Trent Reznor

Michael Trent Reznor (born 17 May 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and film score composer. He is best known as the founder, primary musician, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails, which he founded in 1988 and of which he was the sole official member until adding long-time collaborator Atticus Ross as a permanent member in 2016.

Quotes

 * While I was working on Downward Spiral, I was living in the house where Sharon Tate was killed. Then one day I met her sister. It was a random thing, just a brief encounter. And she said: "Are you exploiting my sister's death by living in her house?" For the first time, the whole thing kind of slapped me in the face. I said, "No, it's just sort of my own interest in American folklore. I'm in this place where a weird part of history occurred." I guess it never really struck me before, but it did then. She lost her sister from a senseless, ignorant situation that I don't want to support. When she was talking to me, I realized for the first time, "What if it was my sister?" I thought, "Fuck Charlie Manson." I went home and cried that night. It made me see there's another side to things, you know?
 * On his residency at 10050 Cielo Drive, as quoted in Rolling Stone (6 March 1997).


 * I think, fundamentally music is something inherently people love and need and relate to, and a lot of what's out right now feels like McDonalds. It's quick-fix. You kind of have a stomachache afterwards. It's not wholly satisfying. And it's fake. I would hope that the music that inspired me, that got me going, that talked to me, felt like it was coming from some place that had some true emotion and true integrity behind it. I think that can reemerge.
 * Tribune Interview (29 September 2005).

Song lyrics

 * God money I'll do anything for you. God money just tell me what you want me to. God money nail me up against the wall. God money don't want everything he wants it all.
 * Head Like a Hole, from Pretty Hate Machine (1990).


 * Head like a hole, Black as your soul. I'd rather die than give you control.
 * Head Like a Hole.


 * Bow down before the one you serve; You're going to get what you deserve.
 * Head Like a Hole.


 * You let me violate you. You let me desecrate you. You let me penetrate you. You let me complicate you. Help me, I broke apart my insides. Help me, I've got no soul to sell. Help me; the only thing that works for me. Help me get away from myself. I want to fuck you like an animal. I want to feel you from the inside. I want to fuck you like an animal. My whole existence is flawed. You get me closer to God.
 * Closer, from The Downward Spiral (1994).


 * I hurt myself today To see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real.
 * Hurt, from The Downward Spiral (1994).


 * What have I become, My sweetest friend? Everyone I know Goes away in the end. You could have it all, My empire of dirt. I will let you down; I will make you hurt.
 * Hurt.