Head Like a Hole

Release

Labeled as "Halo 3", the single is the third official Nine Inch Nails release and contains remixes of three songs from Pretty Hate Machine. Its total duration exceeds that of the album itself. It peaked at number 28 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. A three-track UK version includes "Head Like a Hole (Opal)", which is absent from the US release.

The saxophone on "Release It" is audible before the drum loop begins. The first track is mislabeled on the sleeve as "Head Like a Hole (Slate)" but is actually "Head Like a Hole (Clay)". NME called it "utter crap", while Melody Maker named it "Single of the Week"; Simon Price described it as both subversive and unexpectedly commercial, comparing the radio edit to Depeche Mode and the "Opal" mix to Revolting Cocks, calling it an "evil" record ending in a "veiled threat".

"Down in It (Shred)" and "Down in It (Singe)" had previously appeared on the "Down in It" vinyl single, with the latter extended by 18 seconds. Reznor appended them to the US version because "Down In It" had not received a CD release; after the label later released it on CD, Reznor expressed concern that fans would feel "ripped off" paying for the same tracks twice, stating that the three-track UK version with a colored cover was how he intended the single to be released.

The 11-track US version was repackaged and re-released in 2007, and also released in the UK, where it failed to reach the Top 40. In Germany, the single was released as "You Get What You Deserve" with four tracks. It was re-issued in Australia in 1995, peaking at number 57 on the ARIA singles chart and spending seven weeks in the top 100. The single was included in the 2015 Record Store Day–Black Friday exclusive box set Halo I–IV.

Music video

The "Clay" remix of the song got a music video directed by Eric Zimmerman, released in 1990 and later included on the 1997 Closure VHS. Flood's remix received a slightly different edit that runs 17 seconds shorter. The video shows Trent Reznor, Richard Patrick, Chris Vrenna, and guest drummer Martin Atkins playing inside a cage, with a spinning model head appearing in some shots. Filming took place at the original Exit nightclub on 1653 North Wells Street in Chicago.

Reznor plays a Jackson Dinky guitar, which appears during the first chorus when he, looking dirty with long hair and gritty clothes, bangs his head while singing. He doesn't use the guitar in the climax, where wires attached to his ankles slowly hoist him upside down from the ceiling. In that same scene, Vrenna destroys his own kit by throwing a bass drum from Atkins' setup. Earlier shots show broken Zildjian cymbals and a drum machine as part of Vrenna's kit.

Live performances

The song has served as the encore for most Nine Inch Nails shows, particularly during the Pretty Hate Machine Tour Series, or as the last song before the encore if one occurred. Live videos appear on the DVDs And All That Could Have Been and Beside You in Time. During Lollapalooza '91, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, Gibby Haynes, and Ice-T joined the band on-stage as additional guitarists for the song, except at the first show in Phoenix, Arizona, where the band walked off after the first song in frustration.

For the Nights of Nothing mini-tour in 1996, Richard Patrick briefly returned to perform guitar and vocals on the song at the Irving Plaza show in New York, along with Clint Mansell, who joined for all three shows of that tour. On June 7, 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia, Trent Reznor and Peter Murphy performed a reworked version. Lisa Kennedy Montgomery once sang the song loudly to Reznor to win a $20 bet. Reznor said in 1997 that he did not want to be singing "Head Like a Hole" at age 50.

Legacy

Since its initial single release, "Head Like a Hole" has left a lasting mark on other artists. PopMatters placed it at number 37 on their ranking of the top alternative singles from the 1980s. The New Zealand rock band Head Like a Hole took their name from the track. Honest Bob & the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives put out a version on their 2004 album Second & Eighteen.

In 2005, the Vitamin String Quartet issued a full album of reworked Pretty Hate Machine songs, which included this one. Other acts that have covered it are AFI, Ryan Star, Devo, Korn, and Buckcherry. The deathcore group Carnifex recorded a cover for their 2018 EP Bury Me In Blasphemy. With Trent Reznor's permission, Charlie Brooker reworked the song into the dance-pop track "On a Roll" for the Black Mirror episode "Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too," which came out as a promotional single on June 14, 2019.

At the episode's conclusion, Miley Cyrus, playing the character Ashley O, performed a cover of "Head Like a Hole." During her set at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival on June 30, Cyrus played a medley combining "On a Roll" and "Head Like a Hole." After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartRadio, included the song on their internal memo listing tracks with questionable lyrics.