Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson: A history of disputes and controversial encounters
Trent Reznor, the mastermind behind Nine Inch Nails, played a crucial role in launching Marilyn Manson’s career, mentoring the musician during his early years. Despite their initial collaboration, the relationship between the two artists deteriorated, culminating in Reznor distancing himself from Manson, who faced multiple accusations of sexual assault.
Origins of their relationship and Manson’s rise to fame
The origins of Reznor and Manson’s relationship can be traced back to 1989, when Manson, then known as Brian Warner, interviewed Reznor for a Florida-based music publication. The two hit it off and remained in touch, with Manson’s band eventually supporting Nine Inch Nails during their Florida tour in the early 1990s.
Manson secured a record deal with Sony Music in 1991, but failed to release any music before being dropped from the label. Reznor then offered Manson a lifeline, signing him to his recently-founded label, Nothing Records, and producing Warner’s debut album, “Portrait Of An American Family”. The partnership continued with Reznor producing Manson’s sophomore album, “Antichrist Superstar”. However, tensions began to grow between the two artists during the recording process, with reports of a physical altercation in the studio. The release of “Antichrist Superstar” propelled Manson into superstardom, exacerbating the strained relationship between the two musicians.
Destructive memoirs
In 1998, Marilyn Manson unveiled his memoir, “The Long Hard Road Out of Hell,” co-written with Neil Strauss. This account of Manson’s life covers his early years up to the release of his third album, “Mechanical Animals”. Within the pages, numerous scandalous anecdotes about Trent Reznor are shared, including one featuring the duo and inebriated women.
The controversial passage supposedly stems from an unreleased interview with the now-defunct Empyrean Magazine, initially slated for publication in 1995. However, due to content objections from the magazine’s publisher, Centaur Enterprises, the interview was never printed. They cited unethical interviewing methods employed to gather information from Manson, as explained in Manson and Strauss’ book.
Reznor vehemently denied the allegations made in Manson’s book, stating: “I have been vocal over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and cut ties with him nearly 25 years ago. As I said at the time, the passage from Manson’s memoir is a complete fabrication. I was infuriated and offended back when it came out and remain so today.” “If certain people do certain things which cross a line of what is decent, I don’t deal with them any more,” Reznor said. “With Manson, that line has been crossed. He said some very ignorant, mean, malicious things. You can believe me or you can believe someone else, but on that tour I was peripherally involved as an observer, and suddenly I’m pictured as the ringleader. It’s just stirring up shit. That friendship was a big fuck-up for me,” he adds.
Reconciliation for a short time
In subsequent interviews, Reznor expressed regret over his association with Manson, saying, “He said some very ignorant, mean, malicious things. You can believe me or you can believe someone else, but on that tour, I was peripherally involved as an observer, and suddenly I’m pictured as the ringleader. It’s just stirring up shit. That friendship was a big fuck-up for me. It fucked me up pretty good.”
The relationship between the two artists briefly seemed to improve in 2000 when Manson joined Nine Inch Nails on-stage in New York. However, the reconciliation was short-lived, and the animosity between them persisted. In a 2009 interview with Mojo, Reznor described Manson as “a malicious guy” who would “step on anybody’s face to succeed and cross any line of decency.”
Over the years, Manson has occasionally addressed his relationship with Reznor in interviews, at times expressing gratitude for Reznor’s early support and claiming to have “no bad feelings” toward him. Reznor, on the other hand, has remained more guarded, telling Rolling Stone in 2015, “We were good friends at one point in the past, and we became not such good friends.”
In a surprising turn of events, Manson told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in 2017 that they had mended their broken relationship. He shared an email from Reznor that read, “It really pisses me off that music’s not dangerous anymore, and it reminds me of how great you were, and I was and the time, the era.”
The past catches up
However, when the controversial excerpt from Manson’s book resurfaced on social media in 2021, Reznor released a public statement reiterating his denunciation of his former friend, saying, “I have been vocal over the years about my dislike of Manson as a person and cut ties with him nearly 25 years ago. As I said at the time, the passage from Manson’s memoir is a complete fabrication. I was infuriated and offended back when it came out and remain so today.”
Given the serious allegations against Manson and Reznor’s strong statement in 2021, it seems unlikely that their relationship will ever fully recover.
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading Side-Line Magazine than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can - and we refuse to add annoying advertising. So you can see why we need to ask for your help.
Side-Line’s independent journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we want to push the artists we like and who are equally fighting to survive.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as 5 US$, you can support Side-Line Magazine – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.
The donations are safely powered by Paypal.
