Trent Reznor

Birthday: May 17, 1965 in Mercer, Pennsylvania, USA

Birth Name: Michael Trent Reznor

Height: 171 cm

Trent Reznor is an American songwriter/musician/producer and sole member of multi-platinum act Nine Inch Nails, and now an Academy Award winning film composer. He began creating music as a child in Western Pennsylvania, first on piano and then taking up other instruments. He eventually moved to Cleveland, OH where he took a job at a local recording studio as an assistant engineer/janitor, recording his own material during unused studio time.Those recordings became the first Nine Inch Nails album, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. NIN soon developed a reputation as one of the best live acts in rock and joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991. The Broken EP followed in 1992, garnering NIN's first Grammy Award (NIN has received twelve Grammy nominations and won two awards). In 1994, the breakthrough album The Downward Spiral was released and featured the radio hits "Closer" and "Hurt." The controversial music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek and is considered among the best music videos of all time having won various awards (it is one of the few music videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City). NIN's mud-covered appearance that Summer at Woodstock 1994 is now legendary. Also released that year was the Reznor produced soundtrack to Oliver Stone's Tueurs nés (1994). He returned to film 3 years later, producing the soundtrack for David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997). In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time magazine's most influential people list, and Spin magazine named him "the most vital artist in music."Five years later NIN's next album, The Fragile, was released - the double album debuted at number one. In 2002, "Hurt" was covered by Johnny Cash to critical acclaim; it was one of Cash's final hit releases before his death. NIN's next album, With Teeth, also reached number one in 2005 as did the single "The Hand That Feeds." Reznor broke new ground by posting the single's source tracks as a free download for fans to edit/remix/sample as they pleased and creating an online community for fans to share their creations. David Fincher directed the video for "Only," With Teeth's second single.The concept album Year Zero was released in 2007 alongside an accompanying ARG (alternate reality game). Conceived by Trent Reznor and assisted in execution by 42 Entertainment, the ARG progressed through the album release and beyond, featuring no less than 29 websites, hidden messages within NIN merchandise, recordings and barcodes, hotlines, flier and poster campaigns, and even resistance cell "meetings" organized via calls made to pre-paid cell phones distributed to participants. Within two months, the ARG amassed 2.5 million cumulative site visits, 7.5 million cumulative page views and 2 million phone calls. Reznor has developed Year Zero into an HBO/BBC mini-series.In 2008, free of contractual obligations, NIN released Ghosts I-IV, a 36-track instrumental album, NIN's first independent release. Soon after, a new studio album, The Slip, was released as a free digital download alongside a simple message: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me" - TR (In less than a year, it exceeded 1.8M downloads). Ghosts I-IV and The Slip were both released under Creative Commons licenses allowing extensive use of the material within independent film projects. Following these two releases, NIN embarked on the acclaimed Lights In The Sky Tour featuring groundbreaking production effects, layering and programming that allowed the performers to interact and control aspects of the show's visuals. The tour was recognized by the industry as one of the top-ten most creative tours of all time.Over the course of his career, Reznor has also collected countless production and remix credits including collaborations with David Bowie, producing Saul Williams and the discovery and production of Marilyn Manson.In 2010, Reznor composed his first film score; for David Fincher's masterwork The Social Network (2010). The score won the Academy Award for best score and the Golden Globe Award for best original score. Additionally, he received a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for best score. He also scored Fincher's next film, the highly anticipated Millénium: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes (2011).In addition to his continued work in Nine Inch Nails, Reznor is recording new music as a member of the group How to Destroy Angels. Show less «

The idea of politics is just so uninteresting to me - I've never paid much attention to it. I don't ...Show more »

The idea of politics is just so uninteresting to me - I've never paid much attention to it. I don't believe things can really change. It doesn't matter who's president. Nothing really gets resolved. I don't know. I guess that's not the right attitude to take. Show less «

[on winning an Academy Award] You think, "I'm probably not going to win, but if I do win, I'd better...Show more »

[on winning an Academy Award] You think, "I'm probably not going to win, but if I do win, I'd better not sound like an idiot." The anxiety builds. Then you realize you haven't eaten in 12 hours. And the camera's on you, maybe, at all times. "I need to pick my nose, but I can't risk it." Then you hear your name in slow motion. "OK, hug my wife. Don't trip over the cord. Why am I taking steps two at a time? I'm going to slip, but I can't stop. Oh my God there's Nicole Kidman, she's nine feet tall. Is the mic on?" It's over in a millisecond and you're backstage with an Oscar in your hand. Show less «

I cut my hair now and nobody recognizes me. It's that whole thing I was bitching about earlier - 'I ...Show more »

I cut my hair now and nobody recognizes me. It's that whole thing I was bitching about earlier - 'I can't go anywhere without someone pointing' - And now it's like, 'Hey, it's me man!' I'm standing in the N section with my laminate on and covered in mud. I just can't get a response anymore. Show less «

[accepting an Academy Award for Best Original Score] Wow, is this really happening? When we finished...Show more »

[accepting an Academy Award for Best Original Score] Wow, is this really happening? When we finished work on The Social Network (2010) we were very proud of our work and happy to just be involved in this film. And to be standing up here in this company is humbling and flattering beyond words. I'd like to especially thank the Academy for recognizing our work here and David Fincher. David Fincher, thank you so much for the opportunity. I'd also like to thank my wonderful wife, Mariqueen, I love you so much. Show less «

I wanted to escape Small Town USA. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came fr...Show more »

I wanted to escape Small Town USA. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came from watching movies, TV, and reading books and magazines. When your culture comes from watching TV everyday, you're bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities. None of that happened where I was. You're almost taught to realize it's not for you. Show less «

I thought my goal in life was to be in a successful band, and I had got that, but I was as miserable...Show more »

I thought my goal in life was to be in a successful band, and I had got that, but I was as miserable as I had ever been, and I couldn't understand why that would be. Show less «

My dad and I are best friends. He's pretty much responsible for the way I turned out. He would provi...Show more »

My dad and I are best friends. He's pretty much responsible for the way I turned out. He would provide a little artistic inspiration here and there in the form of a guitar, stuff like that. Show less «

[on living in the house at 10050 Cielo Drive, where 5 people were murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson...Show more »

[on living in the house at 10050 Cielo Drive, where 5 people were murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson's "Family"]: 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? Show less «

I was raised by my grandparents, the greatest people in the world. I try to tell them, 'You're not g...Show more »

I was raised by my grandparents, the greatest people in the world. I try to tell them, 'You're not going to hear my music on the radio. I'm not going to be on soap operas singing this.' I can imagine what my grandfather tells people: 'It's called Nine Inch Nails -- here's the video. And here he is lying dead at the end of it.' I warned my grandfather that the church might be after him. Show less «

There are just some things that don't seem very fair in the world, like the hypocrisy of organized r...Show more »

There are just some things that don't seem very fair in the world, like the hypocrisy of organized religion. I just don't understand how people can blindly believe a bunch of the lies they're fed, to believe it so that they don't think too hard about other issues. 'Be a good boy and you'll go to Heaven.' If it works for you, fine, but it doesn't work for me. Show less «

It's like beating your head open and unzipping your chest cavity saying 'here are my guts - everythi...Show more »

It's like beating your head open and unzipping your chest cavity saying 'here are my guts - everything I've felt, including a lot of stuff I'm not proud of'. It's hard. It uses you up. I walk off stage sometimes and feel like I've just slept with everybody in the audience. - on performing Show less «

I think, fundamentally, music is something people love and need and can relate to. A lot of what's o...Show more »

I think, fundamentally, music is something people love and need and can relate to. A lot of what's out right now feels like McDonalds. It's quick-fix. You kind of have a stomach ache afterwards. Show less «

I don't know if you have ever tried to think of band names, but usually you think you have a great o...Show more »

I don't know if you have ever tried to think of band names, but usually you think you have a great one and you look at it the next day and it's stupid. I had about two hundred of those. Nine Inch Nails stood the two week test, looked great in print and could be abbreviated easily. It really does not have a literal meaning. It seemed kinda frightening. It's a curse trying to come up with band names. Show less «

My music has been a sort of personal therapy. It's got me out of tough times, it has been the friend...Show more »

My music has been a sort of personal therapy. It's got me out of tough times, it has been the friend that I needed, when I didn't have a friend there. Show less «

[on covering Led Zeppelin for Millénium: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes (2011)] Tha...Show more »

[on covering Led Zeppelin for Millénium: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes (2011)] That took a hell of a lot of time to do that. And also from the position of, "Hey, do you want to cover a classic rock song?" You're kind of setting yourself up to fail. A lot of time spent revising that and trying to get the tone just right. Again, when he [David Fincher] brought up the idea of doing it, he fully didn't explain the context of what it would be used for, so there was a bit of head scratching on our part. Immigrant Song? With Karen O.? We'll try it, we'll see. We know we could sabotage it; it could end up sucking. But we ended up with something, surprisingly, I'm quite proud of. Show less «

When I was five, I got forced into taking piano lessons. And it came really naturally to me. Knowing...Show more »

When I was five, I got forced into taking piano lessons. And it came really naturally to me. Knowing that I was good at something played an important role in my confidence. I was always shy, uncomfortable around people. I slipped by. But with the music, I didn't. I got into bands. I studied trumpet and saxaphone a little bit. It got to the point where my teacher was like, you can be a concert pianist. But the last thing I wanted to hear at 15 is, well, you're not fitting in now, how about dropping out of school, studying all the time and becoming a concert pianist? It sounds like "penis." Even earlier, Kiss had changed my world. It seemed evil and scary-the embodiment of rebelliousness when you're age 12 and starting to get hair on your balls. Also, my dad, who I'd not lived with since I was 5, got me an electric piano. He had a little music store that sold acoustic instruments in the back room, where me and a couple other guys started jamming in terrible garage bands. I realized that music wasn't all about learning a piece on the piano. Show less «

An integral part of any relationship is knowing that you could be killed in your sleep at any time.

I would much rather sit in a room by myself than entertain a bunch of people. That's not my style.

[on being nominated for Best Original Score a second time] With The Social Network (2010), everythin...Show more »

[on being nominated for Best Original Score a second time] With The Social Network (2010), everything was quite a surprise because nobody -- well, Atticus (Ross) and myself -- when we were asked to work on the film it never crossed our minds that there would be an awards season, that we'd ever be up for anything. That's not because we didn't think we did good work. Not coming from the film world we never thought of it. So that whole unraveling, the revealing of the momentum of the film of lots of people liking it, leading up to the nominations was quite flattering. To be quite honest with you, to work in a new discipline to have your peers say "Hey, that didn't suck." Show less «

When Nine Inch Nails first got signed, I didn't know how to do interviews. I really still don't. I t...Show more »

When Nine Inch Nails first got signed, I didn't know how to do interviews. I really still don't. I talk too much and say stupid things. Show less «

I become irritated when I am being written off as aloof or stand-offish when I'm shy and don't know ...Show more »

I become irritated when I am being written off as aloof or stand-offish when I'm shy and don't know what to say. Show less «

If you look at the most talented filmmakers around right now, David Cronenberg and David Lynch, they...Show more »

If you look at the most talented filmmakers around right now, David Cronenberg and David Lynch, they had relatively normal upbringings. It doesn't always take exotic, bizarre lifestyles, early-age molestations and prison sentences. Show less «

I write most of my songs when I'm in a bad mood.

I foolishly thought that if I just 'made it' then everything would be okay. And everything wasn't ok...Show more »

I foolishly thought that if I just 'made it' then everything would be okay. And everything wasn't okay. Show less «

I pop the video in, and wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps...Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, b...Show more »

I pop the video in, and wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps...Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore...It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. That winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning. Different, but every bit as pure. - on his emotions upon watching the video of Johnny Cash's cover of his song "Hurt" Show less «

Trent Reznor

Trent Reznor's FILMOGRAPHY

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