Top Ten Songs by Nine Inch Nails

Among my circle of friends way back in my club stomping days, we had an event known as “Mandatory Nine Inch Nails”.  Said event dictated that regardless of what you were doing or who you were talking to, if you heard the familiar “thumpa-thumpa” of a NIN song, you were to report to the dance floor immediately.  As a result, I can’t tell you how many songs I shook my groove thing to during Trent Reznor’s heyday.  Hence, I have comprised a selection of my top ten favorite songs in the NIN catalog

#10 – Head Like a Hole

Industrial music was really only heard in the darkest of Goth clubs before this single hit the scene.  After NIN’s first single from their 1989 debut Pretty Hate Machine, the mainstream was introduced to a new sound that mixed hard rock with a danceable mechanical beat.  Lead singer Trent Reznor growls out his ode to the evils of money hunger, then pounds you with a screaming chorus, then hits you with a catchy hook to solidify the song’s place in your brain.  Bow down before the one you serve/Your going to get what you deserve.  The resulting combination gives even the most Frat-worthy jock the urge to bang his head.

#9 – Terrible Lie

This protest against organized religion, (the second track from Pretty Hate Machine) lays off the guitars a little bit and leans more towards the dance club ambience.  But what stands out about “Terrible Lie” is its irresistible beat that sounds more like Monday morning at the General Motors factory as opposed to a drum machine.  Reznor uses all the instruments of the industrial sound, only he gives it a groove and makes it likable.

#8 – Happiness in Slavery