Today marks the 25th anniversary of Pretty Hate Machine, the first full-length album from Nine Inch Nails. It's a great album, much more pop-friendly than its follow-up The Downward Spiral—one of the seminal albums in hard rock history—but that's a tough standard to live up to. If your friend insists on arguing that Pretty Hate Machine is a better record (everyone's got one of this friend), smile and nod before suggesting that perhaps "Head Like A Hole" is better than any one track on Downward Spiral. This is still a contentious argument, but far closer to reality than the previous one. The single's been a live staple for every one of those 25 years and many other groups have tried their hand at it. We decided to rank a few.
07) Showbread
Showbread is far less Christian than the rest of metal fans tend to give it credit for—it may openly believe in God but that hasn't deterred it from embracing the skulls 'n' snakes imagery—so we didn't expect a "Head Like A Hole" cover to be that weird. And it wasn't. If anything it was just straight-up boring. This finds the band in more of a pop-punk phase than anything really heavy, which could work except Josh Dies just doesn't sound desperate enough to fill Trent Reznor's shoes.
06) Still Remains
"Head Like A Hole" is best known for its opening bassline (or it should be) so it's a little concerning that Still Remains tries to hide its underwhelming bass with an ultra-heavy guitar riff and the occasional blastbeats. That actually works but the song falls apart when it gets to the hook. Metalcore often balances on a clean vocalist and a growler but Still Remains only has the relatively clear-spoken T.J. Miller on the mic, making this chorus less than frightening. If there's one thing the hook from this song shouldn't be, it's less chaotic than the verses.
05) Justin McRoberts
The simplest way to cover a really hardcore song is to make it nicer. It's a simple strategy that makes Lamb of God's "Laid to Rest" a great potential Vegas show tune and Frank Sinatra's "My Way" a great potential cover for Lamb of God. Justin McRoberts takes this treatment to "Head Like A Hole," transposing it for piano, cello and an acoustic guitar while he croons. He gets points for at least shaking things up but ultimately it doesn't fly. He just sounds too sincere about the lyrics ("not concerned with the sick amongst the pure," et al) without a hint of irony. A nice try.
04) AFI
Fans may be used to Misfits covers from AFI but "Head Like A Hole" makes sense too. The smooth verses rolling into shrieking choruses works just well for Davey Havok. The band's instrumental backing is impressively dense but it fails to provide the essential groove for hook Part B ("bow down before the one you serve"), leaving Havok somewhat hung out to dry after a successful Part A. The band inevitably speeds things up a hair to match its hardcore background, a tad off-putting but not earthshaking.
03) Devo
Devo covering Nine Inch Nails is packed with potential because both groups come from similar backgrounds: rock 'n' roll training with a penchant for electronics. It opens with what you might expect...the comical vocals of Mark Mothersbaugh singing Reznor's bleak lyrics, while additional vocalists complete a three-way call-and-response (by far this version's best component). The first half of the hook ("Head like a hole/black as your soul...") is actually disappointing in how respectful it is for Reznor's tone. We'd rather hear Mothersbaugh commit to goofy.
02) PIG
PIG is a "post-industrial" music project from former KMFDM programmer Raymond Watts, so you'd be forgiven for expecting his band's cover of Nine Inch Nails to sound, well, like Nine Inch Nails. Boy would you be wrong. Remember that allusion to a heavy metal Vegas sideshow mentioned above? Watts has got it down to a science, translating Reznor's classic to a big band standard, with the iconic bassline played on an upright plus swinging trumpet solos. His vocals, however, are as intense and creepy as anything on this list. The only complaint we might have is that he slows it down just a bit too much.
01) Opium Jukebox
We were just as confused as you were, listening to the first 1:30 of this supposed cover from Opium Jukebox. It was hard to pick up anything of Nine Inch Nails, much less "Head Like A Hole," until boom: The sitar starts playing the riff and it's both instantly recognizable and almost entirely unique. If you can't handle a cover without the original lyrics than you may be out of luck but this psychedelic imagination of the song is just similar enough to be a classic cover.
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