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Wave Goodbye: A Look Back at Nine Inch Nails

Posted by Albert Costill on Sep 22, 2009 in Rock | Comments

Nine Inch Nails just wrapped up their Wave Goodbye tour, which is the end of NIN as a touring act, and may also be taking a break for a bit. So here’s a look back at the career of one of the most visionary groups from the 90′s.

Michael Trent Reznor was born on May, 17 1965 in Mercer, PA.
At age five he began playing piano.
In 1985 Reznor moved to Cleveland and got a job as a janitor at Right Track Studio.
While working at Right Track, Reznor recorded nine demos that would be known as Purest Feeling in 1988.
The tracks from Purest Feeling would lay the groundwork Pretty Hate Machine.

Pretty Hate Machine was released on October 20, 1989 through TVT Records.

To support Pretty Hate Machine NIN, would tour with The Jesus and Mary Chain, Suck Puppy and Peter Murphy.
The U.S. single for “Head Like a Hole” contained 11 tracks of remixes of the song, however, the last track is simply Kelly Ripa yelling “Let’s hear it for Nine Inch Nails! Woo! They’re good!”, which was taken from their appearance at Dance Party USA.

In 1991, NIN was part of the first ever Lollapalooza, which also featured Jane’s Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Living Colour, Ice T w/ Body Count, Rollins Band, Butthole Surfers and Violent Femmes.

The band also opened up for Guns ‘N’ Roses in Europe in 1991.
On September 22, 1992 NIN released the Broken EP.
The video for “Gave Up” featured Marilyn Manson playing guitar.

On March 8, 1994, The Downward Spiral was released and would reach the #2 spot on Billboard Most of the album was recorded in the house where Sharon Tate was murdered by members of the Manson Family.

Reznor had this to say about living in the infamous house: “While I was working on Downward Spiral, I was living in the house where Sharon Tate was killed. Then one day I met her sister. It was a random thing, just a brief encounter.

And she said: ‘Are you exploiting my sister’s death by living in her house?’ For the first time, the whole thing kind of slapped me in the face. I said, ‘No, it’s just sort of my own interest in American folklore. I’m in this place where a weird part of history occurred.’

I guess it never really struck me before, but it did then. She lost her sister from a senseless, ignorant situation that I don’t want to support. When she was talking to me, I realized for the first time, ‘What if it was my sister?’ I thought, ‘Fuck Charlie Manson.’ I went home and cried that night. It made me see there’s another side to things, you know?”

Also in 1994, the band covered Joy Division’s “Dead Souls” for The Crow and contributed “Burn” and a reworked version of “Something I Can Never Have” for Natural Born Killers.
NIN performed at Woodstock ’94 on August 13.

In 1997 NIN contributed “The Perfect Drug” for Lost Highway.
Five years after Downward Spiral, NIN would release The Fragile on September 21, 1999.
The song “Just Like You Imagined” would eventually appear in the trailer for the film 300.
With Teeth was released on May 3, 2005.
“The Hand That Feeds” is the band’s highest chart position single.
On April 17, 2007 Year Zero was released.

Year Zero is a concept album that takes place in 2022, which criticized the U.S. policies under George W. Bush.
The promotion for Year Zero was unique, as the band left USB drives in bathrooms during their 2007 European tour. Fans soon discovered three new songs, which were eventually leaked.

On October 8, 2007, Trent Reznor announced that the band had fulfilled it’s contract obligations to their label Interscope Records.
On March 2, 2008, they released Ghosts I-IV, a 36 track instrumental album, that ranged as a free download to a $300 Ultra-Deluxe limited edition package.
On May 5 2008, The Slip was released a free download via the band’s website.
The band toured during the summer of 2008, which included a return to Lollapalooza on August 3 at Chicago’s Grant Park.

NIN teamed up with Jane’s Addiction for a spring/summer tour in 2009.
The band appeared at the 2009 Bonnaroo Festival before heading to Europe and Asia.

NIN kicked off their Wave Goodbye Tour on August 22, 2009 in New York City. The tour included multiple dates in New York, Chicago and L.A.
The band appeared at the Virgin Fest in Toronto on August 30, 2009.
NIN’s final show was on September 10, 2009 at the Wiltern Theater in L.A.

Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of NIN; the band has featured musicians such as Richard Patrick (Filter), Robin Fink (Axl’s G’N’R), Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson), Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, Devo, etc.).

In the studio NIN have had guest musicians such as Dave Grohl on several tracks for With Teeth and Jane’s Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins on The Dowward Spiral.

Here’s a video of Trent discussing the end of NIN a live act and what the future will be for the band.