The band Trent Reznor believes every rock musician should study: “It stuck with me”
Given how misanthropic and nihilistic the music and lyrics of Nine Inch Nails have always been, it’s hard to imagine Trent Reznor ever having some sort of infatuation with any band or artist that didn’t operate in the same vein as his own project.
Of course, Reznor himself is not that kind of person, and the fact that he’s contributed to numerous other projects of varying styles should give you enough of an indication that he’s not solely about industrial noise and creating the most menacing atmospheres, no matter how good he happens to be at that. As you’d expect from someone capable of making music that’s truly groundbreaking, he’s pretty adept at other things too.
For example, his film scores alongside Atticus Ross can sometimes fit into this realm of being intense and dramatic, but they also touch on some rather beautiful ideas and sound palettes, proving he’s a lot more versatile than most might initially give him credit for.
On top of this, his work can also verge on the side of progressive as well, and while it might not necessarily be the sort of thing that would win over the most ardent fans of progressive rock, he himself has been vocal in his admiration of the genre in the past.
In the early years of playing in bands in the 1980s, Reznor played keys in a number of bands, many of whom operated in a more synthpop-adjacent area than where he would end up. Projects such as The Innocent, Exotic Birds and Lucky Pierre, while all short-lived experiences for Reznor, gave him an early taste of what being in a band might be like while he was still residing in his native Cleveland, Ohio, and saw him undertake a variety of different genres.
However, it was one prog song in particular that he noted the omnipresence of during this period, and he claimed that in order to successfully make it through an audition, you had to make sure you’d brushed up on your knowledge of Rush, otherwise there would be no chance of you ever making it through.
“It was just part of being in a band,” he told The Huffington Post in a 2013 interview. “You know, it was kind of like if someone was going to try out for your band, you’d have them play ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ or something. That was just the language that everyone spoke back in that world.”
He may well have been joking to a degree, but he also reflected positively on the experience of being exposed to the song so often during his early career. “It stuck with me,” he continued, “And I’m not saying that love for them with any kind of irony or anything; I thought it was really good music that guided me through a period of my life, and I still listen to.”
It’s an odd, but not out of this world match-up, and clearly one that had a profound effect on Reznor as he was discovering where he wanted to be musically. Nine Inch Nails may not bear a huge deal of resemblance to Rush, but if Rush are the sort of band that forced Reznor to push his music in more extreme directions, then I guess a big thanks ought to be owed to them.
