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Nine Inch Nails Tickets |
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Nine Inch Nails were the most popular industrial group ever and was largely responsible for bringing the music to a mass audience. It isn't really accurate to call NIN a group; the only official member is singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor, who always remained solely responsible for NIN's musical direction (he was, however, supported in concert by a regular backing band). Unlike the vast majority of industrial artists, Reznor wrote melodic, traditionally structured songs where lyrics were a focal point. His pop instincts not only made the harsh electronic beats of industrial music easier to digest, but also put a human face on a style that usually tried to sound as mechanical as possible. While Ministry crossed over to heavy metal audiences, NIN built up a large alternative rock fan base right around the time of Nirvana's mainstream breakthrough. As a result, Reznor became a genuine star and his notoriously dark, brooding persona and provocateur instincts made him a Jim Morrison-esque sex symbol for the '90s. A long period of inactivity and writer's block followed, which gave virtually every alternative metal band of the late '90s a chance to rip off elements of NIN's sound. By the time Reznor's five-year hiatus finally ended, he was still a popular figure but his commercial momentum had slowed somewhat.
Using money from The Downward Spiral,
Reznor built a state-of-the-art studio in New Orleans in a building that
had once been a funeral home. While pondering his next move in the wake
of his sudden stardom, he produced Nothing signee, Marilyn Manson's
second album, Antichrist Superstar, which did indeed make him a
superstar. In 1997, longtime friend Vrenna had a falling out with Reznor
and eventually was replaced by Jerome Dillon; Reznor's maternal
grandmother also passed away that year and his friendship with Manson
soon deteriorated. Even so, he produced another movie soundtrack for
David Lynch's Lost Highway, and contributed the new single "The
Perfect Drug," which flitted unpredictably between several different
rhythm tracks. Though "The Perfect Drug" kept him in the public eye for
a time, Reznor was still unsure what kind of statement would be an
appropriate follow-up to The Downward Spiral; that uncertainty
resulted in a severe case of writer's block. In the meantime, NIN were
proving vastly influential on a new crop of bands; major labels signed
up industrial metal outfits like Filter and Stabbing Westward, and an
assortment of alternative metal bands started grafting industrial
production flourishes onto their music; Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl
Rose even fired the rest of his band and holed up in a studio to pursue
a more NIN-influenced direction.
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