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While a member of Cleveland, OH bands [[Exotic Birds]] and [[Lucky Pierre]], [[Trent Reznor]] began the initial songwriting and ideas for NIN.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCimjf7nYxE] Playing most of the keyboards, drum machines, guitars, and samplers himself, he began recording demos. He eventually took a job working nights at Right Track Studios as a handyman and janitor, and used studio "down time" to develop and record more refined and professional demos. 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.
After ''Pretty Hate Machine'' was released, a [[bootlegs|bootleg]] called ''[[Purest Feeling (album)|Purest Feeling]]'' surfaced. It contains versions of most of the tracks found on the album (including an early version of "Ringfinger" entitled "Twist"), as well as a couple that were not used ("[[Purest Feeling (song)|Purest Feeling]]" and "[[Maybe Just Once]]"). This session was initially believed to be demo recordings, but was eventually revealed by original NIN drummer [[Ron Musarra]] to be a recording of tour rehearsals for NIN's [[VIVIsectVI Tour|first tour dates]] opening for [[Skinny Puppy]]. Various sets of demo recordings exist, but not all are circulated. Versions of "Sin", "Terrible Lie", "Sanctified", "Twist", and "Down In It" are on an uncirculated a cassettehanded out by Reznor to important figures, one copy of which is privately owned by [[Martin Atkins]].[https://exclaim.ca/music/article/early_demo_of_nine_inch_nails_pretty_hate_machine_hits_ebay]; versions Versions of "Down In It", "Sanctified", "Kinda I Want To", and "Twist" can be found on the ''[[Demos & Remixes]]'' bootleg; and another . A batch of assorted early tracks, including a demo of "Sin" and non-rehearsal recordings of "Purest Feeling" and "Maybe Just Once", was leaked in 2025. The tracks on the cassette owned by Atkins have been heard by fans during playbacks at his museum in Cleveland and the majority of them have been reported to be the same as those heard on ''Demos & Remixes'', save for "Sin" and "Terrible Lie".
A 2011 dissertation by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame museum employee Jason Hanley[https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b096437e-e280-48ed-8a6a-c4ed87b49736/content], written while a student at Stony Brook University, gave additional background info on the album's early stages. Unheard and unshared demos from Cleveland in early 1988 were played for him by Ron Musarra, and among these were a track called "I'm Not Listening" and an early version of "That's What I Get" entitled "I Can Make Myself Forget". Also included were versions of "Kinda I Want To" and "Purest Feeling". According to the dissertation, the next recordings were pre-production demos that were made in London with John Fryer, and it is mentioned in the footnotes that these tracks have been previously available on bootlegs for many years. As ''Purest Feeling'' was revealed to be a tour rehearsal recording rather than demos, this would imply that the London demos are the batch from the bootlegs known as ''Demos & Remixes'' and ''Purest Feeling II''.