Reznor recorded the band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), while working overnight as a janitor at a Cleveland recording studio. After feuding with the label TVT Records about promotion, Reznor signed with Interscope Records and released the EP Broken (1992). The following albums, The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999), were released to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Reznor chose the name "Nine Inch Nails" because it "abbreviated easily" rather than for "any literal meaning". Other rumored explanations have circulated, alleging that Reznor chose to reference Jesus' crucifixion with nine-inch spikes, or Freddy Krueger's nine-inch fingernails. The English letters NIN are also noted for their resemblance to the modern Hebrew characters of the Tetragrammaton. The Nine Inch Nails logo first appeared on the music video for their debut single, "Down in It". The logo was designed by Reznor and Gary Talpas, inspired by Tibor Kalman's typography on the Talking Heads album Remain in Light. Talpas, a native of Cleveland, continued to design Nine Inch Nails packaging until 1997.
Following a hiatus, Nine Inch Nails resumed touring in 2005 and released their fourth album, With Teeth (2005). Following the release of Year Zero (2007), Reznor left Interscope after a feud. Nine Inch Nails continued touring and independently released Ghosts I–IV (2008) and The Slip (2008) before a second hiatus. Their eighth album, Hesitation Marks (2013), was followed by a trilogy consisting of the EPs Not the Actual Events (2016) and Add Violence (2017) and their ninth album Bad Witch (2018). In 2020, Nine Inch Nails released two further installments in the Ghosts series, Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts.
Reznor and Ross typically assemble a live band to perform with them. Not including sporadic band hiatuses, the band has varied over the decades, with the most recent lineup consisting of Robin Finck (initially joined in 1994), Alessandro Cortini (initially joined in 2005), and Ilan Rubin (initially joined in 2009). Nine Inch Nails concerts since 2005 often employ thematic visual elements, extensive use of special effects, and elaborate light shows; songs are often rearranged for performance, and elements of songs that are not scheduled to be performed in their entirety are occasionally assimilated into other songs.
Nine Inch Nails have sold over 20 million records and have been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning for the songs "Wish" (1992) and "Happiness in Slavery" (1996). In 1997, Time named Reznor one of the most influential people, and Spin has described him as "the most vital artist in music". In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Nine Inch Nails at No. 94 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. They were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014 (their first year of eligibility), nominated again in 2015, and were inducted in 2020.
Nine Inch Nails has issued eight major albums, which have generally received both critical and commercial acclaim. Historically, NIN releases have been assigned a "Halo" index number. For example, the album 'With Teeth' is also known as Halo 19. With the inclusion of the 'Broken' EP, the band's primary releases are:
1. 'Pretty Hate Machine' (1989)
2. 'Broken' EP (1992)
3. 'The Downward Spiral' (1994)
4. 'The Fragile (Left)' / ''The Fragile (Right)' (1999)
5. 'With Teeth' (2005)
6. 'Year Zero' (2007)
7. 'Ghosts I-IV' (2008)
8. 'The Slip' (2008)
9. 'Hesitation Marks' (2013)
10. 'Not the Actual Events' EP (2016)
11. 'Add Violence' EP (2017)
12. 'Bad Witch' (2018)
13. 'Ghosts V: Together' (2020)
14. 'Ghosts VI: Locusts' (2020)
Nine Inch Nails has also produced a number of EP's, remixes, and provided contributions to various movie soundtracks, including 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider', 'The Crow', 'Natural Born Killers', 'Lost Highway', and 'Tetsuo: The Bullet Man'. Trent Reznor additionally provided the soundtrack for the massively popular id Software game Quake, a release inspired by ambient music. His team up with Atticus Ross resulted in the critically praised soundtrack to the film 'The Social Network', with the Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross duo winning an Oscar for Best Original Score at the 83rd Academy Awards
In 2002, a live album (their second live release, the first being the video 'Closure Documentary') entitled 'And All That Could Have Been' was released on DVD & CD. The Deluxe version of the CD came packaged with a mini album called 'Still'. That release featured several previously released songs in a stripped down, near-acoustic format along with several other new compositions.
Nine Inch Nails as a live band is generally understood to be a separate entity from its recording studio-based component. Occasionally, past band members are invited to participate in the process when not directly involved with recording new material, Nine Inch Nails' lineup tends to change drastically between major tours. Aside from Trent Reznor remaining on lead vocals, nothing about the live band has remained constant since its inception. Reznor cited the long gestation period between studio albums as part of the reason for these frequent personnel changes.
Beginning in late 2005, the live band featured Aaron North on guitar, Jeordie White on bass guitar, Alessandro Cortini on keyboards, and Josh Freese on drums, though all occasionally performed with different instruments. This lineup toured Europe, Asia, Australia, and America through 2007. Trent Reznor reported that he would disband the "rock band configuration" of his touring lineup after their concert in Honolulu, Hawaii on September 18, 2007, and would explore other means to perform Nine Inch Nails material on subsequent tours. Despite this claim he has regained the rock group lineup for the 'Lights In The Sky Over...' tours with Robin Finck returning on guitar and Justin Meldal-Johnsen of Beck and other projects accompanying Cortini and Freese.
Past live band members include (listed chronologically):
* Ron Musarra: Drums, Samplers
* Chris Vrenna: Keyboards, Samplers, Drums
* Richard Patrick: Guitar
* Jeff Ward: Drums
* David Haymes: Keyboards
* Nick Rushe: Keyboards
* Lee Mars: Keyboards
* James Woolley: Keyboards
* Robin Finck: Guitar, Synthesizer
* Danny Lohner: Bass, Guitar, Synthesizer
* Charlie Clouser: Synthesizer, Drums on 5 songs during the Dissonance side of David Bowie's Outside tour, Theremin
* Sean Beavan: Soundboard, Backing vocals on 5 songs
* Jerome Dillon: Drums
* Alex Carapetis: Drums
* Ilan Rubin: Drums
The September 14, 2007 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that the September 18 show in Honolulu, Hawaii would be the last performance of the current incarnation of the Nine Inch Nails live band. Trent Reznor was quoted as stating, "at this point, I want to switch things around a bit. Nine Inch Nails as a rock band configuration, we've done it and we've done it again. I see other ways I can present the material in concert, more challenging, something new. I don't want it to go stale."
A DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD of live material from the 2006 With Teeth tour was released in late February 2007 entitled Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You In Time. All three formats include 24 songs from the summer and winter 2006 tours, plus bonus material.
Information about Nine Inch Nails concerts can be found on the NIN website.
Ghosts I-IV was released on March 2, 2008. It contains 36 instrumental tracks and was recorded in ten weeks of fall 2007. Initially intended to be a five-track EP, the album is presented in the form of four nine-track EPs. The tracks do not have names, and are only identified by their track listing and position on the EPs. Ghosts I-IV also adds to the recent experimentation with digital distribution; the album is available in many different ways, including a digital download, for purchase or (partially) free, a CD set, and a deluxe edition set.
The eighth album called "The Slip" was officially released on May 5, 2008. The whole album can be downloaded for free from this website: Nine Inch Nails - The Slip
On February 16th 2009, Trent announced that he would begin his last tour. Nine Inch Nails would indefinitely end. However, it is not likely that this is the end of his music career. In his letter, he hinted that he may do something with Jane's Addiction. In addition, Reznor has said outright in an interview on the official website that he is not done making music as Nine Inch Nails, but that he is done touring.
Trivia:
* Trent Reznor has worked with several big names in musical collaboration outside of NIN in recent years, including time rocker artist David Bowie, Maynard James Keenan of Tool, Zach de La Rocha of Rage Against the Machine, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, Josh Wink, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, slam poet Saul Williams, hip-hop producer Puff Daddy & The Family, Peter Gabriel, Henry Rollins and more recently, hip-hop producer El-P and Queens of the Stone Age.
* Contrary to popular belief, Suck is technically a cover and not an original. The song was originally performed by the band Pigface on the album Gub (1991), a band which Trent worked with in the past. Trent is given vocal and writing credits and the song was later re-recorded for the Broken EP (1992) as a hidden track .
* Legendary country star Johnny Cash covered Hurt on the album The Man Comes Around.
* NIN along with Marilyn Manson, Maynard James Keenan, Phil Anselmo and other artists worked together to produce the Tapeworm Project, a side project that existed from the mid-1990s through to 2004.
We
Nine Inch Nails Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When everything seemed to matter more
The two of us
All used and beaten up
Watching fate as it flow down the path we
Have chose
You and me
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
Awake to the sound as they peel apart the skin
They pick and they pull
Trying to get their fingers in
Well they've got to kill what we've found
Well they've got to hate what we fear
Well they've got to make it go away
Well they've got to make it disappear
The farther I fall I'm beside you
As lost as I get I will find you
The deeper the wound I'm inside you
For ever and ever I'm a part of
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
All that we were is gone we have to hold on
All that we were is gone we have to hold on
When all our hope is gone we have to hold on
All that we were is gone but we can hold on
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
Even after everything
You're the queen and I'm the king
Nothing else means anything
"We're In This Together" by Nine Inch Nails is a powerful song about a couple who are facing challenges and difficulties together. The opening lyrics speak to clinging onto a time when things were different and seemed to matter more. As the two protagonists travel along the path they have chosen, they reflect on the difficulties they face as a couple. As they stand together, they are an unstoppable force, ready to take on whatever comes their way.
The middle part of the song is a bit darker, with the lyrics describing a horrific scene of someone being skinned alive. The skin imagery might be a metaphor for the way others are trying to get under the couple's tough exterior and tear them apart, but they refuse to let that happen. The lyrics suggest that the couple must hold onto what they have, no matter how difficult things get. Even in moments when all hope seems lost, they must hold onto each other and keep going.
The song's final lyrics reiterate the central message of the song - that the couple is stronger together than they ever could be alone. Despite the fact that everything they once knew is gone, they can still hold onto each other and make it through whatever comes their way.
Overall, "We're In This Together" is a song that celebrates the power of love and connection in the face of adversity. It is a testament to the fact that when two people come together and support each other, they can make it through anything.
Line by Line Meaning
I've become impossible holding on to when
I have reached a point of being insurmountable, holding onto a time when things were more significant.
When everything seemed to matter more
Back when everything appeared to be of greater importance.
The two of us
Just the two of us.
All used and beaten up
Worn-out and battered.
Watching fate as it flow down the path we Have chose
Observing destiny as it moves along the path we've selected.
You and me
Me and you.
We're in this together now
We're in this jointly now.
None of them can stop us now
No one can impede us now.
We will make it through somehow
We will somehow make it through.
You and me
Me and you.
If the world should break in two
In the event of the world splitting in two.
Until the very end of me
Until my very last breath.
Until the very end of you
Until your very last breath.
Awake to the sound as they peel apart the skin
I am awakened by the sound of someone removing skin.
They pick and they pull
They choose and extract.
Trying to get their fingers in
Attempting to interfere.
Well they've got to kill what we've found
They have to destroy what we've discovered.
Well they've got to hate what we fear
They have to dislike what frightens us.
Well they've got to make it go away
They have to make it vanish.
Well they've got to make it disappear
They have to cause it to vanish.
The farther I fall I'm beside you
As I fall further, I am right by your side.
As lost as I get I will find you
Even when I'm completely lost, I'll still locate you.
The deeper the wound I'm inside you
The more severe the injury, the closer I am to you.
For ever and ever I'm a part of
I will always be a part of you.
All that we were is gone we have to hold on
Everything we were is vanished, and we must persist on.
When all our hope is gone we have to hold on
When all our hope is lost, we must still persevere.
All that we were is gone but we can hold on
Everything we were is lost, but we can still hold on.
Even after everything
Even after all that happened.
You're the queen and I'm the king
You are the queen, and I am the king.
Nothing else means anything
Nothing else carries any significance.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: TRENT REZNOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@AA-vn3ij
Verse 1]
I've become impossible
Holding on to when
When everything seemed to matter more
The two of us
All used and beaten up
Watching fate
As it flows
Down the path
We have chose
[Chorus 1]
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
[Verse 2]
Awake to the sound as they peel apart the skin
They pick and they pull
Trying to get their fingers in
Well they've got to kill what we found
Well they've got to hate what they fear
Well they've got to make it go away
Well they've got to make it disappear
The farther I fall I'm beside you
As lost as I get I will find you
The deeper the wound I'm inside you
For ever and ever I am a part of
[Chorus 1]
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
If the world should break in two
Until the very end of me
Until the very end of you
[Bridge]
All that we were is gone we have to hold on
All that we were is gone we have to hold on
When all our hope is gone we have to hold on
All that we were is gone but we can hold on
[Chorus 2]
You and me
We're in this together now
None of them can stop us now
We will make it through somehow
You and me
Even after everything
You're the queen and I'm the king
Nothing else means anything
@Wafel_Ijzer
@Scott Browning i always interpreted this video different, we all know NIN is extremely focussed on the mental well-being of a person, and because Trent Reznor loves and takes a lot of inspiration from David Lynch, i think the meaning of this video might be a lot more symbolic then it is upfront.
my interpretation of this video is that its a vision of his drug and alcohol abuse throughout those years,
at the start of the video he is all alone and he sees all of those people running outside towards nowhere, thinking he found an escape from himself because he sees everyone else escaping towards nowhere, so he chases those same people and runs along them in the direction of nowhere (this might symbolize him thinking drugs and alcohol is a way out just to get himself to feel differently because he feels unwell).
and when he's in the train, he thinks he finally found his safe place because he saw a beautiful woman looking at him while knowing he's finally closer then he'll ever get to his destination, not knowing what his destination is. (meaning he's so obsessed with the feeling that he wouldnt know where to start without it because its the best he ever felt, while still forever chasing that same high)
then he ends up running in a very empty desert with the same people he kept running with (meaning he's still chasing that same high, but this time he realizes that he should try his hardest not to lose the feeling because if he loses it, he loses everything)
and at the end everyone dissapears, but yet all their clothes remain (meaning that he found a way out of the struggle but there are so much little spots in his brain that could lead him to the same place all over again, but at this point he knows there was always an escape but it wasnt the one he thought it was, his escape was clarity and not escapism)
@robthegreatt1
@Johnny Souza Trent was into Metropolis at that time and had an idea if something happened in the world that was catastrophic
In the video they try to capture that feeling off loss and searching for something only to find nothing in the end
The only way I interpret this song is that in life if you go with the crowd you might end up feeling empty and alone instead of going with your gut feelings of being yourself
The end of the song he sing's your the queen and I'm the king, nothing else means anything
I think he's talking about his music
@WayneBristol
My wife and I used to listen to this on the way to her daily radiation/weekly chemo treatments to get us pumped up for the day ahead. She unfortunately lost her battle back in March of 2017. NIN was something we shared intimately over the 15 years we had together and will remain my personal musical escape until the very end of me. I wish I could thank Trent personally for the profound impact his music has had on my life but I know that will never happen. This meager youtube comment will have to do.
@noprogressionisregression6854
I'm so sorry....
@FiVibe
Respect
@letenia124
Dead is just who is forgotten
@phiwei3734
Too bad Trent can't help ya in the next life. Only Jesus can do that.
@julyjulymonday
@blu poppy Keep your fairy tales to yourself. Wayne, sending you love. RIP your wife.
@kendorsey5008
For all the pain you can hear in NIN’s lyrics you can tell this man has a lot of love. Beautiful song
@rishaa682
Since when does being in pain make someone not capable of love 🤦♀️
@leahsk4adult
@kendorsey5 I liked your comment.❤
@the2ndcoming135
@@leahsk4adult 😂