My Comments

With opening bars of clock ticking for Head Like a Hole almost as familiar as the cash sounds Alan Parsons created for Pink Floyd's Money, the CD just starts going without letting up until the end. When the CD was released it was the start of Industrial Music entering popular culture. I can clearly remember working in the college radio station and getting this CD. Upon first listen I was just shell shocked. What had I heard. I had been assaulted.

When the CD was released a "fast" tempo for mainstream music was considered to be 100 beats per minute, this hit a highpoint of a whopping 140+. It was also clearly mechanical and computer produced versus the synth pop and other MIDI travesties of the time. It was the tragedy to the comedy of Top 40.

This is one of those albums where I put it away for a little while, and then when the proper time and mood strike it comes out and stays in the CD player. The anger and angst in the album just seethes through the speakers and provides the listener a view of life that can be quite disturbing. For me it is a cathartic process of singing along in the car and getting the feelings out so I can move on.

Often times people comment that this album is based on Trent Reznor's girlfriend; it sure sounds like it to me.

I saw them during the first Lollapalooza tour and was just blown away. I was expecting a bunch of samplers and keyboards. There were those, plus

guitars and drums. It was such an experience for me that I even charged headlong into the mosh pit and ended up against the stage wall. It truly kicked ass and showed me that music does not have to sound pretty to be Music.

Reviews:

VH1.com

There are lyrics on Nine Inch Nails' 1989 debut album which you wouldn't want your children to recite and Trent Reznor, good looks notwithstanding, is hardly the sort you'd invite round to meet your parents. On this Reznor's despair, self-loathing and anxiety are animated by a fearful barrage of bone-crunching industrial noise. Parts of "Something I Can Never Have," for example, could teach Motorhead a thing or two about the power riff. It's not all jet-propelled hate and fury, however, with varied producers (Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc) all bringing something new to the table. And if Reznor's nihilism clouds proceedings, his vitriol nevertheless produces some spectacular moments - "Head Like A Hole," "Sin" and "Ring Finger" [SIC] being prime examples.

Alternative Press (7/95, p.77) - Ranked #7 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...fulfilled what had merely been the prophetic rumblings of industrial music....before PRETTY HATE MACHINE, [industrial had]...no real messiahs....Reznor assumed that position...with subhuman slips of the tongue and those patented screaming, 'gated' guitars..."

Q Magazine (3/91) - 4 Stars - Excellent "NIN scans the spectrum of modern dance...Reznor's panoramic vision is both admirably adventurous and yet accessible."

 

Amazon.com essential recording

Considered the breakthrough album that delivered a more palatable version of industrial music to the commercial audience, Pretty Hate Machine left its dingy mark on pop culture. The abrasive "sonarchy" of the album was first churned by despondent club-goers who roiled with the rhythms and aligned with the angst-ridden convictions. Since its release, the album's tempered deviations came to signify an aesthetic reverie for machine-driven martyrdom. Permeated by hissing engines and dissonant strains, the tracks cascade outside channels of modern complacency. Hits like "Head Like a Hole" and "Down in It" are recognized by the acidic beats, piercing riffs, and lyrical hostilities which snare the listener with disparaging rhapsody. Not for the light-headed, Pretty Hate Machine afflicts the inner sanctum and strikes a nerve. --Lucas Hilbert

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