TRENT REZNOR WAS working as an assistant engineer, janitor and all-round dogsbody at Right Track Studios in Cleveland, Ohio when he wrote and recorded the song that would put Nine Inch Nails on the map. That track, Head Like A Hole, would hit the sweet spot between the confrontational industrial noise of Ministry and Depeche Mode’s stadium-sized electronic pop, turning the man who wrote it into the dark prince of early 90s alt-rock.
Trent had put in time as a keyboard player in local synth-pop groups The Innocent, Exotic Birds and Slam Bamboo, but he longed to create something more personal and reflective of his current mindset. He asked his boss, studio owner Bart Koster, if he could use the downtime between other bands’ sessions to work on his own material. Bart, spotting his employee’s potential, agreed.
“I reached the point in my life where I either needed to do this
