Why Trent Reznor Left Twitter

PHOTO: Nine Inch Nails live @ Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON, 6.02.09 on Flickr by Rob Sheridan CC BY-NC-SA

Apparently, Trent Reznor had some really good reasons for leaving Twitter. The Nine Inch Nails frontman cites “scum” like the folks who’ve been targeting this old GF5 article as the reasons for his departure, and provides a sickening story about how far insensitive Internet assholes can take things:

Last night, I had the pleasure of trying to explain this message to an understandably upset Veronica De La Cruz:

@AndreaUrbanFox someone got balls at last! Hey, can I have some of that #Eric money? The dude’s dead, he doesn’t need it lol

Really?

She saw this message because anything with the #Eric hashtag appears on weloveeric.com. I tried to explain to her this person is just a lonely, obsessed, delusional, bitter “fan” who recently posted how the celebrity she’d most like to date is ME. She spends countless hours a day obsessing over me, my fiancee and NIN resorting to ANYTHING for attention. In a reasonably moderated community, these people can be made to vanish - on Twitter, it’s a free-for-all - hence they flock there. It depresses me to think my art and life’s work can attract this kind of scum, and trying to explain to Veronica why someone would stoop to that level of ignorance for attention - and it’s someone that because of me is in her world causing her pain… well, it sucks. If that was your intention you trolling, cowardly pigs - you’ve succeeded.

Moving on.

If you’re unfamiliar with who Eric De La Cruz is, please click here to read a message from his sister Veronica. 

Nine Inch Nails Tour History Tracks Concerts Users Have Been To

PHOTO: Trent Reznor - NIN|JA Tour @ Mansfield, MA, 06-03-2009 on Flickr by acidpolly CC BY-NC-SA

I’ve written previously about Setlist.fm, “a wiki-like service to collect and share setlists.” Today, I discovered Nine Inch Nails Tour History, a similar site geared exclusively toward tracking Nine Inch Nails performances. This comes to us from the fine folks at The NIN Hotline, who are celebrating their tenth anniversary today, and it’s NIN geek’s dream come true.

Not only does NIN Tour History track the concerts I’ve been to. It also tracks the number of times I’ve heard certain songs live, and more. Check out my profile here.

Generation Goat #6 - Dial Goat for Murder…

PHOTO: NINJA 2009 - Jane’s Addiction - Unknown Song on Flickr by Clarkwoods CC BY-NC-SA

In this episode, our heroes discuss Chris’ recent jaunt to see NIN and Jane’s Addiction, adventures in text messaging, the King of Kong, Drive-Ins, Schindler’s List, and assorted other fare.  There’s also a bit about why we don’t allow Chris to drive at night, as well as some adventures in high school stupidity, and the future of One Imaginary Blog.  Have a listen!

Geek Force Utterz 165: Driving Home

In which ECC talks about his scary ride home after the Nine Inch Nails concert, and gabs a bit more about AudioBoo vs. Utterli.

Geek Force Utterz 162: NIN

In which ECC hates on the haters who are hating on Nine Inch Nails for their setlist choices on the Wave Goodbye Tour.

No ‘Closer’ on Nine Inch Nails’s Wave Goodbye Tour

PHOTO: Nine Inch Nails Live @ Pukkelpop - Hasselt, Belgium, 8.18.07 on Flickr by Nine Inch Nails Official CC BY-NC-SA

According to Trent Reznor, in a video interview conducted by nin.com member Papagolash, Nine Inch Nails will not play “Closer” during their Wave Goodbye set on the upcoming NINJA 2009 tour. They will, however, be mixing up the set each night, pulling out some surprises at each tour stop, including—hopefully—the stop they’ll be making on June 3 in Mansfield, where I fully expect the band to kick my ass so hard that I’m weeping by the end of the set.

Thoughts? Do you think it’s insane for a band to omit its biggest hit from the set list? Me, I don’t mind, as I’ve seen that song performed live at every show I’ve been to, but less-obsessed fans might be dismayed to hear this.

Dr. Mario Covers NIN’s “The Perfect Drug”

Here is a Trent Reznor-approved 8-bit cover of Nine Inch Nails’s “The Perfect Drug,” courtesy of Dr. Mario, Nerd Music’s Tumblelog, and Croku. Enjoy!

Nine Inch Nails to Open for Jane’s Addiction

PHOTO: Nine Inch Nails Live @ Open Source Resistance meeting - Los Angeles, CA, 4.18.07 on Flickr by Nine Inch Nails Official CC BY-NC-SA

In a bold and unpredicted move, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has announced that Jane’s Addiction will be closing the show on the upcoming NINJA 2009 tour. Fan reaction seems mixed, but Trent reassured fans that “[e]verything is going to be OK”, and offered, as a reason for his decision, the following tweet: “-this way I can join you on the lawn after my show and watch one of my favorite bands every night.”

Whether we will actually see Trent up on the lawn during the Jane’s set will be something to watch. Something else to watch, however, will be how many people show up to the shows with cameras, given that Trent has secured a relaxed camera policy for the show. 

Digg’s Kevin Rose Interviews Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails

Earlier this week, Revision 3 posted an interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails as part of their Digg Dialogg series. It’s a must-see for Nine Inch Nails fans, but it’s also worth watching for anyone even remotely interested in the music business and where it’s going. Trent seems to have a really good idea of how to make things work in what I believe he called a “transition period” (between an industry run by record labels and whatever comes next). He also talks about Scientology, the Year Zero TV series, and what might be the most embarrassing song on his iPod. Check it out via the embed above, or by visiting Revision 3.

NIN App for the iPhone - Do We Really Need It?

There is a Nine Inch Nails application coming to the iPhone this month, and Wired has an interview up where Trent Reznor and Rob Sheridan talk up the app. Included alongside the text-based interview is a video walkthrough hosted by Digg’s Kevin Rose. The gist of the app is that it’ll give you mobile-optimized access to nin.com, as well as a Twitter-like interface called Nearby for interacting with fellow NIN fanatics in your area. I think the idea there is to be able to find like-minded geeks in the crowd at shows you attend, and so on.

It all sounds very cool to me, but let me just play Devil’s advocate for a second. Do we really need a fucking computer application in order to meet new people who are at the same event that we are?!? If we’re all at a Nine Inch Nails show, then we all presumably have at least one thing to talk about, don’t we? Whatever happened to just striking up a conversation with the person next to you? Is that illegal now? Must this type of interaction always take place through a computer, or a cell-phone?

Okay, glad I got that out of my system. Now, where is that app?