Reznor tells rock bands to "break the rules"

Trent Reznor has hit out at bands who stay “safe” in an effort to attract positive reviews.

The Nine Inch Nails frontman has urged rock bands to express themselves and “break the rules”, rather than take the “cowardly” route of keeping on the good side of reviewers.

Reznor tells the Daily Record: “A pretty conservative nature has crept into music and I don’t mean sonically. I get the sense that a lot of bands today are designing themselves to get a good review in the hip blogs and that is probably the safest and most cowardly thing you can do as an artist. If you have something to say, then say it. Express yourself and break the rules.

“What I try to straddle is paying attention to what is happening in the outside world to some degree and at the same time becoming insular and really trusting my own voice and my own sense of what is right and appropriate. I don’t hear tons of that going on right now.”

NIN begin a UK tour on May 18.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.