Nine Inch Nails - Made of Iron
-By Kim Traub
When Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine hit the streets in 1989, the music world did not immediately open their arms wide to greet Trent Reznor's angry, electronic creation Yet, through massive touring and word of mouth, NIN gathered a following of cult status, no thanks to MTV or the press, who largely ignored them. Now five years later, with a Grammy under his belt, a truckload of controversy to his credit and several banned videos behind him, Trent is trying to reinvent himself with the new album, The Downward Spiral.
Hit Parader: Why did you decide not to tour with the Broken album? HP: How long were you on tour with Pretty Hate Machine? HP: Was Broken an attempt to weed out the people who don't really get it? HP: Didn't you win for metal or something like that? HP: How damaging do you think the media was with the whole TVT thing? What is your attitude towards the media in general? HP: How difficult is it for you to deal with people who see you as some sort of depressed, maniacal character? HP: When you start writing for an album, do you begin with a guitar? HP: Getting to the subject of videos, since you've had such problems with being banned by the almighty gods at MTV, can you explain what happened with Sin? HP: You've worked with so many people (Tori Amos, Adrian Belew, Flood, Revolting Cocks and other offshoots of Ministry, etc.), so how did the whole Pigface group effect your music? HP: Do you prefer the production chair to touring? HP: Is it easier for you to look at someone else's music and do production? Will you be producing any of the artists that are going to be on your label, Nothing?
Trent Reznor: I think at that time when that record was being made I felt that we'd toured too much with Pretty Hate Machine and I really had the feeling that, well, when we did Lollapalooza we did that purely for the money to fight our record company to get free because we didn't have any money.
TR: Pretty... was finished and released at the very end of '89 and we started touring in January of '90 and toured with maybe a month off here and there pretty much until we did Europe with Guns N' Roses after Lollapalooza in '91. So it was almost two solid years of touring. I think the biggest thing that increased our popularity is the touring because at the time when that record came out MTV and radio were ignoring it. So anyway, we got into bad shape with the record label we were on, TVT. It just became a very oppressive creative situation.
TR: I think to a certain degree it did, but then it goes platinum and we win a Grammy for it.
TR: Hard rock! Honestly it irritated me at first, and at the same time you realize the people that are voting on that are industry people and people who have won Grammys. It's flattering and I appreciate their appreciation of my music and at the same time, big deal.
TR: I'm a lot more cautious. Nobody coaches you on how to do an interview so when someone starts asking me questions I would just answer them like they were my friend. They're not my friend, they're doing their job. I opened my mouth and said some stupid things.
TR: I try to be honest with interviews and I don't try to create a character like "look how weird I am." When I'm dealing with the media, they come in with a preconceived notion of what you are, they come in looking for that in you. The first thing that shocks them is that I can speak English and I'm not smashing things while he's talking to me and I even have a slight sense of humor. I've just become so desensitized because I've heard so much crap about me and things that I've supposedly done. As far as normal life people, I never run into anyone because I'm always in my studio or on a tour bus.
TR: I did on Broken and I started to on this one, but I stopped because it all started to sound familiar and I didn't want to do the same thing again. So I ended with everything on computer. Every time I started working on something I thought inspired me I liked it. Then later on, I would think "well, it's not single material, but I like it so I'll keep it." I got to the point where I had about ten of those songs and I'm thinking, "I'm potentially about to make the most self indulgent record that has ever been recorded." When I made Pretty... no one knew who I was so I could do anything I wanted and it didn't matter.
TR: Sin was a video that didn't get totally completed because of TVT's interference. We came up with the idea to make a video that was erotic in nature and probably wouldn't get played, not in a violent way, but in a nudity way. The idea was to make a video that was appropriate for the song. We're talking a relatively minuscule budget and TVT started getting afraid, God forbid there be a penis or anything. When I saw the video footage it was about as risque as a Duran Duran video, and we realized that TVT had been interfering with the whole procedure. It put the director in an odd position because there was a triangle of information where I thought it was just me and him talking and there was another force coming in, so I said just scrap the whole thing and send me all the footage.
TR: I had met Martin (leader of Pigface) socially prior to that but I had never met Jourgensen or Barker or any of those guys. I was a big Ministry fan, and although Al (Jourgensen) wasn't involved in Pigface he was around and that's when the 1,000 Homo DJs thing came up.
TR: Ultimately I think there could be a good balance between the two. Unfortunately, I either delve into one too far or the other. One reason why records weren't too quick in coming is because I wasn't writing while we were on the road.
TR: I find it a lot easier to be objective looking at other people's music. I find it to be a lot less pressure because I think I'm pretty good at arranging and saying what's the best part of a song versus the pain and self induced pressure of trying to come up with something that's interesting, to sit in front of a notebook and hope that something interesting comes out of your head. Fearing that nothing is going to come out is much more terrifying. I think it's hard work in the producer's chair, but I feel more comfortable in a way. As far as will I produce other bands, well, the first band we signed are a band called Marilyn Manson and I ended up producing that record.
