How Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails Changed What Movies Sound Like
After Reznor brought industrial grind into the mainstream with Nine Inch Nails, the mainstream made him a partner—and he's made some of his best, most adventurous music for big-budget Hollywood productions.
Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor can’t have known how different a line like
“I don’t believe in your institutions”would sound decades later.
Nine Inch Nails have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Reznor and his composing partner Atticus Ross have an Emmy, a Bafta, two Grammies, three Golden Globes, two Oscars, and a Country Music Award.
In some ways Reznor is now the kind of establishment figure he always despised, a respected elder statesman to goths and queers everywhere.
With Nine Inch Nails, he married industrial aesthetics to pop instincts; Prince and Bowie were always more important to the recipe than Skinny Puppy.
Author summary: Reznor's music changed movie soundtracks forever.