He didn’t want anyone polluted by the process,” said Reiss. “Trent Reznor was looking for filmmakers who had never done a music video before. Reiss, who had documented the underground punk scene on America’s west coast and in Europe, knew exactly what he meant. Trent Reznor and right, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist (Image credit: Redferns (Reznor))

And that was before they saw what would become one of the most notorious music videos of the ‘90s. One reviewer described it as “like a harrowing rape account”. Reviews made use of words like “intense”, “nihilist”, “rabid, “spiteful” and “vicious”. Given the atmosphere in which it was made, to expect anything other than the oppressively heavy, violently fury of its eight tracks would have been foolish, but Broken is such a dense, savage and aggressive listen that it was shocking in its harshness. The results were Broken, an EP co-produced with Flood and, in part, recorded in the Tate house in which Charles Manson’s ‘family’ had committed their notorious murders in August 1969.

Reznor, increasingly influenced by the industrial fury of Ministry and Godflesh, had other ideas and was forced to go underground to record behind his label’s back. TVT had demanded a follow-up to his debut Pretty Hate Machine and had made it clear they wanted Pretty Hate Machine 2 and nothing else. In secret, Reznor had started laying down his anger on a new record that he did not want his label to know about.

Happiness in Slavery by Aaron B. Powell