Samples In NIN Songs

Nine Inch Nails has sampled numerous parts of songs, movies, and other audio into its songs. This page will attempt to catalog each usage.

Note: Some early samples likely come courtesy of the producers/remixers who worked on the tracks, as some of the sounds also appeared on other projects created/worked on by the same personnel.

Pretty Hate Machine

"Head Like A Hole" samples:

• Chanting from "Samburu Warriors' initiation (Kenya)" performed by the Samburu Tribe of Kenya and recorded by David Fanshawe

"Down In It" samples:

• "Reality" by Gary Clail & Tackhead / "Stadium Rock" by The Barmy Army
• "Mechanical Movements" by Keith LeBlanc
• "Einstein" by Keith LeBlanc

"Sanctified" samples:

• The film Midnight Express, the dialog that begins at about 3:20 and also the screaming that can be heard right before it segues into "Something I Can Never Have". This sample is not present on the version from 2010 remaster.

"Something I Can Never Have" samples:

• The atmospheric keyboards from an unused This Mortal Coil session

"Something I Can Never Have" (Natural Born Killers Version) samples:

• A thunderclap (at the very beginning)
• Nocturnal birds (during the fade off of the thunderclap)
• A movie sample of the two main characters (Mickey and Mallory) arguing (just after the piano starts)
• A rattlesnake (during the movie sample after the man speaks the second time)
• Fire crackling and hissing (towards the end)
• Native American chanting (just after the fire sounds)

"Kinda I Want To" samples:

• "Good Old Music" by Funkadelic
• "A Surf M.C. New Year" by Surf MC's
• "Let The Jingle Bells Rock" by Sweet Tee

"Sin" samples:

• "Paid In Full" by Eric B. & Rakim, which samples the last few seconds of "Change The Beat" by Fab 5 Freddy (feat. Beside)

"The Only Time" samples:

• Female background vocals recorded for "So Alive" by Love And Rockets

"Ringfinger" samples:

• "Alphabet St." by Prince
• "Had A Dad" by Jane's Addiction

Head Like A Hole

"Head Like A Hole" (Copper) samples:

• "Body Language" by Queen

"Head Like A Hole" (Opal) samples:

• "Tamborine" by Prince
• "Release It" by The Time, which samples "Squib Cakes" by Tower Of Power
• "The Wrong Name and the Wrong Number" by Mark Stewart

Track 11 samples:

• "Let's hear it for Nine Inch Nails— woo, they're good!" cheered by Heather "Princess" Day on an episode of Dance Party USA

Sin

"Sin" (Short), "Sin" (Long), and "Sin" (Dub) sample:

• "Mr. President" by Keith LeBlanc

"Get Down, Make Love" samples:

• Moaning and breathing from Japanese pornography films
• "We Will Rock You" by Queen
• The intro is an extract from 1962's The Cabinet Of Caligari (at 54:34).
• Beats from 40 Oz of Phat Slammin Hip Hop sample library by InVision Interactive (specifically, PARTITION A - KITS 89-91 - 90 1.wav)

Broken

"Pinion" samples:

• "It's No Game" by David Bowie

"Help Me I Am In Hell" samples:

• Ambient noises from The Empire Strikes Back (When the Tie Fighters are sending bombs into the asteroid where Han and Leia are hiding)

"Physical" samples:

• Recordings of Trent Reznor's dog Maise barking
• "Ow!...fucker!" said by Sean Beavan after Maise bit him

Fixed

"Fist Fuck" samples:

• "I could feel that way too... I bet you will someday" from the 1951 film Show Boat (starting at 4:48)
• Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out by Dr. Timothy Leary

The Downward Spiral

"Mr. Self Destruct" samples:

• Begins with a sample from the film THX 1138

"March Of The Pigs" samples:

• Buried scream from the film Sorcerer
• Buried scream from the film The Exorcist II: The Heretic (around 2:30)

"Closer" samples:

• Bass drum from "Nightclubbing" by Iggy Pop
• Intro from "Take A Chance With Me" by Roxy Music (reversed and pitched-up)
• Synth bass from A Poke in the Ear With a Sharp Stick, Vol. 2 sample library by Rarefaction (specifically, a piece called "Circular2")

"Ruiner" samples:

• "Beat Box" by Art of Noise
• Buried scream from the film Parents
• Pitched-up elephant noises from the intro of the film The Elephant Man

"The Becoming" samples:

• Screams in the background from the film Robot Jox (starting at :33)
• "I know who I am" (reversed) from the film Angel Heart (starting at 2:06)

"Reptile" samples:

• Intro machine sounds from the film Leviathan (at :13)
• Looping metallic thud sound from the film Aliens (at 1:20)
• Pitched-up looping machine sound from the film Aliens (at :30)
• Looping female voice ("Ungh... Kirk, help") from the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (30:47) appears during the breakdown (5:07)

"The Downward Spiral" samples:

• Watery noise at the beginning from the film Alien
• Pitched-down strings from the "Twins" cue on the Dead Ringers score

Closer To God

"Closer" (Deviation) samples:

• "Pinch" by Can
• "Mountain of Needles" by Brian Eno and David Byrne

"Closer" (Precursor) samples:

• Multiple sounds from A Poke in the Ear With a Sharp Stick, Vol. 1 sample library by Rarefaction (specifically, "HORNON END", "COKIE", "ELECTROGLURP", "RADIO SHAD", and "NO TRUST")

"Memorabilia" samples:

• "What do your nipples look like?" taken from a phone conversation between Robin Finck and a female impersonator

Further Down the Spiral

"Piggy" (Nothing Can Stop Me Now) samples:

• "Teenage Lust" (Desdemoana Mix) by The Jesus and Mary Chain, which samples "Put Your Love (In My Tender Care)" by The Fatback Band
• "Hot Pants (Bonus Beats)" by Bobby Byrd

"Self Destruction, Part Two" and "Self Destruction, Final" sample:

• "Time" by David Bowie

"The Downward Spiral" (The Bottom) samples:

• "First Dark Ride" by Coil vs. The Eskaton

"Heresy" (Version) samples:

• "In Suburbia" and "Television Believers" from Aron Ranen's Religion In Suburbia

"Eraser" (Denial; Realization) samples:

• Slowed-down speech ("yours is the plague of blasphemy and fornication") from the film At Play In The Fields Of The Lord

Quake Soundtrack

"Quake Theme" samples:

• the scream from "The Downward Spiral"

The Perfect Drug

"The Perfect Drug" (Meat Beat Manifesto) samples:

• "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons

The Day The World Went Away

"Starfuckers, Inc." samples:

• Fireworks and yelling at the end from "Shout It Out Loud" (from Alive II) by KISS

Things Falling Apart

"Starfuckers, Inc" (Version) - Adrian Sherwood samples:

• "Shout It Out Loud" (from Alive II) by KISS

"Metal" samples:

• "UFO" by ESG
• "M.E." by Gary Numan

"10 Miles High" samples:

• Flute/Mellotron sound from "The Downward Spiral"

With Teeth

"All The Love In The World" (The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts version) samples:

• The Twilight Zone episode "And When The Sky Was Opened"

Year Zero

"God Given", "My Violent Heart" and "Zero Sum" sample:

• Beats from Atom Heart's Rather Interesting World Of Digital Drums sample library by Atomizer™

Ghosts I-IV

"11 Ghosts II" samples:

• "Songe d'une nuit de sabbat" by Berlioz

"15 Ghosts II" samples:

• Bioshock halloween YouTube video (around 0:12 to 0:18)

"24 Ghosts III" samples:

• "Get the door, get the door" from the film The Mothman Prophecies

"30 Ghosts IV" samples:

• Saddam Hussein's Trial Verdict, on Nov. 5, 2006

The Fragile: Deviations 1

"Feeders" samples:

• "This is it" and mechanical sounds from the film Real Genius

Add Violence

"The Background World" samples:

• Snare drum from "Closer"

Ghosts VI: Locusts

"Another Crashed Car" samples:

• A telephone call intercept message

Other

Purest Feeling

"Down In It" samples:

• The film Angel Heart (until about :26)

"Sanctified"/"Maybe Just Once" samples:

• The film Diner (used at the end of "Sanctified" and the beginning of "Maybe Just Once")

"Twist" samples:

• The film A Clockwork Orange (2:05) (used twice in the intro)

Live Samples

Pretty Hate Machine Tour

speech from films, sampled at various points during sets:

• Moaning sound that plays when the female Cenobite is on-screen from the film Hellraiser (00:00, 00:22, 00:34), often used during the show intro
• "Hang around, I'll make a cocksucker out of you" from the film Tough Guys Don't Dance (5:37), often used during the show intro
• "I could fuck your woman right in front of you" from the film Tough Guys Don't Dance (20:59), often used during the show intro
• "Kill or be killed" from an unknown source, often used during the show intro
• "I told you to stay out of this... give me the gun... don't make me do this..." from an unknown source, often used during the show intro
• "Who do you think you're fooling?" from an unknown source, often used at the beginning of "Terrible Lie"
• "I must stress the importance of total, I repeat, total sexual abstinence" from the film Invasion Of The Bee Girls (21:08), often used at the beginning of "Suck"
• "Could I still excite you?" (slowed down) from the film Invasion Of The Bee Girls (1:14:48), often used during "Suck"
• "That's the sun in my hands, man..." from the 1967 film The Trip (6:12), often used at the end of "Suck"
• "I wanna hear you scream" from the film The Serpent and the Rainbow (52:20), often used at the beginning of "Ringfinger"
• "Negative pulse, no heartbeat, no respiration, no pupil dilation, no brain waves, no response to pain" from the film The Serpent and the Rainbow (12:28), possibly not used very often
• "Let me tell you somethin', me for one ain't gonna give up a little ???" from an unknown source, possibly not used very often

NIN 2017-2018

"The Great Destroyer" samples:

• various Donald Trump speeches