going to include Rich Fownes, but just before the start of the tour he was replaced without explanation by Justin Meldal-Johnsen as bassist. The tour has received wide praise for its light show and extensive setlist, including songs from Ghosts I–IV in acoustic version (unplugged).

In late 2008, it was announced the departure of Josh Freese and Alessandro Coritini from the live band, and that the band would become a four-piece, with Lostprophets drummer Ilan Rubin replacing Freese. Reznor, shortly thereafter, said that the concerts they did in 2009 could be "the last shows in the near future." In a December 2008 interview before Lights In The Sky's final concert in Las Vegas, Nevada, Reznor said he planned to take a year off from touring, beginning in late 2009., to work on a new album, a TV miniseries for Year Zero and a new software project.

Nine Inch Nails: Wave Goodbye (2009)

Trent Reznor in a performance at the Hollywood, California "Music Box" on September 8, 2009.

On January 7, 2009, Reznor offered HD footage of three concerts via 400 GB BitTorrent for download. The raw, unedited footage is the result of multiple HDV camera footage of the concerts. Victoria, Portland and Sacramento.

On February 16, 2009, Reznor spoke on the band's official website about the future of Nine Inch Nails, saying: "I've been thinking about this for a while and I think NIN has to go away for a while&# 34;. It has not been determined if or when he will return after his 2009 tour with Jane's Addiction, although Reznor has said at various performances that "we'll be back someday, somehow." way". He also said in an interview that if the new ideas he has, like the TV series about Year Zero , don't work out, he will return to Nine Inch Nails, but if they work out he doesn't know what to do. he will do in the future.

Two new songs were released on March 20, 2009, "Not So Pretty Now" and "Non-Entity" (both outtakes from the With Teeth sessions) for free, along with new songs from Jane's Addiction and Street Sweeper Social Club, as a download EP.

Although NIN originally planned to wrap up the US tour on June 12, Reznor has said that "the NIN/JA tour has left me feeling like we had to run and many of the shows have been during the day: it did not seem like a correct way to end NIN", so they have extended the tour, with The Horrors and Mew as opening act, as well as adding dates in Europe and Asia until the August 15, to return to the United States again on August 22 until September 10, 2009, a tour in which some dates have been postponed due to Reznor's illness.

A new decade: back in the studio and new recordings (2012-present)

In a late 2011 interview for BBC Radio 1, Reznor commented that his 2012 compositions would largely be for Nine Inch Nails. In 2012 he confirmed that he was working on new material for the band and that they would return to play live shortly. In February 2013, he announced the return of Nine Inch Nails and details about their impending tour, as well as confirming that the band would feature Eric Avery of Jane's Addiction, Adrian Belew of King Crimson and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv, as well as former members such as Alessandro Cortini and Ilan Rubin.

The tour began at the end of 2013 in the United States and the world tour will continue throughout 2014. On May 15, 2013, Eric Avery left the band without having done a single concert, and that two days later Reznor announced that Robin Finck was returning to the band. In May Reznor announced that he had finished recording the album, finally released by Columbia Records on August 30, 2013 under the title Hesitation Marks. The first single, 'Came Back Haunted', was released on June 6, while the second, 'Copy of A', was released on August 12. the third "Everything" on the 20th of the same month.

Not the Actual Events

In October 2016 Trent Reznor announces that he is recording new material and that it will probably be out before the end of the year. On December 16, Reznor announces the release date of the band's new EP entitled "Not the Actual Events". On December 21, the first cut of the album entitled "BURNING BRIGHT (FIELD ON)" FIRE)", Reznor defines it as "unfriendly and quite impenetrable, the album we needed to make". For this album, Atticus Ross is considered an official member of the band.

Musical Features

Nine Inch Nails live in 2005.

Allmusic critic Steve Huey said that "Nine Inch Nails were the ultimate industrial band and the ones responsible for bringing this music to the masses". Reznor has never referred to his music as industrial, but admits that he has borrowed techniques from industrial bands such as Throbbing Gristle and Test Dept. Despite the disparity between these artists who called themselves "industrial" and Nine Inch Nails, this type of terminology is very common among the journalistic reviews that Reznor's work receives. He told Spin magazine that & # 34;Down in It & # 34; is influenced by Skinny Puppy, and in particular in his song & # 34; Dig It & # 34;; other songs like "Pretty Hate Machine" were described in that same interview as synth-pop. In reviewing The Fragile, Steve Cooper mentions that the album juxtaposes a wide variety of genres, such as the piano solo from "The Friar" or the drum and bass elements in "Starfuckers, Inc."

In the musical catalog of Nine Inch Nails you can find various techniques and styles. Songs like "Wish," "The Perfect Drug" and "The Day the World Went Away" show step dynamics. Reznor's singing follows a similar pattern, transitioning from mumbles to screams. The band's music frequently contains complicated time signatures, notably in songs like "The Collector", from the album With Teeth, or "March of the Pigs". Reznor also uses noise and distortion in many of his song arrangements, incorporating dissonances with melodies and/or chromatic harmonies. These techniques are used, for example, in the song "Hurt" or "Closer"

Influence

Nine Inch Nails have influenced many new artists, which according to Reznor range from "generic knockoffs" from when NIN had their first successes to younger bands that follow their style in a "more sincere, and less imitative way", while Reznor has declared himself a follower of bands like Kiss and Ministry.

After the release of The Downward Spiral, top artists began to notice the influence of Nine Inch Nails: David Bowie compared the impact of NIN to that of The Velvet Underground.

In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time's list of the most influential people of the year, while Spin magazine described him as "the artist most important in music". The RIAA has certified ten and a half million albums sold in the United States, which means approximately half of its total sales worldwide. Bob Ezrin, producer of Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper and Peter Gabriel, described Reznor in 2007 as "a true visionary", warning new artists to take note of his non-compromising attitude. the Kerrang! magazine in London that year, Nine Inch Nails accepted the Kerrang! award, given in honor of the band's major influence on rock music. & #34;Weird Al" Yankovic made a parody of his musical style entitled "Germs", since he was not parodying a specific song, but rather a "parody of style".

On the other hand, Reznor has cited Gary Numan as an influence, going so far as to say "If it hadn't been for The Pleasure Principle, I wouldn't have gotten into this music thing" Numan played with Nine Inch Nails in concert at London's O2 Arena on 15 July 2009 after being introduced by Reznor, who said that Numan 'has been a huge and vital inspiration to him over the last twenty years'. years". They played the songs of Numan "Metal" and "Cars". David Bowie, with whom NIN shared the 1995 Dissonance tour, has also been an influence on the band, most notably their album Low i>. Additionally, Reznor has mentioned Kiss as one of the bands he listened to in his youth.

NIN live

Alessandro Cortini in a performance of 2007.

Trent Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails, but he usually assembles a band of musicians for his live performances. This band, also known as Nine Inch Nails, arranges the band's studio music catalog to create a sound distinct from Reznor's original recordings. Band members have occasionally played in the recording process, although control Creative within studio work is unique to Reznor.

I could have gone out there with players or fifty keyboards or whatever and recreated the sound of the album, but I'm much more interested in having four musicians interpreting what a person initially composed with a computer... The album and concerts are quite different.

The band's live lineup has a tendency to change drastically from tour to tour: except for Reznor on vocals and guitar, no other members of the live band have remained from the start. Reznor attributes the frequent member changes to the long gestation periods of his studio albums, as well as his desire for fresh interpretations of his music. The band's 2009 incarnation is, in addition to Reznor, Robin Finck, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Ilan Rubin.

For this reason, a side project called Tapeworm was created in 1995 between Reznor and several of the musicians from his live bands with a more "democratic" creative environment. Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser, though it expanded to include other regular NIN collaborators Josh Freese, Atticus Ross, and Alan Moulder. However, after nine years of studio sessions, nothing was ever officially released by of the band and in 2005 its dissolution was confirmed.

Nine Inch Nails' live performances are characterized by the use of lighting, set design, and audiovisual effects. Since 1999, the visual design of their shows has been devised by Reznor and Rob Sheridan. Three tours have been captured in live albums and documentaries. Before the Fragility tour in 2000, Reznor said:

I have adopted a philosophy for the performances of Nine Inch Nails that incorporates theatrical elements. I want it to be a drama. I want my rock stars to be bigger than life, you know? The Kurt Cobain of the world, I'm sick of that shit. I don't want a gas station to be my hero. I grew up with Gene Simmons. I grew up with Ziggy Stardust.

The visual elements of NIN's concerts have been highly commented. The Boston Globe described the Fragility tour as "one of the most extraordinary light shows ever". A Contra Costa critic The Times described one of the performances on the Live: With Teeth tour as "they were just ramped up with purple and blue headlamps on the ground shining down on them. from below, giving the band an air of a horror movie".

Business entanglements

Trent Reznor is known for his criticism of the music industry, particularly its corporate influence on his artistic freedom. As a result, Nine Inch Nails have clashed with various corporations, culminating in the decision to proceed as their own agent without any record deal involved.

In the early 1990s, Nine Inch Nails were involved in a public feud with TVT Records, the band's first label. Reznor opposed the record label's attempts to interfere with his intellectual property. Ultimately, they entered into a joint venture with Interscope Records in which Reznor lost a portion of his publishing rights to TVT Music in exchange for having his own label, Nothing Records. In 2005, Reznor sued his former friend and manager John Malm, co-founder of Nothing, for fraud, breach of contract, and fiduciary duties, among other things. courts in New York, where Reznor won and was awarded more than three million dollars.

At the behest of the financial company Prudential Financial, TVT put Reznor's recordings up for auction in 2005. The bid included the entire TVT catalogue, including Pretty Hate Machine and a percentage of royalties from the company that published Reznor's songs, Leaving Hope Music/TVT Music. Rykodisc, which did not win the auction but was able to wrest the patents from Prudential, re-released the CD Pretty Hate Machine on November 22, 2005. Ryko also re-released "Head Like a Hole" 3. 4; on CD and an LP pressing of Pretty Hate Machine in 2006. The label considered releasing a deluxe pressing, as Interscope had previously done with The Downward Spiral. They were influenced by Reznor and liked the idea, but they didn't want to pay him for the album and the idea came to nothing.

Reznor had discrepancies with the MTV musical chain for wanting to use a George W. Bush image in his performance at the MTV Movie Awards. Reznor would later say, " apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to the MTV chain as it is to me."

In 2005, Nine Inch Nails were scheduled to play at the MTV Movie Awards, but withdrew due to a disagreement with the organization over the use of an unaltered image of George W. Bush behind the band's back during the interpretation of "The Hand that Feeds". Shortly after, Reznor wrote on NIN's official website: "apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me." The music network MTV replied that they respected the point Reznor's sight, but that she felt "uncomfortable" as long as a performance was "built around partisan political statements." The one in charge of replacing NIN was the American band of Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters. During the Lights In The Sky tour of 2008, in some concerts, while they played "The Hand That Feeds&# 3. 4; Bush's image could be seen on the screen behind the band. As the elections approached, the face of Bush was slowly metamorphosing into the face of John McCain.

In 2006, after a notice on a fan website, Reznor issued a cease and desist order against Fox News Channel for using three songs taken from The Fragile without your permission. The songs "La Mer", "The Great Below" and "The Mark Has Been Made" they appeared in an episode of War Stories with Oliver North that discussed the Battle of Iwo Jima. Reznor's blog featured a message that read: "Watch out Fox News. A cease and desist has been ordered. FUCK Fox Fucking News".

As part of the alternate reality game that accompanied the Year Zero album, "leaked" intentionally released three songs from it before the official release on USB sticks found at the band's concerts in Europe. The high-quality audio files circulated quickly on the internet, and the owners of the pages that hosted them received a warning from cease and desist from the Recording Industry Association of America, despite the fact that the campaign, and the use of USB sticks, were authorized by Nine Inch Nails' record label. The source breaking the story said: "These fucking idiots are after a campaign that the record company itself authorized".

The US military has acknowledged using the music of Nine Inch Nails as a method of torture to make its detainees talk. Reznor spoke out against these practices by posting a message on his website that read:

It is difficult for me to imagine something more deeply insulting, degrading and enraged than to discover that music you have dedicated to in body and soul to create has been used to torture. If there is any realistic legal action that we can carry out will be done, with the donated profits to human rights charitable organizations. Thank God this country has come to reason and we can leave behind the realm of power, greed, disorder and madness of the Bush administration behind.

Apple rejected an update to the Nine Inch Nails iPhone app for finding the contents of The Downward Spiral objectionable.

Disputes with Universal Music Group

In May 2007, Reznor posted a message on the official Nine Inch Nails website condemning Universal Music Group (the company that owns Nine Inch Nails' record label, Interscope Records) for their plans for the pricing and distribution of Year Zero. Criticized the retail price of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURDOUS", concluding that "as a prize for being a "true fan" they fleece you. Reznor went on to say that "as the climate of desperation for record labels grows more and more, their response to their injuries, mostly self-inflicted, is to screw the consumer even more." Reznor's message, specifically his criticism to the music industry, it garnered considerable media attention. his music through the internet instead of buying it outright. Reznor went on to tell the audience to "steal, steal and steal more and give it all to your friends to keep stealing".

Reznor announced on October 8, 2007 that Nine Inch Nails had terminated their contractual obligations and were free to proceed as "totally free agents of contract to any record label". Reznor also speculated that their The next record release would be made in a similar way to The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, produced by him. Reznor released The Slip in 2008, downloadable for free.

Through another message on NIN's website, Reznor again criticized Universal Music Group for preventing him from launching an official remix website for his fans. Universal refused to unveil the website just days before its scheduled launch day, citing the "indictment" potential—in Reznor's words—of "that they are promoting the same technical copyright infringement that they are suing other companies for.' Reznor said in response to what happened that "he was challenged in the last second to find a way to bring his idea to fruition without getting splattered with urine while these companies pissed on each other's feet'. Despite all obstacles, the remix page was launched of his followers in November 2007.

Discography

Albums of study

• 1989: Pretty Hate Machine
• 1994: The Downward Spiral
• 1999: The Fragile
• 2005: With Teeth
• 2007: Year Zero
• 2008: Ghosts I-IV
• 2008: The Slip
• 2013: Hesitation Marks
• 2018: Bad Witch
• 2020: Ghosts V: Together
• 2020: Ghosts VI: Locusts

EP

• 1992: Broken
• 2016: Not the Actual Events
• 2017: Add Violence

Members

Trent Reznor was the only official member of Nine Inch Nails in the studio, until 2016, when they announced that his collaborator Atticus Ross would become a formal and permanent member of the band. Likewise, Trent assembles a host of backing musicians to perform the songs on tours and other performances. The live band lineup has changed systematically throughout the band's history, with Reznor as the only regular member singing and playing guitar and synthesizers. Well-known artists such as Richard Patrick, Omar Aldair, Chris Vrenna, Jeordie White, Robin Finck, Josh Freese, Aaron North, Alessandro Cortini, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Jerome Dillon, Charlie Clouser, Danny Lohner, Jeff Wardy and James Woolley have contributed to this band.

Timeline

Awards and recognitions

Nine Inch Nails have been nominated twelve times for the Grammy Awards, winning twice.

Grammys