Release and Reception
Labeled as "Halo 3," Head Like a Hole is the third official Nine Inch Nails release, containing remixes of three different songs from Pretty Hate Machine. The single release is longer in duration than the album itself. The single peaked at #28 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
A three-track version of this single was released in the UK. This version contains "Head Like a Hole (Opal)", which is not included on the US release, and starts using the beginning of "Tamborine" by Prince, taken from his 1985 album Around the World in a Day; it continues using a drum loop sampled from "Release It" taken from another Prince record, the soundtrack to the Prince-directed movie Graffiti Bridge (1990). The saxophone in "Release It" can be heard before the drum loop begins. "Head Like A Hole (Copper)" samples the looping drum beat from "Body Language", a track off of the Hot Space (1982) album by Queen. The first track is mistakenly listed as "Head Like a Hole (Slate)" on the CD. "Down in It (Shred)" and "Down in It (Singe)" were previously released on the "Down in It" single. The latter track has been extended by 18 seconds. The unlisted eleventh track is Kelly Ripa yelling "Let's hear it for Nine Inch Nails! Woo! They're good!" This is a sample from Dance Party USA during an appearance by the band on the show.
The 11-track United States version of "Head Like a Hole" has recently been re-packaged and re-released. This version was also released in the United Kingdom, where it failed to reach the Top 40 Finally, in Germany, the single was released as "You Get What You Deserve." This release includes four tracks.
In a retrospective review of the song, Allmusic described "Head Like a Hole" as "grand theater", elaborating further by commenting the "backing music was immaculately crafted and produced". In its review of the single, the author was largely positive towards the song selection, even saying that the inclusion of "Head Like a Hole", "Terrible Lie", and "Down in It" "renders Pretty Hate Machine mostly unnecessary". As for the other tracks included on the single, Allmusic was less positive, adding "This is one case where quality definitely would have sufficed without the quantity."
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