Watch a young Trent Reznor perform with the synthpop band Slam Bamboo
Only a few figures can claim to have instilled rock music with a genuinely tangible sense of darkness, with Ian Curtis of Joy Division, Michael Gira of Swans, Skinny Puppy, and the original Norwegian black metal bands just some of the few who spring to mind. Perhaps the most prominent member of this set is Trent Reznor, the frontman and creative mastermind of industrial innovators Nine Inch Nails, who is now a celebrated soundtrack composer alongside bandmate Atticus Ross.
Although Reznor might be a somewhat controversial figure – with regards to his position as a pioneer of industrial – objectively, when looking at his work, it is hard to deny that it has been consequential. He pushed the boundaries of the form that the likes of Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode, Ministry and Swans had already outlined. In doing so, he imbued his work with an extra dose of intensely cerebral darkness, typified by Nine Inch Nails’ second album, 1994’s The Downward Spiral.
A wholly bleak concept record, ending with the future Johnny Cash farewell ‘Hurt’, it tells of a man’s self-destruction from the start of his “downward spiral” to his death by suicide — a pertinent theme that never fails to shock the senses. Boasting cuts such as ‘Piggy’, ‘March of the Pigs’ and ‘Closer’ to many of the band’s fans, this is their masterpiece and is one of the ultimate moments in the industrial genre.
The record is so storied that it could not escape controversy, holding a faint connection to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. One of the two perpetrators, Dylan Klebold, identified with the fictional protagonist and used the titular spiral into oblivion to symbolise his journey into the pits of depression, as noted in his journal.
Nine Inch Nails would continue to have a celebrated career. Their follow-up, 1999’s The Fragile, allowed the band to seamlessly move into the new decade with records such as 2002’s And All That Could Have Been and 2005’s With Teeth. The latter features one of their best cuts to date, ‘The Hand That Feeds’, a piece that blended the pulsating grooves of industrial with a catchy new wave twist.
As most industrial fans will know, the genre has its roots in new wave and synthpop, with the likes of Ministry, Depeche Mode, and Skinny Puppy hailing from these more rudimentary genres. Typifying this, English outfit Depeche Mode broke through with their 1981 synthpop hit ‘I Just Can’t Get Enough’ before metamorphosing into an outfit that created an ominous, expansive sound. This career path was also one that Trent Reznor would experience. He played in a variety of outfits when cutting his teeth in his native Cleveland, Ohio. The likes of The Innocent, Lucky Pierre, and The Exotic Birds are all very pop-oriented compared to his later works with The Nine Inch Nails and as a soundtrack composer.
However, the most notable early outfit that Reznor contributed to was Slam Bamboo, wherein he played keyboards before moving on to Lucky Pierre. Also featuring original Nine Inch Nails drummer Ron Musarra, the group enjoyed moderate success in the area and even supported famous outfits such as The Bangles. At one point in 1987, they appeared on AM Cleveland, a local morning show hosted by Scott Newell.
Playing their catchy single ‘House on Fire’, which it must be said, has one hell of a bassline, the performance footage is one of the most 1980s things you’re likely to see. Complete with dodgy haircuts and questionable dancing, a couple of shots focus on the young Reznor, looking much happier than we’ve ever seen him in his Nine Inch Nails days.
After the performance, when having a brief chat with the band, Newell directly draws attention to Reznor, revealing that they had already met, as the future Nine Inch Nails mad had shown “a nice young man” some synthesisers for one of their previous programmes.
