Editing Nothing Records (section)

=== Pig ===
In 1994, [[Nine Inch Nails]] invited [[Pig (band)|Pig]] to open a series of shows in London during the European leg of their [[Self Destruct Tour]]. By this time, Raymond Watts, founder of Pig, had firmly established himself in the industrial scene as a founding member of [[KMFDM]] (though he would come and go from the band's line-up, opting to focus on Pig), as well as a collaborator with such acts as [[Psychic TV]], [[Foetus (band)|Foetus]] and future Nothing Records act [[Einstürzende Neubauten]]. Pig's earliest work had seen release via the seminal [[Wax Trax! Records]]. However, much of his output, which included ''[[A Poke in the Eye ... With a Sharp Stick (PIG album)|A Poke in the Eye ... With a Sharp Stick!]]'', ''[[Praise the Lard]]'', ''[[A Stroll in the Pork]]'' and ''[[The Swining]]'', was scattered across numerous labels around the world and often proved difficult to find. Much of his output by the mid-90s had become released exclusively in Japan, where Watts had garnered a respectable fanbase.

Reznor was familiar with most of Watts' scattered body of work and during their encounters Europe, Watts gave Reznor a copy of his latest album, ''[[Sinsation]]'', which was released in 1995 on Japanese label [[Victor Entertainment]]. When Watts came to the United States to work with KMFDM on their [[Nihil]] album and tour, the band would meet up with Reznor in New Orleans (where then-KMFDM member [[En Esch]] was living at the time). Soon after, Trent would suggest to release Pig in the US on Nothing Records. Watts explained, "I met Trent very briefly in London and the next time he was back he asked me and my band (Pig) to open up for quite a few of their (Nine Inch Nails) European shows. He was aware that there had been sporadic Pig releases on different labels, because I moved about a bit. He was obviously aware of the ''Sinsation'' album, because I'd given him a copy of it somewhere along the line and then last year, when I was out with KMFDM, we met again and it was just a little bit after that that it was suggested that it might be possible to work together with regard to getting it out on Nothing."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.raymondwatts.com/interviews/chaoscontrol2.html| title = Chaos Control 1996| author = unknown| work = Chaos Control| date = 1996| access-date = October 2, 2016}}</ref>

Watts accepted a deal to license ''[[Sinsation]]'' to Nothing Records, where it was released on September 17, 1996. However, the album received only minor promotional support from Nothing/Interscope. One such instance of insufficient promotion involved a music video for the band's single, ''Paniac''. The video, which had already been shot and received airplay in Japan, was delivered to [[MTV]] for airplay in the States. However, the video featured heavy use of fire, which was a sensitive issue for the network at the time, due to controversy over the [[Beavis and Butt-Head]] show, which had been accused of provoking a child to light fire to his home.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2DF143EF933A25753C1A965958260 |title=Cartoon On Mtv Blamed For Fire |newspaper=New York Times |date=1993-10-10 |access-date=2010-10-29}}</ref> The network requested the video be edited in order to receive airplay, which would have cost only a minor amount for [[Interscope Records|Interscope]]. In spite of this, they declined to finance the edit. Watts stated, "We had a really good video for ''Painiac'', the one with the flames and shit and MTV didn't want to show it unless we edited it. It would have cost $2,000 to edit it and Interscope, in their infinite wisdom, thought that it wasn't worth the investment. I think they wanted a couple of things taken out. And Interscope was running things for Nothing. It was really nice that Nothing wanted to put out our records, but they're busy dealing with this shit (focusing on the larger acts), and we had everyday Interscope people dealing with our shit."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.raymondwatts.com/interviews/raisingcain.html| title = Raising Cain 1997| author = Alexx| work = Raising Cain| date = 1997| access-date = October 2, 2016}}</ref>  A single for ''[[Painiac]]'' was also released in Japan in 1995 on [[Victor Entertainment]], which was not licensed for release by Nothing Records.

While Pig had an open-ended agreement with Nothing, which included the possibility of more Pig material being licensed to the label,<ref name="Tina">{{cite web| url = http://www.raymondwatts.com/interviews/tina2.html| title = Free Press Interview| author = Tina| work = Free Press| date = November 13, 1997| access-date = October 2, 2016}}</ref> Watts began to feel that, in spite of being shepherded by a major label, Nothing was in fact a very small operation and was only able to focus most of their energy on their largest acts. Watts stated, "they were too busy with other artists and I expected a little bit more feedback from a label on which I was signed."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sonic-boom.com/interview/pig.interview.html| title = Sonic Boom Interview| author = Jester| work = Sonic Boom| date = May 15, 1997| access-date = October 2, 2016}}</ref> Despite having a follow-up album, entitled ''[[Wrecked (album)|Wrecked]]'', already completed by the time Nothing released ''Sinsation'' in the United States, Watts felt the label showed minimal interest in it, explaining:

<blockquote>Trent had known about Pig for a long time and basically thought that it might be a good idea to raise the profile. And it seemed to be something that might be a good gesture, because we didn't get releases here and it raised the profile. But in fact, they were a small label, and they've got very big artists to work with, like [[Marilyn Manson (band)|Manson]], which became a huge, huge act. They've got big artists to deal with. And being kind of small and obscure and stuff, we felt mutually that they had gotten the ball rolling for Pig in the States here and there was this other album (''Wrecked'') to release and this tour (with KMFDM) came up, and we mutually agreed that maybe other people could be more pro-active in the Pig situation. So we just went, "Well we did this one, that's great, thanks a lot, these people (at Wax Trax!) can probably put more into it.<ref name="Tina"/></blockquote>

Pig left Nothing Records in 1997 under amicable terms, returning to [[Wax Trax! Records]] to release ''[[Wrecked (album)|Wrecked]]'' in the United States (which had likewise been licensed from Japanese label [[Victor Entertainment]], who first released the album in 1996). Pig followed this with a national tour of the US, opening for KMFDM in late 1997. In the wake of the Wax Trax! label folding, Pig went on to release numerous albums via [[Metropolis Records]] in the US, such as ''[[Genuine American Monster]]'', ''[[Pigmata]]'' and ''[[The Gospel (Pig album)|The Gospel]]''.