pretty hate machine
Original image found at Sterogum

It’s another month to celebrate the music of Nine Inch Nails. And this month, it so happens to fall on a Music Monday.

This month, I’ve picked “Pretty Hate Machine” as the album to celebrate. It was the first album by the band, which is pretty much Trent Reznor as the sole official member of the band, even though there have been various players that have remained with the band for years [like Robin Finck]. His start as an assistant in a recording studio gave him the ability to start creating his own music. In failed efforts trying to get other musicians to help, he ended up going solo and performing just about every instrument [sans the drums] and released what would be one of the most important albums of alternative music.

Walks Me Through The Nicest Parts of Hell

The album came out in 1989 and instantly became a hit with many, prompting record deal offers and various remixes of the 10 songs that were on the album. I first heard the song “Down In It” on alternative radio stations and loved it. Eventually songs like “Head Like A Hole” and “Sanctified” started getting airplay and then the talk of the album went viral, which back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, there was no online world to push it. It was all word of mouth, sharing physical copies, cassettes, CDs and vinyl.

Remastered in 2010

pretty hate machine
Original image found at Laughing Squid

After many years of the original master tapes being unavailable due to a feud between Trent and the original label TVT Records, the album was out of print from 1997 till Rykodisc obtain the rights to re-issue it in 2005. Then in 2010, Trent secured the original master tapes and we have the current remastered version, which adds one additional track “Get Down, Make Love” the remake of the Queen song, which originally appeared on the “Sin” single.

This album is still strong today and never sounds outdated. The progressive sound Trent created lives on today in most of his songs, albeit in an updated fashion and format.

What’s on your NINsday playlist for today? If you are on Twitter, use hashtag #NINsday and let us know.