TRENT REZNOR
His Creations For the Stage and the Screen
The musical innovations of Trent Reznor have been featured on concert stages, in video games and on movie theater screens. He’s won both Grammy Awards and Oscars for his sonic creations, cementing himself as a music industry leader again and again throughout the past two decades. As the 2010s come to a close, it only feels right to pay him due respect.
Young and ambitious, Reznor dropped out of his Pennsylvania college after just a year of study and moved to Cleveland to pursue music in the rock-n-roll city. During the next few years, he hopped from band to band, playing covers and releasing some original works. He eventually found himself a job as an assistant engineer and janitor at a recording studio, and it was there that his notorious rock project Nine Inch Nails began.
With a clear artistic vision in mind, Reznor said it was impossible to find the perfect band to capture the sound he imagined. Instead, taking a note from Prince’s book, he played and recorded all of the instruments with the exception of drums for the original Nine Inch Nails recordings. Even more impressive is the way he’s stuck to that convention, only occasionally allowing guest musicians to play under the band’s title. The only other person who has had the distinct honor of being called a member of Nine Inch Nails is Atticus Ross, who joined in 2016.
Though Reznor’s work as Nine Inch Nails has impressed rock fans for years, his creativity didn’t stop there. He’s worked alongside a number of other artists and dabbled in several side projects, too. Funnily enough, he has a songwriting credit on Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” which samples the Nine Inch Nails instrumental track “34 Ghosts IV.”
Most recently, Reznor’s began creating music to be used in other media. He’s scored a number of video games, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II. He’s also written award-winning scores for films like The Social Network (2010) and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011). His other film projects include Gone Girl (2014) and Bird Box (2018).
It seems like every moment of Reznor’s career has been a surprise. We can’t bet on much when it comes to him, but what we can bet on is his ability to create stunning music for any medium or scenario imaginable.
