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
• Elements from "Down In It"

"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" (Soil) samples:

• "A Surf M.C. New Year" by Surf MC's

"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
• Episode 1 of public access cable show The Asylum for Shut-Ins: Video Psychotherapy, which used an extract from the 1962 film The Cabinet Of Caligari (at 54:34).

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

March Of The Pigs

"All The Pigs, All Lined Up" samples:

• Alarm sound from "Gave Up"
• Scream from the film Sorcerer (at 47:19)

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 (at 47:19)
• 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, 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

Live Samples

Purest Feeling tour rehearsals

"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)

"Purest Feeling" samples:

• An episode of Too Close For Comfort

Pretty Hate Machine Tour

• 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
• "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

An additional sample of someone saying "Who do you think you're fooling?", often used at the beginning of "Terrible Lie", comes from the demo version of the song and is reported to be spoken by Trent Reznor. This was originally thought to be a sample from a film.

NIN 2017-2018

"The Great Destroyer" samples:

• various Donald Trump speeches