Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A review for new fans., April 13, 2005
If you don't own any NIN's albums, this is definitely the place to start.
"The Downward Spiral" will probably forever be Trent Reznor's most popular and critically acclaimed album. And "The Fragile," in my opinion is Reznor's magnum opus. And although those are some of the best albums in modern rock, they both need time and a few plays to get into. "The Downward Spiral" is a classic, no doubt, but it's so intense, people unfamiliar with NIN may be initially turned off. And with the "The Fragile," there are a lot of instrumentals with long buildups and climaxes (not that that's a bad thing). Both of these albums need a few plays to really appreciate. "Pretty Hate Machine" is more meat-and-potatos and gets right to the point with each song. It's easy to digest these songs with just one listen.
NIN's debut album, "Pretty Hate Machine," is instantly assessable, instantly catchy. Some industrial purists may eschew NIN for being overly assesable/pop, but the hooks in these songs are undeniable. "Pretty Hate Machine" is not the kind of album where you listen to it a few times, every once and a while, or listen to a few songs now and then. "Pretty Hate Machine" is the kind of album that you get hooked on. And it's not just a few songs, the entire album is mesmerizing.
From the opening classic "Head Like a Hole" to the closing "Ringfinger" every song is meticulously crafted and delivered. Even if you know nothing at all about Trent Reznor, just by listening to any of NIN's albums, you get the sense that every song on every one of his albums is a labor of love.
This is the kind of album that any person can relate to. Trent Reznor takes universal feeling and themes of being rejected, disappointed, screwed over, dejected and depressed, and he puts it to catchy industrial beats. There is a certain healing power to the music of Nine Inch Nails. You feel a certain catharsis when you listen to Trent Reznor's music.
"Pretty Hate Machine" is a modern-day classic and a cornerstone in any college/alternative collection.
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127 of 145 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sibling Revelry, December 31, 2002
Back in the early 90s, W. Axl Rose used to rave about Pretty Hate Machine to any interviewer who would listen to him. In those days, when Axl recommended something, it got me plenty curious. But then I talked to my friend, Chris, a member of our Armed Forces at the time, who was seriously into industrial music. To him, industrial meant Front 242, Ministry, and The Revolting Cocks, not Nine Inch Nails. Chris told me Trent Reznor was not the real deal and forbade me in no uncertain terms from purchasing Pretty Hate Machine.A few years later, the Downward Spiral came out and the critical acclaim for it was thunderous. By this time, Axl's whereabouts were something of a mystery as were those of Chris. With no one else to influence me, I listened to the critics and purchased a copy of the Downward Spiral. I gave it several listens, but to be honest, it didn't do much for me. I put it in my CD holder where a few years later, my brother (a high school student at the time) would discover it. He and my sister wore that CD out and my brother soon became a NIN completist. You know the type who buys not only every album, but also every single. Clearly my siblings "got" what Trent Reznor was up to and I didn't. I figured the "industrial pop" scene just wasn't my thing. Fast-forward another 6 months or so and I was now living in a small village in western Kenya. My sister would send me music tapes with some regularity and you have no idea how much I appreciated them (that is, unless you've already read my review of Machine Head's Burn My Eyes album). One of the tapes my sister happened to send me was Pretty Hate Machine. At that point, my thought process went something like this..."Nice gesture, but she should know by now that I'm not crazy about NIN. Doesn't she remember that the copy of the Downward Spiral she and my brother play so often came from me after I found it relatively uninspiring? Well, I guess it can't hurt to give it a listen. After all, I am desperate for new music." Once I put that tape in my battery-powered boom box, it wasn't long before I realized that I should have listened to Axl and not Chris so many years earlier. I could see why Chris never cared for it - he's not much for anything that sounds too poppy and Pretty Hate Machine is shockingly accessible. I mean, just have a listen to Front 242 sometime and imagine someone who counts them among their favorite bands also enjoying Pretty Hate Machine. Impossible? No, but pretty darn unlikely. Once I'd given Pretty Hate Machine a few listens, I had no qualms about reversing my opinion on NIN. I've been wrong about bands before and I'll probably be wrong again at some point. I wrote a letter to my sister thanking her effusively for this very precious gift. Pretty Hate Machine became one of the albums I played most during the remainder of my stay in Kenya along with Type O Negative's October Rust and Bloody Kisses, Sepultura's Roots, Metallica's And Justice for All, Rancid's And Out Come the Wolves, Weezer's blue album, and Machine Head's Burn My Eyes. What made Pretty Hate Machine deserving of such illustrious company? For one thing, it is so obviously a labor of love. Every song sounds lovingly crafted with attention to every nuance (except for production quality which my brother says is poor because Trent didn't exactly have a lot of money with which to record the album). Another point in PHM's favor is that it is so catchy. I couldn't help but hear "Terrible Lie", "Down In It", and "Kinda I Want To" in my head while I was out in the rain forest all day. There's also enough angst on PHM to give Hatful of Hollow-era Morrissey a run for his money. But where Morrissey always somehow sounds playfully above it all even when recounting his most embarrassing experiences, Trent sounds like he really is in emotional pain and doesn't know what to do about it other than scream. The only people I can't see this album appealing to are industrial music purists like Chris and individuals who never feel angry or angsty. If you don't fit into either of those categories, it is high time you check out Pretty Hate Machine assuming you don't have wise younger siblings who forced you to do so already. Saying you don't like NIN isn't a good enough excuse - it wasn't for me and it isn't for you either.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty "Hate", December 21, 2005
Woe. Pain. Anger. Rejection. And some very catchy industrial beats.
Trent Reznor has become legendary for the sound he perfected in "Pretty Hate Machine," his exceptional debut album. Wrapped in catchy industrial beats and sizzling basslines, he exposes all the rage and pain from being betrayed. Like a bad breakup, it's raw and rough and painful, but there's a strange catharsis once it's over.
It opens on a high note with the ear-blowing "Head Like A Hole," which alternates between dark techno and explosive hard-rock. "Bow down before the one you serve/you're gonna get what you deserve... Head like a hole, black as your soul/I'd rather DIE than give you control!" Reznor snarls. And he sounds like he means it, too.
That mix of rage and bitterness permeate the songs that follow. Not every song is a rockin' ragefest: "Something I Can Never Have" is a sweeping, haunted ballad with Reznor lamenting that "I'm starting to scare myself." It's one of the most powerful songs on a hard-hitting record, and shows Reznor's anguished vocals at their best.
But the majority are harder, angrier songs with Reznor's rough industrial-pop, raw singing and sparse electronic beats. The second half does drag a bit, but is pulled back up by the explosive "Sin" ("You give me the reason/you give me control/I gave you my purity/and my purity you stole!") and hauntingly out-there "Ringfinger."
"Pretty Hate Machine" could, in a sense, be seen as a concept album -- a mapping of the painful emotions in a breakup. Okay, painful breakups are not a big deal in the musical world -- every cheesy popstar does them. The difference is, Trent Reznor does them with passion, genuine anger, and explosive music that mirrors the betrayed feelings.
Reznor gets much flack for his angsty songwriting and accompanying vocal style. But it has to be admitted that even when the songwriting is sub-par -- the rather whiny, it's-God's-fault "Terrible Lie" -- Reznor's rough vocals bring them to life in all their painful glory.
This is also Nine Inch Nails' most minimalist album -- no soundscapes, just the guitars and electronics. The instrumentation matches the theme of inverted love -- Reznor throws in some poppy industrial beats, which manage to be darkly catchy and gritty at the same time. Underlying all of this is some smoldering, twisted guitar and drum machines.
Explosive rage, betrayal, confusion and pain lie at the heart of "Pretty Hate Machine," an unforgettable debut that Reznor has yet to equal in pure emotion.
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