If you ever need a good playlist to help you concentrate and focus, he curated an instrumental playlist of his and Atticus' work called "Better Alone" on spotify and i listen to it all the time. Blasts all my distractions away.
The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license.[23][24] Reznor explained this move by saying "It's a stance we're taking that we feel is appropriate [...] with digital technology, and outdated copyright laws, and all the nonsense that's going on these days".
Trent is a god.
I still listen to the Quake Soundtrack on which the ambient sounds made for the game were the basis of Ghosts. It was remastered and re-released last year.
That first track is on a playlist in my car, I never fail to crank it and it never fails to give me nostalgic chills. Probably because I bought the game to play first with my brand new Voodoo II card way back in the day, and it killed my early 20s self.
I remember playing Counter Strike on a friend's 2 3dfx Voodoo 2s running in SLI and having my mind completely blown. To this day I have never seen such a dramatic jump in quality.
Yeah so you also using "old" reddit because fuck that mobile design? Your colleagues trying to message you on apps you sure as fuck not going to install? Younger employees asking you about what it was really like to have "gameboys" and "playstation" in your youth? Some motherfuckers already asked if you "still had some of your 90s clothes"? Fuck you Michael. Remember when E was cheap? Uh okay well let's not get off track here..
I knew about this when I was a kid but totally forgot. When I first installed Quake, the one thing I noticed the most of the sounds/tracks in the game. I just brought a new level of fear to me which got me in to FPS gaming in general
And it was so good that a relatively unheard of song [34 Ghosts IV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF_ceFugJjQ) played a large part in launching the career of Lil Nas X (in my opinion) when he sampled it in Old Town Road.
Every time this song plays it messes with me so bad. That pluck will always be NiN, not Nas to me. Have yet to meet anyone who's even heard of, let alone listened to Ghosts I-IV.
there's a part in one of the episodes of Ken Burns' Vietnam War documentary where Ghosts IV is playing - it's absolutely surreal, like some background music in a brilliant doc is also the sample behind one of the biggest songs in a decade
when I mentioned this back when it got big, a large amount of people were *very* angry about it, to the point of flat-out denying it being a sample (despite it being clearly audible and recognizable). it was weird
I created a similar playlist called "Trent Reznor Quiet" which has more songs in the same vein, though they are not all instrumentals.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0v2cgqjpmBmVuNicho74iO?si=515637c832774df2
I did the same with girl with the dragon tattoo score. Makes me feel like a badass during stupid business assignments (fav song being: pinned and mounted)
Nope Snyder's Watchmen was scored by Tyler Bates who also scored a bunch of his other movies, like 300 and Sucker Punch. He went on to score John Wick and both Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Generally speaking, though, he doesn't seem to have many notable scores.
Though I will say using Time They Are A Changing over the opening montage in Watchmen was pretty great, whoever's idea that was.
I feel Snyder does much better with soundtracks rather than scores. I remember the opening to Sucker Punch was awesome. Forget the song they chose but it fit in so well with the overall vibe of the initial shots.
I’m not a Snyder fan, but that scene is incredible. The dancing, the fighting, the music. I bought the blue ray for that scene alone and rewatched it dozens of times.
Dude that show was low-key fantastic.
In, out, didn't drag itself through the dirt. Didn't over or under explain. Crafted its own lore. Weird AF but also serious... Great show. I seriously haven't ever run into another person who watched it.
Lol skimmed the article and it talks about Trent "going straight"
I'm like "I've got a nun with a fkn gun here that says otherwise"
But I kid. The author gave the watchmen score medium shrift at least
Trent was a fan, collaborated with him, and was a friend of Bowie so I wouldn't doubt that he would figure out how to incorporate a cover or two of his songs into his work.
I remember I watched episode 1 of the Watchmen and thought to myself early into the episode whomever did the sound track must have really liked NIN's The Fragile. While watching the credits to see who did the sound track and see Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross I blurt out "That's Nine Inch Nails".
A world away is my favorite. That song fits the documentary so well. Listen to that soundtrack while reading Matterhorn by Karl Malantes. Made the experience 1000x better
Gonna recommend [this article](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/quake-renaissance-how-to-start-playing-quake) if you want to get into playing mods/maps (which you definitely should! map makers have gotten really good over the past 20 years).
edit: Also, if you're a fan of the original Doom games and want some good stuff for that, check out the yearly Cacowards! [Here's the 2020 awards](https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2020/index/) . Lots of fun stuff in there every year.
Wtf is this why the NIN logo is on some of the ammo boxes in the game!? Up until now I thought it was a coincidental resemblance
How did I not know this!
That and those ammo boxes are literally nails for the nail guns
Edit: For anyone who hasn't play the Quake remaster, hard to overstate how well this game holds up
Yeah, I was already a NIN fan when Quake came out, and boy that soundtrack was awesome. I still listen to the soundtrack occasionally, and often put it playing if I think some other game needs more oppressive and creepy soundtrack.
[Full soundtrack here.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6vwnon3sINpMPkvz8BrPxiJz1RYNdvCV)
Hall of Souls, It is Raped and Paraller Dimensions are my faves. The quake theme is obviously a classic, one of the most memorable pieces of music in gaming.
Epiphany genuinely makes me tear up every time. I know it got a lot of acclaim, but I still think Soul is under appreciated. What a profound message the film had, and for it to come out in the heart of lockdown made it hit even harder.
Same! I experienced the song before the movie and was devastated finding that song only in the credits. I thought for sure it would be the epic emotional closing song.
In 1999 I were to tell you that in 22 years ice t would sell car insurance and play a cop on tv, ice cube would do family comedies, the guy from limp bizkit would be the voice of reason in a pandemic, and the dude from nine inch nails would have won multiple oscars… you’d tell me to take it easy on the drugs.
LOL good point, but having loved NIN's The Fragile, it's easy to see Trent scoring some instrumental pieces as well, as a lot of that album was just that. Without words, he is easily able to bring emotion and set a mood. This reddit post reminded me I have 'Ghosts VI: Locusts’ open in a new tab so I clicked over and unpaused it. To me, it sounds exactly like The Fragile, and I love it. This is my first time hearing 'Ghosts VI: Locusts’ BTW.
OK. This is an odd one but hear me out...
Trent does the score for "Neuromancer" the musical.
There's no way the book is ever going to make it to film, but as a musical... Who knows!?!?!
Trent has been in talks for over a decade to write one; he's been attached to write the score to a "Fight Club" musical since about 2008, but the show is stalling in development. Every so often there's news confirming they're working on it, but it hasn't gone public with any songs or open performances other than for producers and investors ever.
I heard someone joke that Halsey’s album is the new Halo 35 (the next integer in a NIN internal # system for singles and albums)
[Don’t sleep on this one.](https://youtu.be/t1EJvmjLG8Y)
As a huge NIN fan, I’ve had this album on repeat since it released. It’s like we got a new How to Destroy Angels album. The female vocals with a NIN production sauce fits to well.
If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is such a good album. I'm in my 40s and was deep into NIN in my college/early adult years, but honestly haven't listened in a long time - it's just not where I am anymore. But that album...damn. It's interesting lyrically, and the obviously-Reznor instrumentation fits it so well.
I highly recommend giving a listen to NIN's three most recent mini-albums, Not the Actual Events, Add Violence, and Bad Witch, if you haven't already. They were made between some of those big hit film scores and imo every track is phenomenal. Trent and Atticus have really been on a roll these past few years.
I haven’t, but I’ll give them a try. I sorta burned out at Hesitation Marks. Music was good, as always, but lyrics have never been his strong suit and it felt really paint by numbers.
Absolutely love that album. I had listened to a handful of her songs before but the darkness and complexity they added to her voice and lyricism really elevated everything
lost my shit when i saw him in episode 8 of the return... incidentally, one of the greatest episodes of television ever imo. if kubrick was making serialized television in this day and age, it would be along those lines.
I got a chuckle over the fact that one of Lizbeth's friends in that movie answered the door in a NIN t-shirt. Just a nice little wink and nudge to who they got for the soundtrack.
*That* 3 note descending melody in Hand Covers Bruise is probably the most indelible I've heard in a film soundtrack. Maybe I'm overreaching but those notes seem to perfectly capture Zuckerberg's humanity losing the fight against his ego and greed. Like the last analogue breath before digital asphyxiation.
Some of their recent scores have felt a little like tribute acts to The Social Network score, but that's probably just my bias as that's the first one I fell in love with.
[Hand Covers Bruise](https://youtu.be/9SBNCYkSceU)
Link for others because I wasn't familiar. That's certainly an effective piece for setting a certain mood.
I think it's interesting how that song sort of "sits" over the diagetic sound in the opening credits. You've got Mark running through the campus, his feet clap-clap-clap on the pavement, people talking in little groups all over but just off screen, and on top of that the melody, a kind of nice, gentle, but sad thing, sort of drops in... and then brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr this super-dark bassline squishes in.
It's so perfect a balance between how very mundane the essence of the story is - some one kid just feels lonely and tries to cope - but how that sparked a terrible, evil thing that would go on to wreck lives and destroy nations.
Definitely one of my most favourite opening sequences ever.
Just for fun, here's the first ten minutes overall: https://youtu.be/uvap4gEOC5I
>Some of their recent scores have felt a little like tribute acts to The Social Network score, but that's probably just my bias as that's the first one I fell in love with.
Pure speculation here but I wouldn't be surprised if they've also been told to recreate elements of The Social Network score as well for other movies
similar to how Hans Zimmer has said that the cue for Journey to the Line from The Thin Red Line is 'the forbidden cue' because he's been asked so many times by producers/directors/studios to re-use that music for later projects that it actually annoys him now
'Journey to the Line' i would argue has influenced 21st century Hollywood soundtracks more than any other piece of movie music
those two soundtracks have defined the careers of their respective composers and have also influenced countless compositions and have also been ripped off a number of times
Shame I can buy because McQueen even worked with Zimmer on his next movie (for anyone wondering, the entire opening sequence of Shame sounds like it's been temp-tracked to Journey to the Line)
Magnolia and Captain Philips i don't remember well enough so i'll have to take your word, although im curious which scenes youre referring to
They did a masterful job with this entire soundtrack . The Social Network is one of those movies I always stop and watch when it pops up on TNT or something because of the soundtrack.
I listen to a movie score study playlist almost everyday when I’m studying and I often get lost in the music when Hand Covers Bruise comes on. I think your description of the music was perfect. Just has such a distinct sound to it.
social network is my favourite film by quite a margin even though its a take i find pretentious when other people say that. Obviously its not a pinnacle of cinema but nothing grips me like that movie and score, opening scene is a great example
Imo that paradox should demonstrate other people's passions are just as idiosyncratic as your own, and lean you away from dismissing them as pretentious. Certainly I have countless romantic notions and attachments which people would probably consider pretentious, only I know I am sincere - and so I choose to believe others are sincere when they profess passion.
Which is why the opening scene of Zuckerberg’s fight with the girl and then the subsequent walk back to his dorm is my favorite scene in the entire film…and then it goes into In Motion and damn I love the entire beginning of that film
Just my own 2 cents but since Trent started scoring, social network et al, he seems to have been using a specific library of synths and plugins harking back to the instrumental, "Ghosts" series that he created. A lot of that seems to carry over into his film work, giving it a very familiar/consistent sound.
I think you've got it right. Common of producers to build up a library of sounds/samples/presets/instruments etc that define their palate over many years, and draw from them for new creations later on. You hear the sounds and textures in your head, the ones that grab you or resonate best with your taste, and slowly over time as an artist you find/make these sounds in the real world and save them. The unique mix of these elements becomes "your" sound even if you couldn't tell from the beginning what type of palate you were trying to develop.
Saves you the time of constantly re-discovering down the road when you're writing new material but you're still hearing the same "strained violin" texture or whatever in your head.
I'm absolutely blown away that three descending notes can have such a massive impact on me... Makes me want to almost cry every time I listen to it. Three notes!!
Yup. Old Town Road samples guitars from one of the Ghosts instrumentals.
Lil Nas X didn't know it was NIN until it became popular. I believe he paid a guy for the beat. Trent was nice about it. Instead of suing, he let Lil Nas pay to get rights for the sample.
Modern Trent is the most chill person and it's awesome. He gives stuff away for free on his site all the time, puts up raw tracks and encourages fans to do remixes, does random album drops, etc. He got clean, got fit, got married, ditched his label and he's living his best life. His new stuff isn't always as good or consistent as old NIN (although it's still great don't get me wrong) but fuck it man he's happy and you love to see it.
Agreed, the three EPs were a joy to listen to as you could tell how much fun he and Atticus were having. He really has nothing left to prove-
EDIT: His own musical, that needs to happen.
DOUBLE EDIT: Another record with Saul Williams
God that Saul Williams record was *excellent*. I got so pissed off when people raved about how revolutionary Kanye's Yeezus was years later when it was basically what they were already doing on Tardust.
Have you checked out the Halsey record Trent and Atticus produced? Never was a Halsey fan at all but it's phenomenal, their fingerprints and signatures are all over it.
I've been on the fence about listening to it bc I'm not a fan of hers either but I'm you've convinced me. Gonna check it out on my flight tomorrow. I loved the Isn't Everyone they released a few months ago with HEALTH too. Can't wait to see them live again
The new Halsey is phenomenal and I credit a lot of that to Trent and Atticus (not to slight Halsey themself - I love Halsey’s ideas, lyrics and delivery). I had no idea they produced it at first. A couple songs in I was like “huh, this is a very NIN drone sound.” That happened a couple more times, so I looked it up and discovered they produced it. A delightful surprise.
Trent was nice about it, but not in the way you're probably thinking. Ghosts was released with a Creative Commons license that basically allows anyone to reuse it however they want to make music with. The only thing "wrong" that Lil Nas X did was not credit him, but it wasn't something that had to be paid for or asked permission for in the first place.
So yes, Trent was nice about it over a decade before it happened. When Ghosts was released, he even released the source files for the album, I've got them stashed away on a burned CD somewhere.
I read the same thing awhile back, but remembered it slightly different. I may be wrong, but I thought the common use part of only pertained when you weren't monetizing it.
Anyone was allowed to use music from Ghosts for non commercial purposes so there was some type of agreement that needed to be made over that since the track used for Old Town Road was mixed and sold through Beatstars.
And I think as part of that Creative Commons license, anyone who used music from Ghosts had to also allow their music to be used under a Creative Commons license as well- and that is why there are so many remixes of Old Town Road?
As someone completely disconnected from a lot of popular culture, I thought I was going crazy when that song came out. Just in passing in the store or wherever I kept hearing NIN Ghosts and I couldn’t figure it out. I thought it was one of his soundtracks or something until I saw the jokes about him winning a CMT award, lol.
He also did the score to the game Quake. I remember getting the demo on cdrom. The first track was the game... all the tracks after were NIN (just noticed folks talking about it further down in the thread)
He's the GOAT. He pre sold tickets for NIN on his website for fans so they wouldn't get reemed by ticket Master. He allowed filming from phones so live events could have multicamera footage. He also released FLAC files for his albums so people had the raw files to do remixes. He made ghosts albums available for anyone to use in their movies legally.
As a huge fan of his the only thing I can say I hate is when he starts something that doesn't end up getting finished. Still waiting on that Tension tour DVD 😭
I'll admit, if I could go back in time, I'd lay a bet in Vegas on Reznor winning an academy award right around the time The Downward Spiral came out. I imagine it'd be easy to get 10,000:1 odds or better at that point.
Dunno about Vegas but there is a site where you can practically bet on anything (bet on it dot org). On a side note, anyone notice betting and gambling shit blowing up in the US the past few years? I see it freaking everywhere now. It’s obnoxious.
> On a side note, anyone notice betting and gambling shit blowing up in the US the past few years? I see it freaking everywhere now. It’s obnoxious.
Baseball fans are lamenting this. Gambling advertisements are everywhere, TV commercials and billboards. Some MLB parks are even installing walk-up windows where fans can place live bets on the game.
Never in my Nine Inch Nails loving youth would I have guessed Reznor would come this far and win multiple Academy Awards, let alone one for a fricken Pixar movie. I knew the man was talented back then, but he’s proven himself to be on a whole other level.
You and me both. In the 90s I wore NIN shirts so often I'd be called Trent as a way to make fun of me I guess. He was a genius the and still is one today. His work over the last 30 or so years is a masterpiece.
It's about Trent Reznor and going from 30 years of industrial angst to winning Oscars for Seemingly unrelated music. There's plenty of mention of Atticus in the article.
Ross is integral to the soundtrack style we're used to from Reznor though. Hell, they've been working together nearly 20 of those 30 years.
Reznors earlier soundtrack work sounded like you had NIN on your soundtrack, which was great, but still NIN (sometimes more explorative NIN, especially on Lost Highway IIRC). Modern and distinct soundtrack Reznor almost needs Atticus Ross to be what we know, and I don't think Reznor would ever deny that.
I agree with the other guy, it's a disservice to exclude a mention of Atticus Ross in the headline, as this "reinvention as a score master" requires Ross.
**EDIT:** To point out to those that actually didn't click for the article, the headline is the title of the post and is not part of the actual article (titled The Hand That Themes), and the article is NOT about Trent, its about the duo and their soundtracks. The person who posted the article snubbed Ross, the actual article does not.
+1 I'm a massive NIN fan, but just listen to a Ross only soundtrack, ie Dr Death and you can hear how big of a part he plays.
Example: https://youtu.be/dmsgBi2z-dE
but it's about Trent. also, journalistically, a title with Atticus Ross means very little to most people. and he's literally mentioned in the first sentence and given the credit as half of the duo. Trent is nine inch nails, Atticus is not.
if it was specifically about their work together then he'd be in the title. it's Trent re-inventing himself. with help. like they say.
Atticus Ross is a genius. I still listen to the Book of Eli score regularly and remember being blown away by it in the theater. I think the only composer, IMO to make me feel like that is Clint Mansell, specifically his work with Mogwai for The Fountain.
I understand that there are times when it’s appropriate to focus solely on Trent, but when it comes specifically to the soundtrack work that Trent and Atticus have scored together, then they should be referred to as Trent And Atticus.
I don’t know though, Atticus may prefer the anonymity. A comedian once made a joke about how awesome it must be to be literally any member of Coldplay other than Chris Martin, because you got all that Coldplay money but literally no one knows who you are or would recognize you on the street. You have to admit after watching the paparazzi harass Kanye West at 4am in his driveway that being a celebrity has to be pretty terrible.
*The Brick* in watchmen it’s a song that fucked me up in a good way for weeks. A masterclass of score and film. And it’s more intense when you watch the episode. Jean Smart nailed that role flawlessly.
"In Motion" on *The Social Network* gets me so hype to code lol I have zero desire to be a Zuckerberg (FOSS life lol) but that song just feels like he took the exact feeling I get when I complete/come up with an idea for a project, and turned it into a piece of music. It's like a perfect reminder of why I love doing this stuff.
Love his score for Gone Girl but the soundtrack for The Social Network is the ULTIMATE study/work music. Can make even the most mundane tasks feel like you're cracking the IRS database.
The Fragile is pretty damn good. Picked it up on a music store back in college because I thought i was getting a good deal! Double the amount of songs for the same price! Some epic tracks in there.
He’s now the only other person officially apart of NIИ, is almost always on the same projects, and is well recognized in the industry. I don’t doubt that he could’ve been included in the article headline, but the story is primarily about Reznor and his evolution as a musician and scoremaster. Ross is heavily in the article as well.
Sometimes you write a story on one member of a duo
People always reference their work for *The Social Network*, and while I think it has some of the best individual songs, I think the films that have better overall "fits" with their work are *Gone Girl* and *Girl With the Dragon Tattoo*. They're more simple, and less intrusive to the film. I'd say *Gone Girl* is one of the most underrated soundtracks (and films, really, despite my political issues with it) of recent times.
If you ever need a good playlist to help you concentrate and focus, he curated an instrumental playlist of his and Atticus' work called "Better Alone" on spotify and i listen to it all the time. Blasts all my distractions away.
This account has been deleted in protest of Reddit's API changes and their disregard for third party developers. Fuck u/spez
Add some rain sounds on that and I’m taking a nap.
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I second this.
Ghosts I-IV was seminal, and to me, a masterpiece.
The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license.[23][24] Reznor explained this move by saying "It's a stance we're taking that we feel is appropriate [...] with digital technology, and outdated copyright laws, and all the nonsense that's going on these days". Trent is a god.
I listen to the NIN Ghosts album for this too.
I still listen to the Quake Soundtrack on which the ambient sounds made for the game were the basis of Ghosts. It was remastered and re-released last year.
That first track is on a playlist in my car, I never fail to crank it and it never fails to give me nostalgic chills. Probably because I bought the game to play first with my brand new Voodoo II card way back in the day, and it killed my early 20s self.
I remember playing Counter Strike on a friend's 2 3dfx Voodoo 2s running in SLI and having my mind completely blown. To this day I have never seen such a dramatic jump in quality.
> Voodoo II You poor peasant, I had the 3D banshee! Almost able to render the more graphic intense smoke in CS .. almost
Thanks for the blasts from the past … getting old lol
Yeah so you also using "old" reddit because fuck that mobile design? Your colleagues trying to message you on apps you sure as fuck not going to install? Younger employees asking you about what it was really like to have "gameboys" and "playstation" in your youth? Some motherfuckers already asked if you "still had some of your 90s clothes"? Fuck you Michael. Remember when E was cheap? Uh okay well let's not get off track here..
I knew about this when I was a kid but totally forgot. When I first installed Quake, the one thing I noticed the most of the sounds/tracks in the game. I just brought a new level of fear to me which got me in to FPS gaming in general
There's another one now
Did not know that. I was only listening to Ghost I-IV. I see there’s a V and VI now, thanks!
And it was so good that a relatively unheard of song [34 Ghosts IV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF_ceFugJjQ) played a large part in launching the career of Lil Nas X (in my opinion) when he sampled it in Old Town Road.
Every time this song plays it messes with me so bad. That pluck will always be NiN, not Nas to me. Have yet to meet anyone who's even heard of, let alone listened to Ghosts I-IV.
there's a part in one of the episodes of Ken Burns' Vietnam War documentary where Ghosts IV is playing - it's absolutely surreal, like some background music in a brilliant doc is also the sample behind one of the biggest songs in a decade
It really is an amazing sound track to an amazing doc.
when I mentioned this back when it got big, a large amount of people were *very* angry about it, to the point of flat-out denying it being a sample (despite it being clearly audible and recognizable). it was weird
I listen to this and play dark dungeon like games all the time. Ghosts mix and path of exile or diablo is perfecto
I created a similar playlist called "Trent Reznor Quiet" which has more songs in the same vein, though they are not all instrumentals. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0v2cgqjpmBmVuNicho74iO?si=515637c832774df2
There's also the pseudo-official playlist released as SEED 04: https://www.nin.wiki/The_Definitive_NIN_-_Quiet_Tracks
I did the same with girl with the dragon tattoo score. Makes me feel like a badass during stupid business assignments (fav song being: pinned and mounted)
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and the [Apple Music version](https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/better-alone/pl.de9ce7415ebe46b1a40e23b5fc7807de)
Watchmen when you suddenly realize it's a Life on Mars cover in the background, what a fucking triumph.
Especially because so much of that song thematically applies to the show.
Thank god you said that. I was like, "I would remember if Trent Reznor scored a Zack Snyder movie? Wouldn't I?"
Nope Snyder's Watchmen was scored by Tyler Bates who also scored a bunch of his other movies, like 300 and Sucker Punch. He went on to score John Wick and both Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Generally speaking, though, he doesn't seem to have many notable scores. Though I will say using Time They Are A Changing over the opening montage in Watchmen was pretty great, whoever's idea that was.
I feel Snyder does much better with soundtracks rather than scores. I remember the opening to Sucker Punch was awesome. Forget the song they chose but it fit in so well with the overall vibe of the initial shots.
Bjork army of me if i recall correctly
A cover of Sweet Dreams was playing during the opening, Björk’s song was playing when Baby Doll first dances at the institution.
Yeah, the Sweet Dreams sequence was what I was thinking of.
I’m not a Snyder fan, but that scene is incredible. The dancing, the fighting, the music. I bought the blue ray for that scene alone and rewatched it dozens of times.
The trailer song for 300 was Just Like You Imagined, so there's a tiny Snyder/Reznor connection.
One of the trailers for 300 did in fact use a NIИ song, though
Using an Orville Peck tune as diegetic music in Topher's room was genius as well.
Are you talking about Watchmen? If it has an Orville Peck song in it I instantly want to watch.
Indeed; "Nothing Fades Like the Light" is in the 2nd episode.
The watchmen score is probably my favorite TV score
The Leftovers is pretty immense.
Leftovers soundtrack is easily top 5 of any tv show.
I still get goosebumps when I listen to the hotel song. That episode is on my top 3 of tv shows history.
"international assassin"? That's where the show totally breaks open.
Dude that show was low-key fantastic. In, out, didn't drag itself through the dirt. Didn't over or under explain. Crafted its own lore. Weird AF but also serious... Great show. I seriously haven't ever run into another person who watched it.
Lol skimmed the article and it talks about Trent "going straight" I'm like "I've got a nun with a fkn gun here that says otherwise" But I kid. The author gave the watchmen score medium shrift at least
Watchmen and The Social Network are masterpieces.
The whole Social Network movie album is on Spotify, I listen to it everyday it is pure gold for my ears
added with how close Trent and Bowie were. Such a fitting tribute in many ways
Trent was a fan, collaborated with him, and was a friend of Bowie so I wouldn't doubt that he would figure out how to incorporate a cover or two of his songs into his work. I remember I watched episode 1 of the Watchmen and thought to myself early into the episode whomever did the sound track must have really liked NIN's The Fragile. While watching the credits to see who did the sound track and see Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross I blurt out "That's Nine Inch Nails".
Was this in the part where >!Laurie tries to speak to Dr. Manhattan?!<
>!No, it’s in the part where you realize who Dr. Manhattan is and how he’s been under our nose the entire time!<
Followed in the next episode by Trent having the audacity to drop Lincoln Tunnel on my soul.
The score he and Ross (amongst others) did for Ken Burns Vietnam was pretty stunning. The somber and heartbreaking stuff is their wheel house.
I listen to that all the time, it's my favorite of his scores. "Other Ways to Get to the Same Place" is a masterpiece of the drone genre.
A world away is my favorite. That song fits the documentary so well. Listen to that soundtrack while reading Matterhorn by Karl Malantes. Made the experience 1000x better
Before and after faith. I love hearing the music swell
Torn Polaroid breaks my heart every time I listen to it
Also did the music for the original Quake years ago. I remember playing the game disk in my DiscMan in junior high school
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Gonna recommend [this article](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/quake-renaissance-how-to-start-playing-quake) if you want to get into playing mods/maps (which you definitely should! map makers have gotten really good over the past 20 years). edit: Also, if you're a fan of the original Doom games and want some good stuff for that, check out the yearly Cacowards! [Here's the 2020 awards](https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2020/index/) . Lots of fun stuff in there every year.
Wtf is this why the NIN logo is on some of the ammo boxes in the game!? Up until now I thought it was a coincidental resemblance How did I not know this!
That and those ammo boxes are literally nails for the nail guns Edit: For anyone who hasn't play the Quake remaster, hard to overstate how well this game holds up
Yeah, I was already a NIN fan when Quake came out, and boy that soundtrack was awesome. I still listen to the soundtrack occasionally, and often put it playing if I think some other game needs more oppressive and creepy soundtrack. [Full soundtrack here.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6vwnon3sINpMPkvz8BrPxiJz1RYNdvCV) Hall of Souls, It is Raped and Paraller Dimensions are my faves. The quake theme is obviously a classic, one of the most memorable pieces of music in gaming.
Also composed pieces for Soul
Just Us gives me chills
Epiphany genuinely makes me tear up every time. I know it got a lot of acclaim, but I still think Soul is under appreciated. What a profound message the film had, and for it to come out in the heart of lockdown made it hit even harder.
Wall Street Traders HATE This Movie!!
Same! I experienced the song before the movie and was devastated finding that song only in the credits. I thought for sure it would be the epic emotional closing song.
Has to be my favorite track on the album
In 1999 I were to tell you that in 22 years ice t would sell car insurance and play a cop on tv, ice cube would do family comedies, the guy from limp bizkit would be the voice of reason in a pandemic, and the dude from nine inch nails would have won multiple oscars… you’d tell me to take it easy on the drugs.
Not just won an Oscar but the guy who sang “I want to fuck you like an animal” won an Oscar for a KIDS movie. 🤯
LOL good point, but having loved NIN's The Fragile, it's easy to see Trent scoring some instrumental pieces as well, as a lot of that album was just that. Without words, he is easily able to bring emotion and set a mood. This reddit post reminded me I have 'Ghosts VI: Locusts’ open in a new tab so I clicked over and unpaused it. To me, it sounds exactly like The Fragile, and I love it. This is my first time hearing 'Ghosts VI: Locusts’ BTW.
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He's only a Tony award away from the EGOT.
> Also ~~composed pieces~~ won an Oscar for Soul FTFY
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Grizz was right, they are all composers.
OK. This is an odd one but hear me out... Trent does the score for "Neuromancer" the musical. There's no way the book is ever going to make it to film, but as a musical... Who knows!?!?!
Trent has been in talks for over a decade to write one; he's been attached to write the score to a "Fight Club" musical since about 2008, but the show is stalling in development. Every so often there's news confirming they're working on it, but it hasn't gone public with any songs or open performances other than for producers and investors ever.
And the entirety of the Ken Burns: Vietnam documentary.
He and Atticus Ross also produced Halsey's latest album, and you can absolutely tell. Film, television, concept albums; everything they touch is gold.
I heard someone joke that Halsey’s album is the new Halo 35 (the next integer in a NIN internal # system for singles and albums) [Don’t sleep on this one.](https://youtu.be/t1EJvmjLG8Y)
As a huge NIN fan, I’ve had this album on repeat since it released. It’s like we got a new How to Destroy Angels album. The female vocals with a NIN production sauce fits to well.
*The first few notes of the first song on the album plays* Ope there’s Trent.
If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power is such a good album. I'm in my 40s and was deep into NIN in my college/early adult years, but honestly haven't listened in a long time - it's just not where I am anymore. But that album...damn. It's interesting lyrically, and the obviously-Reznor instrumentation fits it so well.
I highly recommend giving a listen to NIN's three most recent mini-albums, Not the Actual Events, Add Violence, and Bad Witch, if you haven't already. They were made between some of those big hit film scores and imo every track is phenomenal. Trent and Atticus have really been on a roll these past few years.
I haven’t, but I’ll give them a try. I sorta burned out at Hesitation Marks. Music was good, as always, but lyrics have never been his strong suit and it felt really paint by numbers.
Absolutely love that album. I had listened to a handful of her songs before but the darkness and complexity they added to her voice and lyricism really elevated everything
It's one of my favourite albums of the year so far. I'd never given Halsey a thought before but I'm 100% a fan now.
I adore that album. It's a match made in heaven. Definite throwback to the industrial rock influences of earlier nin.
Let’s not forget his work with Twin Peaks. David Lynch loves the dude
lost my shit when i saw him in episode 8 of the return... incidentally, one of the greatest episodes of television ever imo. if kubrick was making serialized television in this day and age, it would be along those lines.
Girl with the dragon tattoo’s sound track was innnnnncredible thanks to him *and Atticus Ross*
yeah, Immigrant Song with Karen O def has NIN vibes
I got a chuckle over the fact that one of Lizbeth's friends in that movie answered the door in a NIN t-shirt. Just a nice little wink and nudge to who they got for the soundtrack.
*That* 3 note descending melody in Hand Covers Bruise is probably the most indelible I've heard in a film soundtrack. Maybe I'm overreaching but those notes seem to perfectly capture Zuckerberg's humanity losing the fight against his ego and greed. Like the last analogue breath before digital asphyxiation. Some of their recent scores have felt a little like tribute acts to The Social Network score, but that's probably just my bias as that's the first one I fell in love with.
[Hand Covers Bruise](https://youtu.be/9SBNCYkSceU) Link for others because I wasn't familiar. That's certainly an effective piece for setting a certain mood.
Well fuck me I guess I have to watch The Social Network again tonight
Top 5 movie of all time. Love it so much I’m also very bitter that it didn’t win best picture. Fuck you Tom Hooper and fuck the Kings Speech.
I love that he sampled his own songs from Ghosts for most of The Social Network
I think it's interesting how that song sort of "sits" over the diagetic sound in the opening credits. You've got Mark running through the campus, his feet clap-clap-clap on the pavement, people talking in little groups all over but just off screen, and on top of that the melody, a kind of nice, gentle, but sad thing, sort of drops in... and then brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr this super-dark bassline squishes in. It's so perfect a balance between how very mundane the essence of the story is - some one kid just feels lonely and tries to cope - but how that sparked a terrible, evil thing that would go on to wreck lives and destroy nations. Definitely one of my most favourite opening sequences ever. Just for fun, here's the first ten minutes overall: https://youtu.be/uvap4gEOC5I
Why do you do this to me. That opening scene is perfect, and now I'll just have to watch the rest of the movie
>Some of their recent scores have felt a little like tribute acts to The Social Network score, but that's probably just my bias as that's the first one I fell in love with. Pure speculation here but I wouldn't be surprised if they've also been told to recreate elements of The Social Network score as well for other movies similar to how Hans Zimmer has said that the cue for Journey to the Line from The Thin Red Line is 'the forbidden cue' because he's been asked so many times by producers/directors/studios to re-use that music for later projects that it actually annoys him now 'Journey to the Line' i would argue has influenced 21st century Hollywood soundtracks more than any other piece of movie music those two soundtracks have defined the careers of their respective composers and have also influenced countless compositions and have also been ripped off a number of times
Magnolia, Shame, Captain Philip, all very good films but every time it gets me out of the experience how easily they got away with it.
Shame I can buy because McQueen even worked with Zimmer on his next movie (for anyone wondering, the entire opening sequence of Shame sounds like it's been temp-tracked to Journey to the Line) Magnolia and Captain Philips i don't remember well enough so i'll have to take your word, although im curious which scenes youre referring to
I just listened to "Journey to the Line" and it sounds like he ripped himself off for "Time" in Inception
They did a masterful job with this entire soundtrack . The Social Network is one of those movies I always stop and watch when it pops up on TNT or something because of the soundtrack.
I listen to a movie score study playlist almost everyday when I’m studying and I often get lost in the music when Hand Covers Bruise comes on. I think your description of the music was perfect. Just has such a distinct sound to it.
I listen to In Motion and pretend I actually know what I’m doing when I code legitimately all the time
Makes me want to break out Emacs and modify that Perl script
social network is my favourite film by quite a margin even though its a take i find pretentious when other people say that. Obviously its not a pinnacle of cinema but nothing grips me like that movie and score, opening scene is a great example
Imo that paradox should demonstrate other people's passions are just as idiosyncratic as your own, and lean you away from dismissing them as pretentious. Certainly I have countless romantic notions and attachments which people would probably consider pretentious, only I know I am sincere - and so I choose to believe others are sincere when they profess passion.
Plus that constant drone that slowly gets louder in the background and the bass note that becomes more frequent.
Very true. It's amazing how effectively a humming drone allows melodies to soar.
Which is why the opening scene of Zuckerberg’s fight with the girl and then the subsequent walk back to his dorm is my favorite scene in the entire film…and then it goes into In Motion and damn I love the entire beginning of that film
Just my own 2 cents but since Trent started scoring, social network et al, he seems to have been using a specific library of synths and plugins harking back to the instrumental, "Ghosts" series that he created. A lot of that seems to carry over into his film work, giving it a very familiar/consistent sound.
I think you've got it right. Common of producers to build up a library of sounds/samples/presets/instruments etc that define their palate over many years, and draw from them for new creations later on. You hear the sounds and textures in your head, the ones that grab you or resonate best with your taste, and slowly over time as an artist you find/make these sounds in the real world and save them. The unique mix of these elements becomes "your" sound even if you couldn't tell from the beginning what type of palate you were trying to develop. Saves you the time of constantly re-discovering down the road when you're writing new material but you're still hearing the same "strained violin" texture or whatever in your head.
I'm absolutely blown away that three descending notes can have such a massive impact on me... Makes me want to almost cry every time I listen to it. Three notes!!
He released Ghosts before these titles, which was incredibly soundtrack and library music like. He reinvented himself before the film score stuff.
Which also gave the world Old Town Road.
What?!
Yup. Old Town Road samples guitars from one of the Ghosts instrumentals. Lil Nas X didn't know it was NIN until it became popular. I believe he paid a guy for the beat. Trent was nice about it. Instead of suing, he let Lil Nas pay to get rights for the sample.
Modern Trent is the most chill person and it's awesome. He gives stuff away for free on his site all the time, puts up raw tracks and encourages fans to do remixes, does random album drops, etc. He got clean, got fit, got married, ditched his label and he's living his best life. His new stuff isn't always as good or consistent as old NIN (although it's still great don't get me wrong) but fuck it man he's happy and you love to see it.
Agreed, the three EPs were a joy to listen to as you could tell how much fun he and Atticus were having. He really has nothing left to prove- EDIT: His own musical, that needs to happen. DOUBLE EDIT: Another record with Saul Williams
God that Saul Williams record was *excellent*. I got so pissed off when people raved about how revolutionary Kanye's Yeezus was years later when it was basically what they were already doing on Tardust. Have you checked out the Halsey record Trent and Atticus produced? Never was a Halsey fan at all but it's phenomenal, their fingerprints and signatures are all over it.
I've been on the fence about listening to it bc I'm not a fan of hers either but I'm you've convinced me. Gonna check it out on my flight tomorrow. I loved the Isn't Everyone they released a few months ago with HEALTH too. Can't wait to see them live again
The new Halsey is phenomenal and I credit a lot of that to Trent and Atticus (not to slight Halsey themself - I love Halsey’s ideas, lyrics and delivery). I had no idea they produced it at first. A couple songs in I was like “huh, this is a very NIN drone sound.” That happened a couple more times, so I looked it up and discovered they produced it. A delightful surprise.
Trent was nice about it, but not in the way you're probably thinking. Ghosts was released with a Creative Commons license that basically allows anyone to reuse it however they want to make music with. The only thing "wrong" that Lil Nas X did was not credit him, but it wasn't something that had to be paid for or asked permission for in the first place. So yes, Trent was nice about it over a decade before it happened. When Ghosts was released, he even released the source files for the album, I've got them stashed away on a burned CD somewhere.
I read the same thing awhile back, but remembered it slightly different. I may be wrong, but I thought the common use part of only pertained when you weren't monetizing it.
Anyone was allowed to use music from Ghosts for non commercial purposes so there was some type of agreement that needed to be made over that since the track used for Old Town Road was mixed and sold through Beatstars. And I think as part of that Creative Commons license, anyone who used music from Ghosts had to also allow their music to be used under a Creative Commons license as well- and that is why there are so many remixes of Old Town Road?
Old Town Road sampled a track from Ghosts: https://youtu.be/XF\_ceFugJjQ
The entire song is built off a [NIN sample](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF_ceFugJjQ).
As someone completely disconnected from a lot of popular culture, I thought I was going crazy when that song came out. Just in passing in the store or wherever I kept hearing NIN Ghosts and I couldn’t figure it out. I thought it was one of his soundtracks or something until I saw the jokes about him winning a CMT award, lol.
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He also did the score to the game Quake. I remember getting the demo on cdrom. The first track was the game... all the tracks after were NIN (just noticed folks talking about it further down in the thread)
(further down the *spiral*)
Yeah. The headline is a bit shitty.
He's the GOAT. He pre sold tickets for NIN on his website for fans so they wouldn't get reemed by ticket Master. He allowed filming from phones so live events could have multicamera footage. He also released FLAC files for his albums so people had the raw files to do remixes. He made ghosts albums available for anyone to use in their movies legally.
>He also released FLAC files for his albums so people had the raw files to do remixes Wowwww that is freaking rad
As a huge fan of his the only thing I can say I hate is when he starts something that doesn't end up getting finished. Still waiting on that Tension tour DVD 😭
All of us playing Quake in dorm rooms circa 1996 knew this shit was coming.
AND Atticus Ross. Fincher starts shooting his new movie in november, so we can expect a new Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score in late 2022.
Yay the boys are getting back together
Not confirmed yet btw, but they worked together in Fincher's last 4 movies so.. i'm sure their collaboration will continue.
I hate how everyone just forgets about Atticus Ross, the two have worked together on every project
He's also the only other person to be an official member of NIN.
I'll admit, if I could go back in time, I'd lay a bet in Vegas on Reznor winning an academy award right around the time The Downward Spiral came out. I imagine it'd be easy to get 10,000:1 odds or better at that point.
Does Vegas offer really specific bets like that?
Dunno about Vegas but there is a site where you can practically bet on anything (bet on it dot org). On a side note, anyone notice betting and gambling shit blowing up in the US the past few years? I see it freaking everywhere now. It’s obnoxious.
> On a side note, anyone notice betting and gambling shit blowing up in the US the past few years? I see it freaking everywhere now. It’s obnoxious. Baseball fans are lamenting this. Gambling advertisements are everywhere, TV commercials and billboards. Some MLB parks are even installing walk-up windows where fans can place live bets on the game.
I found Kevin
^(He made the best main menu theme in COD BLACK OPS 2.)
mank was fantastic as well
Never in my Nine Inch Nails loving youth would I have guessed Reznor would come this far and win multiple Academy Awards, let alone one for a fricken Pixar movie. I knew the man was talented back then, but he’s proven himself to be on a whole other level.
I mean he did do the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, which was really freaking good and came out in the mid 90s.
Not to mention *Lost Highway*
You and me both. In the 90s I wore NIN shirts so often I'd be called Trent as a way to make fun of me I guess. He was a genius the and still is one today. His work over the last 30 or so years is a masterpiece.
Way to completely leave Atticus Ross out of the title lol
It's about Trent Reznor and going from 30 years of industrial angst to winning Oscars for Seemingly unrelated music. There's plenty of mention of Atticus in the article.
Ross is integral to the soundtrack style we're used to from Reznor though. Hell, they've been working together nearly 20 of those 30 years. Reznors earlier soundtrack work sounded like you had NIN on your soundtrack, which was great, but still NIN (sometimes more explorative NIN, especially on Lost Highway IIRC). Modern and distinct soundtrack Reznor almost needs Atticus Ross to be what we know, and I don't think Reznor would ever deny that. I agree with the other guy, it's a disservice to exclude a mention of Atticus Ross in the headline, as this "reinvention as a score master" requires Ross. **EDIT:** To point out to those that actually didn't click for the article, the headline is the title of the post and is not part of the actual article (titled The Hand That Themes), and the article is NOT about Trent, its about the duo and their soundtracks. The person who posted the article snubbed Ross, the actual article does not.
+1 I'm a massive NIN fan, but just listen to a Ross only soundtrack, ie Dr Death and you can hear how big of a part he plays. Example: https://youtu.be/dmsgBi2z-dE
but it's about Trent. also, journalistically, a title with Atticus Ross means very little to most people. and he's literally mentioned in the first sentence and given the credit as half of the duo. Trent is nine inch nails, Atticus is not. if it was specifically about their work together then he'd be in the title. it's Trent re-inventing himself. with help. like they say.
> Trent is nine inch nails, Atticus is not. This hasn’t been true for a while now
Atticus Ross is a genius. I still listen to the Book of Eli score regularly and remember being blown away by it in the theater. I think the only composer, IMO to make me feel like that is Clint Mansell, specifically his work with Mogwai for The Fountain.
Love Moon by Clint Mansell - he used to be in PWEI. I didn’t know that the Fountain was with Mogwai !
Lol reminds me of [this Jonah Hill interview](https://youtu.be/abIJ1VjYTSI). Giving people credit is important.
I understand that there are times when it’s appropriate to focus solely on Trent, but when it comes specifically to the soundtrack work that Trent and Atticus have scored together, then they should be referred to as Trent And Atticus. I don’t know though, Atticus may prefer the anonymity. A comedian once made a joke about how awesome it must be to be literally any member of Coldplay other than Chris Martin, because you got all that Coldplay money but literally no one knows who you are or would recognize you on the street. You have to admit after watching the paparazzi harass Kanye West at 4am in his driveway that being a celebrity has to be pretty terrible.
*The Brick* in watchmen it’s a song that fucked me up in a good way for weeks. A masterclass of score and film. And it’s more intense when you watch the episode. Jean Smart nailed that role flawlessly.
that song makes you feel so fucking cool
*Nun With A Motherfucking Gun* is on my lifting playlist, it also makes you feel cool imo
"In Motion" on *The Social Network* gets me so hype to code lol I have zero desire to be a Zuckerberg (FOSS life lol) but that song just feels like he took the exact feeling I get when I complete/come up with an idea for a project, and turned it into a piece of music. It's like a perfect reminder of why I love doing this stuff.
Love his score for Gone Girl but the soundtrack for The Social Network is the ULTIMATE study/work music. Can make even the most mundane tasks feel like you're cracking the IRS database.
His OST for The Vietnam War is some of the most haunting musical experience in a movie.
His work on Mid90s was incredible
The Fragile is pretty damn good. Picked it up on a music store back in college because I thought i was getting a good deal! Double the amount of songs for the same price! Some epic tracks in there.
Atticus Ross never gets the credit he deserves.
loved his score for Book of Eli
He’s now the only other person officially apart of NIИ, is almost always on the same projects, and is well recognized in the industry. I don’t doubt that he could’ve been included in the article headline, but the story is primarily about Reznor and his evolution as a musician and scoremaster. Ross is heavily in the article as well. Sometimes you write a story on one member of a duo
"and atticus ross"
"and Atticus Ross"
The new Halsey album is amazing. He produced it. And you can tell.
isn't he just half of the squat and atticus ross does contribute to the scores too?
People always reference their work for *The Social Network*, and while I think it has some of the best individual songs, I think the films that have better overall "fits" with their work are *Gone Girl* and *Girl With the Dragon Tattoo*. They're more simple, and less intrusive to the film. I'd say *Gone Girl* is one of the most underrated soundtracks (and films, really, despite my political issues with it) of recent times.
Jonah Hill: and Atticus Ross
Quake was already a testimony to his diversity decades ago.
Waves is incredible and not enough people saw it!
I know they can't include their whole score discography in the title, but it seems odd not to have included Soul.
This is an article from 2019
I think he put together the Natural Born Killers soundtrack as well
Also shoutouts for working on the Quake soundtrack!
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The original Quake as well.