SYNTH FAGGOT, that was
how NINE INCH NAILS mainman TRENT REZNOR attempted to describe himself to a
bewildered press when he first appeared supporting Guns'N'Roses and playing a
commercial version of what has become cumbersomely known as industrial music.
CATHI UNSWORTH unravels the story behind Reznor's first major hit, "Head
Like a Hole."
In February 1991, Trent Reznor was a wanted
man. Not just by the press who were quick to thrill to the aural assault of
Nine Inch Nails' debut album, *Pretty Hate Machine*, but also by the FBI. The
first of Reznor's controversial videos, "Down in It," had depicted
the corpse of Reznor lying in a Chicago street, which the singer had filmed
using a camera in a weather balloon. When the balloon got loose, it drifted 200
miles into a farmer's field and was promptly handed over to the police. Once
they developed the film inside the balloon they were convinced it was a snuff
movie, with verification from a coroner who was convinced that the cornflower
on Reznor's face was a sign of decomposition. The NIN mainman had to go to the Chicago police offices to prove he was
actually alive.
It was an audacious start for a one-man
operation that was to go on to provoke, challenge and outrage audiences here
and in the States with the relentless self-examination of his music and a flair
for visuals that incorporated enough realistic depiction of sadomasochistic
sex, torture and death to keep him off MTV for life.
Nine Inch Nails first arrived in the UK supporting Guns'N'Roses in August
1991. A four-man live show that at the time featured Richard Patrick, James
Woolley and Jeff Ward, NIN was, however, indisputably Reznor's operation.
Brought up in the challenging industrial forefathers of Throbbing Gristle, Test
Dept and Skinny Puppy, Reznor went on to collaborate with the Godfather of
technogore, Al Jourgensen, on the disco inferno version of Black Sabbath's
"Supernaut" that was released under the moniker 1000 Homo DJs, and
which was played live with Big Al's Revolting Cocks.
Always possessed with more pop sensibility than
his contemporaries, when Reznor released NIN's first album, *Pretty Hate
Machine*, it was just that. Despite the raging bleakness and violence of his
lyrics, Reznor's songs demonstrated an unnerving flair for catchy, left-hook
choruses that were more redolent of British electro pioneers Depeche Mode or
Nitzer Ebb--read faggot to the multitudes of hairy Americans.
And indeed, "synth-faggot" is how
Reznor described himself on his debut UK tour. Displaying healthy levels of
perverse provocation, he relished the idea of supporting Guns'N'Roses at the
time.
"It was kind of funny," Trent told *Rage* magazine back then.
"Axl phoned me while I was listening to the new Pet Shop Boys album and I
was trying to turn it down so he wouldn't hear. And he said, 'Hey, was that the
Pet Shop Boys? I just got that! Man, I like that, but I'm too embarassed to
tell anyone.' I said, 'Me, too'."
It seemed that baiting the conservative G'N'R
audience was a turn on for this fledgling art terrorist.
"No pain, no gain," he stated,
"and this will be the ultimate test of that. Here we are on the
biggest-ever tour and you've never heard of us. We're some synth faggot band
opening for a heavy rock band. I have to go out with that attitude."
It was an attitude that crystallised forever on
"Head Like a Hole." Despite the interest that greeted *Pretty Hate
Machine* and all the attendant tales of Reznor's FBI record, it wasn't until
the September release of the single that Nine Inch Nails stepped out of the
shadow of Al Jourgensen's projects into their own patch of limelight.
"Head Like a Hole" shuddered with
menace, from the precision beats that fired it through Reznor's buried vocal
warnings to the inflammatory chorus that raged, "Head like a hole/Black as
your soul/I'd rather die/Than give you control."
Lyrically, the song was double-edged. The theme
of dominance/submission was not restricted to describing a personal relationship,
it was also used in the wider context of America's indifference to the underclass it
had deliberately created. Only, set as it was like a jewel in a metal forged
from Metallica's black steel, Nitzer Ebb's icy platinum and Jourgensen's patent
fool's gold, the message was the crowning of a thrilling, inventive and
original mind in motion. Reznor, we felt, could tell us things without
insulting our intelligence.
"The fact that this single is being played
on (Radio One's) Simon Bates' show makes them instantly more important than
Front 242 or Skinny Puppy," said the inkie press, trumpeting "Head
Like a Hole" as Single of the Week. "It's a bit like having (Porno
for Pyro's) Perry Farrell presenting children's TV. This record is evil."
"The buzz in this little subgenre is
getting bigger," Reznor told *Spin* magazine, "I think people look at
Nine Inch Nails as the pop forefront of that, that doorway into the more
legitimate or obscure industrial bands."
At the same time, the darkness inherent in NIN's
music, and Reznor's angular, spooked-out appearance of black hair, ripped
fishnets and leather, seemed to be attracting another kind of attention.
"We've run into weird Devil-cult shit in
places like Salt Lake City or Tulsa," he revealed. "It's
weird when you play a show and there's a disproportionate number of people
backstage talking about how they're witches and how we should visit 'this old
abandoned church where satanic cults hang out'."
Despite Reznor's baffled amusement at certain
fans taking him for a warlock, he has since gone on to explore America's most
infamous death cult by recording the band's second album, *The Downward
Spiral*, in the house where the Manson gang murdered Sharon Tate, and enthusing
over its unique ambience. Reznor has continued to push the envelope of
extremity both musically and personally.
"The theme for the record revealed itself
to be things which were really bothering me, like not having my religious
outlook together and not being able to fit into a neat little hole in
society," he said in 1991. "Nothing staggeringly new, just teenage
angst, but trying to do it with some sincerity."
That Reznor's musical vision would always come
before all other relationships was something he found to be a double-edged
sword.
"Normality is something I've defiantly
looked for in the past," he admitted to *Deadline* magazine. "Back in
'88/'89, I decided that music was what I wanted to do and though I was scared
at first to really try in case I sucked, I threw myself into it whole-heartedly.
"My whole life became music and it kind of
threw me off balance, because I liked it more than I thought I would. I also
cut off all social connections, like the friends I'd had for more than two
months, a stable home, and a bed that I actually recognised. I lost the sense
of who I was. Bascially, it's just music that I want to do."
"Head Like a Hole" had scorched its
way into a generation's consciousness, along with the spidery figure of Reznor,
a black-clad wild card in the social pack. Having overcome his initial loathing
of the industry machine that *Pretty Hate Machine* set in motion, Trent Reznor
has learned how to do things his way.
How big his FBI file is by now is another
story...
Head Like A Hole
God money I'll do anything for you
God money just tell me what you want me to
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
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die than give you control
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die than give you control
Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve
God money's not looking for the cure
God money's not concerned with the sick amongst
the pure
God money let's go dancing on the backs of the
bruised
God money's not one to choose
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
Head like a hole
Black as your soul
I'd rather die than give you control
Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve
You know who you are
Words and music by Trent Reznor. Published by
MCA Music c 1991
Head First
The facts behind the
track
Writing: Words and music by Trent Reznor
Recording: Although NIN performed as a
four-piece on stage, Reznor did all the programming, sampling, singing and
playing on the whole of “Pretty Hate Machine”. Both the album and the “Head
Like A Hole” single were produced by Reznor, Flood and Adrian Sherwood.
Released: “Head Like A Hole” (Island CID
484), complete with various remixes of the tune, was released on 2
September 1991. The album “Pretty Hate Machine” (Island CID 9973 all Formats) preceded
it on 18 February 1991.
Formats: 10” vinyl and CD only
Extra info: All format of the single release
have since been deleted, but “Head Like a Hole” remains available on “Pretty
Hate Machine” (CD only).
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