Thanks to his work with Nine Inch Nails and his emergence, in collaboration with NIN bandmate Atticus Ross, as one of the film and television industry's most decorated and in-demand soundtrack composers, Trent Reznor is acknowledged as one of the most accomplished, innovative and fearless songwriters of the modern era. Last year, in conversation with his good friend Rick Rubin for the latter's Tetragrammaton podcast series, Reznor spoke about the expansive musical education he received as a teenager growing up in the 1980s, and singled out one record in particular as "life-changing" for him.
Reznor began by revealing that, had he not fallen under the spell of rock 'n' roll, and specifically the louder-than-life music of Kiss, as a young teenager, his life might have taken an altogether different route, as his piano tutor had suggested that his gifted young student might want to consider a career as a concert pianist. Informed that this might entail a lifetime of hard work and endless practise, the 13-year-year old Trent Reznor concluded that this "didn't sound like it was any fun", whereas the universe created by Kiss "seemed like it was too good to be true."
"It was exciting. it was taboo, it felt larger than life," Reznor recalled. "It felt like you might get in trouble if you had the Hotter Than Hell album.... It just clicked that I want to be in a band., I want to do that."
"And I had a life changing experience," he continued. "National Record Mart was the, the store in the mall 15 minutes away from where I grew up, and I remember walking in there and hearing something that was like, What is this? And it was Frank Zappa, the Sheik Yerbouti album, filled with profanity. They'd put the cover of the album they were playing up on the counter when they're playing it, and it just felt like, I don't understand what I'm hearing, but wow, man."
Reznor's tastes were expanded further when he signed up to the Columbia Record Club, a mail order subscription service which seduced music fans by offering a cut-price introductory deal, then sending out full-price albums that they considered might be relevant to your listening habits.
"I remember getting a Billy Joel album that I didn't want, 52nd Street (released in 1978), but I listened to the shit out of it because I'd paid full price for it, and I liked it, you know, I drilled it into my head."
When Rubin suggests that the album probably made Reznor a better songwriter, the musician agrees, adding "There's some Barry Manilow in there along the way."
'In today's era of hitting skip, or shuffle, you miss that learning curve," he says. "A lot of my favourite albums I didn't understand at first."
Earlier this year, Reznor also cited David Cronenberg's typically unsettling psychological thriller Dead Ringers, as a major influence on his music.
Expanding upon his, Nine Inch Nails' mainman saluted, "The incredible sense of dread from the first frame to the end."
"You're not sure what's going to happen, but it's going to be bad," he said. "Love it. It's been a big inspiration for what I try to do with Nine Inch Nails. Make you feel bad. The whole time."
In a social media statement released earlier this week, Reznor said that Nine Inch Nails will embark upon a world tour later this year. However, the announcement of the dates has been postponed due to the wildfires currently raging in Southern California.
