Changes

Working nights at Right Track Studio as a handyman and toilet cleaner, [[Trent Reznor]] used studio "down time" to record and develop his own music. Playing most of the keyboards, drum machines, guitars, and samplers himself, he recorded a demo, unofficially titled ''[[Purest Feeling (album)|Purest Feeling]]''. Teaming up with manager [[John A. Malm, Jr.]] they sent the demo to various record labels. Reznor received serious offers from many of them. He signed a deal with [[TVT Records]] who, until then, were known mainly for releasing novelty and television jingle records.

Teaming up ''Pretty Hate Machine'' was recorded in various studios around the world with manager John A. Malm, Jr. they sent the demo to various record labels. Reznor received serious offers from many collaborating with some of them. He signed a deal with his most idolized producers - Flood, Keith LeBlanc, [[TVT RecordsAdrian Sherwood]] who, until thenand John Fryer. After the album was finished, TVT Records were known mainly for releasing novelty not happy about the direction the album had taken from the original demos. This would lead to friction between Reznor and television jingle recordsthe label.John Fryer elaborated:

<blockquote>"We were trying to make the hardest record we could make. It was very strange because we made it, we thought it sounded brilliant, we had it on the big speakers just blowing us away. Then someone from the record company came in — and because the demos were more synthy and not as industrial as the album, he listened to it and his mouth dropped open and he said 'You'Pretty Hate Machineve ruined this record.'But of course it' s gone on to be a classic. It was recorded done in various studios around the world with Reznor collaborating with some 20 days. I think it was a good thing that we made records so quickly back then because there's a lot of his most idolized producers - Flood, Keith LeBlancenergy in there and mistakes are left in, so it sounds human and it's not blanded out over time."[[Adrian Sherwoodhttp://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan06/articles/johnfryer.htm]], and John Fryer.</blockquote>

The album also gained popularity through word-of-mouth and developed an underground following. Reznor quickly hired a band for touring with [[Skinny Puppy]], [[The Jesus and Mary Chain]] and [[Peter Murphy]], including guitarist and future Filter/Army of Anyone frontman [[Richard Patrick]]. Nine Inch Nails' live set was notorious for louder, more aggressive versions of the studio songs, and also for destroying their instruments at the end of sets. Reznor preferred using the heel of his boots to strip the keys from keyboards.

Since After the album was released, a recording known as ''Purest Feeling'' surfaced. This bootleg album contains the original demo recordings of most of the tracks found on ''Pretty Hate Machine'', as well as a couple that were not used ("[[Purest Feeling (song)|Purest Feeling]]" and "[[Maybe Just Once]]").

The entire album was covered by a string quartet in 2005 as ''The String Quartet Tribute to [[Nine Inch Nails]]' Pretty Hate Machine'', arranged by Eric Gorfain. [http://www.amazon.com/String-Quartet-Tribute-Pretty-Machine/dp/B0007ZSH5S] It was later re-arranged using retro computers and game consoles by Inverse Phase and released as ''[[Pretty Eight Machine]]''. [http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/album/pretty-eight-machine]