Product Description

Although Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor became theposter boy for industrial rock in the early 1990s, his '89 debut, PRETTY HATE MACHINE, actually has a stronger footholdin '80s synth-pop. The guitar-heavy opener, "Head Like a Hole", is the most aggressive track on the album and proved tobe 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 NineInch Nails aesthetic started out.

Track Listing

1. Head Like A Hole
2. Terrible A Hole
3. Down In It
4. Sanctified
5. Something I Can Never Have
6. Kinda I Want To
7. Sin
8. That's What I Get
9. The Only Time
10. Ringfinger

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7033 in Music
• Released on: 1991-09-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 49 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Customer Reviews

Excellence of its time
thankfully 'A Customer' and 'Toybum' don't represent the great majority of NIN fans who think Pretty Hate Machine, 'Excellence of its time'. It's not Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle, it's not so many things other than being a fantastic slab of tech-industrial metal by a young guy called Trent Reznor.

All that 'A Customer' hates is what makes THIS customer love the album. I don't regard there being a duff track. There has been plenty of music since by NIN that has made me raise my eyebrows, thinking 'Hmmm, not sure about that'.

REMEMBER! THIS WAS A 'LONG' TIME AGO. Nearly 20 years ago. This, for the non-'WIRE' magazine reader brought up reading Sounds, NME and Kerrang! was totally different to Whitesnake and Gillan and the concept-shift from 'Hair' metal and 'Bay Area Thrash' to what Trent was offering.

Don't judge it by the now. It's good enough to hold it's own. ENJOY. You've got 4-5* reviews by many others than those wanting to hold themselves as knowing music you don't know. Lose these guys.

BUY THIS ALBUM.

Nine Inch Nails ~ Pretty Hate Machine ~
The Holy Grail of Industrial music. Personally I think this is the album that put Industrial on the map. Still to this day it has its own unique sound and a sort of futuristic feel. If you see a copy, buy it straight away. Its intelligent, its unique and still to this day it sounds fresh.

amazing music
when i first heard about nine inch nails i thought they were a metal band and put off listening to them. Then i listened to this and realized i was completely wrong. what i found was music based on beats and clever sampling. guitars and other conventional instruments are only used to provide noise here and there instead of being the focus which gives nine inch nails a very unique sound. there's nobody else who makes music like nine inch nails and that alone makes them worth listening to once.

this album raises the bar so high that i look at my other cd's as crap. if that isn't a recommendation, i don't know what is