Trent Reznor Says “The Culture Of The Music World Sucks,” Shares New Video Game Trailer
These days, the legendary Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor is doing just fine for himself in the film world. Reznor and his musical partner Atticus Ross just released their Queer soundtrack, their second film score of the year, and they’re up for two Golden Globes for their excellent work on Challengers. Earlier this year, Reznor and Ross mentioned vague plans for a new Nine Inch Nails album, but you probably shouldn’t expect that anytime soon. Reznor likes working in the film world, and he’s not happy with the direction that things have gone in the music business.
Earlier this year, Reznor spoke to IndieWire about his film-score work, and he vented a bit about the current state of the music industry:
What we’re looking for [from film] is the collaborative experience with interesting people. We haven’t gotten that from the music world necessarily, for our own choice… You mentioned disillusionment with the music world? Yes. The culture of the music world sucks. That’s another conversation, but what technology has done to disrupt the music business in terms of not only how people listen to music but the value they place on it is defeating. I’m not saying that as an old man yelling at clouds, but as a music lover who grew up where music was the main thing. Music [now] feels largely relegated to something that happens in the background or while you’re doing something else. That’s a long, bitter story.
Even if Reznor’s film-score music is literally happening in the background while people onscreen are doing something else, Reznor still finds it to be a satisfying experience. He says that he and Ross are “working in service to something, where we’re not in control of the whole thing, and we’re working intimately with a director or small team to try and help realize a collective vision, solving that riddle without the burden of ‘how’s it going to be marketed?’ and all the things.”
After working with director Luca Guadagnino on this year’s Challengers and Queer, Reznor and Ross will also score his next film After The Hunt, a thriller with Julia Roberts, and seems likely that they’ll also work on his upcoming American Psycho remake. When asked about a possible reissue of the 1997 NIN video album Closure, Reznor says, “We are doing some things with Interscope again. There’s a renewed interest in making sure the back catalog is being curated and maintained properly.” Read the interview here.
Last night, Reznor also posted that he and Ross will score the upcoming video game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which is being produced by Naughty Dog, the studio behind the Last Of Us and Uncharted games. It follows a bounty hunter on a remote planet in the distant future, and the trailer looks cool as hell. The Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s A Sin” pops up at the end, but the rest of the music is presumably the NIN score. Check it out below.
