Broken

In 1992 Nine Inch Nails released Broken, an EP featuring six songs and two bonus tracks. In the liner notes, Reznor credited the 1991 Nine Inch Nails touring band as an influence on the EP’s sound. Reznor characterized Broken as a guitar-based “blast of destruction”, and as “a lot harder than Pretty Hate Machine”. Songs from Broken have earned NIN its only two Grammy Awards: a performance of the EP’s first single “Happiness in Slavery” from Woodstock ‘94, and the second single “Wish”.

Peter Christopherson of the bands Coil and Throbbing Gristle directed a performance video for “Wish”, but the EP’s most infamous video accompanied “Happiness in Slavery”. The video was almost universally banned for its graphic depiction of performance artist Bob Flanagan disrobing lying on a machine that pleasures, tortures, then kills him. A third video for “Pinion”, partially incorporated into MTV’s Alternative Nation opening sequence, showed a toilet that apparently flushes into the mouth of a person in bondage. Reznor and Christopherson compiled these three clips along with footage for “Help Me I Am In Hell” and “Gave Up” into a longform music video also called Broken. It depicts the murder of a young man who is kidnapped and tortured while forced to watch the videos. This footage was never officially released, but instead appeared covertly among tape trading circles.