Steven Barker
Home
Help Me Out
Biography
Lyrics
Pictures

Nine Inch Nails makes some of my all-time favorite music. They have an industrial sound and creatively catchy lyrics. If you have only heard NIN on the radio, I suggest that you expand your horizons and check out some of their other music.

Trent Reznor-Biography

Trent Reznor, born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, is a multi-instramentalist and vocalist. He trained as a classic pianist during his childhood in the small town in Pennsylvania. Despite his dislike of the 'industrial' tag, his discovery of rock and early industrial groups changed his musical direction completely. Reznor began recording as Nine Inch Nails in 1988 following a period working in a Cleveland recording studio and playing in local bands. Pretty Hate Machine, written, played and co-produced by Reznor, was largely synthesizer-based, but the material was transformed onstage by wall of guitars, and show-stealing Lollapalooza performances in 1991. 'Head like a whole' from pretty hate machine was a major US hit and brought platinum status. Inspired by the live band, Reznor added an abrasive guitar barrage to the Nine Inch Nails sound for "Broken." A subsequent remix set was titled Fixed. Broken hit the US Top 10, winning a Grammy for 'Wish'. 'Happiness In Slavery', however, courted controversy with an almost universally banned video, where performing artist Bob Flanagan acted out a slave who gave himself up to be torn apart by a machine, acting out the theme of control, common to Reznor's lyrics. Reznor also filmed an unreleased full-length Broken video, which he said 'makes "Happiness In Slavery" look like a Disney movie'. At about this time in his life, Reznor had relocated to Los Angeles and built a studio in a rented house at 10050 Cielo Drive, only to discover the house was the scene of the Tate murders by the Manson family, much to his disgust, due to eternal interview questions thereafter about the contribution of the house's atmosphere to "The Downward Spiral." Occupying the middle ground between the styles of previous releases, "The Downward Spiral"s multi-layered blend of synthesizer textures and guitar, provides a interesting soundscape for Reznor's exploration of human degradation through sex, drugs, violence, depression and suicide, closing with personal emotional pain on 'Hurt':I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real'. "The Downward Spiral" made its US debut at number 2, and a return to live work with Robin Finck (guitar), Danny Lohneer (bass, guitar), James Woolley (keyboards) and Reznor's long-time friend and drummer Chris Vrenna drew floods of praise, with Nine Inch Nails being one of the most talked-about acts at the Woodstock anniversary show. The first non-Nine Inch Nails releases on Reznor's Nothing label appeared in 1994, beginning with Marilyn Manson, and the band also found time to construct an acclaimed soundtrack for Oliver Stone's film "Natural Born Killers". In the following year Reznor announced plans to record an album with circus 'freak show' specialist Jim Rose, stating with typical bombast: 'the record will confront just about every issue that upsets people. It will be non-PC in every way imaginable'. In 1996/7 Reznor worked with film director David Lynch on the music score for Lost Highway.
Top

email me if you have any lyrics, pics, ideas and/or suggestions