Trent Reznor Hosts RAGE TV

      Hi, I’m Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails and someone foolishly has let me take over Rage for tonight. So I’ll be playing…… ahh…. You’ll be seeing videos I’ve selected and occasionally hear my……. Inane comments between them. So, stay tuned, and hopefully it won’t be too boring for you.

    11:47pm

      Ahh, this first band, the Jesus and Mary Chain was pretty integral in my musical development. Um…. I remember we were rehearsing in a kinda rehearsal hall, theatre/nightclub in Cleveland, when we were trying to get Nine Inch Nails off the ground, and the people who booked the place always had the coolest underground and new kinda music coming through there - Cleveland not being on the highway of…. um…. what’s happening so much, so we always had a chance to see the bands, and kinda hang out with them backstage, and I remember carrying drum cases upstairs because noone else was around, and things like that. But anyway, the Jesus and Mary Chain came through, and I remember there was a…… I had just bought the record Psycho Candy, and I truly didn’t understand it, ‘cause you’d put it on, and it’s sound like someone who didn’t know how to record an album, or there was something wrong, or my stereo had fuzz on the needle or something was bad, and I found it was those types of records that first may confuse you, or challenge you, that are the ones that might go on to be the ones that musically change you, or very much influence you in some fashion. In this case, Psycho Candy was. Um….. This song, Just Like Candy, was from that record. When they played at the show in this venue I was telling you about, I remember they were only guaranteed to play 15min, and the drummer ran by me, ‘well, can’t find my sticks, can’t play’. So we’re scrambling around trying to find sticks, and it all made for a little legendary story in my mind. We later went on tour with these guys and one of our first tours was opening for them, and then some of the magic disappears, but this song, I think, is still a classic. This is the Jesus and Mary Chain, with Just Like Honey.

    Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain
    Some Candy Talking - The Jesus & Mary Chain
    Just Like Heaven - The Cure

      Ahh….. The band Ween…… What can you say about them other than they’re geniuses, they’re funny guys…. Um….. listen to Ween records and you’ll be confused, hopefully, you’ll laugh a little bit. Um, we had the pleasure of touring with them, in Australia I believe, at the Alternative Festival….. ahh…. Alternative Nation festival, which…. All I remember about that is…..um…. hanging out with Ween, and mud….lotsa mud, and these real funny guys. And this song has one of the most classic….ahh…. listen to what they’re saying in the chorus. This is Freedom of ’76. The chorus has a, (ha ha) classic lyric that I think is worth checking out. Ween - Freedom of ’76.

    Freedom Of '76 - Ween
    12:00am
    Voodoo Lady - Ween
    Girl U Want - Devo
    Ant Music - Adam & The Ants

      Ahh, next up is a band I became friends with, kinda accidentally, where…um…a big party in the studio on New Orleans - this was about the time we were doing the Marilyn Manson AntiChrist Superstar record. Love and Rockets had played in town and next thing I knew there was like 40 people in the studio at about 3 or 4 in the morning and I didn’t have any idea who they were and ended up having some drunken bonding, and realised it ended up being the Dandy Warhols. The only thing I really knew about the Dandy Warhols was I thought “what a stupid name for a band - The Dandy Warhols” and it prompted me to go out and buy the record and…um… which one… I forget which one it’s on. But the song ‘Not if You’re the Last Junkie on Earth” the video came out…um… Courtney and I have gone on to become good friends and I really think this album is great, and the song is funny, and I remember them…. Seeing someone describe it like “how we’re really trying to get a kinda Pat Bennitar ‘Love is a Battlefield’ kinda feel going on in this thing” and I just think it’s really funny, and I think this song is really good.

    Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth - The Dandy Warhols
    Girls & Boys - Blur
    Fashion - David Bowie
    Come On My Selector - Square Pusher
    12:30am

      Next up is a video by the Aphex Twin, who is Richard James and, ah… kind of a madman of sound and process, and he’s been a big influence in the NIN camp. This video, when it came out…. Chris Cunningham, I believe, directed it; this is Come to Daddy. I remember sitting around in the studio when we first saw this and I was… um… we were all pretty pissed off because it was so good and it was horrifying and it was…ahh... I think you’ll like it.

    Come To Daddy - Aphex Twin
    Sensoria - Cabaret Voltaire
    The Perfect Kiss - New Order

      When I got chosen to pick videos that really matter to me, looking through a long list in the book, sometimes you see songs you really like, but you can’t remember exactly what the video’s like. This next one is one of those. But it’s an important track that meant a lot to me, and still does. This is from A Tribe Called Quest and it’s probably my favourite hip-hop act, and this particular song ‘Award Tour’…. I was going through a phase of… I think… going insane, where I was living in California, starting work on the Fragile and I had this disc in the CD changer. I think it was the only one in there, because every morning I’d wake up, beautiful sunny beach, lonely piano, nobody within 100miles and had the pleasure of trying to figure out how to write a new album, and this song, every time it would come on, I took comfort in it, so this one holds….. I still have this one in my car. This is A Tribe Called Quest with Award Tour.

    Award Tour - A Tribe Called Quest

      As I said before, A Tribe Called Quest had a big influence, and I just like the musicalilty of it, the vibe of it, and the free flowing rhyme through the whole thing. As they’ve broken up, Q-Tip has gone solo, and I’ve been waiting a long time to see what his album’s like, and I’m very pleased with the results. I’ve just got it, and it’s a big favourite in my car back home, if I ever get home and back to my car. I would have chosen ‘Vibrant Thing’ but it wasn’t on the list, but this is the next single ‘Breathe and Stop’, and, if for no oter reason, there are more beautiful women in this video than average, so I’m selfish… kind of… Once in a while, it’s not all hanging upside down in my closet, feeling miserable. Once in a while, I let my hair down, and enjoy good light porn videos and this kinda fills that gap. This is Q-Tip with Breathe and Stop.

    Breathe And Stop - Q-Tip
    1:00am
    Vibrant Thing - Q-Tip
    Ground On Down - Ben Harper
    Faded - Ben Harper

      Next up, what might be considered an odd choice for me (ha), the prince of darkness. I found…. I was watching MTV one time, and I saw a video that I thought the song was the probably the worst song I’d ever heard, and I watched the video, saw the end of the video, and couldn’t work out what…. I didn’t understand what was happening here. Um…. Then I saw it agan, and I liked it, and I saw it a third time and I thought it was really good and it was Erykah Badu with her first single On and On. Right after tha, I was living… AM still living in New Orleans, we have the House of Blues there, and she was playing, so I went down to check out the show, and I have to say it was probably one of the best shows I’ve seen in my life, and what was mesmorising was it was completely packed, I think I was one of the few white people in there, but everybody new ever word to every song of a fairly new album and her grace and presence and her command of the stage and real spirituality and emotional aspect of that show,,,like…um…. made a mark. You realise some of the differences between a more R+B re;ated show or a….. the different genres in music and the different way it connects with people. I mean, there was no mosh-pit going at that show, but there was a real connection that….um…. Something that I’d hoped at some point is worth considering incorporating into the different arena. I don’t mean I’m going gospel all of a suden, but I do think there’s a real connection there that really impressed me. So I went out and got her album…. And endded up listening to it all the time, much to the ridicule of everyone else in my band, but…. I…. I really think this is a good song, and I think it is an interesting video, and I think she’s sexy, and the whole presence is… um…. pretty cool thing. This is Erykah Badu with On and On.

    On And On - Erykah Badu
    Legend Of A Cowgirl - Imani Coppola
    Rude Boy Rock - Lionrock
    Sun Is Shining - Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe
    1:30am
    Night Of The Living Baseheads - Public Enemy
    I Against I - Bad Brains
    I'm Broken - Pantera
    Mountain Song - Jane's Addiction
    Revolution Action - Atari Teenage Riot Festival
    Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture - Atari Teenage Riot
    2:00am
    Dirt - Death In Vegas
    Animal - Prick
    XY & Z - Pop Will Eat Itself
    Life's What You Make It - Talk Talk
    Close To Me - The Cure
    Infected - The The
    Sugar Water - Cibo Matto
    2:30am
    The Flipside - Moloko
    All Is Full Of Love - Bjork
    Soon - My Bloody Valentine
    Darklands - The Jesus & Mary Chain
    Starfuckers - Nine Inch Nails - Live at Big Day Out
    Into The Void - Nine Inch Nails
    The Way Out Is Through - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    3:00am
    Piggy - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    The Frail - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    The Wretched - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    The Great Below - Nine Inch Nails - Live
    We're In This Together - Nine Inch Nails
    The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails
    Hurt - Nine Inch Nails
    3:30am
    Closer - Nine Inch Nails
    Burn - Nine Inch Nails
    Pinion - Nine Inch Nails
    March Of The Pigs - Nine Inch Nails
    Wish - Nine Inch Nails
    Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails

      Transcribed for The NIN Hotline by Stuart.