don't let the subject title mislead you. i'm a big nin fan and was since
pretty hate machine. the point of the message, after a little digression,
will be to show that trent, as a millionaire musician, is being forced to
jump to what is fresh and innovative. more particularly, what sells. the
argument is that, because he is still a creative force, and because he
is willing to chance his future on this music, some of you should
reconsider your almost reflex (no pun intended), gut reaction as regards
to mr. reznor and his activities.
with respect to trent having other staff members do sampling being an
illegitimate act by an artists, especially, almost all i need to say is
that his drummer went through hundreds of hours of old movies to get
creepy samples for 'downward spiral' -- but trent put out what can easily
be said to be his best work, if not most accessible and poppy.
the difference is that he retained the decision, which samples to use and
where. it's sort of like a rock sculptor who has to decide which
geographic source s/he must use for the particular piece.
someone else on the list also pointed out that use of sample discs is
*quite* common by artists who compose and publish digital music, idm
musicians notwithstanding, and talks with my sound engineer friend in
philly back this up. (again, does an escher watercolour have any less
legitimacy as a piece of art because he did not make the paints from their
constituent ingredients?)
but to get back to trent, he has become more a producer (which was his
original goal) than anything else, responsible for two soundtracks and
producer work for other artists, including prick and marilyn manson. his
major responsibility is to sell records for other people, which is what
drives the signing of the particular idm artists to nothing records. the
fact that he has others do some (not all) busywork for his output, and
that he still retains creativity and originality through the process, is
commendable in and of itself.
as a creative individual, trent reznor must evolve to keep his fans
entertained (well, this would be true in a perfect world, i suppose, as in
the real world the bee gees are making a comeback). similar to the rolling
stones, david bowie, genesis, u2 (yes, u2), etc. his act must change in
order to stay alive as a musician. with the above bands you will recall
the many phases each have gone through (and continue to undergo) in the
record business, with the rolling stones corporation as example, jumping
from pop to r+b to country blues back to pop and so forth. as a major
player, trent sees what is fresh and good and will learn much from idm --
noone can doubt his work ethic in this respect -- while retaining his
unique character as an artist.
yes, trent inc. in the form of nothing records is a business. but no more
(or less) than any other musician in the world who decides to participate
in the record company game. that he stays true to his creative spirit is a
credit to him; other musicians find a rut and stay in it (most notably
u-ziq and aphex twin, until vibert and squarepusher came along), milking
it for all it is worth. we, the listening audience, should be so lucky
that he is willing to risk his popularity to sow new artistic ground.
sometimes i wonder whether we as a human race deserve the beauty of music,
when so many complain about its sources.
Alex Reynolds
polygon@jhu.edu
www.jhu.edu/~jhufilm
---
Senior User Consultant
Homewood Academic Computing
Johns Hopkins University