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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1994)
Trent Re/nor sits in the turner of a hotel liar and slowly sips an iced tea lie seems at ease tor someone who is homeless at the moment. "1 think I've moved everv six months tor the last 10 years," he sa\s Ills last residence- ill Beverly Hills, the infamous site ot the Sharon I ate slayings, was recently demolished hy its owner “I hace a certain degree of newfound maturity, lie continues, “and it makes me desire some kind of permanence like having a home. But now I’m faced with getting on a tour Inis for at least a vc.it \ml as great as that can be, it's ulti mately a rather shallow existenc e " Shallow is not a term many people would associate with Re/nor or his music, a project he calls Nine Inch Nails (NIN). Wore of a solo v enture than a group effort, NIN enables Rc/nor to vocalize the sense ot displace ment he feels in his own life Hie result is as disturbing as it is provocative "I ie never written an outright happv song," the 2X year-old admits. “It I did, then I doubt it would fit into the con text ot a NIN record \ncl I don’t rcallv feel inspired to write about happy s**t anyway When I’m happv, the last thing I feel like doing is torturing myself with my notebook in hand.” Reznor’s anger and tortured artist image attracted a cult following after he signed with TV 1 Records in I *axK. V\ hen Ills debut album. /Verts Hate Mjihint, was releascil the billowing year, the popularits ot \IN began to rise so rapidly that Re/nor sass he tound it disconcerting "It was cool to see that record do well on its own merit because M I V and commercial radio didn't embrace it until later," he sa\s “But at the same time, it was realls weird going troin (wing a fanzine level band to outselling Jane’s \ddictlon in merchandise sales at I a illapaloo/a “ 1’he bigger tile stakes, tile more uncomfortable and out of control it starts to feel It’s cool to lie the under dog, but when you start rising to the top, there’s more people ready to drag you down am was tiles can Re/nor Is speaking ot Ills relationship with I \ I Records and its owner, Steve (lottlieb, who paid little attention to \IN until sales from 1‘rrlt> llute Mjthine began to skyrocket. \ battle ensued over rights to \|N”s next album, with Interscopc Records finally stepping in to release the 1992 I 1’ Hrokm "It came down to a simple thing," Re/nor says of the struggle that almost ended his career. "What I’m most con cerned alxiut is that the record sou get in the store and the was you perceive NIN is the wav I want it to be per celsed. I don't want it to l>c diluted bs some marketing plan that’s completely Reluctant Icon Wk Rob Hooper, Itewrrify Tmm, CaKfonua State U., Lus Angeles | inappropriate jinl would nuke the musu impure ” ills frustration with the musu indue try provides the prevailing theme on Hroken I he sn song collection, which was recorded without I VT’s know I edge, ilso showcases Re/nor’s new found interest in making his musu as abrasive as possible l ess dame based than {‘retry ll.tte Waihtne, the I I’ sounds more like a guitar-oriented wall ot sound Ironic alls, Re/imr received a (clammy award last veai tor the Hack “Wish," an honor he's cjun k to dismiss as meaning less I lie best thing aluml it," he epnps, “was that it’s the onh song to ever wm a (a ram my that savs 'list t * * k' in the lyrics." Sarcasm aside. Re/nor savs he's come to terms with his hatred ot the music mdusirv Most of Ins energv t< o the past two rears has gone into making the recently released 14 track ccptis I be l> ..n..,itil spitjl (Nothing Ik I Interscope) It's a project that he says turned him into a workaholic “This album literally sucked the life out of me," he says “I found it a ditti cult process liecausc when I went into the studio, I knew that 1 didn't want to make linden again I saw that as a trap I could c asilv tall into W hen I write music, not everything comes out reallv hard and mean like those songs “On the same token, I didn't want to go about making 1‘retty I l.ite M.i.bme over again So I tried to experiment with different forms ot miensitv rather than just use loud guitars and drums I en lurd, last voni;' don't have nearly the intensity <i( ypa<ing tin a ditterent emotions out along the m^k album ^^^k While I hr Dtrnn:: artl Spn .il docs i t mum some oln lous musical mood swings, it also gucs Kc/nor a chance lo express some ot ills [Milmcal concerns "Big Man \\ nil a (iun" atltlresse misogi nisi au units in g.mgsi.i rap, ' whereas “Heresy" Mentis themes <>t sty am religion. "I was trying ti> explore some of the paranoia I luxe ax a sexually active per son in the age ot \I1)S." lie xavx of “Ilerexy "I guess I feel cheated for not growing up m a more htx-ialrd era \t the same time. what gets me mad is the wav the 11ght w mg has used the \ oitv cmc-in c’ nt this epidemic ill helping to promote their ow n agenda Kc/in it admits the issues brought up on the allium may not exactly lie lop 40 radio material “ 1 he first people who heard it outside my immediate camp thought the album was commercial xui cidc,* lie xavx "I'm no) doing music to make millions ot dollars, though I very record I've pul out I thought was riskv at the tune "Mv mam goal was to broaden the se ope of NIN a little hit I’m tired of trying to second guess what other pen pic- arc going to like li mav not l«- the most obvious i arccr move lor me, hut it vou give the allium a chance, II mav produce something lor you that you didn’t ex|Kci 1 he most unexpected element ot I hr arJ hpir,tl is on tile filial trac k. "Hurt Uthough Re/nor usually revels in his nihilism, the song's ending con veys a surprising amount of optimism "I questioned whether or not to put that on there," he xavs When reminded that the music over powers the vocals so that his lyrics are almost indecipherable, Kc/nor smiles “I do that sometimes," lie xavx "When I m scared, I (list turn the vocals down.” U I i \ Machine Mr Sell De \ struct," a song that progress \es much like the title sug gesis sets ine rone lor \ most ot the album \ Rernor plays the I \Jiendish tour u i d e through 14 tracks that ast ■^-intl lh° listener wi sonic e; )wntie me tocua t»s\ taken on • harder i ACkfeft thftflfltff llttfii* ■ | rial hae some acces f sibie moments "Closer* is sure to be a dance hit with Its , Quirky electronic beats / 000 sou oiaspneiuous cno- / rus ‘Hurt' offers layers oi/ circuitry that brilliantly com- / pete with Rearor”* wavenng/ vocals Spiral Is not easy / to digest Re/nor s hook/ is that Ins intensity lives up to his/^ ambition
