In the 1990s, few music artists were as groundbreaking and influential as Trent Reznor.
Reznor created just two Nine Inch Nails albums in that decade, The Downward Spiral and The Fragile, although he did also work on various other projects, including Marilyn Manson’s hit album Antichrist Superstar and the soundtracks to the movies Lost Highway and Natural Born Killers.
In 1999, for the release of The Fragile, Reznor spoke to Kerrang! and explained how he created this double album, inspired by David Bowie and other great artists he cited, including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, The Beatles, Queen and Pink Floyd.
“I sound like a pretentious ass saying I’m making art,” Reznor said, “but I love a lot of the ’70s records because commerce hadn’t got its claws into music to turn it completely into product at that time.
“The Fragile requires a little effort from the listener, but it has its rewards.
“You have to question yourself as an artist. David Bowie was always reinventing and challenging himself - failing along the way but making important music.
“I always wanted to throw everything out and reinvent, but then the question is: am I throwing out what is good about what I had?
“Alan Moulder produced the record with me. We usually had too many ideas. Unfocused.
“Halfway through there were no lyrics at all. It was all just weird soundscapes, like film music. But we wanted an important record, not an esoteric, self-indulgent thing from two guys who’d lost their minds.”
Reznor also made fascinating comparisons between The Fragile and The Downward Spiral - both inn terms of the lyrics and the sound textures.
“The Downward Spiral was a descent,” he said. “Shedding skin, taking a layer off and analysing it, arriving at a point. This one [The Fragile] starts at the bottom.
“Sonically we approached the songs with instruments that were broken, not mic-ed right, or out of tune.
“This isn’t a tough, hard machine like The Downward Spiral. This one is rusted, shot, there’s moss growing up the side of it, clay and paperclips holding it together. Pieces can fall off at any time.
"I tried to make it feel distressed on every level I could think of," Reznor said. "The concept of fragility moulds it all together.”
