Founded in 1988, Nine Inch Nails (or NIN) hails from Cleveland, OH. Trent Reznor is noted as the founding father of NIN and the only full-time member. He makes all decisions for the group. Nine Inch Nails is most notable for their intentional demolition of instruments and for their impressive visuals. NIN is one of the only alternative rock/metal groups that record without the aid of a record company, owing to fighting with various record labels.

Nine Inch Nails has released eight studio albums. They have also recorded four re-mix albums. They have provided music for movie and video game soundtracks and were collaborators for the audio portion of DOOM 3 before pulling out due to differences in opinion over money, time, and creative control. NIN has also produced three tour documentaries, each featuring different impermanent members of the band on the documentary.

As a band, Nine Inch Nails has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, and won two. Their albums range from certified gold to quadruple platinum and have sold an estimated 20 million albums worldwide. Over the years, Reznor has joined forces with different band members for his concerts and album recordings, though the lineup changes with many performances. For the 2008 performances, Reznor sings with Alessandro Cortini, Robin Finck, Josh Freese, and Rich Fownes.