Editing Pretty Hate Machine (section)

==Critical reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="Huey">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pretty-hate-machine-mw0000207551|title=Pretty Hate Machine – Nine Inch Nails|website=AllMusic|access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The A.V. Club]]''
| rev2score = B−<ref name="Ryan">{{cite news|last=Ryan|first=Kyle|url=https://www.avclub.com/nine-inch-nails-pretty-hate-machine-2010-remaster-1798166567|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|location=Chicago|date=November 23, 2010|access-date=May 31, 2013}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
| rev3score = {{Rating|2|4}}<ref name="Popson2">{{cite news|last=Popson|first=Tom|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-12-22-8903200857-story.html|title=Unlikely Elvis: The Residents Thoroughly Revise The King|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=December 22, 1989|access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]''
| rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Prior|first=Clive|title=Filigree & Shadows|magazine=[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]|location=London|issue=188|date=July 2009|page=49}}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
| rev5score = 5.6/10 (2006)<ref>{{cite web|last=Mitchum|first=Rob|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5804-pretty-hate-machine/|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine Album Review|website=Pitchfork|date=January 12, 2006|access-date=August 6, 2023}}</ref><br />9.5/10 (2010)<ref name="Breihan">{{cite web|last=Breihan|first=Tom|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14890-pretty-hate-machine/|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine Album Review|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|date=November 24, 2010|access-date=November 24, 2010}}</ref>
| rev6 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Aston">{{cite magazine|last=Aston|first=Martin|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|location=London|issue=54|date=March 1991}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Hermes">{{cite magazine|last=Hermes|first=Will|author-link=Will Hermes|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/pretty-hate-machine-reissue-122012/|title=Pretty Hate Machine (Reissue)|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|location=New York|date=November 22, 2010|access-date=May 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409061355/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/pretty-hate-machine-reissue-122012/|archive-date=April 9, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>
| rev9 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
| rev9score = 4/5<ref name="Perry2">{{cite magazine|last=Perry|first=Neil|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine|magazine=Select|location=London|issue=9|date=March 1991|page=75}}</ref>
| rev10 = ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]''
| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Traitor">{{cite magazine|last=Traitor|first=Ralph|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/nine-inch-nails-pretty-hate-machine-island-|title=Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine (Island)|magazine=[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]|location=London|date=February 23, 1991|access-date=November 1, 2016|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
}}

''Pretty Hate Machine'' received widespread acclaim from [[Music journalism|music critics]], who praised the production and Reznor's vocals. In a contemporary review for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', [[Michael Azerrad]] called ''Pretty Hate Machine'' "industrial-strength noise over a pop framework" and "harrowing but catchy music";<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Azerrad|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Azerrad|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/new-faces-nine-inch-nails-99546/|title=New Faces: Nine Inch Nails|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=February 22, 1990|access-date=May 24, 2016}}</ref> Reznor proclaimed this combination "a sincere statement" of "what was in [his] head at the time".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Martin|first=Steve|title=Nine Inch Nails|magazine=[[Thrasher (magazine)|Thrasher]]|location=San Francisco|volume=10|issue=6|date=June 1990|pages=81–82}}</ref> [[Robert Hilburn]] found Reznor's "dark obsession" compelling in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'',<ref>{{cite news|last=Hilburn|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Hilburn|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-01-ca-775-story.html|title=The Freshmen of '91: Rock, Funk, Punk, Metal and Spunk|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=December 1, 1991|access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref> while ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''{{'}}s Martin Aston said Reznor "scans the spectrum of modern dance" with a "panoramic vision" that is "both admirably adventurous and yet accessible."<ref name="Aston" /> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' critic Neil Perry said that record was "a flawed but listenable labour of loathing".<ref name="Perry2" /> Ralph Traitor of ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' said that "Reznor has guts, and they make his ''Machine'' one to be treated with respect", finding that the album was comparable to releases by [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]] and [[Foetus (band)|Foetus]].<ref name="Traitor" />

Jon Pareles was less impressed in his review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', writing that ''Pretty Hate Machine'' "stays so close to the conventions established by [[Depeche Mode]], [[Soft Cell]] and [[New Order (band)|New Order]] that it could be a parody album", but notes, "Luckily, his voice is surrounded by music that has a sure beat and enough unexpected jolts to support his posturing.<ref name="Pareles">{{cite news|last=Pareles|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Pareles|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/04/arts/recordings-rock-s-dead-end-kids-trust-only-their-own-skepticism.html|title=Rock's Dead-End Kids Trust Only Their Own Skepticism|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 4, 1990|access-date=August 28, 2009}}</ref> Frank Beeson was more indifferent in ''[[Option (music magazine)|Option]]'' magazine, describing the album as, "Not everyone's cup of tea, but good for what it is."<ref name="Option">{{cite magazine |last=Beeson |first=Frank |date=1 January 1990 |title=NINE INCH NAILS: Pretty Hate Machine |work=[[Option (music magazine)|Option]] |location=Los Angeles |issue=30 |page=87 |id={{ProQuest|2678489362}}}}</ref> Mark Jenkins of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' found the music "competent but undistinctive stuff" and believed the "angry denunciations" of songs such as "Terrible Lie" are overshadowed by the "nursery-rhyme" chants of "[[Down in It]]".<ref>{{cite news|last=Jenkins|first=Mark|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/02/02/industrial-musicians-turn-up-that-noise/cf59a333-67eb-495d-bb89-1d37eeca2603/|title=Industrial Musicians Turn Up That Noise|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=February 2, 1990|access-date=August 25, 2023}}</ref> Tom Popson wrote in the ''Chicago Tribune'' that "the playing and production get points for introducing some variety to the industrial style, but the moments of soap-on-a-rope singing tend to cancel them out."<ref name="Popson2" />

In a retrospective review, [[AllMusic]] editor Steve Huey commended Reznor for giving "industrial music a human voice, a point of connection" with his "tortured confusion and self-obsession", and felt that "the greatest achievement of ''Pretty Hate Machine'' was that it brought emotional extravagance to a genre whose main theme had nearly always been dehumanization."<ref name="Huey" /> Upon its 2010 reissue, [[Will Hermes]] of ''Rolling Stone'' called it "the first industrial singer-songwriter album" and commended the sound produced by [[Flood (producer)|Flood]] and [[Keith LeBlanc]], who he said "taught Reznor a lot."<ref name="Hermes" /> Kyle Ryan of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' felt that the album "remains the work of an artist just discovering his voice" and said that "20 years later, it doesn't warrant repeat listens like its successors." He found some of its synth and sampled sounds to still be dated after the album's remastering and Reznor's lyrics "mopey" and "silly".<ref name="Ryan" /> In an interview with ''[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]'', journalist and novelist [[Chuck Palahniuk]] said that the album "seemed like the first honest piece of music I ever heard."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Wadsworth|first=Andrew|url=http://www.blender.com/guide/my-music/67277/chuck-palahniuk-147i-was-choking-on-animal-hair148.html|title='I Was Choking on Animal Hair!'|magazine=[[Blender (magazine)|Blender]]|location=New York|volume=2|issue=9|date=November 2003|access-date=April 9, 2022|pages=126–127|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308060556/http://www.blender.com/guide/my-music/67277/chuck-palahniuk-147i-was-choking-on-animal-hair148.html|archive-date=March 8, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2020, ''Pretty Hate Machine'' was included at number 453 on ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]" list.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/nine-inch-nails-pretty-hate-machine-1062780/|title=The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=September 22, 2020|access-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref>