When Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor heard he was slated to be inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on his own, he made sure that the rest of the band would join him. He and Atticus Ross talked to Consequence of Sound about their experience with becoming successful film score composers, and Reznor’s efforts with the induction came out during that conversation.

Ross, for example, had been a key member of the outfit since the early 2000s doing programming and production. Eventually he took on more responsibility as a multi-instrumentalist as well. Reznor and Ross’ film scoring career took off during the 2010s with scores for many renowned films such as The Social Network, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Mid 90s, Bird Box and Soul. 

Reznor’s comment was, “From my perspective, I just felt it was the right thing to do. I think, kind of lazily, the approach was, ‘Okay, we’re just going to induct you.’ Then I thought I’d push back and say, ‘Well, you need to at the very least induct Atticus, and you should induct these guys.’ And that was pre-pandemic. And the endless kind of justification of that, which wasn’t necessarily fought by me, as much as me telling my manager: ‘Make this f**king happen… Enough.’

“It’s backed up by the precedent where you could look at other bands and say, ‘The Cure got these guys in. That guy’s been in the band X amount of time.’” he argued. “Again, I wasn’t the one presenting the case, but I felt strongly that it’s a shared recognition. And it would certainly feel better to me. It wasn’t rolling a boulder up a hill. They weren’t against it. I don’t know where their minds were at, but I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”

Ross expressed his gratitude by saying how welcome a surprise it was, “I mean, did I ever think I was going to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? No, I never thought that would be the case. Did I ever think any of this was gonna happen? I’m just trying to get through the day. You know what I mean? So, it’s all been good.”

The other members inducted include programmer Chris Vrenna, guitarist Robin Finck, keyboardist Allesandro Cortini and drummer Ilan Rubin. At the induction ceremony, Reznor gave a moving acceptance speech.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat