Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor, known professionally as Trent Reznor, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and film score composer. As a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, he is best known as the founder and principal songwriter of industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails. His first release under this pseudonym, the 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine, was a commercial and critical success. He has since released eight studio albums. He left Interscope Records in 2007 and was an independent recording artist until signing with...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth17 May 1965
CityMercer, PA
CountryUnited States of America
I sit down to write a song and it's just me just trying to be as honest as I can for myself and to see that something you connect with, someone in the outside world, is a really cool feeling.
It's one thing to sit back and say, 'Hey let's play a club, that will be great,' but then you get there and say, 'Hey wait, this is the dressing room? Where's my dressing room?'
My life has two modes. One is sitting around writing and contemplating or building things. The other is execution mode. It takes a while to switch from one to the other.
When I sit down to make a set list I usually think, 'We'll build it up here, take it down here, go into a quiet section here, explode here,' in a way that there's a flow and it doesn't feel like shuffle on an iPod.
I didn't want to be in a Pepsi commercial with R2-D2 sitting on my shoulder.
Jumping through any hoop or taking advantage of any desperate situation that comes up just to sell a product is harmful. It is.
I really try to put myself in uncomfortable situations. Complacency is my enemy.
I spent a long time experimenting, saying, 'Here's a record that's free, or $5 if you want a nice version or $250 if you'd like a really nice coffee-table thing.' Everything felt like the right thing to do at the time and then six months later would feel tired. And I would feel tired. So that's one reason for returning to a major label.
Being a rock & roll star has become as legitimate a career option as being an astronaut or a policeman or a fireman.
I wanted to escape Small Town U.S.A. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came from watching movies, TV, and reading books and magazines. When your culture comes from watching TV everyday, you're bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities.
Just because technology exists where you can duplicate something, that doesn't give you the right to do it. There's nothing wrong with giving some tracks away or bits of stuff that's fine. But it's not everybody's right. Once I record something, it's not public domain to give it away freely.
Here's what's up, no bullshit. Jerome came to me and said, 'My heart is pounding and I'm having chest pains'. We're all kind of freaked out back here.
one that was the antithesis of 'The Fragile,' which was complex. Songs flowed into each other, and it was layered. This record I wanted to be as stripped down as possible. I wanted it to be more real, more organic, not overly fixed or chopped up. At the end of the day, it reminds me of 'Pretty Hate Machine.'
My God sits in the back of the limosine. My God comes in a wrapper of cellophane. My God pouts on the cover of the magazine. My God's a shallow little bitch trying to make the scene.