Trent Reznor discussed Nine Inch Nails and music critics in a new Kerrang magazine interview.
“I’ll say something that’s pretty arrogant because it makes for good headlines, right?”
“Let’s just be honest, alright? I’ve got a few zingers left in me.”
“It takes a great amount of self-belief to put yourself out there as an artist. It takes a great amount of courage to take something you created, that’s intimate to you, and throw it out to the world and see what happens. We’re in a culture right now, and have been in a culture for the last several years, where it’s sport to snipe and attack and criticize. I think a lot of bands, as a result of the very fickle, fleeting love of the trendy blogs that might make your career for a minute but then turn on you on a dime, are being too concerned about that. That is a recipe for bad art and sounding like everybody else and leading to a very cautious, unexplored artistic life.”
“Everything I’ve put out I’ve deeply believed in. I’m not saying you’ll like it all, I’m not saying you should like it all, but we weren’t winging it. We put out the best stuff we could do, and more than one time I’ve had that come out and shitcanned or dismissed, and then five years later or 10 years, ‘Oh, that was the best record I’d heard in…’ Well, fuck you! I’m saying the ‘fuck you’ part flippantly, but the point is, I’ve been ahead of the curve sometimes, and I’m not that worried about the opinion that wants to say whatever it might be, good or bad.”
