Trent Reznor Explains Why Nine Inch Nails “Aren’t That Catchy”

October 6, 2014

Trent Reznor has compared his work with film scores to his work as frontman of Nine Inch Nails, telling CBS This Morning on Saturday US time that the industrial rock outfit’s songs “aren’t that catchy”. The frontman appeared on the program to discuss his score for the upcoming David Fincher film Gone Girl.

“With Nine Inch Nails, I realise that a lot of times my strategy of writing a pop song isn’t to start with a hook and mechanically try to make this product that’s catchy,” Reznor explained. “It’s more that I start with a feeling or sometimes a visual, and then I try to dress that visual with sound, and a song comes out the other end. That’s probably why my songs aren’t that catchy.”

Comparing his approach to NIN material with film scoring, he said, “With film work, it’s really just replacing that vision that I come up with, with looking at the vision these guys have come up with. A lot of it is deploying the same strategy, so it’s not completely dissimilar. It’s interestingly challenging as well.”

Gone Girl is Reznor and creative partner Atticus Ross’ third collaboration with Fincher, having previously worked on the score to the The Social Network, for which he and Ross won an Academy Award, and the US adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, both of which Reznor touches upon in the interview.