"Head Like a Hole" | ||||
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Single by Nine Inch Nails | ||||
from the album Pretty Hate Machine | ||||
Released | March 22, 1990 | |||
Recorded | 1989 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 5:00 | |||
Label | TVT | |||
Songwriter(s) | Trent Reznor | |||
Producer(s) |
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Nine Inch Nails singles chronology | ||||
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Halo numbers chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
![]() International cover | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Head Like a Hole" on YouTube |
"Head Like a Hole" is a song by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails,released as the second single from the group's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine . It enjoyed heavy rotation on the radio at the time of its release,eventually reaching number 9 on Billboard 's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
It has been covered by several artists,including Devo,AFI,Buckcherry and Korn. The song was rewritten as "On a Roll" (performed by Miley Cyrus in character as Ashley O) for the Black Mirror episode "Rachel,Jack and Ashley Too".
Trent Reznor wrote "Head Like a Hole" after having toured in late 1988 as the support act for Skinny Puppy. The song was produced by Reznor and was co-produced by Flood and Keith LeBlanc,it was recorded in 1989. [1] Unlike the other songs on the album,Reznor wrote "Head Like a Hole" very quickly "in about fifteen minutes in his bedroom." [2] It was one of the last songs completed for the album,since Flood did not arrive to the studio until the completion of Depeche Mode's Violator (1990). [3] Reznor said that the song emerged from the feel that "I needed something to kind of break the guitars out and be a bit more aggressive",while also conveying his fears that TVT Records would not be helpful to him,with the aggression turned up further by producer Keith LeBlanc after Reznor learned that the label had not liked the early version of his album. [4]
"Head Like a Hole" has been classified as an industrial rock and electronic rock song, [5] [6] and recognized as an "industrial dance anthem". [7] The tempo is 115 BPM,and it is played in the key of E Minor. [1] Although one of the more rock-oriented tracks on the album,many elements of electronic and dance music are still featured. The lyrical contents deal with themes of betrayal and angst,consistent with the rest of the album.
The chords of this song are similar to the project's debut single,"Down in It". In contrast to "Down in It","Head Like a Hole" has a longer intro,lasts roughly one minute longer (the song is five minutes long in its aggregate length),is heavy metal music-oriented,and has no rapping. [3] "Head Like a Hole" is also the opening track on Nine Inch Nails' 1989 debut album,and is one of the two Nine Inch Nails songs produced by Flood to appear on Pretty Hate Machine . [8]
Labeled as "Halo 3",Head Like a Hole is the third official Nine Inch Nails release,containing remixes of three different songs from Pretty Hate Machine . The single release is longer in duration than the album itself. The single peaked at #28 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. [9]
A three-track version of this single was released in the UK containing "Head Like a Hole (Opal)" which is not included on the US release. This version begins with a sample of "Tamborine" by Prince,taken from his 1985 album Around the World in a Day and incorporates a drum loop sampled from "Release It" taken from another Prince record,the soundtrack to the Prince-directed movie Graffiti Bridge (1990).[ citation needed ] The saxophone in "Release It" can be heard before the drum loop begins. "Head Like a Hole (Copper)" samples the looping drum beat from "Body Language",a track off of the Hot Space (1982) album by Queen.[ citation needed ] The first track is mistakenly listed as "Head Like a Hole (Slate)" on the CD. [1] "Down in It (Shred)" and "Down in It (Singe)" were previously released on the "Down in It" single;the latter track is extended by 18 seconds. The unlisted eleventh track is host Heather Day yelling "Let's hear it for Nine Inch Nails! Woo! They're good!" This is a sample from Dance Party USA during an appearance by the band on the show.
"Head Like a Hole" was re-issued as a single in Australia in 1995,where it peaked at #57 on the ARIA singles chart and spent 7 weeks in the top 100. [10]
The 11-track United States version of "Head Like a Hole" has recently been repackaged and re-released. This version was also released in the United Kingdom,where it failed to reach the Top 40 [11] Finally,in Germany,the single was released as "You Get What You Deserve". This release includes four tracks.
In a retrospective review of the song,Allmusic described "Head Like a Hole" as "grand theater",elaborating further by commenting the "backing music was immaculately crafted and produced". [12] In its review of the single,the author was largely positive towards the song selection,even saying that the inclusion of "Head Like a Hole","Terrible Lie",and "Down in It" "renders Pretty Hate Machine mostly unnecessary". As for the other tracks included on the single,Allmusic was less positive,adding,"This is one case where quality definitely would have sufficed without the quantity". [13]
The single was included in the 2015 Record Store Day–Black Friday exclusive box set, Halo I–IV . [14] [15]
In 2020, Kerrang and Billboard ranked the song number eight and number two,respectively,on their lists of the greatest Nine Inch Nails songs. [16] [17]
A music video was made for the "Clay" remix of this song. Directed by Eric Zimmerman,it was released in March 1990 and again later in 1997 on the Closure VHS. The video became popular on MTV and helped fuel NIN's early success. A slightly different edit of the video was also released for Flood's remix of the song,which is 17 seconds shorter than the "Clay" remix. The video features band members Trent Reznor,Richard Patrick,and Chris Vrenna,as well as guest drummer Martin Atkins performing in a cage. [18]
The video was filmed at the original location of Exit nightclub which was located at 1653 North Wells Street in Chicago. [19]
The video begins with black and white footage of a person hopping on one foot while spinning a staff,which fades in and out against a background of blurred colors (excerpts of Maya Deren's unfinished documentary on voodoo rituals "Divine Horsemen:The Living Gods of Haiti"). Clips of Reznor putting his head in a bucket of water and an unseen person dumping water from the same bucket onto Reznor were taken by a video camera before filming a performance of the song from Nine Inch Nails as a live band. [18]
Reznor's guitar in the video is a Jackson Dinky. It is first seen in first chorus,when Reznor,appearing to be dirty like the other band members (he had long hair and wore gritty clothing during production),bangs his head while singing the chorus. He does not use the guitar for the video's climax,where wires tied to his ankles slowly pull him up,leaving the frontman spinning upside down from the ceiling. At the same scene,Vrenna destroys his drum kit by throwing a bass drum of Atkins' drum kit towards the object. At a shot occurring prior to that point,broken Zildjian cymbals and a drum machine can be seen as parts of Vrenna's kit.
There are images that are shown for a few frames like "HEAD","16 SOUND START","S M P T E UNIVERSAL LEADER" and "PICTURE". Other images included a white dot set against a black background,a mirrored presentation showing the words "REEL №PROD №PLAY DATE" colored in yellow,one with the words "PICTURE START",and a frame consisting of "C C F F" placed near an outlined ring. The latter screen had an alternative version that was accompanied by a white number 3,also seen in the video. There are also visuals of four incomplete rotating mechanical models of human heads;one with film stills,another with a modified motherboard and other technology,the purple,wired,head with a blue screen showing an eye and various computer hardware,and the last containing blue skin,orange-pupil eyes,and a lightbulb. The former two were filmed in black and white,while the latter two in full color. All four are shown intercut with shots of people spinning baseball bats. [18]
The song has been the encore for most NIN shows (especially the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series ),or the last song before the encore if an encore took place. There are live videos of "Head Like a Hole" on the DVDs And All That Could Have Been and Beside You in Time . [20]
During Lollapalooza '91,Dave Navarro,Eric Avery,Gibby Haynes and Ice-T joined Nine Inch Nails live performances on-stage as additional guitarists for "Head Like a Hole;" except for the first show in Phoenix,AZ when NIN walked off stage after the first song in frustration. [21] For the Nights of Nothing mini-tour in 1996,Richard Patrick made a brief return to the band to perform guitar and vocals on "Head Like a Hole" at the Irving Plaza show in New York along with Clint Mansell,who joined NIN on this song at all three shows of the tour. [22] In the June 7,2006 radio performance at Atlanta,Georgia,Trent Reznor and Peter Murphy played a reworked version of "Head Like a Hole". [23]
Lisa Kennedy Montgomery once sang the song loudly to Reznor to win a $20 bet. [24] To express the evolving state of his values,Reznor said in 1997 that "I don't want to be singing "Head Like a Hole" at age 50." [25]
Since its commercial maxi-single release,"Head Like a Hole" continues to generate an impact on other musicians and bands. PopMatters ranked the track 37th on their list of "The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the ‘80s". [6]
"Head Like a Hole" is the most widely covered Nine Inch Nails song.[ citation needed ] In 2005,The String Quartet Tribute released a cover album of reworked versions of Pretty Hate Machine,including "Head Like a Hole". Other bands who covered the track include punk rock band AFI, [26] rock artist Ryan Star, [27] new wave band Devo, [28] indie rock band Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives,gothic metal band Lullacry, [29] nu metal band Korn, [30] post-industrial band PIG,hard rock band Buckcherry, [31] and Christian rock band Showbread.[ citation needed ] Deathcore act Carnifex did a cover of the song on their EP,Bury Me In Blasphemy.[ citation needed ] New Zealand-based grunge band HLAH is named after the song. The name is sometimes abbreviated to avoid copyright infringement issues.[ citation needed ]
The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1990 film Class of 1999 .
The song was remixed and rewritten by Charlie Brooker with Reznor's approval as the pop song "On a Roll" for the fifth series episode "Rachel,Jack and Ashley Too" of Black Mirror . [32] [33] The song was released as a single on June 14,2019. At the end of the episode,Cyrus performed a cover version of "Head Like a Hole".
The video appears in the first episode of Beavis and Butt-Head,"Door-To-Door" appearing in versions A and B,in addition to being included in version B of the MTV version of the pilot "Frog Baseball" when it was released. aired within the series (not on Liquid Television). And the video used is the Mix "Head Like a Hole (Copper)".
The song was used in the television advertising campaign for the action video game Gears of War 5.[ citation needed ]
It was remixed for the trailer for the film The Beekeeper . [ citation needed ]
It was made available to download on March 1,2011,for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform in both Basic rhythm,and PRO mode which utilizes real guitar / bass guitar,and MIDI compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to vocals.
"Head Like a Hole" was part of a controversy after the September 11 attacks,when Clear Channel Communications placed it in a 2001 list of post-9/11 inappropriate song titles not for radio airplay. [34]
No. | Title | Remixer | Length |
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1. | "Head Like a Hole" (Slate) | Trent Reznor, Flood | 4:19 |
2. | "Head Like a Hole" (Clay) | Keith LeBlanc | 4:32 |
3. | "Terrible Lie" (Sympathetic Mix) | Reznor, Flood | 4:27 |
4. | "Head Like a Hole" (Copper) | Reznor, Flood | 6:27 |
5. | "You Know Who You Are" (Instrumental Dub mix of "Head Like a Hole") | Reznor, Flood | 5:39 |
6. | "Head Like a Hole" (Soil) | Reznor, Flood | 6:39 |
7. | "Terrible Lie" (Empathetic Mix) | Reznor, Flood | 6:09 |
8. | "Down in It" (Shred) | Adrian Sherwood, LeBlanc | 6:52 |
9. | "Down in It" (Singe) | Sherwood, LeBlanc | 7:20 |
10. | "Down in It" (Demo) | Reznor | 3:56 |
11. | "Untitled" (hidden track) | 0:03 | |
Total length: | 55:14 |
No. | Title | Remixer | Length |
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1. | "Head Like a Hole" (Clay) | LeBlanc | 4:32 |
2. | "Head Like a Hole" (Copper) | Reznor, Flood | 6:27 |
3. | "Head Like a Hole" (Opal) | Reznor, Flood | 5:17 |
Total length: | 16:14 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Head Like a Hole" (Slate) | 4:19 |
2. | "Terrible Lie" (Sympathetic Mix) | 4:30 |
3. | "Head Like a Hole" (Opal) | 5:21 |
Total length: | 14:05 |
No. | Title | Remixer | Length |
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1. | "Head Like a Hole" (Copper) | Reznor, Flood | 6:27 |
2. | "Down in It" (Shred) | Sherwood, LeBlanc | 6:52 |
3. | "Terrible Lie" (Sympathetic Mix) | Reznor, Flood | 4:27 |
4. | "Head Like a Hole" (Clay) | LeBlanc | 4:32 |
Total length: | 22:22 |
Chart (1990–1991) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles (OCC) [35] | 45 |
US Alternative Airplay ( Billboard ) [36] | 28 |
Chart (1995) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [37] | 57 |
Chart (2001) | Position |
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Canada (Nielsen SoundScan) [38] | 169 |
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on March 8, 1994, by Nothing Records in the United States and Island Records in Europe. It is a concept album detailing the self-destruction of a man from the beginning of his misanthropic "downward spiral" to his suicidal breaking point. The album was a commercial success and established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the 1990s music scene, with its sound being widely imitated, and the band receiving media attention and multiple honors.
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN, stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band until his frequent collaborator, Atticus Ross, joined in 2016. The band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was released via TVT Records. After disagreeing with TVT about how to promote the album, the band 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.
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by TVT Records on October 20, 1989. Production of the record was handled by frontman Trent Reznor, English producers John Fryer and Flood, among other contributors.
Broken is the first extended play (EP) and second major release by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. It was released on September 22, 1992, by Nothing, TVT, and Interscope Records. The EP was produced by frontman Trent Reznor and Flood.
"March of the Pigs" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). It was released on February 25, 1994 as the album's lead single.
"The Day the World Went Away" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on July 20, 1999, as the lead single from their third studio album The Fragile (1999). The song was the band's first top-forty hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 17, which remains their highest-ever position on the chart.
"Down in It" is the debut single by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on September 15, 1989. Taken from the band's debut album Pretty Hate Machine, it was the first song ever written by frontman Trent Reznor.
"Into the Void" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their third studio album, The Fragile, released in 1999. It is the album's third single and saw release early 2000. A music video was directed by Walter Stern and Jeff Richter.
"We're in This Together" is a song by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails released in 1999. It is the 15th official Nine Inch Nails release and is a single for the album The Fragile. It was released as a three-disc single.
TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the Television's Greatest Hits series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into rap, industrial rock, and electronic music amassing 25 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum albums over the course of its 24-year history.
"Sin" is the third single by American artist Nine Inch Nails from the album Pretty Hate Machine. Released in October 1990, the song peaked at number 35 in the UK Singles Chart.
With Teeth is the fourth studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by Nothing Records and Interscope Records on May 3, 2005. The album was produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and long-time collaborator Alan Moulder. It also features contributions from musician Dave Grohl and future band member Atticus Ross.
"Closer" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released as the second single on their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). Released in May 1994, it is considered one of Nine Inch Nails' signature songs and remains their most popular song. Most versions of the single are titled "Closer to God", a rare example in music of a single's title differing from the title of its A-side. The single is the ninth official Nine Inch Nails release, making it "Halo 9" in the band's official Halo numbering system.
American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails have released 11 studio albums, one live album, three remix albums, two compilation albums, six extended plays, 20 singles, 10 promotional singles, four video albums and 31 music videos. Nine Inch Nails has also contributed to numerous film soundtracks as well as the soundtrack to the video game Quake.
"Deep" is a song recorded by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails for the soundtrack to the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Because this is a promotional single, it has never been featured with its own official halo and the song "Deep" has never been released on any Nine Inch Nails album, or on any halo-numbered release, although it has its own video directed by Enda McCallion.
"Discipline" is a song by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their seventh studio album, titled The Slip (2008). It was released on April 22, 2008 as the only single from the album. It is the band's first single since severing its ties with Interscope Records and publishing music independently.
The Slip is the seventh studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on May 5, 2008, digitally on the Nine Inch Nails website, and on CD on July 22 by The Null Corporation. It was their second release in 2008, following their sixth album Ghosts I–IV, released two months prior. The album was produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder.
The Self Destruct Tour was a concert tour in support of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails' album The Downward Spiral, which took place in early 1994, running until mid-1996, and was broken into eight legs.
"Piggy" is a song by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from their second studio album, The Downward Spiral (1994). It was written by Trent Reznor, co-produced by Flood, and recorded at Le Pig. It was released in December 1994 as a promotional single from the album. The song is known for being Reznor's only live drumming performance.
Rumours that have circulated about him... that he dated Kennedy ("She's just a friend"- they met at the Whiskey in L.A., after Kennedy humiliated him by singing "Head Like a Hole" loudly to his face to win a twenty-dollar bet with a buddy.)