Reznor Quotes & Sayings

In Nine Inch Nails, I've been the guy calling the shots since inception. I'd gotten used to that. — Trent Reznor

My experience with record labels throughout my career has generally fallen into wishing I could do things that they're not built to do, whether it be arguing about having a nicer package - because I do believe some people care about that - to trying to always bank on art-versus-the-easy-commerce route; there's always been headbutting involved. — Trent Reznor

Sometimes I think I spend my whole life trying to figure out where I fit in. — Trent Reznor

I wanted to escape Small Town U.S.A. To dismiss the boundaries, to explore. My life experience came from watching movies, TV, and reading books and magazines. When your culture comes from watching TV everyday, you're bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities. — Trent Reznor

I used to buy vinyl. Today, if you do put out a record on a label, traditionally, most people are going to hear it via a leak that happens two weeks - if not two months - before it comes out. There's no real way around that. — Trent Reznor

When David Fincher called me up a few years ago and said, 'Hey, I'd like you to score this film 'The Social Network,' I said, 'I'm flattered, but I really don't have any real experience scoring films, and I'd rather not screw it up on a high-profile project. And I like you and I don't want to compromise our friendship.' — Trent Reznor

I'm very much aware of the dangers of becoming a cliche. Mr. Anger, someone who gets meaner, angrier on record. — Trent Reznor

I become irritated when I am being written off as aloof or stand-offish when I'm shy and don't know what to say. — Trent Reznor

I write most of my songs when I'm in a bad mood. — Trent Reznor

What I have appreciated about the 'Call of Duty' games is the scale of production. It's not an indie game. It's not trying to be an indie game. But I've genuinely been pretty consistently blown away by, wow, what an effort has gone into this. — Trent Reznor

The Grammys make me hate music, and certainly everyone in the ass-licking music industry. — Trent Reznor

People want to listen to a lot of music and do whatever they want with it. They don't want DRM, they don't want subscriptions. They don't want a player that only can do this but can't do that and you only have one copy. They don't want that. You know? I don't want that. — Trent Reznor

There's something exciting and incredibly liberating for an artist to finish something Friday night and the world hears it Friday night instead of eight months later after marketing people and all those assholes get involved. — Trent Reznor

I thought my goal in life was to be in a successful band, and I had got that, but I was as miserable as I had ever been, and I couldn't understand why that would be. — Trent Reznor

I'm not Prince or Rivers Cuomo, who brags about having hundreds of great songs. — Trent Reznor

I had to come to terms about becoming an addict, which, for a long time, I lied to myself about the status of until I couldn't lie any more, 'cause I was either going to die or get better. — Trent Reznor

Now that I have a thousand albums in my car all the time, I listen to more music. I was too lazy; I always had the same five discs in there. I'd never think to change it. — Trent Reznor

Put some muscle into it! Channel your inner Trent Reznor! — Robin Benway

Today's political climate does not allow the luxury of apathy. — Trent Reznor

MTV can't do less for me, let's put it that way. I'm fine without them. — Trent Reznor

It's kind of a miracle to think that a device in your pocket can play pretty much any song that the world has ever created. — Trent Reznor

I'd rather not get into what I'm talking about lyrically. I think it's impossible not to demystify a song when saying what it's about. Music and art can be damaged severely by too much information; I say that as somebody that has participated in that. — Trent Reznor

The band Grizzly Bear, I think they're excellent. There's a beauty and a musicality there that I wish would have been in vogue in the late '80s, when I was forming bands. — Trent Reznor

Balance is good, because one extreme or the other leads to misery, and I've spent a lot of my life at one of those extremes. — Trent Reznor

I had a great conversation with Trent Reznor. Trent said, "I'd have a sixpack, too, if I didn't write my own music!" — Ian Astbury

I'm a lot less precious than I used to be about putting things out, for better or for worse. The result of a public that has a very high consumption rate and turnover rate is people listen to more music but spend less time with individual bits of music. — Trent Reznor

I often find myself listening to a record because a lot of people or magazines have told me it's good and I'm supposed to like it, and I try to stay in touch with what's happening and I'm also a fan of music. I find myself trying to like something that I really don't think is that great. — Trent Reznor

I was never a Lime Wire guy because it's too much hassle to find the song. — Trent Reznor

Self-examination with a close-up mirror in an antiseptic environment is what Nine Inch Nails is based on. — Trent Reznor

God is DEAD, and no one cares! If there is a hell I'll see you there! — Trent Reznor

I don't have to save rock. I don't even like rock that much. — Trent Reznor

To switch right into creativity usually takes a bit of time, and this came up right at that juncture where I thought, okay, here's an opportunity to work with somebody I really respect in a new medium. — Trent Reznor

In my nothing, you were everything, to me. — Trent Reznor

It's not like I ride a broom into interviews. I don't hang upside down with a cape on. — Trent Reznor

There's nothing like a stressful day. — Trent Reznor

I'll name check Radiohead on this
they've done a pretty suave marketing plan on this new record. I think generally it's been a pretty cool thing, but what they've done is used those (sales) numbers in a way that they can spin them anyway they want cause you don't know what they are. — Trent Reznor

When I'm on stage, the songs that we've chosen to play from the back catalog are things that still resonate with me, and matter to me. And the songs that I couldn't be a part of, we don't play anymore. — Trent Reznor

I've become impossible, holding on to when everything seemed to matter more. — Trent Reznor

Though I still have no semblance of a life outside of Nine Inch Nails at the moment, I realize my goals have gone from getting a record deal or selling another record to being a better person, more well-rounded, having friends, having a relationship with somebody. — Trent Reznor

If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself, I would find a way. — Trent Reznor

Just how deep do you believe? Can you get up off your knees? — Trent Reznor

ITunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. — Trent Reznor

My life has been many examples of shortsighted goals that I thought would fix things. You know, if there's something broken inside me, if there's a hole in there, I thought: If I could just write a good song someday, then I'd be OK. You know, if I could just be on stage in front of people I'd never seen before and be validated by them. — Trent Reznor

When I'm writing music, I'm not playing a character. I'm not Alice Cooper or Gene Simmons or someone like that, who has acknowledged that they are writing music for a character. — Trent Reznor

With a Nine Inch Nails show, I'm building on a legacy that comes with a certain set of expectations. I have to push that forward, I have to reinvent myself, I have to feel current and valid. — Trent Reznor

I'm sure there is a group of people that assume Nine Inch Nails is just noise and chaos - or whatever it might be dismissed as, and sometimes is. — Trent Reznor

Musicians have always adopted Macs. — Trent Reznor

I was up above it. Now, I'm down in it. — Trent Reznor

I've attended many concerts where I felt let down and I was wishing it would be something else. Not that it's their duty to please me, but at the same time, I think a lot about what it's like through the eyes of the consumer, the fan. I want not to pander to the audience, but to be aware of them. — Trent Reznor

I love David Fincher and I think he's a genius. — Trent Reznor

When I was growing up, rock & roll helped give me my sense of identity, but I had to search for it. — Trent Reznor

Nine Inch Nails is like building an army to go conquer. We build it, then we play, and we have to play so much to validate building it, financially. It leads to getting burn-out because a tour that would be fun if it lasted three weeks has to last 15 weeks. — Trent Reznor

People are always saying, 'You're really nice, I thought you were going to be a complete asshole.' I'm getting pretty fed up with it. I just want to say to them, 'Well I could always piss on your head.' — Trent Reznor

When Twitter made its way to my radar I looked at it as a curiosity, then started experimenting. I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and 'human.' — Trent Reznor

I can still make a living with touring. And maybe you buy a t-shirt. And I would rather 10 million people get my record and listen to it for free than 500,000 that I coerced to pay $15 for it, you know? — Trent Reznor

I realized when I was 23 that I had never really tried anything. — Trent Reznor

I'll be honest, watching the music industry collapse has been demoralizing and disheartening at times. — Trent Reznor

My dad and I are best friends. He's pretty much responsible for the way I turned out. He would provide a little artistic inspiration here and there in the form of a guitar, stuff like that. — Trent Reznor

I've learned to recognize, a lot of it forced through the process of recovery, that I'm wired wrong in certain ways; the chemical balance of my brain is off in terms of depression a little bit. — Trent Reznor

I thought Big Sur would be a great break after the tour. You'd walk down this rickety ladder to this not-very-pretty beach scene; crashing waves, moss-covered rocks, weird ocean life. It was scary. It summed up alot of things in my life, like 'I should be enjoying this, but I'm not. — Trent Reznor

Being in a band with my wife, I'm very aware of the multitude of ways that can go wrong. We're best friends and are interested in the same things, so it's natural to make music together. — Trent Reznor

An integral part of any relationship is knowing that you could be killed in your sleep at any time. — Trent Reznor

I've watched with a kind of wary eye how gaming has progressed. I was there at the beginning with Pong in the arcade, and a lot of my great childhood memories were around a 'Tempest' machine. — Trent Reznor

I realized that I was afraid to really, really try something, 100%, because I had never reached true failure. — Trent Reznor

'Downward Spiral' felt like I had an unending bottomless pit of rage and self-loathing inside me and I had to somehow challenge something or I'd explode. I thought I could get through by putting everything into my music, standing in front of an audience and screaming emotions at them from my guts. — Trent Reznor

The result of a public that has a very high consumption rate and turnover rate is people listen to more music but spend less time with individual bits of music. It's made me more likely to put things up quickly and treat it more like a magazine instead of a novel. — Trent Reznor

I think the thing I've always tried to do is - and I didn't plan it, it just started to come out that way - is try to make challenging music that flirts with accessibility. — Trent Reznor

I think, fundamentally, music is something inherently people love and need and relate to, and a lot of what's out right now feels like McDonalds. It's quick-fix. You kind of have a stomachache afterwards. — Trent Reznor

Live interaction with a crowd is a cathartic, spiritual kind of exchange, and it's intensified at a festival. — Trent Reznor

I did not grow up in a cosmopolitan environment. I grew up in a little town in the middle of nowhere, pre-Internet, pre-college radio. — Trent Reznor

Bowie mattered to me. He reinvented himself so many times - it must have been a daring statement to do that, risking failure. And hanging out with him and seeing him like that - he's my dad's age, born in the same month - when you find someone who's been through a really dark period, which most of his music I care about is from, Low, Lodger, "Heroes" era ... But he came out of it and made something that mattered. — Trent Reznor

When an instrument fails on stage it mocks you and must be destroyed! — Trent Reznor

I hated school ... I freaking hated it. The fact is that it revolved around something you didn't have access to. If you weren't on the football team, if you were in the band, you were a leper. When people say those were the best years of our lives, I want to scream. — Trent Reznor

I would love to be looked at some day - and I'm not ever saying I'm at this level - but I'd love to be mentioned in the same breath as a Bowie or an Eno. Those are the people that I admire artistically, their career trajectory, the integrity throughout their career, the bravery of their career. — Trent Reznor

You can punch a wall or write a song. Just as painful either way, but you have something to show for it at the end of the day with a song. — Trent Reznor

Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me. — Trent Reznor

My music, I hope, takes 100% of your concentration. I know how to do that. — Trent Reznor

Spotify - I met those guys before they launched in America and was wildly excited about the idea. 'Wow, this is all the music in the world, for a flat fee.' — Trent Reznor

You know, if nobody knows who you are, nobody's going to buy your record. — Trent Reznor

If you have something to say, then say it. Express yourself and break the rules. — Trent Reznor

The least responsive audience I can ever remember playing to. — Trent Reznor

Being a rock & roll star has become as legitimate a career option as being an astronaut or a policeman or a fireman. — Trent Reznor

The reality is that people think it's okay to steal music. — Trent Reznor

Anyone who's an executive at a record label does not understand what the Internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact - no idea. I'm surprised they know how to use e-mail. — Trent Reznor

My life has two modes. One is sitting around writing and contemplating or building things. The other is execution mode. It takes a while to switch from one to the other. — Trent Reznor

The fact that someone can relate to something you, in an intimate moment, jotted down, just blew me away. — Trent Reznor

Nine Inch Nails was born out of Cleveland, Ohio, with me and a friend in a studio working on demos at night. Got a record deal with a small, little label, went on tour in a van, and a couple years later found that somehow we touched a nerve, and that first record resonated with a bunch of people. — Trent Reznor

I really try to put myself in uncomfortable situations. Complacency is my enemy. — Trent Reznor

I don't even know why I'm saying this in an interview situation, but I always feel like I'm not good enough for some reason. I wish that wasn't the case, but left to my own devices, that voice starts speaking up. — Trent Reznor

I'm just trying to figure out the right balance between making fans feel good and also maintaining some dignity for myself in the process. — Trent Reznor

When I was around Bowie, I was nearing the bottom. When we were touring together, I looked at him as a kind of big-brother figure and I also looked at him as somebody I had a lot of respect for. The age and the period he's at in his life, I'd like to be there some day. He has a kind of content peace about him that's something to shoot for. — Trent Reznor

This isn't meant to last. This is for right now. — Trent Reznor

I want to do something that matters. — Trent Reznor

I'd much rather be worrying about playing that note in tune, and picking out the best way to arrange the song, rather than thinking about pricing for the download. It's not art. — Trent Reznor

I doubt I'll ever pay someone to do a remix again, because there's some amazing stuff just coming out of bedrooms. — Trent Reznor

What I was concerned about when I wrote the 'Downward Spiral' record was being a self-centred destructive force. The point was tearing down everything in a search for something else. — Trent Reznor

I think it's easy to make impenetrable music that nobody can get, and you can hide behind that sometimes. — Trent Reznor

I like the idea of subversively communicating with people ... so that you make people see things in different ways. — Trent Reznor

Why don't the Grammys matter? Because it feels rigged and cheap - like a popularity contest that the insiders club has decided. — Trent Reznor

Tired faith all worn and thin, for all we could have done, and all that could have been. — Trent Reznor