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Trent Reznor

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Trent Reznor, founder of Nine Inch Nails.

Trent Reznor (born Michael Trent Reznor May 17, 1965), is an American musician.

Reznor is the founder and main creative force behind the band Nine Inch Nails. He is also the only official member of the band, as he composes and plays all the instruments himself; however, different producers, engineers and musicians are assembled to assist him in writing and performing new material. Reznor writes all of the lyrics himself and is in sole control of the group.

Biography

Trent Reznor was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, to Michael Reznor, an interior designer and bluegrass musician, and Nancy Clark. Reznor was called by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. When Trent was five, his parents divorced, and he was sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Mercer. His sister Tera, born in 1971, remained with his mother.

Trent began playing the piano at the age of five and showed an early aptitude for music. In a 1995 interview, his grandfather Bill Clark remarked, "Music was his life, from the time he was a wee boy. He was so gifted." [1] His former piano teacher Rita Beglin said Reznor "always reminded me of Harry Connick, Jr." when he played. [2]

Trent Reznor has said in interviews that he hated his upbringing and was very bored with the quiet reclusive area he was brought up in. Most of the time, Trent was very isolated from other kids. He said he didn't fit in. Nor was there much access to radio and television, though that was his only escape once he got into the Alternative Rock scene from the 70's and on. Reznor often experienced emotional rejection from girls, which can be hinted in his songs. He even said, "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".

At the Mercer Area Junior and Senior High Schools, Reznor learned to also play the saxophone and tuba. He was a member of both the jazz and marching bands. Former Mercer High School band director Hendley Hoge remembered Reznor as "very upbeat and friendly." [3] Reznor also became involved in theater while in high school. He was voted Best in Drama by classmates for his roles as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Professor Harold Hill in the Music Man.

File:Option 30.jpg
Option 30 album cover with Reznor on the far right

Reznor graduated from high school in 1983 and enrolled at Allegheny College. He studied computer engineering and music, and he joined a local band named Option 30 which played three shows per week. After a year in college, Reznor decided to drop out to pursue his career in music fulltime.

With his high school friend Chris Vrenna, Reznor moved to Cleveland, Ohio. In 1985, he joined a band named The Innocent as a keyboardist. They released one album, Livin' in the Street, but Reznor quit after just three months.

In 1986, Reznor appeared as a member of the fictional band The Problems in the film Light of Day. He also joined a local Cleveland band the Exotic Birds.

He got a job at Right Track Studio (now known as Midtown Recording) as a handyman. Studio owner Bart Koster commented how Reznor "is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked great." [4] Koster allowed Reznor to use the studio during off hours, which he used to record demos for songs that ended up on Nine Inch Nails' first album, Pretty Hate Machine. These demos were later released as a bootleg under the name Purest Feeling.

Reznor was the credited producer for Marilyn Manson's albums Portrait of an American Family (1994), Smells Like Children (1995), and Antichrist Superstar (1996), as well as the soundtrack for the films Natural Born Killers and Lost Highway. Reznor is credited for "Driver Down" and "Videodrones; Questions" on the soundtrack for Lost Highway. One other track, "The Perfect Drug" is credited to Nine Inch Nails instead.

Reznor likes video games, most notably Doom by id Software, which he has said he played in the Nine Inch Nails tour bus after doing shows. He also created the soundtrack for id Software's hit Quake. (As a side-note, the NIN logo also appears on the nail gun ammo boxes in Quake and prior to this, embedded in the floor of a secret room in Ultimate Doom).

Trent returned to work with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for video game Doom 3. However, due to "time, money, and bad management", he had to abandon this project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's release. The original audio files can be found on the Internet, although they are not officially endorsed by Reznor or id Software. Chris Vrenna, former drummer for Nine Inch Nails, produced the music for Doom 3 with his partner Clint Walsh.

During the five years between his albums The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999), Trent Reznor struggled with depression, social anxiety disorder, writer's block, and the death of his grandmother. It has also been revealed by Reznor that he had been suffering from alcohol/heroin addiction during the Fragile era. It was reported that Reznor had considered committing suicide during this period. In a 1999 interview for Rolling Stone magazine, he said that "It just took me time to sit down and change my head and my life around. I had to slap myself in the face: 'If you want to kill yourself, do it, save everybody the fucking hassle. Or get your shit together.'"

Tapeworm, a collaboration with Danny Lohner, Maynard James Keenan of Tool, and Atticus Ross of 12 Rounds, was in production for almost ten years, but an update on the official Nine Inch Nails website has declared that the project has been terminated. The only known performance of any Tapeworm material was when Keenan's other band A Perfect Circle performed the song "Vacant" on tour in 2001. "Vacant" appears on A Perfect Circle's third album eMOTIVe, reworked and retitled "Passive". "Passive" was subsequently used in the first bar scene in the movie Constantine.

Discography

Musical work credited to Trent Reznor. For work credited to Nine Inch Nails, see Nine Inch Nails discography.

Writing and performance

  • Sound effects and music for Quake (1996). Credited to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails
  • "Videodrones; Questions" appears on Lost Highway soundtrack (1997)
  • "Driver Down" appears on Lost Highway soundtrack (1997)

Featuring

Guitar

  • "Lunchbox" for Marilyn Manson, appears on Portrait of an American Family (1994)
  • "Deformography" for Marilyn Manson, appears on Antichrist Superstar (1996)
  • "Mister Superstar" for Marilyn Manson, appears on Antichrist Superstar (1996)

Mellotron

  • "Cryptorchid" for Marilyn Manson, appears on Antichrist Superstar (1996)

Mix

  • Portrait of an American Family (Marilyn Manson, 1994)

Piano

  • "Man That You Fear" for Marilyn Manson, appears on Antichrist Superstar (1996)

Producer

Programming

  • Antichrist Superstar (Marilyn Manson, 1996)

Remixes

For remixes credited to Nine Inch Nails, see Nine Inch Nails discography: Remixes.

Saxophone

Vocals

Trivia

  • Trent Reznor is known to speak out strongly against organized religion and recently the policies of President George W. Bush.
  • He is only about 168 centimetres tall (5'6").
  • Trent Reznor's Favorite type of candy is Reese's Peanut Butter cups.
  • Down in it has the same drum beat as Dig it, done by Skinny Puppy four years earlier.
  • Despite a somewhat rough and isolated childhood, Reznor is quick to point out he had never been abused as a child and that he lived in a loving household with his grandparents.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Trent Reznor.

See also

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