Nine Inch Nails (abbreviated as NI N) is an American industrial rock band, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. NIN's music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing. After recording a new album, Reznor usually assembles a live band to perform with him; this live component is a separate entity from Nine Inch Nails in the recording studio. On stage, NIN often employs spectacular visual elements to accompany its performances, which frequently culminate with the band destroying their instruments.
Underground music audiences warmly received Nine Inch Nails in its early years. The band produced several highly influential records in the 1990s that achieved widespread popularity: many Nine Inch Nails songs became radio hits, two NIN recordings won Grammy Awards, and the band has sold over twenty million albums worldwide, with 10.5 million sales certified in the United States alone. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed Nine Inch Nails at 94 on their list of the 100 greatest rock artists of all time. In spite of this acclaim, the band has had several feuds with the corporate side of the recording industry. Trent Reznor announced in 2007 that Nine Inch Nails would proceed independently of record labels.
Nine Inch Nails' latest album, Ghosts I-IV, was first released online in a variety of digital and physical formats via the Nine Inch Nails website. It features 36 instrumental tracks split into 4 divisions, entitled Ghosts. It is the first NIN release not distributed by Interscope Records since 1989's Pretty Hate Machine.
