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"NIN" redirects here. For other uses please see Nin (disambiguation) . Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated as '''NIN''' and typeset as '''NIИ''') is a critically and commercially successful American band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988 by Trent Reznor . The only constant member of Nine Inch Nails is singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, who has always remained solely responsible for NIN's musical direction (he is, however, supported in concert by a regular backing band). ETYMOLOGY Reznor describes the meaning behind the name ''Nine Inch Nails'': :I don't know if you've ever tried to think of band names, but usually you think you have a great one and you look at it the next day and it's stupid. I had about 200 of those. Nine Inch Nails lasted the two week test, looked great in print, and could be abbreviated easily. It really doesn't have any literal meaning. It seemed kind of frightening. his best he-man voice Tough and manly! It's a curse trying to come up with band names.[http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/axc94a.shtml] The Nine Inch Nails logo (the letters "NIN" with the second "N" reversed, looking similar to "NIИ") was inspired by Tibor Kalman 's typography on the album cover of Talking Heads ' '' Remain In Light ''. {Link without Title} . GENRE NIN's sound has variously been described as Alternative , Electronica , Heavy Metal , Rock , Synth Pop , or, most commonly, Industrial or Industrial Rock . Regarding his music being categorized as industrial, Reznor said in a 1994 ''Axcess Magazine'' interview: What was originally called industrial music was about 20 years ago Throbbing Gristle and Test Dept. We have very little to do with it other than there is noise in my music and there is noise in theirs. I'm working in the context of a pop song structure whereas those bands didn't. And because someone didn't come up with a new name that separates those two somewhat unrelated genres, it tends to irritate all the old school fans waving their flags of alternativeness and obscurity. So, I'd say I've borrowed from certain styles and bands like that. {Link without Title} NIN's songs cover a range of genres: "" is tinged with Industrial Metal in the vein of Ministry , "The Frail" is a melancholy Piano piece, and most of '' Pretty Hate Machine '' could be considered dark Electronic Pop in the style of Depeche Mode . DISCOGRAPHY See Also: Nine Inch Nails discography Although Nine Inch Nails has existed for over 17 years, it has only produced four proper full-length albums: '' Pretty Hate Machine '', '' The Downward Spiral '', '' The Fragile '', and '' With Teeth '', with an average of five years between each album. With the inclusion of the important '' Broken '' EP , Nine Inch Nails' primary releases are: # '' Pretty Hate Machine '' ( 1989 ) # '' Broken '' ( 1992 ) # '' The Downward Spiral '' ( 1994 ) # '' The Fragile '' ( 1999 ) # '' With Teeth '' ( 2005 ) The seeming sparseness of this discography belies the extent of NIN's work, as each main release serves as a center to numerous satellite releases, including Remix Albums , Singles with extensive collections of B-sides , and tour documentaries. Indeed, each primary release is seen as the center of an associated era, in which the secondary releases are viewed as vitally important to understanding of the artistic whole. This feeling is enhanced by Nine Inch Nails' adoption of ''halo Numbers'' to number each release, regardless of format. This sequential system carries the implicit message that every NIN release, from albums to singles, is an equally-important part of NIN's catalog. In addition to official releases, NIN has performed work on numerous Soundtracks and Remixes . ''Pretty Hate Machine'' '' (1989)]] Main article: Pretty Hate Machine NIN's Debut album, '' Pretty Hate Machine '' ( 1989 ), largely consists of studio versions of demo recordings (released later unofficially as '' Purest Feeling ''.) This was also NIN's first collaboration with producer Mark 'Flood' Ellis . It went Triple Platinum in the U.S. and produced the singles " Head Like A Hole ", " Down In It ", and " Sin ". Music videos were made for all three tracks, but the video for "Sin" was not released to the public until 1997, with the release of '' Closure ''. In the credits of Pretty Hate Machine, Trent Reznor thanks British Horror/Fantasy writer , 2006 . ''Broken'' '' (1992)]] Main article: Broken NIN's second major release was '' Broken '' ( 1992 ), an EP of six tracks plus two bonus tracks. It was originally released in a fold-out format, containing the first six tracks on a regular CD and an additional three-inch minidisc with the remaining bonus tracks. It was later released as one CD, with the bonus songs as "hidden" tracks 98 and 99. The song " Wish ", aided by the video directed by Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson of Coil , won a Grammy in the " Metal " category. Jon Reiss directed a music video for " Happiness In Slavery ," which was almost universally banned due to its graphic content. The video depicts Performance Artist Bob Flanagan strapping himself to a machine that subsequently pleasures, tortures and kills him. A video for "Pinion" aired twice on MTV before being banned for its objectionable content, although images from it did become a fixture in the opening title sequence of the MTV show ''Alternative Nation''. A full length video informally called '' The Broken Movie '' was also made by Sleazy, but has not seen an official release. ''The Broken Movie'', as of 2005, can only be found on bootleg. ''Broken'' was followed by the remix EP '' Fixed ''. ''The Downward Spiral'' '' (1994)]] Main Article: The Downward Spiral NIN's second full album and third major release was '' The Downward Spiral '' ( 1994 ). This was NIN's second collaboration with Mark 'Flood' Ellis . Two singles, " March Of The Pigs " and " Closer ", were released from this quadruple platinum album, and two additional tracks, " Hurt " and "Piggy", were sent to radio without a single release. Music videos were made for "March of the Pigs", "Closer", live footage of "Eraser" (which would never receive airtime) , and " Hurt ". The edited MTV version of "Closer" became very successful. The video for "Closer" (directed by Mark Romanek ), in many ways, set a standard for Nine Inch Nails videos with its eerie images of pigs' heads and S&M paraphernalia. Also, "Closer" was remixed and used for the opening credits of the movie "Se7en". The album's final track, " Hurt ", would enjoy success once again when it was covered, with slight alterations to the lyrics, by Johnny Cash in 2003 . In 1995 David Bowie sang a duet version of "Hurt" with Trent Reznor on the ''Outside'' tour. ''The Downward Spiral'' was followed by the remix EP '' Further Down The Spiral '', which featured a collaboration with electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin and new guitar parts being lent by Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro . A remastered version of ''The Downward Spiral'' was released on November 23 , 2004 , with an accompanying CD of B-sides and rarities. The remastered recording was also released as a two-sided DualDisc . Laced with songs of tourment and guilty pleasure, The Deluxe Edition of the remaster features multichannel and stereo SACD versions of the album as well as a remastered standard CD layer on the first disc, and stereo SACD and standard CD layers on the second. The DualDisc contains a remastered CD-Audio on one side and features a DVD-Audio format side containing High Resolution Stereo and 5.1 Surround mixes of the entire album with expanded album art, a discography, and music videos "Closer" (stereo and surround), "March of the Pigs", and "Hurt (Live)". ''The Fragile'' '' (1999)]] Main article: The Fragile NIN's fourth major release was the two-disc album '' The Fragile '' ( 1999 ). It produced three singles, one released in the US (" The Day The World Went Away "), one in the UK (" We're In This Together ") released as a 3 part single, and one in Japan and Australia (" Into The Void "). Music videos for "We're In This Together", "Into The Void", and " Starfuckers, Inc. " (retitled as "Starsuckers, Inc.") were aired in the US. " Starfuckers, Inc. " was a parody of Reznor's former friend and protégé, Marilyn Manson . Several vocal takes were chopped up and spliced together as a not-so-subtle jab at Manson's usual inability to capture his desired vocal style in a single take. The lyrics satirized Manson as being vain and insincere. Manson and Reznor later reconciled, and Manson even appeared in the music video for Starfuckers, Inc. In interviews prior to the album's completion, Reznor said he was considering organizing the tracks such that one disc would contain all instrumentals and the other the songs with lyrics. These plans changed when Bob Ezrin (producer of Pink Floyd 's '' The Wall '') suggested an arrangement of tracks that would strengthen the "four corners of the album"—namely the beginnings and ends of each of the two discs. Ezrin is credited in the liner notes as having "provided final continuity and flow". The Fragile was followed by the remix album '' Things Falling Apart ''. The Fragility Tour was recorded and released on CD and DVD as '' And All That Could Have Been ''. A special edition came with a companion disc called '' Still '', featuring acoustic re-recordings of songs from across NIN's career along with several new songs. ''Still'' is regarded as a classic among fans, and there was much speculation prior to the release of '' With Teeth '' in 2005 that the album would take a form similar to ''Still''. Three videos for ''Still'' were released on NIN's official website . ''With Teeth'' '' (2005)]] Main article: With Teeth NIN's fifth major release, '' poster full of stylized artwork and lyrics. The band allowed the entire album to be listened to in streaming audio at MySpace beginning April 27 , 2005 {Link without Title} . The vinyl, Japanese, Australian & UK release of With Teeth all featured an extra track, "Home", a leftover cut from the ''With Teeth'' recording sessions. Along with the standard edition and "Limited Tour Edition", a DualDisc version is available, which features ''With Teeth'' in stereo and 5.1 surround sound, DVDA stereo and surround playback, a Dolby Digital stereo and surround mix, the music video for "The Hand that Feeds", an interactive discography, and a slideshow of NIN-related images. Nine Inch Nails dropped out of the 2005 MTV Movie Awards show because of a disagreement with MTV over the use of an unaltered image of George W. Bush as a backdrop to the band's performance of "The Hand that Feeds", which includes such lyrics as: :What if this whole crusade's a charade :And behind it all there's a price to be paid :For the blood on which we dine :Justified in the name of the holy and the divine "Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me", Reznor said. They were replaced on the show by the Foo Fighters . In fall 2005 , Nine Inch Nails launched a North American tour supported by Queens Of The Stone Age , as well as Autolux for the first half of the tour followed by Death From Above 1979 during the second half. The second single for this album, released in mid-July, was " Only ." A video for "Only" was completed around May. It was created using primarily Computer-generated Imagery , and directed by David Fincher . It debuted on July 11th on Fuse and can been seen on the band's official website. The third single, "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" was released on January 16 , 2006 . In April of 2005, Trent Reznor released the source files for "The Hand that Feeds" in Garageband format, to allow his fans to remix it. The release spawned an Unofficial Remix Contest , in which over 500 fan remixes were submitted. After receiving such a tremendous response from this "experiment", the source files for the next single "Only" was released in a wider range of formats. On the NIN official Web site, Reznor said: "There is no agenda here other than for you to explore, experiment, and have fun with it, I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with." Fans were able to access The Ninremixes Myspace Page to upload their remixes, vote for their favourites, and comment about their experiences in a blog. As an alternative to this, fans also created a database with similar features to host these as well as other remixes, creating one of the largest fan created media sites to date, ninremixes.com . The source files are in various file formats, including Garageband and ACID formats. They can be found on nin.com . In the months following the release of ''With Teeth'', two new Nine Inch Nails songs surfaced: "Non-Entity" recorded live at the ReactNow! Hurricane Katrina Benefit Concert . "Not So Pretty Now" has appeared on the setlist of a few recent Nine Inch Nails live shows, but has not yet seen a studio recording release. On December 10 , 2005 , Nine Inch Nails performed at the sixteenth annual of the Acoustic Christmas by the Los Angeles, California radio station KROQ . It was the first time the band ever performed at KROQ concerts. In early 2006, Nine Inch Nails released the third single from With Teeth, " Every Day Is Exactly The Same " which reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Singles chart and the Canadian charts. ''With Teeth'' was RIAA Certified Platinum in March 2006 . Reznor's other works Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor often performs work outside the context of Nine Inch Nails. More information on work credited to Reznor can be found in Trent Reznor's Discography . MUSIC VIDEOS '' Broken '', the unreleased short film directed by Peter Christopherson, contains the videos for "Pinion", "Wish" and "Happiness in Slavery". It also features a video for the song "Help Me I Am in Hell", and a different video for the song "Gave Up" than what appears on Closure, set to scenes within the film. It is commonly referred to as the "'' Broken Movie ''." FUTURE NIN RELEASES Reznor has been quoted in '' Kerrang! '' magazine as commenting that he has enough material for a new release tentatively scheduled for spring 2006 featuring the tracks that were not on ''With Teeth''. A DVD version of ''Closure'' is forthcoming, but has already been delayed for several years. Reznor has indicated that it is now in the hands of Interscope , and the latest news on the DVD is about the work on the menus {Link without Title} . Reznor has indicated that he would like to release remastered Surround Sound editions of ''Pretty Hate Machine'', ''Broken''/''Fixed'' and ''The Fragile'' However, the Rykodisc reissue of ''Pretty Hate Machine'' does not contain a surround sound mix [http://www.torontosun.com/Entertainment/Music/2005/11/08/1297497-sun.html . On March 28, 2006 and March 30, 2006, two of NIN's live shows (Oklahoma City and El Paso respectively) were filmed in High Definition for possible future DVD release {Link without Title} . AWARDS RIAA Certifications
Grammy Award s
Others
SINGLES MEMBERS Trent Reznor is the only constant member of the band, writing all of the lyrics himself and maintaining sole control of the direction of the band. While recording, Reznor assembles various Producers , engineers, and musicians to assist him in creating new songs. Similarly, Reznor assembles a live backing band for each NIN tour. Aside from Reznor himself ( Vocals , Guitar , Bass , Synthesizer ), musicians in live incarnations of NIN have been: Hate '90 Tour ( 1990 )
Self Destruct Tours ( 1994 - 1995 )
Outside Tour with David Bowie (September - October, 1995 )
Fragility Tours ( 1999 - 2000 )
Live: With_Teeth (March 2005 onwards)
TRIVIA
Music
Film and television
Video games
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Official sites
Fan sites
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