History Music / NineInchNails

* TestosteronePoisoning: "Big Man With a Gun"
* TitleOnlySong: "With Teeth"

And Reznor, along with Atticus Ross, composed the score for TheSocialNetwork, for which the duo won an [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for Best Original Music Score. Reznor and Ross have teamed up yet again for the soundtrack to 2011's ''[[TheMilleniumTrilogy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo]]''.

* {{Angst}}: Most songs

* ExecutiveMeddling: Trent doesn't have a happy history with record companies.
** Trent has said that ''With Teeth'' was the only album his label didn't complain about when it was delivered to them.

* OneOfUs: Judging by the fact that Trent performed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu9bm-RJMWM the end credits music]] for the American release of ''[[TetsuoTheIronMan Tetsuo: The Bullet Man]]'', one can infer that he's quite the fan of Japanese experimental film.

In contrast to his highly brutal IndustrialMetal output, Reznor in person is more of a MeanCharacterNiceActor, being very active in his community and generally a pretty nice guy. Also in the same vein, he [[strike:is]] was friends with Music/ToriAmos - he even sang backing vocals on one of her songs (the past tense is CourtneyLove's fault).

* ''Pretty Hate Machine'' (1989) - Nine Inch Nails' debut, at points showing the way towards the IndustrialMetal that they'd popularise and at other points sounding like evil DepecheMode.

* ''Broken Movie'' (1993) - essentially one long extended music video for the ''Broken'' EP, made to look (very convincingly) like a SnuffFilm. Never got released, though a handful of VHS tapes exist, and torrents were released by Trent in late 2006. Directed by the late [[{{Music/Coil}} Peter Christopherson]].

* ''And All That Could Have Been'' (2002) - included with the "deluxe" album of the same name, it's the live concert DVD of the 2000 ''Fragility 2.0'' tour, and is littered with [[EasterEgg Easter Eggs]].

And Reznor, along with Atticus Ross, composed the score for TheSocialNetwork, for which the duo won an [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for Best Original Music Score. Reznor and Ross have teamed up yet again for the soundtrack to the 2011 TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo.

* AmusementParkOfDoom ("Starfuckers, Inc.")
* AndIMustScream ("Pinion")

* BadVibrations ("Only")
* BoundAndGagged (Trent in "Closer". Trent in "Sin," too, though only for the bound part. Also, the character in "Help Me I am in Hell)
* ChorusOnlySong ("Closer")
* DeliberatelyMonochrome ("Survivalism")
* FanDisservice ("Closer", "Happiness in Slavery")
* {{Gorn}} (The ''Broken movie''. Textbook Gorn. Also "Happiness in Slavery," to '''extremes'''.)
* HellBentForLeather (Many music videos include someone wearing leather. Trent himself wore leather ([[DidNotDoResearch latex?]]) gloves quite often in earlier years.
* JigsawPuzzlePlot ("Deep")
* LastNoteNightmare ("Hurt")
* {{Mindscrew}} ("The Perfect Drug", "Help me I am in Hell".)
* TheOner ("March of the Pigs")
* PerformanceVideo ("March of the Pigs," "Gave up," "The Hand that Feeds," "Wish," "Survivalism.")
* PlayingToTheFetishes (To quote that page: Sexy writhing bondage-geared Trent Reznor in "Closer")
* RuleOfSymbolism (Both "Closer" and "The Perfect Drug", directed by Mark Romanek, hold symbolic imagery that mostly have to do with famous photos)
* SecondVerseCurse ("Closer")
* SnuffFilm (''Broken'', again)
* SpitTrailKiss ("Deep", though it's technically a spit trail ''lick'')
* TakeThat ("Starfuckers, Inc."`The song itself is a huge [[TakeThat 'take that!']] at celebrities and fame in general, and WordOfGod admits it had a lot to do with MarilynManson in particular. [[FaceOfTheBand Manson]] realized this and made a video out of it, which took more specific shots at Pamela Anderson, Fred Durst, Gene Simmons, and Trent himself, among others. Oh, [[RefugeInAudacity and it also portrayed a fat, ugly]] CourtneyLove)

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: [[TitleOnlyChorus U-WIH-thu TEE-thuh!]]

** {{Wangst}} (Depending on [[YourMileageMayVary your mileage]]).
* AscendedFanboy: Trent is a ''huge'' [[PinkFloyd Roger Waters]] fan, which only made it all the more amusingly tragic during a 2003 ''Guitar World'' interview that paired them up; Trent fell all over himself declaring how much he loved and respected Waters' solo work, only for Waters to apologetically state that he'd never heard any of [=NIN=]'s music. [[TheWoobie Trent actually took it suprisingly well.]] It became a RunningGag on [[http://www.theninhotline.net/meatpers/meatpers.html The Meathead Perspective]].

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: The MisaimedFandom of the song "Closer," aka "the 'I-wanna-fuck-you-like-an-animal' song." People seem to think it's just "a cool song about a guy who screws a woman." They apparently missed the memo that it's about a man who has such intense self loathing that the only way he can feel alive is by having violent sex with complete strangers, and passing his hatred of himself onto the women. Fun times.
** Actually, Closer borders on NightmareFuel. The danceable-but-[[CreepyAwesome creepy]] music and the lyrics (which portray sex as a traumatic but cathartic ordeal where his self-loathing is projected outwards) make the whole thing... Decidedly unhappy. Still [[CreepyAwesome awesome]] though.
** And long before "Closer" was released, "Head Like A Hole" became a huge club hit and was widely embraced by the BDSM crowd for its chorus "Bow down before the one you serve/You're going to get what you deserve." Nevermind that the song has nothing to do with BDSM or sex at all, and is actually about craven materialism and the pointless worship of wealth and power (the "one that you serve" being "god money").

* CreatorBreakdown (Oh, the CreatorBreakdown... see ''The Downward Spiral'' for the results!)

** Quite frankly, Trent has many songs that seem like this unless you're following the continuity of [[ConceptAlbum the album they're in]]. "Meet Your Master" is a good example of this. Alternatively, you might not realize that songs like "Happiness in Slavery" or "Head Like a Hole" are actually about record labels unless you actually know about Trent's history with them. There's also "Sin," which sounds like a song about D/s, which really isn't helped by the ridiculously fetishistic MusicVideo...which is a lot like [[AndIMustScream most]] [[BoundAndGagged of]] [[WhipItGood their]] [[PlayingToTheFetishes videos]]. So really, it's more like Obligatory Bondage Music Video...

* {{Product Placement}}: Could easily be a coincidence, but in [[{{Millennium Trilogy}} a film that Reznor worked on the soundtrack for]] a character is seen wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt.

* {{Sampling}}: Not only from the obligatory old horror and sci-fi movies, but also occasionally from other artists. ''Pretty Hate Machine'''s liner notes thanked {{Prince}}, PublicEnemy and JanesAddiction among others because Trent sampled them. "Big Man with a Gun" from ''The Downward Spiral'' begins with a sample of what is apparently a porn star having an orgasm, heavily processed so as to be unrecognizable. The album booklet gives the sample the NonindicativeName of "Steakhouse".
** An expansive list can be found [[http://www.ninwiki.com/Samples_In_NIN_Songs here]]. The most unusual samples on the list include Saddam Hussein's trial verdict and a ''Youtube video of BioShock cosplay.''

* HoYay[=/=]FoeYay (With MarilynManson in "Starfuckers, Inc.")

* EpicRiff: "Wish," "March of the Pigs," "Starfuckers Inc.," "My Violent Heart," "The Warning"

* FreudWasRight: Some fans interpret the gun imagery in ''[[ConceptAlbum The Downward Spiral]]'' as this.

And Reznor, along with Atticus Ross, composed the score for TheSocialNetwork, for which the duo won an [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for Best Original Music Score.

Reznor and Ross have teamed up yet again for the soundtrack to the 2011 TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo.

We quite like them here, for their use of many a trope in their videos and their extremely quotable lyrics.

** Not just subverted; subverted to the point where he ''actually encouraged fans to steal his own music'' due to his loathing of how badly his record company was screwing his fans.

* {{Product Placement}}: Could easily be a coincidence, but in [[{{Millennium Trilogy}} a film that Reznor worked on the soundtrack for]] a character is seen wearing a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt

In contrast to his highly brutal IndustrialMetal output, Reznor in person is more of a MeanCharacterNiceActor, being very active in his community and generally a pretty nice guy. Also in the same vein, he [[strike:is]] was friends with ToriAmos - he even sang backing vocals on one of her songs (the past tense is CourtneyLove's fault).

* AteHisGun: How the character in ''[[ConceptAlbum The Downward Spiral]]'' (both the [[AlbumTitleDrop song]] and the album]]) chooses to go. The [[FreudWasRigh Freudian imagery]] is everywhere.

Reznor and Ross have teamed up yet again for the soundtrack to Fincher's next movie, the 2011 TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo.

Reznor and Ross have teamed up yet again for the soundtrack to the 2011 TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo.

More recently, though, Reznor has taken a break from new Nine Inch Nails work and instead focuses on a project with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, called HowToDestroyAngels. He has also been doing film soundtracks with Atticus Ross, winning an Academy Award for the score to 2010's ''TheSocialNetwork''.

More recently, though, Reznor has taken a break from new Nine Inch Nails work and instead focuses on a project with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, called HowToDestroyAngels.

* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: [[TitleOnlyChorus U-WIH-thu TEE-thu

* BoundAndGagged (Trent in "Closer". Trent in "Sin," too, though only for the bound part)

* {{Mindscrew}} ("The Perfect Drug")

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: "The Becoming"

* {{Gorn}} (The ''Broken movie''. Textbook Gorn)

* AudioErotica

* GroundhogDayLoop

* ScientificProgressGoesOi: Trent majored in computer science in college.

** An expansive list can be found [[http://www.ninwiki.com/Samples_In_NIN_Songs/ here]]. The most unusual samples on the list include Saddam Hussein's trial verdict and a ''Youtube video of BioShock cosplay.''

* HeterosexualLifePartners: From about 1986 until 1996, Trent had this kind of relationship with Chris Vrenna.