A couple of years ago, NIN released a joke cover for a non-existent dance album on April Fools Day. You might remember it, it was called “Strobe Light.” Well, it’s now a reality. It’s $7 on Bandcamp and I’m listening to it now. It’s mostly NIN mashups with other artists – not great, but at least a sign that Reznor can laugh at himself.
Ha, been posted all over facebook:
He also just introduced The Cure at their induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame; I thought Trent’s speech was quite cool, and many could relate to him.
He’s intriguing in many ways to me; partly because how he has stayed relevant over the years, despite his addictions and past problems. He doesn’t just hack it and is genuine in everything he does; he puts tremendous effort into his shows.
I wish I could ask him (for the site) about those Wax Trax days and how he diverged from that scene and went to do his own thing; whether he still keeps an eye on things etc.
I digress, but good to see he can also have a joke…
That would be a great interview for the site!
I feel like Trent took what AJ and Wax Trax! were doing at the time and made it more commercially accessible. He collaborated with Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, John Fryer, and Flood on his early albums too, so I imagine they all would have some interesting stories to tell.
I gave it a listen, it’s actually pretty funny. I thought it was fan made at first, but I’m almost certain Trent threw it out there himself.
Trent’s career is an interesting one, and as Afra said, he put’s his heart and soul into everything he does. I remember the first time I heard The Downward Spiral, my sister and I were like “Yeah, he needs to do film scores”.
It’s now free on Bandcamp - so the April fools are the ones that paid $7 yesterday, I guess.
It’s funny; I know a lot around him but not him directly and can’t get a hold of him. I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking those around him per say…
Now that I’ve listened to it, I’m thinking he didn’t do it himself because the “new” lyrics are all created using some kind of text to speech. If he was the mastermind, he could’ve just recorded them.
Seems to me a fan made it but somehow got Trent’s nod to put it out there under the NIN name - if he didn’t approve I’m sure he could have Bandcamp remove it in a second, since it’s made to look like an official release.
I’m completely divided. If I wasn’t such a NIN fan, I’d probably dismiss it as a hoax. But the guy who made these tracks has definitely listened to these albums a LOT, and the whole thing sounds great – like a really different take on the standard “greatest hits” album. But I’m a huge NIN fan, so I want to believe it’s the work of Reznor. But wanting it doesn’t make it so.
Butt.
I would imagine an assistant of his put this together. One of the junior engineers at the studio perhaps.