Did You Know...

Trent Reznor was born in Pennsylvania in 1965 and raised mainly by his grandparents, as his parents were divorced when he was only five. At school he was diverse in his talents as he learned to play the piano, tenor sax and tuba, as well as performing in school musicals. He eventually became a die-hard Kiss fan and decided to pursue music and computers at Allegheny College. After a year's time he wanted to pursue music on a full time basis and moved to Ohio with his friend Chris Vrenna. He became interested in underground as well as industrial music, and at nineteen he joined a band called Innocent, which released Livin' In the Streets. He then began working at a keyboard store and at the Right Track Studio as a janitor. He later became the studio engineer and worked with different computer applications to work on his own music while he wasn't on the clock.

In 1987, Reznor made his film debut in the Light of Day where he was in a bar scene playing keyboards with a group called the Problems. The movie starred Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. He then dubbed himself Nine Inch Nails and signed with TVT after sending numerous demo tapes out. He released Pretty Hate Machine in 1989 and toured with Skinny Puppy. He put together drummer Chris Vrenna and guitarist Richard Patrick, and they opened for The Jesus & Mary Chain and Peter Murphy. Reznor played it smart - through his touring, the fans grew significantly. NIN then released 'Down in It' and 'Head Like a Hole'. They finally decided to make James Woolley their keyboardist and set off on the Lollapalooza tour, which again was a smart move. This in turn helped their first album, Pretty Hate Machine to sell over a million copies.

In 1990, Reznor set out on numerous side projects, including co-writing and singing on 'Suck' from a Pigface album, and singing 'Supernaut' for Al Jourgensen. He then signed with Interscope and made his own label, Nothing, releasing Broken in 1992. It was considered a deeper and heavier sound than his previous release. The album included 'Suck' and 'You're So Physical'. Their video 'Wish' won a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance.