Day After Day #298: Head Like a Hole

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Head Like a Hole (1989)

Playing all the instruments on your album isn't exactly a new concept. It's been done by Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Grohl and others. But in 1988 when an unknown Cleveland studio engineer named Trent Reznor decided to play all the instruments on his debut, nobody thought anything of it...because he was, y'know, unknown. 

Reznor put a band together when he had a chance to open for industrial act Skinny Puppy on their U.S. tour and when he came back, he wrote some new songs, including "Head Like a Hole." The rest of the album had been labored over and revised several times, but Reznor whipped off "Head Like a Hole" in 15 minutes. The song was a rage-filled tirade against corporate greed and it combined the electronic sound of industrial music with big riffs and heavy guitar.

"God money, I'll do anything for you/God money, just tell me what you want me to do/God money, nail me up against the wall/God money, don't want everything he wants it all/No, you can't take it/No, you can't take it/No, you can't take that away from me/No, you can't take it/No, you can't take it/No, you can't take that away from me/Head like a hole/Black as your soul/I'd rather die than give you control."

Reznor had chosen producer Mark "Flood" Ellis to work on the album, but he was busy producing Depeche Mode's Violator album when Reznor entered the studio. Flood was only able to produce two songs on Pretty Hate Machine, one of which was "Head Like a Hole." The song echoed the dark feel of the album, but had a metal feel that was similar to the territory Ministry was exploring.

"Bow down before the one you serve/You're going to get what you deserve."

The album came out on TVT Records in October 1989 with "Down In It" as the first single, but it didn't get popular until "Head Like a Hole" was released as the second single in March 1990, along with a video that got a lot of play on MTV. The video featured Reznor and the band he assembled after the recording playing in a Chicago club amid the debris of trashed equipment and chaos. 

NIN didn't become immediately successful, instead growing a cult following before becoming more widely known. I remember seeing a 30-second ad for the album featuring a clip from "Head Like a Hole" playing on late-night TV in early '91. The song went to #28 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and #45 on the U.K. Singles chart, while Pretty Hate Machine hit #75 on the Billboard 200 chart (years later in 2003, the album was certified triple platinum in the U.S.). 

The band opened for Peter Murphy and Jesus and Mary Chain before joining the first Lollapalooza tour in 1991; although the band stormed off stage after the first song of the first show in Arizona because of equipment malfunctions, the rest of the tour was much more successful in getting their name out. "Head Like a Hole" became the encore for most shows and on Lollapalooza featured extra guitarists including Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Ice-T. NIN then opened for Guns N' Roses in Europe to a mixed response before returning to the U.S. to work on new material.

Unhappy with TVT, Reznor signed a deal with Interscope and recorded the Broken EP in the house where the Manson family killed Sharon Tate. The songs had a heavier sound and the band started releasing graphic videos depicting bondage and violence; it came out in 1992 and hit the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The band's next album, 1994's The Downward Spiral, was even more successful, with the song "Closer" courting controversy with its explicit video and lyrics. NIN played an infamous mud-soaked performance at Woodstock '94, recorded a cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls" for the soundtrack to The Crow and also produced the soundtrack to David Lynch's movie Lost Highway in 1997. But Reznor was also dealing with drug addiction and writer's block, leading to a five-year gap between albums.

Reznor suffered a heroin overdose while on tour in 2000; he put the band on hold while he went into rehab. NIN has released 10 albums since 2005, adding collaborator Atticus Ross in 2016 as the only other full-time member of the band. Since 2010, Reznor and Ross have also become successful film and TV composers, winning an Oscar and a Grammy for The Social Network and a Grammy for Soul, while also winning an Emmy for their work on Watchmen. Reznor has also collaborated with David Bowie, Queens of the Stone Age, TV On the Radio and Tori Amos, among others.

In addition to being a huge influence on an entire generation of alternative and industrial artists, Reznor's DIY attitude also inspired musicians to create their own sounds without relying on anyone else. Nowadays, it's a lot easier to self-publish your music, but whether anyone will hear it is the bigger issue.