What Trent Reznor Means to Me (not in so many words)

[fredericks]

Someone on the Fametracker Trent forum (which I discovered all of one hour ago) posted this little gem about the guy:

The difference between Trent and Robert is that at times, Robert Smith totally seems a bit tongue and cheek. As if he can laugh at himself. Trent has never demonstrated a remotest bit of a sense of humor in his music. For me, it isn't about how he lives his life/how he plays his music--it's the pretentiousness factor.

And of course, about a dozen years ago, someone said, "Trent Reznor can act like whiny all he wants. But the guy from Joy Division can tell him what real fucking pain is. (well actually he can't)." And that's the rub. The really miserable bastards of the world, lead singer of Joy Divison (whatshisanem), Kurt, etc. offed themselves--which is trully depressing or od'd themselves into oblivion. And their work usually reflects it. And it's tragic. Reznor fucking rollerblades. That leads me to my conclusion. Smith, like Morrissey, have a sly sense of humor and can laugh, even when their life is shit--so it's somewhat authentic and not totally hopeless. The only way you can be that negative--as Reznor--and still sustain is either to be a husk of a person or a total liar. So, I can't take him seriously.

And I'd call the person out on it on the forum, except that'd be talking about the forum on the forum, and that's against the rules...so I decided to stop mumbling about it and post my reply here, on my webspace. This person seems to not like NIN because Trent Reznor has been demonstrated to have fun? ::blink:: An artist who writes stuff like "Closer" and "Head Like A Hole" should never be caught wearing shorts or rollerblading, is that it? ::eyeroll::. Oh, the ::eyeroll::.

I've always thought of music, like any artform, as being a snapshot of the artist's mindset at one period of time. And some people only do things when they're in a certain frame of mind. I know the bulk of my LJ entries (especially of late) have consisted of me bitching about this that or the other. That *most* of my entries are me bitching about something. But that's only because I use this place as an outlet. I laugh, I play jokes, I act like a blinkin' retard, but chances are the individuals that peruse the pages of my journal wouldn't guess that on first glance (well, this is *me* we're talking about; that last one there should be obvious). I sort of feel the same way about Trent's lyrics and songs and such. I could go into how his interviews really make it seem like he's very similar to me in personality, what with trust issues and poor socialization skills, but that's probably bordering on bizarre and fangirl-ish, right? Okay.

Y'all don't need your artists to be all dark and brooding because that's what they write about, right?

Comments

[devoosha.livejournal.com]

You make a great point. People use music, writing, journals, etc, as outlets for emotions they can't let go in the presence of others. I bitch a lot too in my journal...but basically it's because I can't bitch to anyone that much.

I think that it is an interesting phenomena that people believe that artists really are as dark or crazy as their music/writing seem to make them.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I suppose I can understand it, but I still think "huh?". Maybe an artist does feel "X" a lot of the time, and that's what his/her art centers around, but does that mean that he/she should feel that all the time? Ridiculous. Oh, maybe he/she should just avoid being photographed if he/she's feeling anything beside X? They're human beings, artists are. I'd think people would expect them to act the same way they do.