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Trent Reznor, the creative mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, is a musician who can seamlessly blend Ministry-like, Industrial-metal thrashing with sparse, desolate piano-based dirges reminiscent of Tori Amos, and nothing sounds out of place; This is no easy feat. On his introspective, personal-themed records, Reznor is sometimes the wolf, and other times the sheep.

Nine Inch Nails, also known by the acronym "NIN", came to widespread American attention when the 1989 video for the song "Head Like a Hole" first aired on MTV. This song was from the album, "Pretty Hate Machine", which was written, recorded, and performed primarily by Reznor, and the music fits the names of both the song and the album. Trent Reznor paints a picture of his world with music, and it is not pretty.

When touring, and on the subsequent NIN albums, Reznor has employed a revolving cast of supporting band-mates to help fill out his sounds, though the creative burden still rests solely on him.

Reznor has also made a habit of releasing albums consisting of remix versions of the songs from his proper albums, and he considers these mixes to be just as important as the "original" versions.

People often refer to Nine Inch Nails as an Industrial band, due to the use of drum machine beats, and although the band has moments of pure Ministry or Skinny Puppy mechanical cacophony, Reznor has an undeniable gift for melody. Consequently, even his darkest work is catchy enough to be thought of as a distorted version of pop.

Sometimes NIN is shoved in the ridiculous "Alternative" section at the local record shop, alongside diverse acts from REM, to Tom Waits, to Nirvana. It is an idiotic system, but at least you'll know where to look for the albums.

NIN's position in music history was cemented when Johnny Cash covered "Hurt", from the classic 1994 Nine Inch Nails album, "The Downward Spiral. Also from this album, the song "Closer" achieved an edited form of radio success, as well as becoming a perennial favorite among professional exotic dancers.

Just today, in the car, I heard a single off of the new album, "Year Zero" and it was as simple as the most basic things Reznor has ever written, or more so, but the chaotic guitar noises and atmosphere are more jagged than ever, too. In my opinion, Trent Reznor deserves as much credit for the awesome keyboard sounds that he produces as he gets for his bleak and gloomy song writing.

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