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Trent Reznor

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Trent Reznor was born in 1965 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and grew up in rural Mercer. He learned piano as a child and at school played tenor saxophone and tuba in the jazz band and the marching band. In 1982 he began in synth-pop bands such as The Innocent, Slam Bamboo and Exotic Birds. In 1988 he founded Nine Inch Nails, of which he was the only official member until 2016. He writes the songs, sings and plays the instruments himself.

Music and breakthrough

The first album Pretty Hate Machine appeared in 1989 and remained popular mainly with an underground audience. The Downward Spiral from 1994 and The Fragile from 1999 brought broad praise from critics. The music combines the coldness of synthesizers and drum machines with the violence of rock, and is called industrial rock. Reznor also worked on records by Marilyn Manson, Saul Williams and Halsey and in 2009 formed the group How to Destroy Angels with his wife and regular collaborators.

Influence

Since 2010 he has made film music together with Atticus Ross, mainly for directors such as David Fincher and Luca Guadagnino. For The Social Network and Soul they won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. They also wrote the music for Watchmen and the documentary The Vietnam War. This makes Reznor a rare example of a pop musician who grew into a film composer. In the 1980s chapter of School of Rock he fits as someone who brought synthesizers and aggressive guitars together, as in Head Like a Hole from 1989.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails. Notice how the electronic rhythms and the guitars together form a single hard, tight sound.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsIndustrial and electronic texture scores