Pretty Hate Machine
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| Label (s) | TVT Records | ||||||
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10/11 (2010) |
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48:50 / 53:13 (2010) |
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Pretty Hate Machine (also known as Halo 2 ) is the debut album of the American industrial project Nine Inch Nails and was released in October 1989 on the indie label TVT Records. On November 20, 2010 Universal Music released the album remastered and with a bonus track on CD and LP . The remastering was done by Tom Baker in collaboration with front man Trent Reznor .
Emergence
Trent Reznor, who is the only permanent member of the Nine Inch Nails, worked as a janitor at the Right Track recording studio in Cleveland in the late 1980s , where he was finally able to record his first tracks.
Reznor produced the album between May and June 1989 using synthesizers , drum computers and samplers from manufacturers such as Roland , Yamaha and Akai . As with later songs by Nine Inch Nails, the lyrics are based on poems by him. For the music programming and editing Reznor used a Macintosh Plus from Apple . In the production of the album he was led by Chris Vrenna ; Tim Niemi and Flood and the sound engineers Doug DeAngelis, Keith LeBlanc, Adrian Sherwood, John Fryer, Ken Quartarone and Kennan Keating. The mastering was done by Tony Dawsey.
Track list
Except for the bonus track, all of the songs were written by Trent Reznor .
- page A
- 1. Head Like a Hole - 4:59
- 2. Terrible Lie - 4:39
- 3. Down in It - 3:47
- 4. Sanctified - 5:49
- 5. Something I Can Never Have - 5:53
- Side B
- 6. Kinda I Want To - 4:37
- 7. Sin - 4:02
- 8. That's What I Get - 4:30
- 9. The Only Time - 4:47
- 10th ring finger - 5:41
- Bonus track (2010)
- 11. Get Down, Make Love ( Freddie Mercury ) - 4:19
Concept, style and cover artwork
The album is heavily influenced by synthesizer sounds and new wave . The album has a lot of different musical influences, especially Jane's Addiction , Prince and Public Enemy . The music is very reminiscent of David Bowie and Kraftwerk . The Pretty Hate Machine scenario deals with loss, depression and disappointment because one has too high expectations of life, which unfortunately remain unfulfilled. The cover artwork was also designed by Reznor himself and Gary Talpas.
For the re-release in 2010, the album cover was redesigned by Trent Reznor and Rob Sheridan, who deliberately wanted to avoid the bright neon colors that were strongly associated with pop music of the 1980s.
"When we began the Pretty Hate Machine remaster project, Trent discussed with me the idea of tweaking the original artwork a bit to reflect that this was a different version of the album, updated from its original release. We talked about maybe just changing the color scheme a bit - Trent was keen on losing the distinctly 80's hot pink color, for one. It seemed like a fairly straightforward project, as I certainly didn't want to try and radically alter an album cover I'd been looking at since I was a teenager, and that some fans had known very well for more than two decades… All things considered I'm pleased with the way it turned out. "
The revised cover artwork of the new release is desaturated in color and has changes in layout and typography .
The songs
Head like a hole
Head Like a Hole is stylistically assigned to industrial rock and synth-pop , a video was produced for the song, directed by Eric Zimmermann. The song was played frequently on MTV, which significantly increased the band's popularity. A popular alternative version of the song is performing live at Lollapalooza Festival with Body Count . The song is next to Kinda I Want to and Thats What I Get the most popular song on the album. The song was covered by the rock band AFI and the nu-metal band Korn .
Terrible lie
The second track on Pretty Hate Machine is Terrible Lie , which stylistically can be assigned to alternative rock . The song is often played as the opening song at Nine Inch Nails concerts.
Down in It
Down in It was the first release of the Nine Inch Nails, for which a music video was also produced, directed by Benjamin Stokes and Eric Zimmermann, the latter also directed the video for Head Like a Hole . The video was shot in downtown Chicago , the original version of the video showed the suicide of the protagonist (played by Trent Reznor) at the end, but the scene was subsequently removed because no television station wanted to play the video in the original version. Musically, the song can be assigned to synth pop and industrial rock. Reznor testified that he was inspired by Skinny Puppy 's song Dig It . The text is about a sexual relationship with a woman named Krissy. The song got a good rating from Rolling Stone , Azerrad: “The song uses some elements of electronic music, but also of pop. It reminds me of the album Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse by Skinny Puppy. On the whole it sounds like a pop song with a bit of rock, metal and hip hop ”.
Sanctified
Stylistically, the song can be assigned to the New Wave . Judging by the lyrics, this song is about performing a sexual act. Reznor denied this and said that the song was about the "relationship with a crack pipe". The song was already present on the Purest Feeling demo . The final guitar solo was recorded by Richard Patrick . On the demo Purest Feeling the song was still called Slate .
Something I Can Never Have
The song is stylistically assigned to alternative rock. In the course of the song you can hear various background noises, e.g. B. a door that is opened, machine noises, birds chirping. This melancholy atmosphere is underlined by the soft music of the piano. Tom Breihan described the song as "awesome" and said it might be the best the Nine Inch Nails have ever done. The song appeared on the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's film Natural Born Killers .
Kinda I want to
Kinda I Want to can be assigned to alternative rock and new wave as well as industrial rock. A groan can be heard at the beginning. Reznor testified that he composed the song in the studio at the same time. During the course of the song, you hear a reprise from Down in It . At the end a scream can be heard, which leads to the next track. The song was already present on the Purest Feeling demo , where it is still very much influenced by the house of the 1980s. The song was only played on the Pretty Hate Machine tour .
Sin
The song Sin can be assigned to industrial rock and synth pop. The video was not played on any music channel and only celebrated its official premiere years later. The video shows pierced sex organs at the beginning , then you see two homosexuals who practice BDSM . A saxophone was heard on previous demos of the song.
That's what I get
Like most of the songs on the album, the song That's What I Get can be assigned to synth-pop. A similar bassline is used in the song as in Kinda I Want to . The song was already present on the Purest Feeling demo .
The only time
The song The Only Time is stylistically assigned to synth-pop. At the end of the song you can hear distorted guitar tones, which form a direct transition to the next song. The song was already present on the Purest Feeling demo . On the live album Closure the song was changed a bit and the line this is a song about fucking was added.
Ring finger
Like almost all songs from Pretty Hate Machine , Ringfinger can also be found on the Purest Feeling demo , where it was still called Twist . The song can be assigned to synth-pop, but also uses elements of the radio .
Get Down, Make Love
The revised new edition of the album, released in 2010, contains a cover version of the Queen song Get Down, Make Love as a bonus track .
reception
| source | rating |
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| Allmusic |
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The reviews were mostly positive, so Michael Azerrad praised the album in Rolling Stone in 1990 and described it as a successful mix of industrial rock and pop music . He also wrote that the music sounded "horrific, but catchy". The magazine selected Pretty Hate Machine at number 58 of the 100 best debut albums.
The music critic Robert Mitchum rated the album benevolently on Pitchfork Media , but described it as weaker than the successor. Pretty Hate Machine ranks 76th among the 200 best albums of the 1980s.
Reviewer Steve Martin praised the album in Thrasher magazine , describing it as a “successful mixture of industrial , pop and punk ”.
The album also enjoyed some popularity in German-speaking countries. Lukas Hilbert praised the album's influence:
“With the album Pretty Hate Machine , the breakthrough to an enjoyable variant of industrial music was made for a commercially interesting audience and the corresponding dirty scent brand was set in pop culture. The aggressive reign of sounds in this album was first internalized by depressed club-goers who swirled to the rhythms and appropriated fear-obsessed beliefs. Since its release, the hard-boiled views of this album have stood for an aesthetic dream of the suffering that machines drive us on. The tracks of hissing machines and dissonant overloads fall upon you - beyond all means of modern, pleasant mediation. Hits like “Head Like a Hole” and “Down in It” can be recognized by their sarcastic beats and penetrating riffs, as well as by the hostile statements of their lyrics, which catch the listener with their flood of disrespectful criticism. Pretty Hate Machine is not easy fare and hits a sensitive nerve in our core. "
The album initially polarized the audience, but is now considered a classic of the genre.
Trivia
- In the liner notes of the album, Reznor thanks Clive Barker , Jane's Addiction , Prince and Public Enemy, among others .
- In 2005 the album String Quartet Tribute to Nine Inch Nails by Eric Gorfain was released, it contains all songs by Pretty Hate Machine , the pieces were recorded by a string quartet and can be assigned to classical music .
Web links
- Pretty Hate Machine at Allmusic (English)
- Pretty Hate Machine at Discogs
- Pretty Hate Machine on MusicBrainz
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nine Inch Nails Chart History on billboard.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ full Official Chart History on officialcharts.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ a b Pretty Hate Machine (album) on Allmusic
- ↑ Trent Reznor: Equipment on equipboard.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ Macworld.com
- ↑ a b laut.de
- ↑ Tom Breihan: pitchfork.com
- ↑ ninwiki.com
- ↑ Pretty Hate Machine: Artwork on ninwiki.com
- ↑ NIИwiki Head like a Hole
- ↑ YouTube Video ( Memento from March 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Head Like a Hole music video
- ↑ NIИwiki Terrible Lie
- ↑ a b Down in It NIИwiki
- ↑ a b Michael Azerrad: Nine Inch Nails . Rolling Stone , 1990
- ↑ a b ninwiki.com
- ↑ Tom Breihan: pitchfork.com
- ↑ a b Something I can never have . NIИwiki
- ↑ a b c Kinda I Want To . NIИwiki
- ↑ youtube.com
- ↑ Sin . NIИwiki
- ↑ That's What I Get .
- ↑ a b The Only Time . ninwiki.com
- ↑ ring finger . NIИwiki
- ↑ Pretty Hate Machine (2010 Remaster) . Allmusic
- ↑ Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine . Discogs
- ↑ Review by Steve Huey on allmusic.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time on rollingstone.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ pitchfork.com
- ↑ The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s on pitchfork.com (February 3, 2019)
- ↑ Steve Martin: Nine Inch Nails, in: Thrasher, June 1990, pp. 81/82.
- ↑ After 25 years, 'Pretty Hate Machine' is still Trent Reznor's most honest album on theverge.com (February 3, 2019)