Trent Reznor, In Conversation

I never cease to be impressed by interviews with NIN frontman Trent Reznor. He is eloquent, hyper aware of his place in the musical landscape and always insight about the role of technology. This long conversation he recently had with The Vulture, In Conversation, is no exclusion to the rule. Interviewer David Marchese, while polite, pulls no punches in asking Reznor about the hurdles he had to overcome with The Fragile, the overwrought presentation of Year Zero, the impact of listening to "Hurt" with his kids and what his real feelings are on musicians getting in bed with corporations.

It is, unsurprisingly, filled with entertaining and pleasing responses from Reznor. It's impossible to pick a favorite passage but I really liked this bit on how the Internet demystified the gap between listener and artist:

One is the demystification of artists. Growing up, I didn’t know what Pink Floyd looked like and I didn’t need to know. In my mind, they looked like fucking wizards, man. I remember seeing a picture of Supertramp - and I loved Breakfast in America - and I was like, What the fuck?

That's probably the least eloquent thing he says in the interview but certainly among the funniest. If you're a fan, you likely need no incentive to go read. If you're not a fan, I do suggest a heavy skim for his bits on the ways the music industry is changing and the struggle artists undertake to endure past one weekend of streaming in the New Releases Spotify collection.