lambchops's Full Review: Sin [Single] by Nine Inch Nails
In the over fifteen years since Trent Reznor made his debut as nine inch nails he has managed to almost entirely avoid criticism. His 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine, feels fresh and new and different even today. This is a huge accomplishment—as are the many EPs, singles, and albums that have since followed.
But I’ve always had a few qualms with some of the remixes of Reznor’s otherwise flawless tracks. Sometimes they are overdone and sometimes they are unnecessary. The three remixes of Sin on the EP of the same name happen to be both. My friends, I must admit something that I rarely do about Reznor—this EP is bad. Released in 1989, it is painful to experience. These refashioned songs are awful (save for the remake of Queen’s Get Down, Make Love). There is zero reason in the world why the originally intense and dark track is paired with annoying (not to mention strangely chipper) dance beats.
Reznor’s nine inch nails is not a dance outfit. Sin is by no means a dance track nor should it have been treated as such by dastardly club duo Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc. Whereas in the original, Reznor’s menacing growl is laid neatly atop driving thump, here (on the “long” remix”) it is muffled and distorted beneath bubbling synths. It loses the grit and grime that originally made Sin so wonderful.
In the desperate hope of finding something more compelling with the remaining two mixes I am rewarded with more of the same. More crap, more dated dance remixes, and more sterile unfeeling. The “dub” mix is clearly supposed to be spooky. But instead of shaking my nerves, it shakes my funny bone. For some ridiculous reason Sherwood and LeBlanc thought it would be appropriate to further synthesize the song with drum machines, keyboards, and the like. It drones on without purpose occasionally dropping in a sample or two—usually just the word “lies” and nothing more.
The third mix aka “short” (the fourth track from this EP) is equally as vurp-worthy as the rest of the tracks. It does actually slightly resemble the original (which is a plus) but in the end I can’t stand to hear the keyboards droning needlessly above Reznor’s voice and vision. I’m not entirely against remixes—in fact they’ve been done well by Reznor’s music in the past—but these are just stupid and pointless. What I like about even the earliest nine inch nails song is that they’ve stood the test of time. These remixes on the other hand were outdated by the time they were released in 1989.
If there’s one saving grace to Sin, it would be the cover of the Queen song Get Down, Make Love from 1977’s News of the World. It is an unexpected sort of treasure, and I think that’s why it in the end is so entertaining. Extremely sexual, the samples actually remind me of what Rob Zombie did in his rock music. The combination of samples, vocals, grinding guitars and noise is refreshing in lieu of the contrived nature of the other three tracks. A special kudos has to go out here to Ministry’s frontman Al Jorgenson for his excellent work on this track.
The Sin EP is crap—phooey! But it is also a necessary evil for nine inch nails collectors. It’s not a complete throw-away because of Get Down, Make Love but otherwise I can’t recommend it to anybody. Stick to Pretty Hate Machine’s version of Sin. You’ll thank me later.
Rating: 2/5 stars
Track Listing:
01. Sin [long]
02. Sin [dub]
03. Get Down, Make Love
04. Sin [short]
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