"The house had a big electric fence around it and every single window was blacked out." How a progressive rock legend helped make a 90s alt. rock masterpiece at the site of the infamous Manson Family murders

On the night of August 8, 1969, Charles Manson instructed four members of his 'Family' - Tex Watson, Linda Kasabian, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel - to break into 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angles, and to "totally destroy" everyone they found there.

The property in Benedict Canyon had recently been rented to French/Polish film director Roman. Polanski, and his pregnant American actress/model wife Sharon Tate, but on the night in question, with Polanski in Europe working, Tate's friends Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski had called around to visit her. Also present on the night was 18-year-old Steven Parent, who was visiting the house's caretaker. All five were murdered by Manson's disciples, as was the eight-and-a-half month old fetus that Tate was carrying.

As the Family members exited the house after the killings, Susan Atkins wrote the word 'pig' on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood.

In 1992, Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor rented out the house at 10050 Cielo Drive, and installed a recording studio, labelled Le Pig, in the property. That year Nine Inch Nails recorded their Broken EP at the house, and Reznor remained there while he worked upon his band's second album, the follow-up to 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. Alongside members of his touring band, Reznor invited Jane's Addiction drummer and King Crimson vocalist/guitarist to participate in the sessions, which would birth The Downward Spiral.

"I had no idea who Nine Inch Nails were," Belew admits frankly in a new interview with Vulture. "To be honest, my manager had to talk me into this one. He said, 'No man, these guys are doing really well. They’ve got a big following. You should go check it out and talk to this guy named Trent Reznor.' I was in Los Angeles and had my gear, so there was no reason not to."

"I drove up to this house, and it was very strange-looking," Belew recalls of his first visit to 10050 Cielo Drive. "It had a big electric fence around it and every single window was blacked out, but it looked like a farmhouse... I later found out the place we were recording was the Sharon Tate house."

Belew tells writer Devon Ivie that he and Reznor began collaborating "right off the bat".

"I don’t even know how long I was there - they brought in food and we never left, we just kept plowing through music," he recalls. "Trent wanted me to check out all of his songs and would ask, 'Is there anything you’d like to do in this? Is anything inspiring you?' He was pretty quiet, but quietly intense. He had a group of guys around him, kind of like his own posse who did different things."

On The Downward Spiral, Belew, who has also guested on albums by David Bowie, Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Frank Zappa and many more, is credited with 'texture generating guitar' on opening track Mr. Self Destruct, and with 'ring mod guitar' on The Becoming.

Belew would also work with Nine Inch Nails again on 1999's The Fragile, on 2008's Ghosts I - IV, and on 2013's Hesitation Marks.

"I was going to go on tour with them," he adds, "but Trent changed his mind, so that didn’t work out. I think it was for the better. But I still love him."