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Nine Inch Nails
Sound, throb, and a long low wail of pure, hard pain...Nine Inch Nails.
The world's most disturbing rock band is in effect one man singer and songwriter Trent Reznor. Since stealing the show during the original Lollapalooza tour in 1991, NIN has limned the hard edge of the techno revolution. In Reznor's desperate, combative persona and disarrayed melodies the musical community has finally found a band that appalls, confounds, and undeniably attracts. Horrified yet entranced, NIN's fans are like moths drawn toward the disfiguring flame of their music.
From a well of previously unpublished research, Huxley has carved out the history of this improbable hero: Reznor's rise as an Appalachian outcast to dyspeptic sex symbol; his connections to Courtney Love; and his relationship with his spasmodically fixated fans. Ricocheting wildly between goth rock and industrial grunge, Nine Inch Nails has achieved a legendary sound. Here, Martin Huxley digs hard and deep to unearth the truth beneath the ultimate noise.
The world's most disturbing rock band is in effect one man singer and songwriter Trent Reznor. Since stealing the show during the original Lollapalooza tour in 1991, NIN has limned the hard edge of the techno revolution. In Reznor's desperate, combative persona and disarrayed melodies the musical community has finally found a band that appalls, confounds, and undeniably attracts. Horrified yet entranced, NIN's fans are like moths drawn toward the disfiguring flame of their music.
From a well of previously unpublished research, Huxley has carved out the history of this improbable hero: Reznor's rise as an Appalachian outcast to dyspeptic sex symbol; his connections to Courtney Love; and his relationship with his spasmodically fixated fans. Ricocheting wildly between goth rock and industrial grunge, Nine Inch Nails has achieved a legendary sound. Here, Martin Huxley digs hard and deep to unearth the truth beneath the ultimate noise.
- GenresMusicBiographyNonfiction
227 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 27, 2018
Hm, beim zweiten mal Lesen ist das Buch genauso inhaltsarm. Ist ja auch nicht wirklich aktuell - immerhin gab es The Fragile damals noch nicht mal.
Allerdings hab ich eine Passage von 1994 gefunden, die in etwa so lautet: wenn ich morgen heirate und glücklich bin, ist NIN tot.
Leider hat TR Recht behalten. Persönliches Glück in allen Ehren, aber NIN ist nur noch unmotivierte Fahrstuhlmusik.
Allerdings hab ich eine Passage von 1994 gefunden, die in etwa so lautet: wenn ich morgen heirate und glücklich bin, ist NIN tot.
Leider hat TR Recht behalten. Persönliches Glück in allen Ehren, aber NIN ist nur noch unmotivierte Fahrstuhlmusik.
April 13, 2023
So, am I correct in saying, or assuming for that matter, that Trent just wanted a peaceful life where he could explore the techno music world and have some people appreciate it, but instead became world famous through creating his band Nine Inch Nails? I sometimes wonder where the sadness part comes in, is it through creating such harrowing music, or is it the fanbase that make you so desperate, for more attention, more money, more concerts? It's is mentioned multiple times how Reznor never really cared for the money but rather for originality, for what he did with the raw sounds and noises he picked up on and recorded. It's fun to know that Nine Inch Nails has no deeper meaning, it's just a band name that stuck after 2 weeks, or so Trent Reznor mentioned haha
Perhaps the chapter that got to me most, emotionally, is the one where Courtney Love is involved, it doesn't require much explanation to prove that she's absolute scum. She made stuff up about the singer and even tried to spoil his name. This book was quite intriguing because Huxley uses a lot of quotations and refers to a lot of magazines and interviews and so it seems as though it is written by Reznor himself. It's pretty cool to take a peek into his mind and how he's hurting on the inside and expresses it so vividly on the outside. Horrible things are not shied away from yet it was never his intention to use such themes for the simple reason of them being horrible. He just wanted creative freedom which is perhaps what most artists ought, and do, strive for.
As with the Grohl book, there are many names which I am unfamiliar with and bands mentioned which I've never heard songs from, and I would certainly like to, however, at the moment I'd like to invest more time in listening to all the nine inch nails stuff. So far, I enjoyed downward spiral the most but think that pretty hate machine is cool too. Strobe light I have yet to listen to in its entirety. It's more or less a quick read for the reason that the chapters are 8 pages long at most and have 2 pages void of information each. The text isn't tiny and there are pages which aren't filled from top to bottom. The frequent referencing and quoting helped speed things up too. There isn't a list of works cited towards the end which certainly came to me as a surprise.
Perhaps the chapter that got to me most, emotionally, is the one where Courtney Love is involved, it doesn't require much explanation to prove that she's absolute scum. She made stuff up about the singer and even tried to spoil his name. This book was quite intriguing because Huxley uses a lot of quotations and refers to a lot of magazines and interviews and so it seems as though it is written by Reznor himself. It's pretty cool to take a peek into his mind and how he's hurting on the inside and expresses it so vividly on the outside. Horrible things are not shied away from yet it was never his intention to use such themes for the simple reason of them being horrible. He just wanted creative freedom which is perhaps what most artists ought, and do, strive for.
As with the Grohl book, there are many names which I am unfamiliar with and bands mentioned which I've never heard songs from, and I would certainly like to, however, at the moment I'd like to invest more time in listening to all the nine inch nails stuff. So far, I enjoyed downward spiral the most but think that pretty hate machine is cool too. Strobe light I have yet to listen to in its entirety. It's more or less a quick read for the reason that the chapters are 8 pages long at most and have 2 pages void of information each. The text isn't tiny and there are pages which aren't filled from top to bottom. The frequent referencing and quoting helped speed things up too. There isn't a list of works cited towards the end which certainly came to me as a surprise.
December 1, 2017
Medíocre. É um apanhado de entrevistas entre o primeiro álbum e o The Downward Spiral, que pode ser interessante para quem não sabe nada sobre a banda mas não tem muito a acrescentar a fãs antigos que já leram a maior parte do material (meu caso). Bem chapa branca. Leiam a biografia do Lou Reed escrita pelo Victor Bockris que vocês ganham mais.
January 14, 2021
Good read. Chronicles NIN history up until the Downward Spiral and the Tour with Bowie..approx 1997. It would be interesting for a followup to he written from 1997 to modern day. Highly recommend if you're a NIN fan.
April 11, 2024
Everything a fan could want is in this nifty little volume which mostly lets Reznor tell his own story in quick readable fashion, easy to digest and poppy as a Pixies song rather than NiN's own music.
September 2, 2024
I really enjoyed learning about Trent Resner and his move up through stardom and his thoughts behind his songs. This was a very informative book going through the 90's. I look forward to reading more about him in the 2000's in other books but for the time this one came out , its really good.
October 13, 2017
Some interesting tidbits here and there and a few great quotes from interviews with Trent. But beyond that it's just a so so book.
February 26, 2020
You can tell Martin did a lot of research for this book, but it's mostly interviews that Martin quoted and stuck in. Not a bad read, but not my favorite.
September 27, 2010
I wish this was an autobiography of Trent Reznor but Trent would never expose his life to everyone in a book. This is fastly written about Trent growing up and it focuses on life w/ the NIN band he created. This book covers the first 3 albums up to the Downward Spiral(s) album & his side work he did with other artists. This was written well and has many interviews from Trent from previous magazine ineterviews and friends & band members. It doesn't have any dirt of the drugs & sex that he may have did but it is very informational on how Trent got started and what he's like as a person. He is a very moody, perfectionist artist who mastered his skills of creating NIN albums with no band members (people only used on his tour)& creates his songs thru sounds and noises thru his computer. I'm a very big fan of Trent/NIN and wish I could read a more personal biography on why he is like he is. But from what this book desribes all I need to do is read his lyrics.
December 19, 2014
I liked it a lot. It was written in 1997, so Trent and NIN have changed quite a bit, but it's pretty informative for an unauthorized bio. I am happy to report that some songs I thought were about one thing are about another, and "Closer" is about exactly what I thought, but not what the general public thought. Also, the name Nine Inch Nails does not refer to the nails in the cross. It's just a meaningless name that Trent didn't get sick of after 2 weeks. Cool. If you like NIN, it's a good read.
July 7, 2014
Not bad, but also not great. Mostly the author quoting Reznor and others from interviews with various music industry magazines/publications. Also wish I'd picked this up years ago, as the publication date is 1997. And it's now 2014. Which means there's much, much more to read about the band and Reznor.
Oh well. Guess I'll have to go digging around to find something more recent.
Oh well. Guess I'll have to go digging around to find something more recent.
Want to read
March 23, 2012Nine Inch Nails is breaking up, ya heard!?! They're having a final set of smaller, intimate shows on both coasts...Here in L.A. they're at the Henry Fonda Theatre, The Palladium and The Wiltern in September. Jump on some tickets, NIN fans!
March 24, 2016
More a collection of magazine interviews than a proper biography and only goes as far as the Bowie tour and Lost Highway soundtrack. As the book is largely culled from interviews the book has Reznor's insights about his process and opinions so it is definitely an interesting read for fans.
November 12, 2011
Trent Reznor is my favourite person in the universe.
Much of this book, I had already known the information, but it's still interesting. Has some nice photos too.
Much of this book, I had already known the information, but it's still interesting. Has some nice photos too.
January 4, 2013
Interesting read, but not as memorable as Marilyn Manson's bio.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews