Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Going the way of Danny Elfman
I don’t know: do any of you give a damn about NIN’s Trent Reznor? Am I the only nailhead in this place? With his marriage last year to Mariqueen Maandig, I’ve been worrying that Trent will fall prey to Happily Married Man syndrome. Case in point: Talking Heads’ David Byrne, whose “Life During Wartime” was a pile of edges; then he gets married in 1987 and then turns out the atrocity “Stay Up Late” (you know, the one about the peeing baby crawling across the floor, keep baby up all night, yatta yatta?) in 1985, so the marriage effect was so potent it backwashed Byrne’s talent by a full two years. Yes, I know that makes no sense, but the chronology is inconsistent with my thesis. And here I’ve been blaming Byrne’s wife all these years.
Trent and Mariqueen have produced an EP for their band How To Destroy Angels, which I dutifully bought for my iPod. Must say I’m not impressed with Mariqueen’s vocals. I’ve wanted Trent to write music for a female vocalist for some years now, but I’ve had in mind someone who could belt out a song. Garbage’s Shirley Manson, for example. (Rather than Trent’s estranged protege Marilyn Manson. Not the same thing at all.)
Anyway, Trent’s into movie sound tracks now. (I really am looking forward to Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer.)
Gotta go. Jake needs the computer.
D.
I am, as I type, wearing the t-shirt I purchased during the Self-Destruct tour for The Downward Spiral in 1994 (George Mason University, opening act was Marilyn Manson, who hadn’t really settled on their shtick yet, and were pretty uneven.).
Lately Trent’s been doing more sound-scape-y stuff – we saw him in 2008 here in Seattle, and it was almost as much of a multi-media performance as anything else…
I liked the music on HtDA, but like you, wasn’t so impressed with the vocals.
The first and last track on HtDA’s EP are both good, IMO, but good despite Mariqueen, not because of her.
2008, Trent was probably doing a lot of stuff off Ghosts — interesting work, but it says something, I’m sure, that we listened to it once and haven’t listened to it since.