Trent Reznor On The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame: “I’ve Changed My Opinion”

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Trent Reznor On The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame: “I’ve Changed My Opinion”

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

In 2016, Nine Inch Nails were nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. They were not inducted. The two years that followed, the Hall Of Fame didn’t even nominate NIN for inclusion. Last year, Stereogum’s Gabriela Tully Claymore spoke with NIN mastermind Trent Reznor, and he made it clear that he did not care about this particular institution: “Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, who knows what that is. I don’t give a shit… The worst would be if we did [get inducted] and then what? We’d have to fuckin’ show up and jam? I can’t even imagine what that would be.”

But last year, Trent Reznor actually did show up to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony. (He did not jam.) Reznor made the speech inducting the Cure. This year, Nine Inch Nails were once again nominated for the Hall Of Fame. And now Reznor says that getting into the Hall Of Fame would be “cool.”

Recently, Reznor spoke with Fortune. (This was the same interview where he finally gave his first comment on “Old Town Road,” the massive summer smash built on a Nine Inch Nails sample.) And when asked about the Hall Of Fame, Reznor offered this:

I get asked to do the Cure, induct them, and I love the Cure. And I wanted them to be inducted properly. I thought I could do a good job, went there. As I was in the audience, sitting there, it felt kind of cool in the audience.

So I’m sitting at a table with the Radiohead guys, super nice, and I think we all kind of looked at it like, ‘This could be bullshit.’ As we’re there, it kind of wasn’t bullshit. We’re watching Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music get inducted, who I love, and then play. And I see a whole arena full of people into it. I walk backstage cause the Cure’s gonna come up.

I go out and do my thing, and I’m not sure if the Cure is gonna resonate with the audience. The audience I see sitting on the floor there is mostly old industry people. Then I walk out to do the induction, it’s loud applause for them. And it seems real. They come up, and I can see that Robert Smith is happy and the other guys in the band are all kind of freaked out. It felt validating. I wanted to see them respected someplace I feel they deserve.

It ended up being a pretty cool experience and I thought, ‘All right, it doesn’t feel as bullshit as I kind of snarkily dismissed it as.’ I don’t have any problem admitting I’ve changed my opinion about something.

So there you have it. Trent Reznor wants to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame like an animal.

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