Nine Inch Nails

Formation (1987–1988)

While living in Cleveland in 1987, Trent Reznor played keyboards in the Exotic Birds, a synth-pop band managed by John Malm Jr. Reznor became friends with Malm, who informally became his manager when he left to work on his own music. At the time, Reznor was employed as an assistant engineer and janitor at Right Track Studios. Studio owner Bart Koster granted Reznor free access to the studio between bookings to record demos, commenting that it cost him nothing more than "a little wear on [his] tape heads". Unable to find a band that could articulate the material as he desired, Reznor was inspired by Prince to play all instruments himself except drums, which he programmed electronically. He has continued to play most parts on Nine Inch Nails...

Musical style

Nine Inch Nails has been described as incorporating alternative rock, industrial rock, industrial dance, industrial, electro-industrial, industrial metal, electronic rock, and alternative metal. AllMusic's Steve Huey states that "Nine Inch Nails were the most popular industrial group ever and were largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass audience". Reznor has never referred to his own work as industrial music, but admits to borrowing techniques from such early industrial bands as Throbbing Gristle and Test Dept. Despite the disparity between those artists initially operating under the term "industrial" and Nine Inch Nails, it has become common in journalistic descriptions of Reznor's body of work to describe it as such. Reznor...

Influences

Reznor's earliest childhood influence was the Eagles, whom he has cited as inspiring him to form a band. He would later recall, "The first concert I ever saw was the Eagles in 1976. The excitement of the night struck a chord with me and I remember thinking, 'Someday I'd love to be up on that stage.'" Upon forming Nine Inch Nails, Reznor stated that he was initially influenced most by the Clash, even outright trying to imitate them. Another major inspiration for the band is Gary Numan; Reznor has said that "after hearing 'Cars' I knew I wanted to make music with synthesizers". Other influences include Ministry and Skinny Puppy, which helped shape 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. The album's liner notes also paid tribute to Public Enemy and...

Legacy

Following the release of The Downward Spiral, mainstream artists began to take notice of Nine Inch Nails' influence: David Bowie compared Reznor's influence to that of The Velvet Underground. Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was influenced heavily by Nine Inch Nails in changing his band's sound to an industrial style in the mid-90s. Bob Ezrin, producer for Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper, and Peter Gabriel, described Reznor in 2007 as a "true visionary" and advised aspiring artists to take note of his no-compromise attitude. Nine Inch Nails has been credited by music journalists for popularizing industrial music, despite ambivalence from Reznor.

Sin

"Sin" is the third single by American industrial band Nine Inch Nails from the album Pretty Hate Machine (1989). Released in October 1990, the song peaked at number 35 in the UK Singles Chart.

Music video

A music video, directed by Brett Turnbull and produced by Sarah Bayliss was released, using the "(short)" remix of the song. It features two girls dancing with each other at the beginning, cutting to a black-and-white footage of a woman, naked except for what looks like straps to spelunking gear and a halogen lamp, walking a wrist-bound Trent Reznor with a bag over his head through what looks like an industrial warehouse complex and eventually to strap him into an Aerotrim where she spins him throughout the video. These scenes are intercut with two young gay lovers, a man and woman wearing ritualistic dressings and dancing, as well as visuals of a pierced phallus and clitoris, all reflecting the song's dark, sexual aspects.