Nine Inch Nails / Founder
Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor, born May 17, 1965, in Mercer, Pennsylvania, founded Nine Inch Nails in 1988. He writes, records, produces, and performs the project’s music and has directed every touring lineup.
- With Nine Inch Nails
- 1988–present
- Selected work
- Nine Inch Nails; How to Destroy Angels; film scores with Atticus Ross
Profile
Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails
- NIN relationship
- Founder and principal creative force
- Documented span
- 1988–present
- Primary roles
- Vocals, songwriting, production and multi-instrumentalist
Work with Nine Inch Nails
Early Nine Inch Nails recordings centered on Reznor’s writing and multi-instrumental performances, while changing live lineups rebuilt the songs for each tour.
His work also includes the numbered Halo catalog, music videos, live films, Nothing Records, How to Destroy Angels, and screen scores with Atticus Ross.
NIN Timeline
1988–1989
Formation and first release
Forms Nine Inch Nails in Cleveland, records the material that becomes Pretty Hate Machine and establishes the project’s studio-centered working method.
1990–1991
First touring cycle
Builds the first NIN live lineups and takes the project from clubs to major alternative-rock audiences.
1992–1997
Nothing Records and Self Destruct
Creates the Broken and The Downward Spiral eras, co-founds Nothing Records and leads the touring cycle that includes Woodstock 1994 and the Dissonance dates with David Bowie.
1999–2002
The Fragile and Fragility
Returns with the double album The Fragile, an expanded production language and the Fragility touring ensemble documented by And All That Could Have Been.
2005–2009
Renewed output and live reinvention
Reactivates NIN with With Teeth, Year Zero, Ghosts I–IV and The Slip while reshaping the concert production across Live: With Teeth, Performance 2007, Lights in the Sky and Wave Goodbye.
2010–2016
Scores, How to Destroy Angels and Hesitation Marks
Expands screen-composition work with Atticus Ross, forms How to Destroy Angels and returns NIN to record and stage with Hesitation Marks.
2016–present
NIN as an official partnership
Welcomes Atticus Ross as the second official member, releases the trilogy and Ghosts V–VI, and continues NIN through later touring and soundtrack projects.
Tours and Live Roles
1988–1991
Pretty Hate Machine Live
The first live lineups establish the physical performance language that distinguishes the concerts from the studio recordings.
1994–1996
Self Destruct
A defining cycle built around The Downward Spiral, including Woodstock 1994 and the Dissonance tour with David Bowie.
1999–2000
Fragility
A large-scale presentation of The Fragile with layered arrangements, expanded instrumentation and a major visual production.
2005–2006
Live: With Teeth
A leaner ensemble and direct stage design introduce a renewed period of sustained touring.
2008–2009
Lights in the Sky / Wave Goodbye
An ambitious interactive-light production gives way to a smaller final run before an extended touring pause.
2017–2022
The Trilogy & NIN 2022
Set lists and arrangements draw across the catalog while incorporating the trilogy and a rotating group of former members.
2025–present
Peel It Back
A contemporary production reconnecting the full catalog with new sequencing, visual systems and evolving personnel.
Release Contributions
Pretty Hate Machine
Principal songwriter, vocalist, performer and producer; the debut establishes the project’s recorded identity.
The Downward Spiral
Principal creative force behind the album’s writing, performance, production and conceptual construction.
The Fragile
Writer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer across the double album’s expanded sonic palette.
With Teeth
Leads the project’s return with a more direct band-oriented recording approach.
Year Zero
Creates the album and its surrounding narrative as an integrated music, design and alternate-reality project.
Ghosts I–IV / The Slip
Two independently released 2008 projects demonstrating instrumental, improvisational and rapid-release approaches.
Hesitation Marks
Reintroduces NIN as an active recording and touring project in 2013.
The Trilogy
Not the Actual Events, Add Violence and Bad Witch form a connected three-release sequence created with Atticus Ross.
Notable Performances and Documents
1994
Woodstock 1994
The mud-covered performance became one of the most widely circulated documents of the Self Destruct era.
1997
Closure
The video collection documents music videos, touring and behind-the-scenes material from the project’s early years through Self Destruct.
2002
And All That Could Have Been
The live release preserves the Fragility ensemble and Reznor’s stage direction at the end of The Fragile cycle.
2010
The Social Network
The score with Atticus Ross begins a major screen-composition partnership and receives the Academy Award for Original Score.
2022
Cleveland Reunion
A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame weekend performance brings multiple former NIN members onto one stage.
Selected Work Beyond NIN
How to Destroy Angels
Member of the group with Mariqueen Maandig Reznor, Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan.
Screen composition
Long-running scoring partnership with Atticus Ross across film, television and documentary projects.
Nothing Records
Co-founded the label that released NIN and supported a wider group of alternative and electronic artists during the 1990s.
Production and collaboration
Work beyond NIN includes production, performance and collaboration with artists across rock, electronic and film music.