“Stand out to me”: The two vocalists Trent Reznor always loved
There’s more to music than just sounding good. With bands like Nine Inch Nails, the goal isn’t simply to create something pleasing to the ear. Their music taps into a deeper power, designed to make you feel—whether it’s anxiety, sadness, or longing. It’s a tough thing to pull off, but that emotional weight is the mark of true musical talent.
In 1913, Luigi Russolo was responsible for publishing his manifesto, The Art of Noises. Here, he discussed the idea that because of the Industrial Revolution and the fact people are no longer as exposed to bird songs and natural sounds, our taste will change, and we will seek out the sound of something much harsher.
“Music originally sought purity, limpidity and sweetness of sound,” he wrote, “Musical evolution is paralleled by the multiplication of machines… the machine today has created such a variety and rivalry of noises that pure sound, in its exiguity and monotony, no longer arouses any feeling.”
100 years later, Russolo’s theology is both correct and incorrect. On the one hand, people still look out for nice-sounding music. Harsh noise doesn’t dominate the airwaves, despite machines now being one of the most prominent factors in our lives. That being said, if you showed someone in 1913 the electric guitar with distortion, they would likely dub that a harsh sound. Equally, you have bands like Nine Inch Nails who frequently use more uncomfortable noises in a bid to make music more layered than just something that sounds nice.
The majority of music lovers enjoy a mix of both of these attitudes towards sound. People occasionally want something that they think sounds pleasant. Meanwhile, a lot of people also enjoy listening to songs that evoke these feelings of anxiety and desperation. Both of them show how much music can genuinely achieve in terms of feeling. Nine Inch Nails are one of the best examples of these bands, as their music has a real impact on the listener, opening their mind to emotions that a lot of other bands could only dream of.
When you think of these exciting musical qualities, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Trent Reznor is a big fan of music that evokes various emotions rather than just sounds nice. Two singers in particular appeal to him, as their sound is both good and slightly off-kilter.
“I love the old Smiths shit and I love Soft Cell. Those are two vocalists that stand out to me that I’ve always thought were great, but if you listen, Mark Almond is always ahead of the beat and sharp – criminally sharp, but it helps make the song feel the way I think he’s intending for it to feel,” he said, “It’s meant to sound anxious and it’s meant to sound a little uncomfortable because it’s not right. It’s not in tune or in time. I think a lot of that can get lost in the ease of snap to grid.”
