Associated Press: "NIN closed the night with a slow and smoky cover of Johnny Cash's 'Hurt,' which earned nonstop cheers from the crowd."

David Lynch directed a music video for the new Nine Inch Nails song, "Came Back Haunted." In case you want to take my word for it, it's all flashes, shaky cam, forced metaphors, and aggressive flickers. Here's the key image:

Nine Inch Nails put its infamous 1993 faux-snuff film/long-form music video Broken on Vimeo today, and within two hours it was taken down, which is very 1993 of Vimeo.

Here's a mashup that, on paper, seems like a terrible idea. And yet, it works. Who knew early 90s industrial rock meshed so well with last year's biggest pop song? And with the news that Nine Inch Nails are going on tour this summer, maybe we can look forward to an opening act from Carly Rae?

As a Dance Party USA enthusiast, I'd be remiss if I didn't share this 1989 video of a Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails performing on the Philly-based teen dance show that the internet's freaking out about. It's funny that the man who'd soon go on to proclaim, "I want to fuck you like an animal" is performing for a not-yet-legal crowd, although this particular track is pretty tame and synth-poppy. When it came to corrupting young minds, they had much work ahead of them.

Trent Reznor is busy demonstrating how a bankable artist can go independent, give away music for free, and still make a mint. Though he initially expressed concern over an album he produced for hip-hopper Saul Williams that was released as a "pay what you will" download, he's changed his mind and now considers it a success — mostly because Williams made more money even with only twenty percent of fans paying for the album than he ever did at a label. And maybe more importantly, far more people heard the music. As for Reznor? His own giveaway of his latest album did pretty well in the marketplace as well, with a limited-edition box set garnering $750,000 and half a million CDs sold. So what, exactly, is the problem with the music business? As usual, greedy labels.

The one-man-band that calls himself "Nine Inch Nails" but is really just freaky Trent Reznor has low self-esteem. "Fear has governed my life, if I think about it," he tells Today's New York Times. "I don't even know why I'm saying this in an interview situation, but I always feel like I'm not good enough for some reason. I wish that wasn't the case, but left to my own devices, that voice starts speaking up."

Pinned to his La-Z-Boy by the money bags recently delivered in the self-distribution triumph that is Nine Inch Nails' latest album Ghosts I-IV — "800,000 transactions in its first week, totaling $1.6 million in revenues," according to Reuters — helpless leader Trent Reznor apparently has little to do but watch online video until his bandmates dig him out. There will be no Dakota Fanning ogling for Reznor, however, who's now soliciting movies from fans for the "Ghosts Film Festival":

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has made the first section of a four-part album available as a BitTorrent download. The rest of the 36-track album is available on the band's website or on Amazon.com, without copying restrictions, for $5. Reznor has been a constant critic of record labels and the music industry for years. Last year he admitted that he frequently pirated music himself. He included this statement in the upload notes for the album, Ghosts I:

Trent Reznor, the Nine Inch Nails frontman who encouraged his fans to steal music, had a favorite site to steal from. It was Oink, the music-sharing site that got shut down last week, as he told New York: