Nine Inch Nails: a beginner's guide
Curious about industrial rock pioneers Nine Inch Nails, but don't know where to start? Here's ten essential tracks chosen by readers to ease you into Trent Reznor's worldJon Cronshaw
Mon 8 Jul 2013 09.52 EDT First published on Mon 8 Jul 2013 09.52 EDT
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Photograph: Ethan Miller/Reuters Ahead of the release of Nine Inch Nails' new album Hesitation Marks this September, we asked readers to help compile a playlist of ten tracks for people who have never listened to the band before. Here's what they came up with – listen via the YouTube playlist, or click each song title to view the individual track.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest1. The Hand that Feeds
One of Nine Inch Nails' most polished pop records – a perfect fusion of dance beats and fuzz-laden guitars. Tripmywire says "It's catchy, confident and certain to make a beginner dance!"
2. Head Like A Hole
The opening track on debut album Pretty Hate Machine is a favourite in rock clubs the world over. WarHoleRadTimes loves the song's "skyscraper-sized angst, pulsing electro rhythms, and eardrum shattering noise."
3. Closer
For jsinkersole, Closer is "sexy as hell and slightly sinister." With its unabashedly explicit lyrics, it's probably not the best song to find yourself singing at work.
4. March of the Pigs
From second album The Downward Spiral, March of the Pigs brings together industrial rock influences and whimsical jazz piano. Frightened Rabbit say it encapsulates "both sides of NIN in one, brutal and tender."
5. La Mer
Melodic and frenetically detailed, for @sukeyyy, "it's got to be their ultimate instrumental, showing off Trent's less abrasive, more relaxed and groovy side."
6. Wish
From the band's Broken EP, its unflinching sonic barrage makes it one of their heaviest tracks. BluetapesUK says "it sounds like computers playing Ace of Spades."
7. Something I Can Never Have
With its haunting piano and raw vocals, this is one of the stand-out tracks of their debut album. For ArchieWhit, it captures the very essence of the band: "beauty, sadness, machines, anger."
8. The Perfect Drug
Originally feature on the soundtrack to David Lynch's Lost Highway, The Perfect Drug saw Reznor push the drum and bass genre to its limits – it also has one of the coolest music videos of the 90s. n_mcguinness says it "represents the length and breadth of NIN."
9. We're In This Together
It's a track that crackles and broods before bursting out into one of the biggest rock choruses ever written – it's a song that needs to be played loud. Eddasaurus says it's "accessible, but unconventional."
10. Hurt
Many people think that this song was written by Johnny Cash – many people are wrong. Hurt shows Reznor's song-writing at its peak. For Maarten Schermer, "Hurt has a great balance between harshness and beauty, something it seems Reznor has consistently strived for. And it's one hell of a song."
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