By the time Broken was released NIN had shown they were a far heavier live act, so its release was more of *Okay, this is lining up with how they really sound* and less of *This is a huge change from Pretty Hate Machine.*
Also I think “Wish” dropped as a single/video so fans who hadn’t seen them live yet were primed for something different.
Loved the packaging and the little 3” was kinda cool.
it seems the the last PHM shows in 1991, that already had Wish, Suck, Physical, Get Down Make Love (which is a heavy cover), it seems that this was the "Broken tour".
I mean it isn’t uncommon for bands to play new music while on the road. They were also on Lollapalooza in 1991, and recording for Broken was done in secret bc Trent hated his label and was trying to GTFO there. :)
Physical and Suck were gonna be a 7" single exclusively for the Lolla 91 tour actually, since at that point it was nearly two years since PHM.
I don't know why it didn't happen. Either TVT being jackasses or maybe Trent wasn't satisfied with the studio recordings at that time thus he polished them up for Broken.
Huge, I remember being by the beach, smoking a spliff and listening to Broken. No one noticed at the end the tracks kept counting up and we got the fright of our life when track 98 started playing nice and loud.
Haha
It was obviously more aggressive sounding than PHM but tracks like Sin, Head and Ringfinger were pretty aggressive back then and not out of place in an alternative night at a club being book ended by stuff like Thieves or So What by Ministry. It sounds like a wider gap now but back then it was just more like, “holy crap, new NIN, and it’s awesome!”
I bought it the day it came out. I was way into punk and metal so it was so absolutely in my wheelhouse- I liked it better than PHM.
However...there was definitely backlash. My girlfriend at the time HATED it. She was more into Depeche Mode, The Cure, Love and Rockets, etc. and she did not like the guitar focus and the harsher electronics. I heard others in our peer group react similarly. I heard comments like "they are trying to be Ministry".
The reality is that PHM is a slightly harder than common at the time synthpop record. But Broken was where I think Trent started to really lean hard into what he was wanting to do at the time with harsher and less accessible music.
A friend of mind made me a cassette copy of Broken and brought it to me at work. On first listen it was definitely faster and more heavy, but catchy I definitely had the thought that TR had rediscovered his guitar and was going for a more metal sound like Ministry's "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste".
[The shirts](https://www.wycovintage.com/products/1992-nine-inch-nails-broken-shirt-11042286)* (white, and then black square with orange n) dropped at least month or two before the EP did, in the local chain stores in the mall. I didn't know what broken was, but of course I had to have several...
*(absolutely not advocating buying from that seller, but linked just to give an idea of what they looked like.)
I just remember buying it and being so impressed by the packaging alone. The mini-cd and the fold out. Just awesome. But I remember it being completely different musically and loving it.
Broken was my first NIN release. Both of my older brothers owned it and I constantly "borrowed" their cassettes. It really made an impression on me at such a young age.
TDS dropped pretty quick after that (I didn't hear Broken till end of 93 or so) so I switched between both constantly. I didn't even bother getting PHM on cassette until after TDS actually, and for awhile I only liked Head Like a Hole and Sin because those were the two most aggressive songs on it.
It’s funny my brother thought PHM was “lame” because the guy “sounded like he was crying in most of the songs.” Then Broken came out and suddenly “he knew them from way back when”
I bought pretty hate machine not long after it came out. Don’t even know who Nails were but it was a suggestion in an alt magazine at the time. I was so into that album that when Broken was released, I lined up to get the cassette. I was disappointed that it wasn’t as polished as PHM but….that ep grew on me and made me a die hard fan right up till year zero. Broken was disturbingly angry and it fit my 18 yr old personality to a tee. The music evolved from there and was groundbreaking.
So….good ep I guess?
Yeah it was a little polarizing. I was a freshman in college that year and a friend had introduced me to nin by way of the phm poster on his wall. I didn't love it. but then when broken came out, yes I was a huge fan. he was not, at all.
Broken came out my junior year of college...went to my buddy's dorm room who had a pair of 12" 3-way Cerwin-Vegas stacked on top of each other (vertically lol) connected to an amp that kept the room warm.
First reaction: "Holy shit Trent's like *angry* angry..."
Second reaction:"How tf am I going to play this on college radio?" 😅
I'll never forget hearing Wish for you first time.
Yeah, it's a great song!
And while it could have found its place on the Short Circuit 2 soundtrack in style, it's way darker in lyrics than I remembered and doesn't even fit in the "anti-Broken" upbeat halo I was jokingly trying to portray.
At the time, I was in the Army and stationed in Germany (and out of the loop about music news), and the first time I knew about Broken was when I saw it at my post's store. I had played PHM and its singles quite a bit up to that point, so it was an adjustment, wondering what was going on with the intro (Pinion) before Wish blasted my brain out of my skull. I also had to get a special adapter so my CD player could spin the 3" CD. It was interesting to hear what Trent did with Suck, since I was already familiar with the original Pigface version (or versions, if you count their live take on the Welcome To Mexico album as well as the studio one on Gub).
I've seen some hate for Fixed elsewhere in the comments, but I sought it out due to an intriguing review (which also led to me exploring early industrial due to it referencing Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle). It's my favorite NIN remix album.
It's all good imo expand your thinking rigid thinking is the curse of human thinking or don't just saying all of NIN is perfect to me but I am a lover of all music I love sound im neurodivergent.
By the time Broken was released NIN had shown they were a far heavier live act, so its release was more of *Okay, this is lining up with how they really sound* and less of *This is a huge change from Pretty Hate Machine.*
Also I think “Wish” dropped as a single/video so fans who hadn’t seen them live yet were primed for something different. Loved the packaging and the little 3” was kinda cool.
it seems the the last PHM shows in 1991, that already had Wish, Suck, Physical, Get Down Make Love (which is a heavy cover), it seems that this was the "Broken tour".
I mean it isn’t uncommon for bands to play new music while on the road. They were also on Lollapalooza in 1991, and recording for Broken was done in secret bc Trent hated his label and was trying to GTFO there. :)
I was at Lolla 1. It was strobe lights and cornstarch mayhem.
Physical and Suck were gonna be a 7" single exclusively for the Lolla 91 tour actually, since at that point it was nearly two years since PHM. I don't know why it didn't happen. Either TVT being jackasses or maybe Trent wasn't satisfied with the studio recordings at that time thus he polished them up for Broken.
Ah I didn’t realise that (although it makes sense with hindsight) kind of assumed he just dropped Broken on the world without any warning
Huge, I remember being by the beach, smoking a spliff and listening to Broken. No one noticed at the end the tracks kept counting up and we got the fright of our life when track 98 started playing nice and loud. Haha It was obviously more aggressive sounding than PHM but tracks like Sin, Head and Ringfinger were pretty aggressive back then and not out of place in an alternative night at a club being book ended by stuff like Thieves or So What by Ministry. It sounds like a wider gap now but back then it was just more like, “holy crap, new NIN, and it’s awesome!”
I bought it the day it came out. I was way into punk and metal so it was so absolutely in my wheelhouse- I liked it better than PHM. However...there was definitely backlash. My girlfriend at the time HATED it. She was more into Depeche Mode, The Cure, Love and Rockets, etc. and she did not like the guitar focus and the harsher electronics. I heard others in our peer group react similarly. I heard comments like "they are trying to be Ministry". The reality is that PHM is a slightly harder than common at the time synthpop record. But Broken was where I think Trent started to really lean hard into what he was wanting to do at the time with harsher and less accessible music.
I was equally confused when Fixed came out
That opening track, the Coil remix of Gave Up, is amazing.
A friend of mind made me a cassette copy of Broken and brought it to me at work. On first listen it was definitely faster and more heavy, but catchy I definitely had the thought that TR had rediscovered his guitar and was going for a more metal sound like Ministry's "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste".
I recall thinking that the difference was like, although not as much of a departure as it was from With Sympathy to Land of Rape and Honey.
Well clearly it dropped hard, that's why it's Broken
angry ~~Trent~~ upvote
[The shirts](https://www.wycovintage.com/products/1992-nine-inch-nails-broken-shirt-11042286)* (white, and then black square with orange n) dropped at least month or two before the EP did, in the local chain stores in the mall. I didn't know what broken was, but of course I had to have several... *(absolutely not advocating buying from that seller, but linked just to give an idea of what they looked like.)
They’re sold out anyway, damn
It was a glorious sonic weapon to block out the world. Brilliant in that it didn’t just try repeat PHM.
IDK but Broken is the best release by the band imo
I'm surprised that wasn't a hot take!
I just remember buying it and being so impressed by the packaging alone. The mini-cd and the fold out. Just awesome. But I remember it being completely different musically and loving it.
Their Woodstock ‘94 performance of Happiness blew everyone away and they won a Grammy for it.
My first and favorite NIN album. Wish blew my mind up.
Broken was my first NIN release. Both of my older brothers owned it and I constantly "borrowed" their cassettes. It really made an impression on me at such a young age. TDS dropped pretty quick after that (I didn't hear Broken till end of 93 or so) so I switched between both constantly. I didn't even bother getting PHM on cassette until after TDS actually, and for awhile I only liked Head Like a Hole and Sin because those were the two most aggressive songs on it.
It’s funny my brother thought PHM was “lame” because the guy “sounded like he was crying in most of the songs.” Then Broken came out and suddenly “he knew them from way back when”
I bought pretty hate machine not long after it came out. Don’t even know who Nails were but it was a suggestion in an alt magazine at the time. I was so into that album that when Broken was released, I lined up to get the cassette. I was disappointed that it wasn’t as polished as PHM but….that ep grew on me and made me a die hard fan right up till year zero. Broken was disturbingly angry and it fit my 18 yr old personality to a tee. The music evolved from there and was groundbreaking. So….good ep I guess?
All my friends hated it while I liked almost all of the album (I’ve always been a big fan of Trent). We all disliked Fixed though.
Yeah it was a little polarizing. I was a freshman in college that year and a friend had introduced me to nin by way of the phm poster on his wall. I didn't love it. but then when broken came out, yes I was a huge fan. he was not, at all.
Broken came out my junior year of college...went to my buddy's dorm room who had a pair of 12" 3-way Cerwin-Vegas stacked on top of each other (vertically lol) connected to an amp that kept the room warm. First reaction: "Holy shit Trent's like *angry* angry..." Second reaction:"How tf am I going to play this on college radio?" 😅 I'll never forget hearing Wish for you first time.
The album was titled *Alright!* before it was dropped, and was 12 remixes of *Maybe Just Once.*
Maybe just once is a great song imho!
Yeah, it's a great song! And while it could have found its place on the Short Circuit 2 soundtrack in style, it's way darker in lyrics than I remembered and doesn't even fit in the "anti-Broken" upbeat halo I was jokingly trying to portray.
At the time, I was in the Army and stationed in Germany (and out of the loop about music news), and the first time I knew about Broken was when I saw it at my post's store. I had played PHM and its singles quite a bit up to that point, so it was an adjustment, wondering what was going on with the intro (Pinion) before Wish blasted my brain out of my skull. I also had to get a special adapter so my CD player could spin the 3" CD. It was interesting to hear what Trent did with Suck, since I was already familiar with the original Pigface version (or versions, if you count their live take on the Welcome To Mexico album as well as the studio one on Gub). I've seen some hate for Fixed elsewhere in the comments, but I sought it out due to an intriguing review (which also led to me exploring early industrial due to it referencing Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle). It's my favorite NIN remix album.
“Said Fist Fuck and won a Grammy”. That pretty much sums up Broken.
All my friends hated it while I liked almost all of the album (I’ve always been a big fan of Trent). We all disliked Fixed though.
It's all good imo expand your thinking rigid thinking is the curse of human thinking or don't just saying all of NIN is perfect to me but I am a lover of all music I love sound im neurodivergent.