Recorded as Trent Reznor could while fighting a legal battle to get out of a bad label contract, Broken, Nine Inch Nails’s major label debut, was a concentrated six song (four, really, plus two short instrumentals) blast of the sonic approaches that had earned the act a rapidly growing following. “Happiness in Slavery” captures NIN’s ear for the dancefloor, raging power dynamics and instant hooks all at once, while the whalloping stomp of “Last” and the frenetic “Gave Up” further explored the aesthetic.

– Ned Raggett