Nails to kick off Halloween season

In one day it will be October.

That means Halloween is just 31 days away.

I love Halloween. And I know I've said this before, but I have to say it again — Halloween is my favorite day of the year.

And for me, Halloween will come early this year because Nine Inch Nails will be playing the E Center on Tuesday. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to that show.

The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, NIN has sold millions of albums worldwide. The first full-length album, "Pretty Hate Machine," was released in 1989, when the metal genre was comprised mostly of heavy guitars and high-vocal screamers.

NIN was considered "alternative," which meant it fell somewhere between punk, industrial and new wave. However, the pigeonholing didn't work. The album, after remaining on the charts for more than two years, eventually sold a million copies, certifying Reznor's first platinum release.

Reznor then returnedto the studio to record an extended-play release, "Broken," in 1992. The EP featured the songs "Happiness in Slavery," "Suck," a cover of Adam Ant's "(You're So) Physical," and the Grammy Award-winning "Wish."

Still, with those early successes, nothing could have prepared Reznor for the success he would receive with 1994's full-length "The Downward Spiral."

Recorded in a studio Reznor built in the mansion where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by Charles Manson's "family," "The Downward Spiral" is arguably NIN's finest moment. The concept album follows a lost soul on the road to suicide. The album debuted on Billboard's Top 200 album charts at No. 1.

Reznor embarked on a nationwide tour and landed a spot on the Woodstock 1994 line-up. The album's singles, "Closer" and "Hurt," spurred the public to buy the album, pushing it to multi-platinum status — selling more than 5 million copies.

From there, the pressures of success, the music business and touring, pushed and pulled at Reznor, and it wouldn't be until 1999 when he would release another full-length NIN album, "The Fragile."

In between, Reznor recorded songs for soundtracks — a cover of Joy Division's "Lost Souls" for Alex Proyas's "The Crow," and "The Perfect Drug" for the David Lynch film "Lost Highway."

Reznor also released a remix album, wrote with David Bowie, sang with Tori Amos and had a falling out and make-up session with Marilyn Manson. Then fell into depression, medicating himself with liquor and narcotics.