Nine Inch Nails Tickets
Nine Inch Nails is an industrial rock band that was founded by Trent Reznor in 1988. Despite being considered a ‘band’, Reznor is the mastermind behind the music and technically the only official member of the band. He is the band’s producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Nine Inch Nails, commonly referred to as NIN, brought industrial rock music into the mainstream in the ‘90s. AllMusic describes industrial music as the “most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music…initially a blend of avant-garde electronics experiments and punk provocation.” Reznor added a twist to this genre of music by writing melodic songs with a focus on the lyrics. NIN built their following in the ‘90s but it has continued to grow over the years. Reznor is back again for his Cold and Black and Infinite Tour. You do not want to miss out on this! Make sure to get your Nine Inch Nails tickets today.
Beginnings of Career
Reznor grew up in Mercer, Pennsylvania where he studied piano as a child and played in garage bands as a teen. He attended Meadville College in Pennsylvania but dropped out to move to Cleveland, Ohio to work on his music. In Cleveland, Reznor worked at Right Track Studios as an assistant engineer and janitor. He took advantage of free studio time to record some of his own demos, with the permission of the studio owner. He recorded a self-made demo and looked to have it released with a small European label. He also sent his demo to some American labels and almost all of them offered him a deal. He eventually signed with TVT and with them released his debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989).
After the release of Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor went on tour with Skinny Puppy. After doing this for some time, Reznor decided to broaden his fan base for opening for musical acts other than only industrial artists. He began to open for alternative rock bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain and Peter Murphy for the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series. Part of this tour included a performance at the debut of Lollapalooza in 1991. This performance expanded NIN’s fan base immensely. Pretty Hate Machine ended up selling over a million copies and became one of the first independently released records to be platinum certified.
Record Label Trouble and Broken
TVT wanted to take advantage of NIN’s new found popularity but Reznor was not pleased with TVT. He claimed they hindered his creativity and did not support his artistic vision and therefor demanded to end his contract. TVT would not let Reznor ago and for a little while his only recording outlets were side projects. Eventually Reznor was able to sign with Interscope Records who also gave him his own label called Nothing Records.
It was with Interscope Records that Nine Inch Nails released an EP entitled Broken (1992). Broken was recorded at 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon, Lost Angeles – the location of the infamous Tate murders. The EP debuted at number 7 on the pop albums charts and one of the tracks, “Wish”, won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Another track from the EP, “Happiness in Slavery”, created some controversy because of the song’s music video. The video shows a depiction of Bob Flanagan naked and lying on a machine that pleasures, tortures, and kills him. The video was basically banned everywhere but also helped create buzz for NIN.
The Downward Spiral
Reznor moved into the Cielo Drive house in LA and continued to record there. The Downward Spiral was released in 1994. It was co-produced by Mark “Flood” Ellis and also featured guitarist Adrien Belew. The NIN album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 and went on to sell over 5 million copies worldwide. It is certified 4X platinum by the RIAA and remains the highest-selling NIN albums of all time. After the release of the album, NIN – backed by a live band – went on the Self Destruct Tour which included a performance at Woodstock ’94. The performance at Woodstock further increased the band’s popularity as it was broadcasted on Pay-Per-View and was viewed in 24 million homes. At Woodstock, NIN performed “Happiness in Slavery” which earned NIN its second Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1995. Supporting acts for the Self Destruct Tour included Marilyn Manson.
The Fragile
Before NIN began working on new music, Reznor spent some time producing work for other artists. With the profit NIN made from The Downward Spiral, Reznor built a recording studio in New Orleans. Under his record label, Nothing, he produced Marilyn Manson’s second album, Antichrist Superstar in 1996. Reznor also produced the soundtrack for David Lynch’s Lost Highway in 1997.
After a short hiatus, NIN released The Fragile in 1999. Even though it was the first studio album released by NIN in 5 years, Reznor had not lost his touch. The Fragile debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 228,000 copies in its first week. One of the singles from the album, “The Day the World Went Away”, peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became the first Top 40 single of Reznor’s career. The preceding tour was called Fragility 2.0. While Reznor was on tour in London, he suffered a heroin overdose causing him to go to rehab. Nine Inch Nails would take a break while Reznor worked on becoming sober.
With Teeth and Year Zero
After another six-year hiatus, Nine Inch Nails returned to the music scene with the release of With Teeth in 2005. The fourth studio NIN album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 which was the second number one album for the band. Reznor went on tour again after the release with his supporting acts including Saul Williams, Bauhaus, TV on the Radio, and Peaches. The group toured together in 2006 and then Reznor paused the tour to record, resuming in 2007. As soon as the tour was finished, Nine Inch Nails released their fifth studio album, Year Zero (2007). Year Zero is a concept album that criticizes the United States government’s policies and their impact on the future. Shortly after, Reznor ended his contract with Interscope Records.
Ghosts I-IV and The Slip
With the end of Reznor’s affiliation with Interscope also came the end of his Interscope distributed Nothing label. Moving forward, Reznor created a whole new independent label called Null Corporation. The first album to be released by NIN under Null was an instrumental album called Ghosts I-IV (2008). Reznor wanted to experiment with the distribution platforms that were emerging in the music world at the time so he released Ghosts I-IV both digitally and hard copy CD. Two months later Reznor released The Slip under Null as well. This album was given away as a free download.
For these two albums, Reznor had collaborated with fellow producers and composer Atticus Ross. The two musicians worked so well together that in 2009 director David Fincher invited the pair to write an original score for the film The Social Network (2010). The soundtrack won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for a Motion Picture and an Oscar for Best Original Score. The success these two had experienced working together prompted Fincher to invite them to work for him again on the score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).
2013 – Present
Reznor returned from his Nine Inch Nails hiatus in 2013 with the release of Hesitation Marks. The album was supported by another tour called the Twenty Thirteen Tour. The tour kicked off in July of 2013 and was extended all the way until 2014.
Nine Inch Nails was nominated to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, which was its first year of eligibility. It did not get inducted but was nominated again in 2015. Unfortunately, NIN was again not chosen for induction. In June 2015, NIN released instrumental versions of With Teeth and The Fragile to be streamed exclusively on Apple Music. Reznor actually was the chief creative director of the Apple Music streaming service.
The very end of 2016, Reznor released an EP titled Not the Actual Events. Reznor also announced that Atticus Ross would be an official full-time member of the band. Ross is the first member to be added to NIN, other than Reznor himself. May of 2018, Nine Inch Nails announced it would be releasing their ninth studio album in June, entitled Bad Witch. They also announced that the album would be paired with a tour called “Cold and Black and Infinite North American 2018 Tour” with The Jesus and Mary Chain. Make sure to get your tickets to see the legendary NIN live!
