The Pretty Hate Machine

INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA - AUGUST 11: Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails performs live during the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival 2018 on August 11, 2018 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Han Myung-Gu/WireImage) Halfway through the final night of Nine Inch Nails' six-night, sold-out stand at the Hollywood Palladium, Trent Reznor addressed the audience. "Thanks for letting us try some different s**t tonight," Reznor said. Fans couldn't help but laugh. As if there was a choice. When you go see NIN you are seeing the show that Reznor wants you to see. But that's what fans want from one of rock's true auteurs. It's part of the reason Reznor's disciples, and his fellow artists, from Mike Shinoda and Steve Angello to Deadmau5 and Dave Grohl, who once told the  Hollywood Reporter  of Reznor, "He's my generation's most talented musician-producer-songwriter," love him so much. In September of 2017 I did a piece with LeRoy Bennett who...

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons It was just Valentine's Day, so you might be looking for romantic music. Alternatively, you could just need some tunes to lift your spirits. A Trent Reznor instrumental playlist cannot help you with either of these objectives. But if you need distorted, minimalist instrumental music with industrial rock undertones, look no further — Trent Reznor, the king of industrial rock/metal and frontman for Nine Inch Nails, has been making it for over 30 years. From his breakout 1994 album “The Downward Spiral” to his Academy-award winning movie score of “The Social Network” (2010), there are simply too many good tracks to choose from. But that is just what I did. Here are the top 10 Trent Reznor instrumentals, ranked. 10. Hand Covers Bruise — “The Social Network” Who hasn’t listened to the soundtrack of “The Social Network” on the way back from Lamont library, trying desperately to justify a 3 A.M. El Jefe’s burrito run as the price of restless...

Though it established the band as an international juggernaut and brought a sinister edge to electronic music, Nine Inch Nails’ debut, Pretty Hate Machine, is an industrial dance album. It’s tormented and scathing, yes, but songs like Head Like A Hole, Sin, and Kinda I Want To are really for swinging your hips at a shadowy club. It wasn’t until  NIN  dropped 1994’s The Downward Spiral that the band showed just how extreme they could be — which they made abundantly clear with the album’s lead single, March Of The Pigs, which hit the world at large 25 years ago today. Given that Trent Reznor had sexy mid-paced tracks like Closer, Ruiner, and Reptile at his disposable, offering up March Of The Pigs to the public as a first taste of Downward Spiral was brave, inspired, and kind of insane. With its odd 7/8 time signature, rabid punk pace, and bizarre piano-driven chorus breaks, March is not only an unusual track for  NIN  to release, but an outlier in popul...

More movies than ever are being scored by alternative musicians, from Trent Reznor to Mica Levi to Jonny Greenwood. If there is a defining image that captures underground music awkwardly rubbing shoulders with Hollywood glamour, it is from  the 1998 Oscars . On a dark and enveloping stage, dressed in a crisp white suit, Elliott Smith stood motionless with his acoustic guitar. His “Miss Misery” was an unexpected nominee for Best Original Song that year, thanks to its inclusion in  Good Will Hunting , Gus Van Sant’s indie drama turned box office hit. Desperately bleak words crept out of Smith’s mouth with a fragility that belied the setting, if only for a moment. Up next was Celine Dion performing “My Heart Will Go On” from  Titanic , which of course won the award. When Smith stood under the glare of the Academy’s spotlight, movie soundtracks were en route to becoming an exercise in crate-digging. It was a trend bolstered by still-growing CD sales and a decade fil...

Trent Reznor  has opened up about his decision to exit Apple Music. The  Nine Inch Nails  frontman originally joined the streaming service Beats Music as the chief creative officer in 2012. He’d already established a reputation as a tech-savvy innovator who was curious about audio possibilities. He became part of the Apple Music executive team when the tech giant bought Beats Electronics in 2014 Speaking to  Stereogum , Reznor said with atypical forthright honesty: “…I have a mixed set of feelings about the whole thing. From my own perspective, I got obsessed with trying to crack that code. “Being stuck on a record label, watching fans get pissed off — watching myself get pissed off at fans and wondering why am I pissed off? ‘Cause they’re listening to my fuckin’ album! “A week before a plastic disc shows up in the store that no one wants to buy! “They’re not bootlegging t-shirts or something they’re listening to shit I did and they’re excited a...