74 Facts About Trent Reznor

1.

Michael Trent Reznor was born on May 17,1965 and is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer.

2.

Trent Reznor serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which he founded in 1988 and of which he was the sole official member until 2016.

3.

Trent Reznor began his career in the mid-1980s as a member of synth-pop bands such as Option 30, The Innocent, and Exotic Birds.

4.

Trent Reznor has contributed to the albums of artists such as Marilyn Manson, whom he mentored, rapper Saul Williams and Halsey.

5.

In 1997, Trent Reznor appeared on Time list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music".

6.

Trent Reznor was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, on May 17,1965, the son of Nancy Lou and Michael Trent Reznor.

7.

Trent Reznor grew up in Mercer, Pennsylvania, and is of German and Irish descent.

8.

Trent Reznor began playing the piano at the age of 12 and showed an early aptitude for music.

9.

Trent Reznor has acknowledged that his sheltered life left him feeling isolated from the outside world.

10.

Trent Reznor became involved in theater while in high school, being awarded the "Best in Drama" accolade by his classmates for his roles as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man.

11.

Trent Reznor graduated in 1983 and enrolled at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he studied computer engineering.

12.

In 1985, he joined The Innocent as a keyboardist; they released one album, Livin' in the Street, but Trent Reznor left the band after three months.

13.

Trent Reznor got a job at Cleveland's Right Track Studio as an assistant engineer and janitor.

14.

Trent Reznor continued in this role on most Nine Inch Nails studio recordings, though he has occasionally involved other musicians, assistants, drummers, and rhythm experts.

15.

Several labels responded favorably to the demo material, and Trent Reznor signed with TVT Records.

16.

Amid pressure from his record label to produce a follow-up to Pretty Hate Machine, Trent Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference, resulting in an EP called Broken.

17.

Trent Reznor built a studio space in the house, which he renamed Le Pig, after the word that was scrawled on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood by her murderers.

18.

Trent Reznor told Entertainment Weekly that, despite the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there because he "looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most".

19.

Nine Inch Nails toured extensively over the next few years, including a performance at Woodstock '94, although Trent Reznor admitted to the audience that he did not like to play large venues.

20.

Trent Reznor went into rehab during the time between the two records, and was able to manage his drug addictions.

21.

In 2019, Trent Reznor received a songwriting credit on the Lil Nas X song "Old Town Road", due to the song heavily sampling the 2008 Nine Inch Nails instrumental track "34 Ghosts IV".

22.

Trent Reznor gave clearance for the use of the sample and expressed support for the song, but declined an invitation to appear in the music video.

23.

One of Trent Reznor's earliest collaborations was a Ministry side project in 1990 under the name of 1000 Homo DJs.

24.

Trent Reznor sang vocals on a cover of Black Sabbath's "Supernaut".

25.

Trent Reznor performed with another of Jourgensen's side projects, Revolting Cocks, in 1990.

26.

Trent Reznor sang the vocals on the 1991 Pigface track "Suck" from their first album Gub, which featured production work from Steve Albini.

27.

Trent Reznor sang backing vocals on "Past the Mission" on Tori Amos' 1994 album Under the Pink.

28.

Trent Reznor produced Marilyn Manson's first album, Portrait of an American Family, and several tracks on Manson's Smells Like Children and Antichrist Superstar.

29.

In 2006, Trent Reznor played his first "solo" shows at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit.

30.

Trent Reznor featured on El-P's 2007 album I'll Sleep When You're Dead, providing guest vocals on "Flyentology".

31.

Trent Reznor convinced Williams to release the album as a free download, while giving fans the option of paying $5 for higher quality files, or downloading all of the songs at a lower quality for free.

32.

Trent Reznor was credited as "Musical Consultant" on the 2004 film Man on Fire.

33.

Trent Reznor produced songs for Jane's Addiction in his home studio in Beverly Hills.

34.

In November 2012, Trent Reznor revealed on Reddit that he would be working with Queens of the Stone Age on a song for their sixth studio album,.

35.

Trent Reznor had worked with the band once before, providing backing vocals on the title track of the 2007 album Era Vulgaris.

36.

Josh Homme has since revealed that Trent Reznor was originally meant to produce the album.

37.

In January 2013, Trent Reznor appeared in a documentary entitled Sound City, directed by former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.

38.

Trent Reznor contributed to the soundtrack for the film, on the track "Mantra", along with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.

39.

Trent Reznor appeared in a live performance with Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, Dave Grohl, and Queens of the Stone Age at the 2014 Grammy Award ceremony.

40.

On September 21,2012, Trent Reznor announced that the group's next release would be an EP entitled An Omen EP, set for release on Columbia Records in November 2012, and that some of the EP's songs would later appear on the band's first full-length album in 2013.

41.

In May 2008 Trent Reznor founded The Null Corporation and Nine Inch Nails released the studio album The Slip as a free digital download.

42.

In February 2009, Trent Reznor posted his thoughts about the future of Nine Inch Nails on NIN.

43.

Trent Reznor reunited with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for Doom 3, though due to "time, money and bad management", he had to abandon the project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's final release.

44.

In July 2012, it was announced that Trent Reznor had composed and performed the theme music for Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

45.

In 1994, Trent Reznor produced the soundtrack for Oliver Stone's film Natural Born Killers, using a portable Pro Tools in his hotel room.

46.

Trent Reznor produced the soundtrack for David Lynch's 1997 film Lost Highway.

47.

Trent Reznor produced two pieces of the film's score, "Driver Down" and "Videodrones; Questions", with Peter Christopherson.

48.

Trent Reznor tried to get Coil onto the soundtrack, but couldn't convince Lynch.

49.

In 2001, Trent Reznor was asked by Mark Romanek to provide the score for One Hour Photo, but the music did not work for the film and was not used.

50.

In 2009, Trent Reznor composed "Theme for Tetsuo" for the Japanese cyberpunk film Tetsuo: The Bullet Man from Shinya Tsukamoto.

51.

Trent Reznor collaborated with Ross to compose the score for David Fincher's The Social Network, a 2010 drama film about the founding of Facebook.

52.

On January 7,2011, Trent Reznor announced that he would again be working with Fincher, this time to provide the score for the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

53.

Fincher was inspired by music he heard while at an appointment with a chiropractor and tasked Trent Reznor with creating the musical equivalent of an insincere facade.

54.

In December 2014, it was announced that Trent Reznor would collaborate with composer Mike Patton, best known as the frontman of alternative metal band Faith No More, on The Girl Who Played With Fire by Fincher, the sequel to 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

55.

In 2021, Trent Reznor won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his work on the Soul score.

56.

The suit alleged that Trent Reznor "reneged on every single contract he and Malm ever entered into" and that Trent Reznor refused to pay Malm money to which he was contractually entitled.

57.

Weeks later, Trent Reznor filed a counter-suit in the US District Court of New York, charging Malm with fraud and breach of fiduciary duties.

58.

Trent Reznor stated that he began to fully understand his financial situation after tackling his addiction to drugs and alcohol.

59.

Trent Reznor requested a financial statement from Malm in 2003, only to discover that he had only $400,000 in liquid assets.

60.

Trent Reznor promised that he and the other members would strive to create a music subscription service that will be like "having your own guy when you go to the record store, who knows what you like but can point you down some paths you wouldn't have necessarily encountered".

61.

Trent Reznor has continued on in a similar role under Beats' new ownership at Apple, where he has been involved in the launch of Apple Music.

62.

Trent Reznor labeled the company's retail pricing of Year Zero in Australia as "ABSURD," concluding that "as a reward for being a 'true fan' you get ripped off".

63.

In September 2007, Trent Reznor continued his attack on Universal Music Group at a concert in Australia, urging fans there to "steal" his music online instead of purchasing it legally.

64.

On working with Columbia for the release of the EP, Trent Reznor said that "so far it's been pleasantly pleasant".

65.

In 2013, Trent Reznor returned to Columbia Records for Hesitation Marks, the eighth Nine Inch Nails studio album.

66.

Trent Reznor mentioned that college radio introduced him to acts such as the English gothic rock band Bauhaus, as well as the English bands Joy Division and Throbbing Gristle, which were very inspirational for him.

67.

Trent Reznor expressed the significant influence that English experimental band Coil had on his work, saying that their 1986 album Horse Rotorvator was "deeply influential".

68.

Trent Reznor cited English band Depeche Mode, in particular their 1986 album Black Celebration, as a major influence on his beginnings.

69.

Trent Reznor appeared in Bowie's video for "I'm Afraid of Americans" as Bowie's stalker, and made several remixes for the single release of the song.

70.

Trent Reznor stated in the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage that Canadian band Rush had played a major part in his childhood.

71.

Trent Reznor said that he considered Rush to be "one of the best bands ever" and had gained a perspective on how keyboards could be introduced into hard rock after listening to their 1982 album Signals.

72.

In 1997, Trent Reznor appeared in Time magazine's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music".

73.

Trent Reznor called it one of his two favorite albums of all time.

74.

Trent Reznor began abusing alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs, and successfully completed rehab in 2001.