Across Nine Inch Nails’ three-and-a-half-decade career, there have been 11 albums, 20 singles, a truckload of EPs and remix albums, a revolving door of band members, at least three prolonged absences, at least three triumphant comebacks, and some of the finest and fiercest alternative-rock music ever made. For most of their lifespan, Trent Reznor has been the group’s sole official member but since 2016 he has been joined by Atticus Ross, with whom he has also made many excellent film scores. When NiN go big, anthemic and for your throat, they are unstoppable– think The Hand That Feeds from 2005’s With Teeth, We’re In This Together from 1999’s The Fragile, Terrible Lie from their debut Pretty Hate Machine, Closer from The Downward Spiral, or The Beginning Of The End from Year Zero. But it’s in the darker corners of their catalogue where they make some of their most interesting and intriguing music. Tread carefully: here’s ten of the best NiN deep cuts.
Something I Can Never Have, from Natural Born Killers: A Soundtrack For An Oliver Stone (1995)
Reznor made his first move into film music when he oversaw production of the soundtrack to this controversial Oliver Stone-directed and Quentin Tarantino-written film about a couple (played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis) who embark on a killing spree. Alongside tracks by Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Cowboy Junkies, Bob Dylan and more were three of Reznor’s own cuts, the pick of which was this reworking of the haunted ballad from Pretty Hate Machine. Now prefaced with a lover’s tiff between the murdering couple (serial killers have feelings too, OK?), it feels even more unsettling and beautiful, Reznor’s soulful vocal gliding over minimalist, plaintive piano and eerie droning.
A Warm Place / Eraser, from A Downward Spiral (1994)
Yes, technically two tracks but they go together in the same way Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight on The Beatles' Abbey Road do, sliding into each other, one making the other sound better. To listen to A Warm Place’s hypnotic and slow-building ambience – it sounds like a bit like Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence future-fied for Blade Runner – without letting it morph into the brutal, industrial thump of Eraser is like hearing half a song.
Dead Souls, from The Crow Soundtrack (1994)
There haven’t been too many recorded cover versions by Nine Inch Nails over the years, Trent Reznor presumably scarred by covering Queen’s Get Down, Make Love as a B-side to 1990 single Sin. That, apparently, was meant to be tongue-in-cheek but you imagine the devotion was a little more earnest on this cover of the Joy Division song that appeared on the soundtrack to Brandon Lee’s goth action film The Crow in ’94. It’s a faithful reworking, albeit slightly slower and with crunchier guitars, but it sounds fantastic, Downward Spiral-era Reznor the perfect maniac to give Ian Curtis & co.’s dark classic a frazzled 90s update.
The Frail (Remix), from Things Falling Apart (2000)
In a nod to his electronic roots and the fact that he likes fucking things up, Reznor has made a habit of following up studio album releases with remix and reworked collections. The album that rewired A Downward Spiral – 1995’s Further Down The Spiral – was a downright eerie and discombobulating listen but 2000’s Things Falling Apart, which gave some cuts from The Fragile a doing over, was much more enticing. There’s a swaggering redux of Into The Void (Slipping Away), The Wretched gets turned inside out into an electro-goth stomper, but this is the best of the lot. Less a remix and more of a counter-part, it takes the piano interlude from the original and gives it a mournful, orchestral redo. I mean, it wasn’t that chirpy in the first place but still.
The Hand That Feeds (Photek Straight Mix), from The Hand That Feeds (2005)
The Hand That Feeds was one of the best comeback singles of the 00s, bringing Reznor and NiN back into the fray after a few years in the wilderness. This remix by British DJ and producer Photek transforms it into a club banger, all cascading beats, swarming synths and razorsharp guitar lines. It would probably sound great in a spin class if clubbing isn’t your thing. Or on a quite intense walk if spin isn’t your thing.
Right Where It Belongs (Version 2), from With Teeth (Bonus Tracks) (2005)
A bonus song on 2005’s With Teeth, this alternative version of the album’s closer is one of NiN’s most untinkered-with recordings. The original filters the keyboard through warped phasers but here it sounds untouched, all the more mesmeric for it, just Reznor’s solemn vocal reflecting over some minor chord splendour.
Various Methods Of Escape, from Hesitation Marks (2013)
Behind pulsing lead single Came Back Haunted, NiN’s 2013 album Hesitation Marks was a mixed affair, a little too one-paced for a band whose fervent dynamism usually keeps you on your toes. Buried in the second half of the record, though, this was excellent, taking its time to build up over layers of airy vocals, treated guitars and stop-start beats until it eventually explodes into rolling drums and what sounds like the world’s most tuneful siren at the end. Brilliant.
Head Like A Hole (live), from And All That Could Have Been (2002)
Taken from 2002’s And All That Could Have Been, still the only official NiN live release, this is a fantastically jolting version of their early hit, so spruced up and up’n’at’em it very nearly renders the original redundant. But hey we wouldn’t want anyone out of a job so close to Christmas so make sure to give the OG listen now and then too.
34 Ghosts IV, from Ghosts I-IV (2008)
A mammoth collection of instrumental ambient and atmospheric pieces, from a distance 2008’s Ghosts I-IV seems like Trent Reznor warming up for the fruitful career diversion he’s taken into film scores since scoring David Fincher’s The Social Network in 2010 – he’s worked on every Fincher film since. This is one of the collection’s most curious cuts since it combines Reznor’s captivating, spectral take on electronica and also nods to his recent influence on pop music – a sample of it was used as the backbone to Lil Nas X’s huge hit Old Town Road.
The Lovers, from Add Violence (2017)
A brilliant cut from 2017’s Add Violence EP. Lead track Less Than showed that NiN were still a ferocious electronic rock band when they wanted to be, but The Lovers was something new, almost like Reznor and new member Atticus Ross introducing Burial-style dubstep into the mix. With a yearning Reznor vocal sitting in the middle of ominous pianos and twitchy beats, it’s one of NiN’s best modern numbers.
