“Sin” by Nine Inch Nails

"Sin" is Trent Reznor's show from end to end on Pretty Hate Machine, the 1989 Nine Inch Nails album on TVT: he wrote it, sang it and recorded it, then mixed it with Keith LeBlanc. On the album it's sleek, chilly synth-pop, a pulse you could dance to if you didn't listen too closely to the grudge in Reznor's voice.

When it came out as the third single in October 1990, the single versions turned meaner, pushed toward EBM with the vocals distorted and the instruments swapped around, and that harder shape is the one that took over on stage. It has been a fixture of the band's live sets for years, one of the songs they have played most often.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.