Maps of Music

Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

Where the lyrics of Pretty Hate Machine take you, and where it was really made.

Reznor wrote much of this debut at night while working as a handyman and engineer at a Cleveland studio, and it was recorded in several studios across three countries.

Key places

Blackwing Studios, London (1989)

Recording site Blackwing Studios — The album was recorded in several studios, and Blackwing Studios in London is one of them. The point marks the studio building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Roundhouse Studios, London (1989)

Recording site Roundhouse (London) — Roundhouse Studios in London is listed among the studios where Pretty Hate Machine was recorded. The point marks the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Right Track Studio, Cleveland (1989)

Recording site Lava Studios — Reznor worked as a handyman and engineer at the Right Track Studio in Cleveland, and the album was recorded there. The point uses the city centre because the exact building is not confirmed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Synchro Sound Studios, Boston (1989)

Recording site Synchro Sound Studios — Synchro Sound Studios in Boston is listed among the studios where the album was recorded. The point uses the city centre because the exact building is not confirmed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Unique Recording Studios, New York City (1989)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — Unique Recording in New York City is listed among the studios where the album was recorded. The point uses the city centre because the exact building is not confirmed. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Pretty Hate Machine: debut studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails
• Released 20 October 1989 by TVT Records
• Reissued by the Bicycle Music Company, which acquired the recording rights on 29 March 2010
• Frontman Trent Reznor sang and played most of the instruments
• Produced by Reznor with Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer and Flood, plus a few other contributors
• Heavily synthesizer-driven electronic sound blended with industrial and rock elements
• Lyrics deal with angst, betrayal and lovesickness, as in the band's later work
• Singles: 'Down in It', 'Head Like a Hole' and 'Sin', plus a tour

Background

• Reznor worked nights as a handyman and engineer at the Right Track Studio in Cleveland, Ohio
• He used studio down-time to record and develop his own music
• He played most keyboards, drum machines, guitars and samplers himself and recorded a demo
• Sequencing was done on a Macintosh Plus
• Main synthesizers: E-mu Emax, Prophet VS, Oberheim Xpander and Minimoog
• Manager John Malm Jr. helped send the demo to various record labels
• Many labels made offers; Reznor signed with TVT Records, known mainly for novelty and television jingle records
• Recorded without a conventional band, working with producers he admired: Flood, Keith LeBlanc, Adrian Sherwood and John Fryer
• In 1991 Reznor said the recordings, then two years old, sounded immature to him
• After release, a bootleg called Purest Feeling surfaced with early rehearsal recordings of many tracks

Recording

• Sessions took place in several studios, including Right Track, Blackwing, Unique, Synchro Sound and Roundhouse
• Reznor used an E-mu Emax because it produced a high-end buzz when transposing sounds down
• Rough first takes of vocals and guitar were kept to contrast the quantized drums and bass
• He disliked the Emax factory sounds and used samples from his record collection for all drum sounds
• He first expected to use real drum sounds, but he and the producers only equalized his drum samples
• Reznor tried to limit himself to two vocal takes
• The album was mastered at Masterdisk in New York

Cover

• Cover art designed by Gary Talpas: a photo of turbine blades stretched vertically to look like a rib cage
• For the 2010 reissue, Rob Sheridan updated the cover to tone down the late-Eighties neon look
• The original artwork could not be found, so Sheridan rebuilt the cover by scanning it and repainting it digitally

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio, by singer-songwriter Trent Reznor.
• Reznor was the sole permanent member until Atticus Ross officially joined in 2016.
• The first live performance took place at Graffiti in Pittsburgh on October 27, 1988.
• Signed with TVT Records and later moved to Interscope Records.

Members

• Core members are Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
• Robin Finck, Josh Freese, and Stu Brooks form the current live lineup.
• Many former live members have been named, including Chris Vrenna, Danny Lohner, and Charlie Clouser.

Career

• Released Pretty Hate Machine (1989), Broken (1992), The Downward Spiral (1994), The Fragile (1999), and With Teeth (2005).
• Released Year Zero (2007), Hesitation Marks (2013), Bad Witch (2018), and Ghosts V and VI (2020).
• Won Grammy Awards for "Wish", "Happiness in Slavery", and "As Alive as You Need Me to Be".
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone: Michael Azerrad called the album 'industrial-strength noise over a pop framework' and 'harrowing but catchy music'
• Los Angeles Times: Robert Hilburn found Reznor's 'dark obsession' compelling
• Q: Martin Aston said Reznor 'scans the spectrum of modern dance' with a 'panoramic vision'
• Select: Neil Perry called the record 'a flawed but listenable labour of loathing'
• The New York Times: Jon Pareles was less impressed, writing that the album stays close to the conventions of Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and New Order
• The Washington Post: Mark Jenkins called the music 'competent but undistinctive stuff'
• Option: Frank Beeson described the album as 'good for what it is'

Reappraisal

• AllMusic: Steve Huey praised Reznor for giving industrial music a human voice and emotional extravagance
• Rolling Stone (2010 reissue): Will Hermes called it 'the first industrial singer-songwriter album'
• The A.V. Club: Kyle Ryan felt the album remains the work of an artist just discovering his voice and found some sounds dated
• Reznor's lyrics were called 'mopey' and 'silly' in that review

Records

• Billboard 200: entered in February 1990, peaked at number 75
• Spent 115 weeks on the Billboard 200, tying The Downward Spiral as the band's longest chart run
• RIAA: Gold on 3 March 1992 for 500,000 units shipped in the US
• Became one of the first independently released records to reach Platinum, in 1995
• RIAA: triple Platinum on 12 May 2003, three million copies sold in the US
• UK Albums Chart: number 67; BPI Silver on 1 November 1995
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020): number 453

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• After touring as the opening act for Skinny Puppy in late 1988, Reznor wrote 'Head Like a Hole', the album's first track, and it came together very quickly.
• Reznor said every drum fill on 'Terrible Lie' is lifted from somewhere, with fragments of six other songs playing through the track.
• The 2010 remaster added the bonus track 'Get Down, Make Love', a Queen cover first released on the 'Sin' single.
• Prince, Jane's Addiction and Public Enemy are credited in the liner notes as artists whose music was sampled.
• The album went out of print through TVT before Rykodisc reissued it on 22 November 2005 with slightly modified packaging.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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