Happy 20th Birthday, Pretty Hate Machine

Yes, Nine Inch Nails‘ breakthrough album Pretty Hate Machine turned 20 yesterday.

TWENTY.

My first thought when I read that was, “Wow, I’m old.”

But I’m not. And neither are you. And neither is Punky Brewster.

Anyway, I gave the album another spin yesterday, and I gotta say, all these years later, it still sounds as new and fresh as the day it was released. As I was looking around yesterday, it was interesting to see just how many people remembered the first time they heard the album. From “on tape in a friend’s car riding home from school. it was love at first listen” to [...]

The Most Important Music Links EVER on the Web (right now)

We’re always finding great articles, blog posts, and music out on the web, and so once again we wanted to share with you some of what caught our eye in the last few days with our The Most Important Music Links EVER On The Web (right now) list. Check out all the great sites below, grab some cool music, leave a comment or two, and tell ‘em Swap sent you.

Addicted to Vinyl has the second mix tape in their Monday Morning Mix series posted and available for download. The “Halfway To The Distant Sun” mix includes 14 songs [...]

Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction Launch New Site, Offer Free Tour Sampler EP

Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction have launched the official site for their upcoming tour, and they are offering a free six song Tour Sampler EP featuring exclusive unreleased tracks from Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails & Street Sweeper.

All you need to do is enter your email address, and you’ll be send a link to download the EP. Pretty cool. Who says you can’t get anything for free anymore? [...]

Nine Inch Nails to Disappear after Possible Tour with Jane’s Addiction?

In a note posted on Nine Inch Nail’s official site, Trent Reznor hints at taking a break from NIN, but not before “waving goodbye” with a possible tour with Jane’s Addiction.

Says Trent, “In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I’ve been thinking for some time now it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year’s “Lights in the Sky” tour was something I’m quite proud of and [...]

Nine Inch Nails: Live in Raleigh, 1995

The Downward Spiral was a huge album for Nine Inch Nails. The album brought Industrial Music to the masses, and remains as one of the important albums to listen to from that genre. It received a large amount of media attention because of the single, “Closer,” which included the line, “I wanna f*** you like an animal.” Although the single was played on the radio, that line was obviously edited for content. The video was also in rotation on MTV, which helped fuel sales as well. [...]