Nine Inch Nails has sampled numerous parts of songs, movies, and other audio into its songs. This page will attempt to catalog each usage.
Contents
- 1 Pretty Hate Machine
- 2 Head Like A Hole
- 3 Sin
- 4 Broken
- 5 Fixed
- 6 The Downward Spiral
- 7 Closer To God
- 8 Further Down the Spiral
- 9 Quake Soundtrack
- 10 The Perfect Drug
- 11 The Day The World Went Away
- 12 Things Falling Apart
- 13 With Teeth
- 14 Year Zero
- 15 Ghosts I-IV
- 16 The Fragile: Deviations 1
- 17 Add Violence
- 18 Ghosts VI: Locusts
- 19 Other
Pretty Hate Machine
"Down In It" samples:
- "Reality" by Gary Clail & Tackhead / "Stadium Rock" by The Barmy Army
- "Mechanical Movements" by Keith LeBlanc
- "Einstein" by Keith LeBlanc
"Head Like A Hole" samples:
- "Samburu Warriors' initiation (Kenya)" performed by the Samburu Tribe of Kenya and recorded by David Fanshawe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G08Wvtspmjo
"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)
"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)
"Ringfinger" samples:
- "Alphabet St." by Prince
- "Had A Dad" by Jane's Addiction
"Kinda I Want To" samples:
- Good Old Music by Funkadelic
Head Like A Hole
"Head Like A Hole (Copper)" samples:
- "Body Language" by Queen
"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
- The intro is an extract from 1962's The Cabinet Of Caligari
- Beats from 40 Oz of Phat Slammin Hip Hop sample CD-ROM by InVision Interactive (specifically, PARTITION A - KITS 89-91 - 90 1.wav)
Broken
"Pinion" samples:
- "It's No Game" by David Bowie
"Physical" samples:
- Recordings of Trent Reznor's dog Maise barking
- "Ow!...fucker!" said by Sean Beavan after Maise bit him
"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)
Fixed
"Fist Fuck" samples:
- "I could feel that way too... I bet you will someday" from the film Showboat
- Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out by Dr. Timothy Leary
The Downward Spiral
"Mr. Self Destruct" samples:
- Begins with a sample from the film THX 1138 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GysyU8sCdlM&hd=1
"Closer" samples:
- "Nightclubbing" by Iggy Pop
- "Take A Chance With Me" by Roxy Music
"The Becoming" samples:
- Screams in the background from the film Robot Jox http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjRPiBGVFIE (starting at :33)
- "I know who I am" from the film Angel Heart (backwards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTC9Lt3hiWo&t=2m6s (starting at 2:06)
"Reptile" samples:
- Intro machine sounds from the film Leviathan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUk4bvrFY2A (at :13)
- Looping female voice ("Kirk, help") from the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
"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
"Ruiner" samples:
- "Beat Box" by Art of Noise
- Buried scream from the film Parents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bJd2ZAzPSw
- Pitched-up elephant noises from the film The Elephant Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHswu1Ad_wI
"March Of The Pigs" samples:
- Buried scream from the film Sorcerer
- Buried scream from the film The Exorcist II: The Heretic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EFMzJ2dCDs (around 2:30)
Closer To God
"Memorabilia" samples:
- "What do your nipples look like?" taken from a phone conversation between Robin Finck and a female impersonator
Further Down the Spiral
"Self Destruction, Part Two" and "Self Destruction, Final" sample:
- "Time" by David Bowie
"Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)" samples:
- "Put Your Love (In My Tender Care)" by The Fatback Band
"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
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
"Metal" samples:
- "UFO" by ESG
- "M.E." by Gary Numan
"Starfuckers, Inc. (Version) - Adrian Sherwood" samples:
- "Shout It Out Loud" (from Alive II) by KISS
With Teeth
"All The Love In The World" (The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts version) samples:
- The Twilight Zone episode "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 CD by Atomizer™
Ghosts I-IV
"11 Ghosts II" samples:
- "Songe d'une nuit de sabbat" by Berlioz
"15 Ghosts II" samples:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEqZkglTVYE (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
Other
Purest Feeling
"Down In It" samples:
- The film Angel Heart (until about :26)
"Maybe Just Once" samples:
- The film Diner (1:14:39) at the beginning of the song
Live Samples
Pretty Hate Machine Tour
sampled at various points during sets:
- "Who do you think you're for?" from an unknown source
- "Kill or be killed" from an unknown source
- "I could fuck ??? right in front of you" from an unknown source
- "I told you to stay out of this... give me the gun..." from an unknown source
- "Hang around, I'll make a cocksucker out of you" from the film Tough Guys Don't Dance
- "Negative pulse, no heartbeat, no respiration, no pupil dilation, no brain waves, no response to pain" from an unknown source
- "I must stress the importance of total, I repeat, total sexual abstinence" from the film Invasion Of The Bee Girls (21:08)
- "Could I still excite you?" from an unknown source
- "I've got the sun in my hands, man..." from the film The Trip
NIN 2017-2018
"The Great Destroyer" samples:
- various Donald Trump speeches