NIN History

Nine Inch Nails arose from the Cleveland band Exotic Birds in 1987 when keyboardist Trent Reznor broke off from the group and met John Malm, his soon-to-be manager. Most NIN fans would be surprised to know that Reznor’s previous profession included cleaning the floors of Right Track Studios as their janitor, little did he know that Nine Inch Nails tickets would be some of the best selling industrial metal tickets to date. In exchange for a bit of work, Reznor was able to record his first original demos, playing all of the instruments, save for the drums, himself.

NIN’s musical approach has always been considered experimental, but to gather the full scope of their sound you’d have to listen to NIN’s style transformation throughout the years. Although Reznor never thought his music could be confined to a single genre, most of his work has been classified as industrial. Combining intricate time signatures with alternating levels of vocal intensity along with heavy noise distortion and piano motifs, it is clear to see why NIN is above classification. NIN concerts have been known to exhibit the same intensity and complexity of music stylings.

Shortly after touring with the band Skinny Puppy, NIN received offers from several different labels before Reznor settled on TVT Records. He would soon release “Pretty Hate Machine” featuring tracks like “Head Like a Hole” and “Terrible Lie.” The unprecedented popularity of his first album landed NIN a spot on Billboard’s top 200 for 113 weeks! NIN ultimately reached audiences with their aggressive stage presence, often smashing equipment, during the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series which touched upon festivals like Lollapalooza in which NIN appeal made NIN tickets that more desirable.

Their follow up album, Broken, was the only album to date that landed NIN two Grammy Awards. Becoming more brazen with his artistic expression, Reznor’s video for “Broken” was universally banned for the graphic fictional death of performance artist Bob Flanagan.  Following 1994’s release of The Downward Spiral, The Fragile (1999) and With Teeth (2005) found a home as number one on US music charts.  NIN has received 4x platinum status and continue to produce original music.

Reznor, being the only official member of Nine Inch Nails, gathers a group of artists to play with him during live NIN Concerts. Having been likened to the protopunk band The Velvet Underground, Reznor’s original influence was the Skinny Puppy’s song “Dig It.” Heralded as one of the top 100 greatest artists of all time by Rolling Stone, Reznor is considered of the music industry’s most valuable innovators- we just think he plain rocks.

With his most recent releases, Ghost I-IV and The Slip digitally released under Creative Commons licenses, The Slip can be found on their website for free! You don’t really have to do your research, or read this official rundown of Nine Inch Nails history to know that Nine Inch Nails tickets are a hot item, so get them while they’re still up for grabs!