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Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails is perhaps one of the most influential alternative rock bands of the 1990's, headlining the decade alongside grunge gods Nirvana and thrash rockers Pantera. The band is one of the first to combine industrial-style music - very much a niche genre - with more radio-friendly synth-pop and rock sensibilities, cultivating a sound that remains edgy without becoming... More >

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Nine Inch Nails is perhaps one of the most influential alternative rock bands of the 1990's, headlining the decade alongside grunge gods Nirvana and thrash rockers Pantera. The band is one of the first to combine industrial-style music - very much a niche genre - with more radio-friendly synth-pop and rock sensibilities, cultivating a sound that remains edgy without becoming inaccessible. Nine Inch Nails (commonly abbreviated to NIN) is the creation of Trent Reznor, a small-town Pennsylvania boy who dropped out of college and was working as a sound engineer in a Cleveland recording studio in the late 1980's. After leaving a piano rock band called Exotic Birds, he wanted to start a band with a heavier sound; unable to find other musicians up to his standards, he decided to form NIN as a solo project, recording all instrumentation (save drums) himself for free when there was down time at his studio.

His early recordings eventually caught the attention of then-unknown New York-based TVT Records (The Polyphonic Spree, Ying Yang Twins), who released his first album Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. Though perhaps low-fi and dated by today's standards the album proved popular in its day, moving well over 500,000 copies based on the success of early hits "Head Like a Hole" and "Sin". Though well on his way to superstardom, Reznor was already having difficulty with TVT, eventually severing his contract with the label after rushing out the Broken EP in 1992.

The group - who attracted attention in their early years for energetic live shows, often completely destroying their instruments at the end - reached the height of their notoriety in the mid 1990's, after the 1994 release of quadruple-platinum CD The Downward Spiral on Interscope Records (Marilyn Manson, 12 Rounds). The album not only achieved infamy for single "Closer"'s violently graphic and sexually explicit music video, but also for the location in which it was recorded - inside a Los Angeles mansion where the Manson Family Gang killed actress Sharon Tate in the 1960's. After he finished recording the album, Trent consulted with local developers and had the mansion bulldozed to the ground, partly out of the shame he felt after meeting Sharon's sister a few months after the album's release.

Though NIN continued to tour throughout the late 1990's - notably playing at the Woodstock music festival, and on a nationwide circuit with David Bowie - the band did not produce new material for five years as Reznor was dealing with depression and drug addiction. Nine Inch Nails finally released their third album, The Fragile, on Interscope via Reznor's Nothing imprint in 1999; though not as commercially successful as The Downward Spiral (moving only about one million copies as opposed to the latter's four), The Fragile nonetheless received critical acclaim for its more restrained and ambient tone, evident in tracks like "Starsuckers, Inc." and "Into the Void".

NIN once more went into a sort of hiatus after The Fragile, with Reznor again falling victim to depression and substance abuse. After entering rehab and sobering up in 2004, Reznor pleasantly surprised fans and critics alike with the April 27th release of his fourth full-length album, With Teeth. Unlike The Fragile, With Teeth was more straightforward and rock-oriented, with singles "The Hand that Feeds" and "Only" receiving considerable rotation on modern rock stations. Filled with newfound artistic vigor, Trent released NIN's fifth album Year Zero ("Survivalism", "Capital G") two years later in 2007 amidst heavy touring; the album fulfilled the band's contract with Interscope, and is NIN's last major label release to date.

As of 2008, things have been looking bright for Nine Inch Nails. While still maintaining an aggressive concert schedule, NIN has released two albums in 2008, Ghosts I-IV and The Slip. Free from contractual obligations with major labels, both albums have been released independently on the band's website weeks before their availability in compact disc, vinyl, and digital download form. Standout tracks from NIN's recent albums include "Discipline" and "33 Ghosts IV".

From Discogs:

Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated as NIN) is an American industrial rock band, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. NIN's music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing.

From Lastfm:

Nine Inch Nails is an American band that was formed in Cleveland, Ohio, United States in 1988 by Trent Reznor, the only constant member of the band. He is generally credited for popularizing the genre known as "". Born Michael Trent Reznor, he was raised by his maternal grandparents in Mercer, Pennsylvania, USA. Reznor took up piano at the age of five and in high school took up the tuba and saxophone. During the early to mid 80s Trent played with various and groups such as Exotic Birds and Option 30 before beginning his solo project.

Read more about Nine Inch Nails on Last.fm.

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From Wikipedia:

Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated as NIN, sometimes stylized as NIИ) is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. Nine Inch Nails' music straddles a wide range of genres. After recording a new album, Reznor (until the 2009 Wave Goodbye Tour) usually assembles a live band to perform with him. The touring band features a revolving lineup that often rearranges songs to fit a live setting. On stage, Nine Inch Nails often employs visual elements to accompany performances, which frequently include light shows.

Underground music audiences warmly received Nine Inch Nails in its early years. Reznor produced several highly influential records in the 1990s that achieved widespread popularity: many Nine Inch Nails songs became radio hits; two Nine Inch Nails recordings have won Grammy Awards; and their entire catalog has reached record sales exceeding over 30 million albums worldwide, with 11 million sales certified in the United States alone. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music." In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Nine Inch Nails at 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Despite this acclaim, the band has had several feuds with the corporate side of the recording industry. In 2007, these corporate entanglements resulted in Reznor announcing that Nine Inch Nails would split from its label and release future material independently.

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