You're right. Today, most people just drop beats. Trent Rezner, programs and plays digital, and also analog synthesizers, where sounds are made by manipulating and modulating wave forms (usually with a lot of knobs); he plays them on a an actual keyboard, which is different than dropping sounds in a computer program.
Nine Inch Nails in studio is Trent Reznor, writing, arranging, and in control of everything (he once programmed a 30 piece marching band for a small part of a single song, realizing later it would have been easier if had he just hired one of the many New Orleans marching bands to just learn and play it). There is a live band that he uses to translate the music he makes into a live show. Trent also plays piano, guitar, and on rare occasions sax (searh NIN with David Bowie for that).
When I first heard this song in 1990, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Trent Reznor was influenced by a lot of music besides metal and industrial. He actually samples Public Enemy elsewhere on the album. On the song “Terrible Lie”, he takes the same way they made Miami bass on the TR-808 and turned it into a really cool sub bass line.
I could be wrong but I believe Reznor worked at a recording studio and was allowed to play with the equipment after hours and recorded this album on his own. This was a banger in the alternative dance clubs, along with the other single from the album, Down On It. Down On It has a really funky feel to it, I think you'll like it. Other industrial artists to check out include Front 242 (the song, Headhunter is amazing, as is Welcome to Paradise, and Quite Unusual). Severed Heads' song Twenty Deadly Diseases, Meat Beat Manifesto (a favorite of mine): Mars Needs Women, I Got the Fear Pt.1, Psych Out. Gary Numan was a huge influence on Trent Reznor, check out God Only Knows, Call Out the Dogs, New Thing From London Town, My Breathing, This is Love. Most of the industrial groups were artists using synths and drum machines with heavy machine based sounds but would tour with musicians as well. And most had great dance beats!
@@Sweep_The_Leg_Johnny Ah yes, Skinny Puppy, I saw them live in a small club on the OSU campus, amazing show! There were a lot of bands I forgot to mention but Ministry was probably the biggest fail. So so good!
As part of the punk/goth//alt community throughout the decade, Pretty Hate Machine was a game changer and a fantastic album to close out the Eighties. Every track on it is a banger that packed the dance floors at the underground clubs before MTV got their hooks into NIИ and took them to the Mainstream. Industrial music (rock/dance) was the natural evolution of rock and synthpop that exploded on the Nineties with Grunge, various sub genres of Electronica, groove metal, and Nu Metal. Check out bands line Ministry, Skinny Puppy, My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Revolting C*cks, Propaganda, Filter, Stabbing Westward, White Zombie/Rob Zombie, and the like.
That thing was a brick through the window when it dropped. It's was the musical equivalent of the "Stone Cold Steve Austin Glass Breaking Moment" of it's day. 🤣💯 My boy dropped the cassette into his car after picking me up from 10th grade Summer School and said "Dude... you GOTTA hear this shit!" It was 1990.
On multiple occasions I have put this song on repeat for a half hour or more. It’s very cathartic if you’re feeling pissed off. Recommend album Year Zero for something that resonates with present times, even though it’s from earlier. One of the very best concerts I ever attended was a NIN show in Atlanta probably seven or eight years ago. Just amazing.
This is why I love the head like a hole single. 6 remixes one instrumental 3 down in it remixes and two terrible lie remixes. That was my very first Nine Inch Nails CD after seeing the head like the whole single on MTV, And boy did it get some spins.
so NIN was the leap point for Industrial music- there were artist prior to them that actually created the genre, like Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Coil, etc, but NIN was the first one to get real radio and MTV play. They played Woodstock (the 90s one). Without them there'd be no Marilyn Manson, no Rammstein. Check out March of the Pigs, The Perfect Drug (that video is baller), Closer (I think thats the one you did before).
I still remember laughing my ass when after The Downward Spiral came out, Trent said, "I'm just going to go ahead and call me next album,"Music for Titty-bars."
Cool. I saw NiN open for Peter Murphy a few months after they released Pretty Hate Machine. That was late winter 1990. The concert was intense. "Head Like A Hole" sounded pretty hard for those times. The song was different and fresh. They weren't the first industrial band, but they quickly became one of the more popular industrial bands. DEVO covered "Head Like A Hole" before the decade was out. That was back when I played guitar in bands and such. I played a cover of the song too, but I lacked access to the same tech so I played it like a blues dirge along the lines of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks". When you're ready for more NiN from that album also check out "Down in It" and "Sin". And for some industrial music context also check out Einstürzende Neubauten "Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego)" and Kraftwerk "The Model", "The Robots", and "The Man Machine".
@@3DJapan 100%. The cover is great but its just basic. Very emotional but basic. The original version is a masterpiece. Either way hurt is the most emotional song ever in both versions. And also trent never gave it to cash. Its a misquote
"Industrial" as a genre that is electronic in basis and largely defined (both by digitally created and sampled physical sounds) by jarring, harsh, mechanical or otherwise unexpected/unusual-to-use sounds. "Rock" as a genre, you already know is very wide. "Industrial rock" therefor ends you up with music made of a mix of physical instruments, electronic/digitally made instruments and sounds, and normal and/or digitally altered samples of physically occurring sounds. A lot of this particular song is electronic, others are physical instruments. "Wish" is one I'd suggest by NIN that shows a different angle of their sound where the physical instruments are more in the forefront, the maybe "Reptile" off the next major album that is a very different blend of all aspects. Industrial and rock both can range so greatly in what portion of genre a band chooses in general or by song that putting the two together gives for a very wide and varied mix of music from I-R bands.
this is a track that I would say that is better live, as to how this song was made, Trent Reznor was working as a night janitor at a recording studio in Ohio in exchange for studio time where he played what instruments were on it and programmed the rest, this album is fairly close to the original demo he produced, it was just refined from the original source material of the demo for the most part, if you look at a physical copy of a NIN cd you will find it says "Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails"
When this song came out I was in university. I didn't get it at first because it was pretty different than typical 80s music (and I was listening to 70s stuff mostly, so it was even further removed). But it's catchy and it didn't take long for me to start liking NIN.
Industrial music gets it's name from artists using unconventional sounds often sourced from industrial equipment to create music. Like using the sound of drill, or other power tools. They might sample the rythmic sound of mechanical manufacturing to create a drum like effect. These sounds along with synths and more conventional instruments would often be manipulated until their source is unrecognizable. Another halmark of the sound is taking harsh or unpleasant sounds and arranging and layering them to create enjoyable music.
P.S. And no, industrial music and progressive metal are not the same. You might say industrial is prog's cousin on the spectrum. And at this point in history, (NIN's first record) NIN was basically Trent Reznor (pride of Cleveland) and a slew of keyboards.
This was the beginning of industrial rock...Industrial can be taken to mean...Musical Instruments that are used in an industrial setting ...giving them the sound of machines in an industrial factory... so...yeah...It sounds mechanical...it's supposed to... that's part of it's charm. I won't try to think for Trent... but I see this as music for a society that is accustomed to having everything in perfect little boxes. If you look at the music in this way... the lyrics become even more scathing and the concept of industrialized entertainment becomes more logical. Bow....DOWN.
With no disrespect to Trent Reznor, Front 242, Ministry, and other Wax Trax artists were making industrial music well before NIN. Industrial also references back to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire in the mid-70s. The term was coined with the founding of Industrial Records by P-Orridge and Monte Cazazza; on Throbbing Gristle's debut album The Second Annual Report, they coined the slogan "industrial music for industrial people".
"Industrial Music" is like Heavy Metal, but for us Alternative People, who are into "New Wave, Punk, Post Punk and Alternative Rock. NIN is one of the more popular group out there. You should listen to the entire album. All real instruments. You check out "Cars" by Gary Numan playing live with Nine Inch Nails. ua-cam.com/video/6qlUFKFHNIU/v-deo.htmlsi=HjrNzK8RKt-CpzWD
This might have been true early on but not in the last 30 years or so. He has a fairly static group of collaborators and musicians he writes and tours with.
Industrial Rock/Metal is just regular rock/metal (some real guitars/drumming/singing) + syntheziers mixed in. Before Industrial music anything that did that wasn't considered "real music" by gate keepers. That's why a lot of people hated rap (and still do). Those of us who listened to new wave/industrial in the late 70s and 80s were more opened minded.
I totally understand not vibing with this song in 2025. It sounds like 1989. You should check out happiness in slavery, closer, or the hand that feeds.
"...educate me in the comments below." Mofo, you are literally filming a video that you intend to upload to a video hosting service on the internet. We know you have an internet connection and access to the collected knowledge of the entire human race. Don't put it on us to be your teachers, my guy. If you want to know, find out on your own. Be active, not passive.
You're right. Today, most people just drop beats. Trent Rezner, programs and plays digital, and also analog synthesizers, where sounds are made by manipulating and modulating wave forms (usually with a lot of knobs); he plays them on a an actual keyboard, which is different than dropping sounds in a computer program.
This is the song to introduce NIN to someone! My favorite.
Nine Inch Nails in studio is Trent Reznor, writing, arranging, and in control of everything (he once programmed a 30 piece marching band for a small part of a single song, realizing later it would have been easier if had he just hired one of the many New Orleans marching bands to just learn and play it). There is a live band that he uses to translate the music he makes into a live show. Trent also plays piano, guitar, and on rare occasions sax (searh NIN with David Bowie for that).
When I first heard this song in 1990, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Trent Reznor was influenced by a lot of music besides metal and industrial. He actually samples Public Enemy elsewhere on the album. On the song “Terrible Lie”, he takes the same way they made Miami bass on the TR-808 and turned it into a really cool sub bass line.
A perfect album.
A statement. A benchmark.
Every song is good.
"Terrible Lie".."Something I Can Never Have"...on and on...not a bad song on the Lp.
I could be wrong but I believe Reznor worked at a recording studio and was allowed to play with the equipment after hours and recorded this album on his own. This was a banger in the alternative dance clubs, along with the other single from the album, Down On It. Down On It has a really funky feel to it, I think you'll like it. Other industrial artists to check out include Front 242 (the song, Headhunter is amazing, as is Welcome to Paradise, and Quite Unusual). Severed Heads' song Twenty Deadly Diseases, Meat Beat Manifesto (a favorite of mine): Mars Needs Women, I Got the Fear Pt.1, Psych Out. Gary Numan was a huge influence on Trent Reznor, check out God Only Knows, Call Out the Dogs, New Thing From London Town, My Breathing, This is Love. Most of the industrial groups were artists using synths and drum machines with heavy machine based sounds but would tour with musicians as well. And most had great dance beats!
toss in Frontline Assembly, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, and of course Ministry.
@@Sweep_The_Leg_Johnny Ah yes, Skinny Puppy, I saw them live in a small club on the OSU campus, amazing show! There were a lot of bands I forgot to mention but Ministry was probably the biggest fail. So so good!
It killed in the strip club when it came out. Its still a staple even today.
@@jamesharvey9410 Oh I can definitely see that!!!
As part of the punk/goth//alt community throughout the decade, Pretty Hate Machine was a game changer and a fantastic album to close out the Eighties. Every track on it is a banger that packed the dance floors at the underground clubs before MTV got their hooks into NIИ and took them to the Mainstream.
Industrial music (rock/dance) was the natural evolution of rock and synthpop that exploded on the Nineties with Grunge, various sub genres of Electronica, groove metal, and Nu Metal.
Check out bands line Ministry, Skinny Puppy, My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Revolting C*cks, Propaganda, Filter, Stabbing Westward, White Zombie/Rob Zombie, and the like.
That thing was a brick through the window when it dropped. It's was the musical equivalent of the "Stone Cold Steve Austin Glass Breaking Moment" of it's day. 🤣💯
My boy dropped the cassette into his car after picking me up from 10th grade Summer School and said "Dude... you GOTTA hear this shit!"
It was 1990.
Nice reaction. Interesting perspective on a song I been vibiin to for 30 years.
"Only' is one of my top faves from them. Great song when you're mad 😂
Dang, I forgot how much I actually LOVE this. 💙🎵🎶🎶
On multiple occasions I have put this song on repeat for a half hour or more. It’s very cathartic if you’re feeling pissed off. Recommend album Year Zero for something that resonates with present times, even though it’s from earlier.
One of the very best concerts I ever attended was a NIN show in Atlanta probably seven or eight years ago. Just amazing.
This is why I love the head like a hole single. 6 remixes one instrumental 3 down in it remixes and two terrible lie remixes.
That was my very first Nine Inch Nails CD after seeing the head like the whole single on MTV, And boy did it get some spins.
so NIN was the leap point for Industrial music- there were artist prior to them that actually created the genre, like Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Coil, etc, but NIN was the first one to get real radio and MTV play. They played Woodstock (the 90s one). Without them there'd be no Marilyn Manson, no Rammstein.
Check out March of the Pigs, The Perfect Drug (that video is baller), Closer (I think thats the one you did before).
I forgot to mention Ministry. Who could forget Every Day is Halloween?
I still remember laughing my ass when after The Downward Spiral came out, Trent said, "I'm just going to go ahead and call me next album,"Music for Titty-bars."
NIN/Trent wrote industrial music with a pop structure.
Most industrial bands before NIN were far less approachable to casual listeners.
For another industrial rock band, you should check out Ministry. Maybe start with their song "Thieves."
I second Ministry.
i third ministry and second thieves
My 16 year old did his music assignment on this song last year! Amazing to see the younger gens living NIN and Trent!
Cool. I saw NiN open for Peter Murphy a few months after they released Pretty Hate Machine. That was late winter 1990. The concert was intense. "Head Like A Hole" sounded pretty hard for those times. The song was different and fresh. They weren't the first industrial band, but they quickly became one of the more popular industrial bands. DEVO covered "Head Like A Hole" before the decade was out. That was back when I played guitar in bands and such. I played a cover of the song too, but I lacked access to the same tech so I played it like a blues dirge along the lines of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks". When you're ready for more NiN from that album also check out "Down in It" and "Sin". And for some industrial music context also check out Einstürzende Neubauten "Yü-Gung (Fütter Mein Ego)" and Kraftwerk "The Model", "The Robots", and "The Man Machine".
this is the guy who wrote hurt. that johnny cash covered and made it his own.
Tent "gave" the song to Cash but I still think the original by NIN is better.
@@3DJapan 100%. The cover is great but its just basic. Very emotional but basic. The original version is a masterpiece. Either way hurt is the most emotional song ever in both versions. And also trent never gave it to cash. Its a misquote
If you like this song, then you will love song ever song off this great album!!!
"The Hand that Feeds" is a great one from them
Hell yeah! Love this reaction please do more NIN! Give it a chance it can be surprisingly catchy
"Industrial" as a genre that is electronic in basis and largely defined (both by digitally created and sampled physical sounds) by jarring, harsh, mechanical or otherwise unexpected/unusual-to-use sounds. "Rock" as a genre, you already know is very wide. "Industrial rock" therefor ends you up with music made of a mix of physical instruments, electronic/digitally made instruments and sounds, and normal and/or digitally altered samples of physically occurring sounds.
A lot of this particular song is electronic, others are physical instruments. "Wish" is one I'd suggest by NIN that shows a different angle of their sound where the physical instruments are more in the forefront, the maybe "Reptile" off the next major album that is a very different blend of all aspects.
Industrial and rock both can range so greatly in what portion of genre a band chooses in general or by song that putting the two together gives for a very wide and varied mix of music from I-R bands.
Love ya, Biz!!
Halito 👋🏽 I hope you react to a live performance. This is one of my desert island albums 🧡
this is a track that I would say that is better live, as to how this song was made, Trent Reznor was working as a night janitor at a recording studio in Ohio in exchange for studio time where he played what instruments were on it and programmed the rest, this album is fairly close to the original demo he produced, it was just refined from the original source material of the demo for the most part, if you look at a physical copy of a NIN cd you will find it says "Trent Reznor is Nine Inch Nails"
When this song came out I was in university. I didn't get it at first because it was pretty different than typical 80s music (and I was listening to 70s stuff mostly, so it was even further removed). But it's catchy and it didn't take long for me to start liking NIN.
One of my top favorite albums!! Something I Can Never Have❤
I enjoyed that, thanks Biz
By Nine Inch Nails I would recommend The Great Below, completely different style.
Industrial music gets it's name from artists using unconventional sounds often sourced from industrial equipment to create music.
Like using the sound of drill, or other power tools. They might sample the rythmic sound of mechanical manufacturing to create a drum like effect.
These sounds along with synths and more conventional instruments would often be manipulated until their source is unrecognizable.
Another halmark of the sound is taking harsh or unpleasant sounds and arranging and layering them to create enjoyable music.
One of the best rock albums ever. And I'm not even a huge NIN fan.
Ready!
P.S. And no, industrial music and progressive metal are not the same. You might say industrial is prog's cousin on the spectrum. And at this point in history, (NIN's first record) NIN was basically Trent Reznor (pride of Cleveland) and a slew of keyboards.
This was the beginning of industrial rock...Industrial can be taken to mean...Musical Instruments that are used in an industrial setting ...giving them the sound of machines in an industrial factory... so...yeah...It sounds mechanical...it's supposed to... that's part of it's charm. I won't try to think for Trent... but I see this as music for a society that is accustomed to having everything in perfect little boxes. If you look at the music in this way... the lyrics become even more scathing and the concept of industrialized entertainment becomes more logical. Bow....DOWN.
A great example of the factory sound is in "Reptile" by NIN.
With no disrespect to Trent Reznor, Front 242, Ministry, and other Wax Trax artists were making industrial music well before NIN. Industrial also references back to Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire in the mid-70s. The term was coined with the founding of Industrial Records by P-Orridge and Monte Cazazza; on Throbbing Gristle's debut album The Second Annual Report, they coined the slogan "industrial music for industrial people".
"Industrial Music" is like Heavy Metal, but for us Alternative People, who are into "New Wave, Punk, Post Punk and Alternative Rock. NIN is one of the more popular group out there. You should listen to the entire album. All real instruments. You check out "Cars" by Gary Numan playing live with Nine Inch Nails. ua-cam.com/video/6qlUFKFHNIU/v-deo.htmlsi=HjrNzK8RKt-CpzWD
Did you say "Head Like a ROCK" ?? Dude. This was released in 1989. And yes, this is THE NIN record to introduce newbies to.
“Nine Inch Nails is Trent Reznor.”
❤
Good radio friendly industrial music. But there are more club played industrial bands.
And then there's Throbbing Gristle
@@punker-gamer-trucker-guy seen them live twice
@@punker-gamer-trucker-guyAnd Einsturzende Neubauten
Tent makes all the music himself but when he performs life shows he hires local artists to play on stage with him.
This might have been true early on but not in the last 30 years or so. He has a fairly static group of collaborators and musicians he writes and tours with.
You’re totally wrong, a lot of the music is recorded by musicians in the studio. That is the magic of NIN. Watch a live version.
Industrial Rock/Metal is just regular rock/metal (some real guitars/drumming/singing) + syntheziers mixed in. Before Industrial music anything that did that wasn't considered "real music" by gate keepers. That's why a lot of people hated rap (and still do). Those of us who listened to new wave/industrial in the late 70s and 80s were more opened minded.
Fun facts... this entire album is about Trent's ex-girlfriend.
And all of the sound effects used on this album are taken from old Kung-fu movies.
I totally understand not vibing with this song in 2025. It sounds like 1989.
You should check out happiness in slavery, closer, or the hand that feeds.
"...educate me in the comments below." Mofo, you are literally filming a video that you intend to upload to a video hosting service on the internet. We know you have an internet connection and access to the collected knowledge of the entire human race. Don't put it on us to be your teachers, my guy. If you want to know, find out on your own. Be active, not passive.
Haha u salty. Why would you want to watch a reaction video of someone who has encyclopedic knowledge of the artist? It would just be a documentary.