well, he recorded the demos that way.
the actual record was done with Flood in england.
He credits flood for some of the synth sounds and ideas as well.
not taking anything away from him either. he used to be my fav artist.
the demos sound like depeche mode kinda. called "tropical birds" and "purest feeling" iirc.
the songs were there, but they weren't as cool.
Flood kinda made PHM what it became and Trent took those lessons and applied them on the next records.
Exotic Birds played a band called The Problems for a bar scene in the 1987 Michael J. Fox movie Light of Day. Trent can be spotted on stage at the keyboards in his only movie acting role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM0MmNjy97s
Yeah its also crazy to think that the BAFTA, Emmy and multiple Golden Globe and Oscar winner in that clip **isn't** Michael J. Fox but the no name keyboard player with 10 seconds of screen time.
Given the bands he played with before his solo stuff, the Depeche Mode-esque tone is pretty logical. When your day job is radio friendly synth pop, that's going to bleed into things. Also makes perfect sense why he'd take it in another direction once he got into another headspace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWccbyICM_A for example.
It's legitimately a catchy song. I think it would be hilarious for him to make a serious remake/cover with modern NIN/Trent+Atticus arrangement and production.
no one really.
He makes disco and pixar soundtracks now.
i was kind of over it after the fragile tbh.
he's still talented, it's just outside the realm of my tastes.
I, like many others discovered NIN when the downward spiral came out...I was fairly young, in my early teens. I didn't quite relate...but by the time I was a senior in highschool and in my early 20's, Trent got me through some dark times.
The fragile was good...but didn't quite connect. In the last few years I started listening through the entire catalog. The early stuff still resonates with me on some level, but I guess I'm not there mentally where it evokes the same emotional response. The newer stuff, when I push aside the political aspects of it, now resonate better than they did when new.
The same is true of Korn, the first three albums were so good, then everything after I thought they sold out, had gone soft rock easy listening.....now that I am older and more mature....I get it now.
I guess what I'm trying to say is: AC/DC put out this huge amount of music, I like most of it. By and large, it's fun, silly, rock and roll. Not a lot of change and growth over time. Still good, but it's nothing serious.
Other bands, like NIN, someone is using the art to work through things. If it connects with you, over time certain things will connect but others won't. And that is ok, it doesn't always mean the output changed in quality or effort, it's just the artist is in a different place than you at that moment.
oh I get it. also, he's got a family and whatnot now. im just some shithead that still likes all the blood and fire. most people my age are completely different now.
i remember liking field on fire.
kmfdm/pig is about the only game left in town now.
i miss when music was dangerous.
we need a proper soundtrack to this chaos.
A lot of people just move on and mature their sound. Trent was never the only one making dangerous music. There is so much music out there to explore m8. I too miss old NIN though.
I feel like Trent has gotten most of his angst and pain out when he was younger - as an artist, he's exploring new ways of expressing how he feels inside. As someone who grew up with With Teeth and The Fragile, I personally think his composing for Soul was next to none. Seriously one of my favourite cinematic scores and I love him even more for it.
Enjoying Trent for his days creating NIN and his music today doesn't need to be mutually exclusive. I respect him even more now knowing the range he has. But that's just my opinion, and I respect you for standing by yours. Cheers.
The [live version](https://youtu.be/DCdLpMXeATI) of The Frail wrings out my soul, and then The Wretched rips it apart.
At this point I feel like Trent has produced such a varied catalog of music that you can find a song of his to match literally anything you're feeling at any given moment.
>you can find a song of his to match literally anything you’re feeling at any given moment.
Challenge accepted, find me a song of his for when you’re feeling giddy… like an 11 year old girl about to meet her favorite boy band.
I love old Pig, and Watt's stuff with KMFDM. I haven't listened in years but now that you've mentioned him, I'm going to have to go see what he's been up to.
I think we’re past the dangerous now. The kids who grew up with dangerous finally found the boundaries of what was generally considered acceptable and that generation grew up and started having kids.
Let’s also not forget that we are older and more jaded. What was dangerous then is laughable now. When the world on fire, who needs dangerous music?
There's still some edge to SOME of the current Black Metal world, and there's some "dangerous" rap out there. It just may not hit you aesthetically the way you're hoping it will.
To be fair, some of the movie work he's done with Atticus, had been very emotionally taxing; even moreso than "The Fragile", imo. Perhaps not in the way you want, but as Trent grows and changes, his music and inspirations grows and changes with him.
You're welcome to appreciate the things you like most, but I suspect you'd be bored of him, if he just kept making "Pretty Hate Machine" for 20 years.
Just one man's opinion. I'll always love that early work, but that doesn't make his new work less good.
He did the watchmen series soundtrack and he did that duet with Health in 2020ish (isn't everyone) Hes still doin it 🤷♂️I think he also produced Halseys album, which I did not like. I dig him a lot still. He's reliable.
Here's the real fucked up thing: Broken came out in 1992, 30 years ago.
Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (Year Zero Remixed) was also really good; its obviously all remixes, but its got some really interesting/innovative production for the time.
Since someone already mentioned Depeche Mode, he was basically like the fifth member when they were making Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion - both considered to be their best albums.
I've always wondered what a modern DM record with Flood returning would be like, but I suspect Alan Wilder's presence may have been the pivotal factor more than anything.
Best is highly subjective.
Violator is a great album, though like all bands that have a bit of longevity they'll have different eras or sounds... Early DM is very much post disco electronic, given who the early members were who'd a thunk..
For early DM fans... A good lot would say Black Celebration was their best... I'm partial to Some Great Reward... 101 is amazing for a live album
Rip Andy
Actually, Flood only produced a couple songs for Pretty Hate Machine...Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer, Hypo Luxa, and Trent himself, also did some production work.
that might be correct. i do know that those records tended to have a lot of different personell on them, which kind of takes away from "nine inch nails is trent reznor". i mean it is, but he sure has a lot of others doing work that are sort of pushed into the background until Atticus came in.
i do know flood had a big influence on the sound, right on up to TDS where he had a falling out over an unreleased track called "just do it".
still, i thought he did it all by himself and he did it by working a shit studio job.
that's mostly untrue. he's super talented and got his demo together that way, but the big stuff was done just like everyone else. broken maybe is the anomalie there.
still, go throw on wish or heresy and see if you don't feel like conquering the world. we need more of that blood spattered high test shit from back in the day.
On October 23rd 1988 I went to a Skinny Puppy concert at an amazing club in Cincinnati, OH. ( Bogarts )
I remember the concert because Ogre performed a “vivisection” on a stuffed dog. The album was called VIVIsectVI. He was arrested later that night for “animal cruelty.” God love Cincinnati.
About two years ago my friend was making a list of concerts he had seen over the years and asked me about that one. He asked if I remembered the opening act for the concert. I had to think hard about it. I had a vague memory of a guy with some keyboards. I also kind of remembered telling my friend, “This is ok, but not great.” My friend then tells me, That was NIN.
Now understand when I got my hands on Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. I played the shit out of that disk. I was in between HS and college. I played he shit out of that CD my first year of college. I made sure all of my friends heard that CD. I made sure that people I didn’t know/didn’t like/didn’t care about heard this album. For like two years that CD barely left any player I had.
So yeah. I saw NIN in concert a year before my all time most played CD came out … and I barely remember seeing the band.
Skinny Puppy… now there is a name I haven’t heard in a long time.
Ministry…Skinny Puppy, and now I get Pretty Hate Machine brought back to the forefront of my memories…to think how much I’ve forgotten!
Time to find a rabbit hole of 80s and 90s industrial/speed metal/electronic.
Stromkern, E Nomine, Nick Cave, Garbage, Cruxshadows, Iggy Pop, Chemical Brothers, Tool, Stabbing Westward, Skinnypuppy... I'm so grateful to no longer be a teenager, but the soundtrack was amazing...
**My Life with the Thrill Kult** once, now and always baby.
Maybe I am demented, but of that late 80s/early 90s cluster of industrial dance acts, MLWTKK is my favorite. Have every physical album/single/ep they released. But NIN was my favorite for the first 6 months after Pretty Hate Machine droppped.
I was talking to an 18 year old a month or so back about industrial music and he looked at me like I had three heads. I had him listen to the album Psalm 69 and the next day he couldn't wait to tell me how much he loved it.
For the first time, it felt good to be the old guy with the right music for the right person at the right time.
Watch the wax trax documentary, so many good bands I’d forgotten about. My life with the thrill kill kult, front 242, revolting cocks, the list goes on and on.
Some of my oldschool jams were Skinny Puppy, Pigface, FLA, The Revolting Cocks, KMFDM/MDFMK, Download, Pop Will Eat Itself, Excessive Force, and of course NIN. I used to *love* all that experimental techno/industrial stuff.
Here you go - as a local Cleveland kid born in the 90s, I've heard tale of Reznor's local days my whole life. Here he is with the owner of a local restaurant from my high school in the 80s. https://youtu.be/iWccbyICM_A
I dated a girl in college who wouldn't let me play PHM in the car if we weren't going to be alone sometime in the next 30 minutes or so. It had that profound an effect on her.
I cannot play Firestarter by The Prodigy while I’m driving. I *have* to drive as fast a possible. I can’t even keep it on any streaming service or MP3 player in the car. Must drive fast.
Drum and Bass as a genre has that effect on me! Firestarter is definitely d&b adjacent and probably the first song like that that I heard (okay maybe if was Breathe)
Dangerous as hell for driving, hilariously fun for snowboarding because it still makes you want to go faster and faster and faster you just eat snow instead of guard rail
Big Beat (I think) is the name you’re looking for—that 90’s-2000s DnB-adjacent hardcore breakbeat type electronic music.
And fuck yeah, I love it too. Still my favorite 20 years later
Beyond the fact that he records most things either alone or with a skeleton crew of a team, his musical genius, and more... didn't he also save a fan's life by donating the proceeds from the Nin/JA tour to help fund their heart transplant surgery?
He held an impromptu charity meet & greet during that tour for a friend’s brother who needed a transplant, yes. Sadly, the man died before he could get a transplant.
I remember reading that he saved a fan's life with the proceeds. Don't remember where the article was but it was years ago and things get fuzzier. Truth is, he does stuff like this all the time and has even paid legal fees for people who were downloading his album when he found out what it was being sold for. He's a solid guy, one of the few.
I mean he's very much in an 80s style. It's just a slightly different one than the rest of the band is doing. And Pretty Hate Machine is really not that far off from what the band is playing - just more angsty and aggressive.
If you had told me in high school that Trent Reznor was still alive and winning Oscars for Disney movie sound tracks in 2020 I would have thought you were high.
That actually makes a lot of sense. *Jagged Little Pill* has had a ton of success and Downward Spiral could pull off something similar.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagged_Little_Pill_(musical)
I just imagine the young Trent Reznor in all black, being a janitor, recording at night, and [playing keyboards for a 1980s pop band](https://youtu.be/iWccbyICM_A?t=54) Slam Bamboo in the greater Cleveland area in his spare time.
Also doing heroin
My wifes favorite band is the Foo Fighters and my favorite band is Nine Inch Nails. We have fun arguments poking fun at who is better, Reznor or Grohl. I don't even think it's an argument.
When Dave Grohl did the Sound City documentary, he had Paul McCartney and just raved about Paul. Then after awhile, it was Dave and Paul, and they both gushed about how great Trent was.
All future arguments are quickly ended when I say that even Dave Grohl is on my side.
For those unware of this videos existence, here is NIN performing "Down In It" on Dance Party USA in 1989. Classic.
[NIN on Dance Party USA](https://youtu.be/whVtrLrTWwE)
It’s mentioned widely his “love” of cocaine, and many nin lyrics are direct or indirect reference to substance abuse. Trent’s own “awakening” to his drug use was mistaking heroin for coke and ODing, leading to his sobriety
I've read that David Bowie helped him out considerably!
>He was ashamed of the version of himself who Bowie got to know. The frontman said it “nagged away” at him and one of the catalysts behind why he decided to get clean. Reznor continued: “A few years later, Bowie came through LA I’d been sober for a fair amount of time. I wanted to thank him in the way that he helped me. And I reluctantly went backstage, feeling weird and ashamed, like, ‘Hey, I’m the guy that puked on the rug’.
>“And again, I was met with warmth, and grace, and love. And I started to say, ‘Hey listen, I’ve been clean for …’ I don’t even think I finished the sentence; I got a big hug. And he said, ‘I knew. I knew you’d do that. I knew you’d come out of that.’ I have goosebumps right now just thinking about it. It was another very important moment in my life.”
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-david-bowie-got-trent-reznor-sober/
NIN and Trent are great to be a fan of, both because the music is great and also because the lore is interesting to dive into. Some wild stuff, but in a good way, unlike some other interesting artists
I remember there was a long stading rumor back in the day that the silent tracks on Broken/Halo 5 were supersonic messages talking about Trents desire to be sodomized by Klingons. The NIN lore was crazy lol
For those of you who've never listened to them before I highly recommend the two part podcast 'Trent Reznor and NIN' by Alan Cross on The Ongoing History of New Music. They were originally aired back in 2005 but they are still excellent and Alan Cross digs deep here so that the nearly two hours just flies by.
- https://archive.org/download/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music/ep.490%20-%20Trent%20Reznor%20and%20NIN%201.mp3
- https://archive.org/download/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music/ep.491%20-%20Trent%20Reznor%20and%20NIN%202.mp3
Agreed, but also, listen to any episode of OHONM, even if it's about a topic you don't really care about. Alan Cross is a master. We're lucky to have him.
Love it. No cameras, no production staff in his ear telling him to cry on camera, no judges. Haha, could you imagine [NIN on some cringy teeny bop dance show](https://youtu.be/whVtrLrTWwE)
Me neither 😋. Love NIN btw
true story - I met him at a party, he was with a girl I really liked, she said her bf was into music, and I told him 'good luck with that'.....I did the same thing with Todd Helton when he was being recruited during his SR yr in HS....
1990s - Releases a limited run extremely graphic VHS tape featuring a man getting ground into mince by a torture machine.
2020s - Goes on to wins 3 of 4 of an EGOt
Man’s a legend….
As an at home producer and engineer I admire the dude's work. I have never been too much into nin or much metal from that era at all save for ratm..
But Reznor is one of the few equivalents I can think of to the Rza.. working from nothing to scoring major films..
I've mainly made hiphop but have done a lot of electronic stuff some of it darker just to broaden my skillset. But scoring was always what i wanted to do most / end game.. I have taken my own music and others and compiled videos made from video clips and photos.. where almost every word said in the song has visual representation.. and impressed myself a few times. But still never got around to actually making music specifically to reflect visuals instead of the opposite way around. Had a convo with someone on here about it once ..how time consuming it is.. and how I should start with small piece visuals but things always seem to get in the way time wise keeping me from giving it 100% and I rather not do something than half ass it.
Anyways all this to say just from dabbling I understand how much of overtaking scoring video is much less entire films and I probably respect him and the rza for that more than anything. All tho rza is one of my favorite producers of all time. The early releases especially.
well, he recorded the demos that way. the actual record was done with Flood in england. He credits flood for some of the synth sounds and ideas as well. not taking anything away from him either. he used to be my fav artist.
Aww yeah, Purest Feeling. Disco Trent.
I still do housework while dancing to Maybe Just Once sometimes.
I still throw this on every now and then. I prefer it over phm, actually.
That's a big difference from the headline! I also love Trent's work
the demos sound like depeche mode kinda. called "tropical birds" and "purest feeling" iirc. the songs were there, but they weren't as cool. Flood kinda made PHM what it became and Trent took those lessons and applied them on the next records.
[удалено]
Exotic Birds played a band called The Problems for a bar scene in the 1987 Michael J. Fox movie Light of Day. Trent can be spotted on stage at the keyboards in his only movie acting role. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM0MmNjy97s
RIP Euclid tavern
Kinda crazy he went from basically being a musical extra to composing lauded film soundtracks. And was a generational icon and rock star in between.
Yeah its also crazy to think that the BAFTA, Emmy and multiple Golden Globe and Oscar winner in that clip **isn't** Michael J. Fox but the no name keyboard player with 10 seconds of screen time.
Sucks that you can be successful enough as a band that you actually appear in a movie with a moviestar and still have to be a janitor.
Yeah but that songs sounds like something your high school janitor would make to be fair. Trent wasn’t his best back then.
You can see them in the Michael J Fox movie Light of Day. https://youtu.be/gM0MmNjy97s
Given the bands he played with before his solo stuff, the Depeche Mode-esque tone is pretty logical. When your day job is radio friendly synth pop, that's going to bleed into things. Also makes perfect sense why he'd take it in another direction once he got into another headspace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWccbyICM_A for example.
Reznor looks so hilariously out of place there.
the whole thing screams 80s - simmons (cheap ass) elec drum pads, headless bass slappin and poppin, terrible lip synch
Every time this is posted, I have to listen to it all the way though. Lol. That track slaps.
It's legitimately a catchy song. I think it would be hilarious for him to make a serious remake/cover with modern NIN/Trent+Atticus arrangement and production.
Why does this look like it could be 1980, 2008, or 2018 and if believe any answer.
Used to be? Who took the mantle from him?
He still is, but he used to be too.
no one really. He makes disco and pixar soundtracks now. i was kind of over it after the fragile tbh. he's still talented, it's just outside the realm of my tastes.
I, like many others discovered NIN when the downward spiral came out...I was fairly young, in my early teens. I didn't quite relate...but by the time I was a senior in highschool and in my early 20's, Trent got me through some dark times. The fragile was good...but didn't quite connect. In the last few years I started listening through the entire catalog. The early stuff still resonates with me on some level, but I guess I'm not there mentally where it evokes the same emotional response. The newer stuff, when I push aside the political aspects of it, now resonate better than they did when new. The same is true of Korn, the first three albums were so good, then everything after I thought they sold out, had gone soft rock easy listening.....now that I am older and more mature....I get it now. I guess what I'm trying to say is: AC/DC put out this huge amount of music, I like most of it. By and large, it's fun, silly, rock and roll. Not a lot of change and growth over time. Still good, but it's nothing serious. Other bands, like NIN, someone is using the art to work through things. If it connects with you, over time certain things will connect but others won't. And that is ok, it doesn't always mean the output changed in quality or effort, it's just the artist is in a different place than you at that moment.
oh I get it. also, he's got a family and whatnot now. im just some shithead that still likes all the blood and fire. most people my age are completely different now.
His other soundtrack work is excellent though. Ken Burns Vietnam in particular. Also, fair.
I can't imagine *The Social Network* without his score. I feel like it really enhanced the film a lot.
And the Watchmen series soundtrack was fire
i remember liking field on fire. kmfdm/pig is about the only game left in town now. i miss when music was dangerous. we need a proper soundtrack to this chaos.
A lot of people just move on and mature their sound. Trent was never the only one making dangerous music. There is so much music out there to explore m8. I too miss old NIN though. I feel like Trent has gotten most of his angst and pain out when he was younger - as an artist, he's exploring new ways of expressing how he feels inside. As someone who grew up with With Teeth and The Fragile, I personally think his composing for Soul was next to none. Seriously one of my favourite cinematic scores and I love him even more for it. Enjoying Trent for his days creating NIN and his music today doesn't need to be mutually exclusive. I respect him even more now knowing the range he has. But that's just my opinion, and I respect you for standing by yours. Cheers.
The [live version](https://youtu.be/DCdLpMXeATI) of The Frail wrings out my soul, and then The Wretched rips it apart. At this point I feel like Trent has produced such a varied catalog of music that you can find a song of his to match literally anything you're feeling at any given moment.
>you can find a song of his to match literally anything you’re feeling at any given moment. Challenge accepted, find me a song of his for when you’re feeling giddy… like an 11 year old girl about to meet her favorite boy band.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f3P48eHhQuI
Really missed an opportunity for starfucker, inc.
This is a pretty good pick too.
That's easy. *Closer* or *Kinda I Want To*. Or *Pinion* if you're taking a more innocent interpretation of "giddy."
[A Fool's Paradise](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkhV9-ndMI&feature=share) from the original score from Mank
These days? Starfuckers maybe.
He also did the soundtrack for the social network for which he won an academy award
I find PIG/Raymond Watts, has been killing it lately and putting out a lot of good stuff.
I love old Pig, and Watt's stuff with KMFDM. I haven't listened in years but now that you've mentioned him, I'm going to have to go see what he's been up to.
saw them right before covid. you're right, he's one of the few left that has that sleazy/dangerous vibe going on.
I think we’re past the dangerous now. The kids who grew up with dangerous finally found the boundaries of what was generally considered acceptable and that generation grew up and started having kids. Let’s also not forget that we are older and more jaded. What was dangerous then is laughable now. When the world on fire, who needs dangerous music?
> who needs dangerous music? Hey pig, yea you.
The pigs have won tonight. They can all sleep soundly. And everything is alright.
There's still some edge to SOME of the current Black Metal world, and there's some "dangerous" rap out there. It just may not hit you aesthetically the way you're hoping it will.
I agree. That Death Grips/JPEGMAFIA/clipping. sounds is amazing and I love it, but it doesn’t feel dangerous. Just angry.
Too bad, With Teeth has some bangers
remember when it was called bleedthrough.
I never knew this. Remember tapeworm?
To be fair, some of the movie work he's done with Atticus, had been very emotionally taxing; even moreso than "The Fragile", imo. Perhaps not in the way you want, but as Trent grows and changes, his music and inspirations grows and changes with him. You're welcome to appreciate the things you like most, but I suspect you'd be bored of him, if he just kept making "Pretty Hate Machine" for 20 years. Just one man's opinion. I'll always love that early work, but that doesn't make his new work less good.
whew, i'm just glad to read in here (so far) that he didn't turn into some hateful asshole or something. right? *RIGHT??*
No, his hate is of the pretty kind.
Hatred like pretty machinery
I looooove How To Destroy Angels.
I dunno. AC/DC has done the same thing for decades; as long as there are 13 year old boys, they've got an audience.
He did the watchmen series soundtrack and he did that duet with Health in 2020ish (isn't everyone) Hes still doin it 🤷♂️I think he also produced Halseys album, which I did not like. I dig him a lot still. He's reliable. Here's the real fucked up thing: Broken came out in 1992, 30 years ago.
Things Falling Apart is a solid remix halo of The Fragile.
Year Zero is a cool high concept album post NiN highpoints. I agree he's moved to a different space, but he's still an incredible artist.
Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (Year Zero Remixed) was also really good; its obviously all remixes, but its got some really interesting/innovative production for the time.
Bad Witch is neither of those, give it a listen
Flood produced so many killer records. IMO he is one of the best idea men in the business.
Since someone already mentioned Depeche Mode, he was basically like the fifth member when they were making Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion - both considered to be their best albums. I've always wondered what a modern DM record with Flood returning would be like, but I suspect Alan Wilder's presence may have been the pivotal factor more than anything.
Best is highly subjective. Violator is a great album, though like all bands that have a bit of longevity they'll have different eras or sounds... Early DM is very much post disco electronic, given who the early members were who'd a thunk.. For early DM fans... A good lot would say Black Celebration was their best... I'm partial to Some Great Reward... 101 is amazing for a live album Rip Andy
There was a period in my life when I thought that experiencing Black Celebration was sufficient justification to be and stay alive.
Actually, Flood only produced a couple songs for Pretty Hate Machine...Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer, Hypo Luxa, and Trent himself, also did some production work.
Hypo Luxa is Al Jourgensen
that might be correct. i do know that those records tended to have a lot of different personell on them, which kind of takes away from "nine inch nails is trent reznor". i mean it is, but he sure has a lot of others doing work that are sort of pushed into the background until Atticus came in. i do know flood had a big influence on the sound, right on up to TDS where he had a falling out over an unreleased track called "just do it". still, i thought he did it all by himself and he did it by working a shit studio job. that's mostly untrue. he's super talented and got his demo together that way, but the big stuff was done just like everyone else. broken maybe is the anomalie there. still, go throw on wish or heresy and see if you don't feel like conquering the world. we need more of that blood spattered high test shit from back in the day.
The demo is some of the most New Wave Synth Pop cliched stuff... So glad he had Flood bring that industrial sound to PHM.
[Down in it](https://youtu.be/QrrEo3hZABU) is one of the first song recorded for PHM and the sound is so different.
Why " used to?" Do you have a new favorite artist or have I missed something deplorable that Trent did? Edit: saw below. Please listen to add violence
On October 23rd 1988 I went to a Skinny Puppy concert at an amazing club in Cincinnati, OH. ( Bogarts ) I remember the concert because Ogre performed a “vivisection” on a stuffed dog. The album was called VIVIsectVI. He was arrested later that night for “animal cruelty.” God love Cincinnati. About two years ago my friend was making a list of concerts he had seen over the years and asked me about that one. He asked if I remembered the opening act for the concert. I had to think hard about it. I had a vague memory of a guy with some keyboards. I also kind of remembered telling my friend, “This is ok, but not great.” My friend then tells me, That was NIN. Now understand when I got my hands on Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. I played the shit out of that disk. I was in between HS and college. I played he shit out of that CD my first year of college. I made sure all of my friends heard that CD. I made sure that people I didn’t know/didn’t like/didn’t care about heard this album. For like two years that CD barely left any player I had. So yeah. I saw NIN in concert a year before my all time most played CD came out … and I barely remember seeing the band.
Skinny Puppy… now there is a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Ministry…Skinny Puppy, and now I get Pretty Hate Machine brought back to the forefront of my memories…to think how much I’ve forgotten! Time to find a rabbit hole of 80s and 90s industrial/speed metal/electronic.
Front Line Assembly, Nailbomb, Download, and after that Fear Factory, Atari Teenage Riot... the 90s were wild with that shit and I still love it.
Stromkern, E Nomine, Nick Cave, Garbage, Cruxshadows, Iggy Pop, Chemical Brothers, Tool, Stabbing Westward, Skinnypuppy... I'm so grateful to no longer be a teenager, but the soundtrack was amazing...
Thanks to this thread, I am now acutely aware of how many CDs I have just collecting dust.
Woah, never seen cruxshadows mentioned outside of DragonCon! Haha
Nailbomb…oh man, that one album. I discovered Sepultura a bit later around that same time.
***ROOTS***
Front Line Assembly is amazing. Anything Rhys Fulber touches is gold.
cEvin Key
**My Life with the Thrill Kult** once, now and always baby. Maybe I am demented, but of that late 80s/early 90s cluster of industrial dance acts, MLWTKK is my favorite. Have every physical album/single/ep they released. But NIN was my favorite for the first 6 months after Pretty Hate Machine droppped.
The Crow introduced me to MLWTTKL.
My best friend from high school introduced me to this group. Idk but there's something about bands that you get told about through word of mouth.
Yes. I saw them live twice and they were one of my favorite lives shows ever.
KMFDM!
Better yet, FLA!
Lets not forget Pailhead.
Saw them about a month ago. Still fun as hell.
Doin it again
Better than the rest
Yes! Listened to Hau Rock (album) cutting the grass today.
Don't sleep on Front 242. Headhunter 2.0 still jams.
Don't forget The Revolting Cocks!
I was talking to an 18 year old a month or so back about industrial music and he looked at me like I had three heads. I had him listen to the album Psalm 69 and the next day he couldn't wait to tell me how much he loved it. For the first time, it felt good to be the old guy with the right music for the right person at the right time.
Watch the wax trax documentary, so many good bands I’d forgotten about. My life with the thrill kill kult, front 242, revolting cocks, the list goes on and on.
My fellow, I’m 45 and these are on deck weekly. Spent 2 hours in a ministry pit last month :)
Wow I've been to bogarts in the past 5 years, diddnt know it was that old
Yes. Thank you. It’s been 30ish years for me. Not making me feel younger. 😁
Bogart's is a very old building, was a theater. Built 1905, remodeled in 70s to be a concert venue.
Just went to bogarts a few weeks back for a Motion City Soundtrack show. Great club
Some of my oldschool jams were Skinny Puppy, Pigface, FLA, The Revolting Cocks, KMFDM/MDFMK, Download, Pop Will Eat Itself, Excessive Force, and of course NIN. I used to *love* all that experimental techno/industrial stuff.
Here you go - as a local Cleveland kid born in the 90s, I've heard tale of Reznor's local days my whole life. Here he is with the owner of a local restaurant from my high school in the 80s. https://youtu.be/iWccbyICM_A
Nice, love Bogarts and have never minded the trip down from Cbus. Front 242 is playing at Skullys(Columbus) this September.
I dated a girl in college who wouldn't let me play PHM in the car if we weren't going to be alone sometime in the next 30 minutes or so. It had that profound an effect on her.
I cannot play Firestarter by The Prodigy while I’m driving. I *have* to drive as fast a possible. I can’t even keep it on any streaming service or MP3 player in the car. Must drive fast.
I also used to play WipeOut XL.
Drum and Bass as a genre has that effect on me! Firestarter is definitely d&b adjacent and probably the first song like that that I heard (okay maybe if was Breathe) Dangerous as hell for driving, hilariously fun for snowboarding because it still makes you want to go faster and faster and faster you just eat snow instead of guard rail
Big Beat (I think) is the name you’re looking for—that 90’s-2000s DnB-adjacent hardcore breakbeat type electronic music. And fuck yeah, I love it too. Still my favorite 20 years later
Come playyy myyy gayyyyme
Hey might interest you . There’s a website called setlist.fm where people post the tracks and pictures of concerts .
Beyond the fact that he records most things either alone or with a skeleton crew of a team, his musical genius, and more... didn't he also save a fan's life by donating the proceeds from the Nin/JA tour to help fund their heart transplant surgery?
He held an impromptu charity meet & greet during that tour for a friend’s brother who needed a transplant, yes. Sadly, the man died before he could get a transplant.
I remember reading that he saved a fan's life with the proceeds. Don't remember where the article was but it was years ago and things get fuzzier. Truth is, he does stuff like this all the time and has even paid legal fees for people who were downloading his album when he found out what it was being sold for. He's a solid guy, one of the few.
[And here is the band he was in](https://youtu.be/iWccbyICM_A) at the time when he got that studio job.
One of these musicians is not like the others.
Ah yes, Slam Bamboo.
Reminds me of Ryan Gosling in LaLaLand. I was fearing I would see Trent in 80s styles. So happy when they showed him.
I mean he's very much in an 80s style. It's just a slightly different one than the rest of the band is doing. And Pretty Hate Machine is really not that far off from what the band is playing - just more angsty and aggressive.
He’s just enormously talented. The score for The Social Network is so solid.
Same with the score for Soul and the Watchmen TV series
If you had told me in high school that Trent Reznor was still alive and winning Oscars for Disney movie sound tracks in 2020 I would have thought you were high.
He’s pretty close to an EGOT. MFer needs to start doin some plays
Surely Downward Spiral is due for a stage adaptation
That actually makes a lot of sense. *Jagged Little Pill* has had a ton of success and Downward Spiral could pull off something similar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagged_Little_Pill_(musical)
And you would most likely be correct. You could tell me I'm high right now and also be correct.
Trent did the sound track for Ken Burns Vietnam documentary as well. It is a fucking masterpiece.
He also did sound design for the original Quake.
Hence the nailgun! Ammo box had the NIN logo too.
[NiggyTardust](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inevitable_Rise_and_Liberation_of_NiggyTardust!) is pretty wild too.
Let's not even get started on the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary
Bing...Bing-bong.....Bing...Bing-BONG.
TSN's score got me through the last year of grad school!
Underestimated genius janitor blows people’s minds with his brilliance. Good Trent Hunting.
He was the composer in reznidence
*Solves an unsolvable musical theory question on the chalk board
How do you like them... Reznors?
I just imagine the young Trent Reznor in all black, being a janitor, recording at night, and [playing keyboards for a 1980s pop band](https://youtu.be/iWccbyICM_A?t=54) Slam Bamboo in the greater Cleveland area in his spare time. Also doing heroin
He’s said crack was his DOC back in his Cleveland days.
What a perfect album beginning to end.
Hell yeah. Trent is an absolute genius.
My wifes favorite band is the Foo Fighters and my favorite band is Nine Inch Nails. We have fun arguments poking fun at who is better, Reznor or Grohl. I don't even think it's an argument. When Dave Grohl did the Sound City documentary, he had Paul McCartney and just raved about Paul. Then after awhile, it was Dave and Paul, and they both gushed about how great Trent was. All future arguments are quickly ended when I say that even Dave Grohl is on my side.
For those unware of this videos existence, here is NIN performing "Down In It" on Dance Party USA in 1989. Classic. [NIN on Dance Party USA](https://youtu.be/whVtrLrTWwE)
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His recent work is actually extremely impressive. Like all of it
That is a good fuckin' album.
Best pissed off break up album ever!
Well I wanna wrap it up and swim it until I drown; my moral standing is lying down.
Nothing quite like the feel of something new
Also completely high on amphetamines. There's a reason he was able to clean the floors spotless all day and still record all night.
Source on that? Just curious and would like to read more.
It’s mentioned widely his “love” of cocaine, and many nin lyrics are direct or indirect reference to substance abuse. Trent’s own “awakening” to his drug use was mistaking heroin for coke and ODing, leading to his sobriety
Ah, the Mia Wallace.
I've read that David Bowie helped him out considerably! >He was ashamed of the version of himself who Bowie got to know. The frontman said it “nagged away” at him and one of the catalysts behind why he decided to get clean. Reznor continued: “A few years later, Bowie came through LA I’d been sober for a fair amount of time. I wanted to thank him in the way that he helped me. And I reluctantly went backstage, feeling weird and ashamed, like, ‘Hey, I’m the guy that puked on the rug’. >“And again, I was met with warmth, and grace, and love. And I started to say, ‘Hey listen, I’ve been clean for …’ I don’t even think I finished the sentence; I got a big hug. And he said, ‘I knew. I knew you’d do that. I knew you’d come out of that.’ I have goosebumps right now just thinking about it. It was another very important moment in my life.” https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-david-bowie-got-trent-reznor-sober/
If anyone listened to some of his music you would know that Trent absolutely takes uppers like amphetamines
"The big come down; isn't that what you wanted?"
I mean Hurt is a drug addict in despair about the harm he’s caused to those around him.
I thought the entire album is about drug addiction/hitting rock bottom.
The Downward Spiral isn’t exactly subtle.
When someone mentions an album being “ahead of its time” this is definitely the first album that jumps into my head.
NIN and Trent are great to be a fan of, both because the music is great and also because the lore is interesting to dive into. Some wild stuff, but in a good way, unlike some other interesting artists
I remember there was a long stading rumor back in the day that the silent tracks on Broken/Halo 5 were supersonic messages talking about Trents desire to be sodomized by Klingons. The NIN lore was crazy lol
The first CD pressing of broken didn't have any silent tracks. It was instead released on two discs; one big, one little.
See? Typical fun stuff
For those of you who've never listened to them before I highly recommend the two part podcast 'Trent Reznor and NIN' by Alan Cross on The Ongoing History of New Music. They were originally aired back in 2005 but they are still excellent and Alan Cross digs deep here so that the nearly two hours just flies by. - https://archive.org/download/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music/ep.490%20-%20Trent%20Reznor%20and%20NIN%201.mp3 - https://archive.org/download/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music/ep.491%20-%20Trent%20Reznor%20and%20NIN%202.mp3
Alan Cross is an amazing repository of music knowledge.
He absolutely is. Ongoing History of New Music is in its 30th year now which is crazy.
fwiw there's r/OHoNMusic/
Agreed, but also, listen to any episode of OHONM, even if it's about a topic you don't really care about. Alan Cross is a master. We're lucky to have him.
Yep and that album still holds up. Just listened to it the other day. Such a great album.
That live version of Cars which NIN did with Gary Numan is amazing, wish they officially released it as a single to buy.
Musics own good will hunting
Anyway go stream Skinny Puppy.
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Someone left this CD at my house after a party. Thank you forgetful person, whoever you were. Thanks also for the Faith No More CD.
That album told the 90s what the 90s would be.
I still listen to this album in its entirety pretty regularly! I was actually just talking about it a few hours ago. Synchronicity is wild.
If you haven't listened to Pretty Hate Machine, you need to. It's a masterpiece
Yup! Trent is the man and his movie scores with Atticus Ross are even better.
It’s custodian, dick.
“*Don’t you fucking know what you are!?*” - his boss, probably, thats why his songs felt personal
I'd like to meet the girl that caused him the anguish you hear in this album.
She’s actually [well-documented](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O4H5h-oHvuo)
*You're so vain* *I bet you think this song is about you*
Not me. I also kind of hope its not a single girl and more a collection of bad experiences.
Love it. No cameras, no production staff in his ear telling him to cry on camera, no judges. Haha, could you imagine [NIN on some cringy teeny bop dance show](https://youtu.be/whVtrLrTWwE) Me neither 😋. Love NIN btw
Yes he did! And he shot a video and sent the cam up in the sky with balloons. It was investigated when found. Trent is a badass
true story - I met him at a party, he was with a girl I really liked, she said her bf was into music, and I told him 'good luck with that'.....I did the same thing with Todd Helton when he was being recruited during his SR yr in HS....
You can detect musicians. Put it on your resume.
1990s - Releases a limited run extremely graphic VHS tape featuring a man getting ground into mince by a torture machine. 2020s - Goes on to wins 3 of 4 of an EGOt Man’s a legend….
Don't leave out his Country Music Award for a rap song.
As an at home producer and engineer I admire the dude's work. I have never been too much into nin or much metal from that era at all save for ratm.. But Reznor is one of the few equivalents I can think of to the Rza.. working from nothing to scoring major films.. I've mainly made hiphop but have done a lot of electronic stuff some of it darker just to broaden my skillset. But scoring was always what i wanted to do most / end game.. I have taken my own music and others and compiled videos made from video clips and photos.. where almost every word said in the song has visual representation.. and impressed myself a few times. But still never got around to actually making music specifically to reflect visuals instead of the opposite way around. Had a convo with someone on here about it once ..how time consuming it is.. and how I should start with small piece visuals but things always seem to get in the way time wise keeping me from giving it 100% and I rather not do something than half ass it. Anyways all this to say just from dabbling I understand how much of overtaking scoring video is much less entire films and I probably respect him and the rza for that more than anything. All tho rza is one of my favorite producers of all time. The early releases especially.
Some people are just driven.
Not me!
I believe in you, u/tinyanus !
I found you, we're spirit siblings
Mr. Self-Determination
And on cocaine
Trent Reznor backwards is Ron Zertnert
The album that started my journey with and love of music.