Pretty Hate Machine
Released: 1989

Pretty Hate Machine

by Nine Inch Nails

The 414th greatest album of all time

Pretty Hate Machine, Nine Inch Nails' 1989 debut, mixes industrial and EBM textures with alternative rock songcraft, pairing glossy and jagged synths, programmed rhythms, samples, and distorted guitars. Trent Reznor's often confessional and anguished lyrics about alienation and relationships sit within concise, hook-oriented arrangements. The record helped define a more accessible, electronic-tinged strand of industrial music that bridged underground electronics and alternative rock.