Pretty Hate Machine

I finally dumped Pretty Hate Machine onto my computer. No more do I need to look at my horribly raped CD and feel sorry for both the CD and I.

Released a good 15 years ago, Pretty Hate Machine still sounds pretty damn fresh. The reliance on dance floor electronics is heavier than on any of Reznor’s other albums but damn these are good songs. He’s also a lot more accessible on Pretty Hate Machine than he was on any of his other recordings. Brooding, introspective and very fucking groovy, the album opens with Head Like A Hole “I’d rather die than give you control.” A song that MTV made famous for a while. After this is Terrible Lie that was a huge favourite when I first heard this album in high school. A rant against God struck all the right chords with me then. “I’m all alone in a world you must despise.” Down In It “and what I used to think was me is now just a fading memory.” and Sanctified both have driving bass lines that propel the song forward. Sanctified is another favourite on this album. A slightly Arabic sounding synth effect and bass line. “Heaven’s just a rumour she’ll dispel as she walks me through the nicest parts of hell.”

Bang in the middle of this album lies the completely magnificent Something I Can Never Have. Sparse, haunting and very dark, Reznor is in top form though out this album and never more so than on this song. “Grey would be the colour if I had a heart.” Its that strange old nostalgia and damn its good to listen to Pretty Hate Machine again.

Reznor experimented with dissonance and noise as music but only slightly on this album. Ideas he would further explore on the Broken ep and further on. The music on Pretty Hate Machine is still very dancefloor, night club oriented with rare bursts of electric guitar. Sin has a driving beat that makes you just want to floor the gas pedal and hit the road, “and if I can’t have everything well then just give me a taste.” Reznor let me have a taste of something quite special with Pretty Hate Machine. The taste hasn’t gone out of my mouth yet. “Lay my hands on Heaven and the sun and the moon and the stars while the devil wants to fuck me in the back of his car.” Ringfinger closes the album out at just a little under 50 minutes and is another catchy as hell song. The groove is so infectious that you can’t help but nod your head or tap your feet or do whatever it is that music makes you do. “I’m so tired I can’t get to sleep and the squeaking of the bed is right in time with the song in my head.’

Pretty Hate Machine was an essential part of my growing up. Going back to it today was like going back to an old girlfriend who is still willing to put out for you. It is that damn good.