Even some of the biggest artists on the planet get starstruck now and then. This was true for even Trent Reznor in the early ’90s, when he hung out with Ministry mastermind and industrial metal legend, Al Jourgensen.
In a throwback interview, Reznor spoke about the time he was in the studio working on new Nine Inch Nails music and ran into Jourgensen. “He invited me to come hang out with him in the studio, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe it… I’m hanging out with Al at Chicago Tracks.’”
“It’s in those the short list of cool memories of being around somebody that you respected and being treated with respect,” Reznor added.
Trent Reznor also once got on stage with Al Jourgensen’s other side-project, the Revolting C*cks
The NIN frontman noted that this was when Jourgensen was recording with his side-project band, 1000 Homo DJs. Digging into some deep lore here, there has often been debate around Reznor’s involvement with these sessions. Here, he confirmed that he did provide vocals for the band’s infamous cover of a Black Sabbath song.
“I remember [Jourgensen] was working on ‘Supernaut‘,” Reznor explained, “and he goes, ‘Hey, you want to try singing this?’ I’m like, ‘F*** yeah I want to try singing this…’ I remember that like it was yesterday.”
While he speaks fondly of it, Reznor also confessed that the experience “was certainly intimidating at the time.”
The experience seems positive, but it left Reznor with some very self-critical introspection. “I also felt like here’s this Nine Inch Nails, some p***y pop band wannabe,” he said, “around the guys that really felt like they were credible to me at the time.”
Elsewhere in his recollection, Reznor shared how he began to approach creative spaces in the aftermath of this experience. “I would say it’s not until the last few years, that I felt comfortable being with myself. I don’t mean that from an ego way, but from a very shy, introverted… not comfortable being around other people.”
“Being thrust into, ‘Okay, now you’re in a room with these guys,’” he continued, “I feel like I’m the guy that’s got to prove something and probably the least qualified to be in the room.”
Finally, Reznor added, “It was very flattering to be acknowledged on that level by those guys. I didn’t take that lightly. It meant a lot to me.”
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