Trent Reznor reflects on 30 years of The Downward Spiral: “It still excites me and breaks my heart”

Trent Reznor has taken a brief moment to reflect on The Downward Spiral, which has just turned 30 (it was released on March 8, 1994 – and yes, we’re all old).

The Nine Inch Nails legend admits he doesn’t often pause to reflect, but seeing as today is such a big birthday, he has taken to social media to reveal he re-listened to the record in order to find out “what 28 year old me had to say”. His verdict? “It still excites me and breaks my heart.”

“Spending too much time looking backwards feels dangerous to me, but this day on the calendar caught my attention,” reads the full statement from Trent. “Has it really been that long, old friend?
I just spent an hour listening to this time capsule of what 28 year old me had to say, and it still excites me and breaks my heart.
Be kind to yourselves. Hope to see you soon.”

That “hope to see you soon” part is interesting, too, given that in June last year he admitted he didn’t particularly fancy touring or working on any new NIN stuff. “I don’t really want to do anything right now,” he said. “I want to feel okay and I want to make sure my family’s okay. And that’s okay.

“I don’t want to be away from my kids, not that much. I don’t want to miss their lives out to go and do a thing I am grateful to be able to do and I’m appreciative that you’re here to see it, but I’ve done it a lot.” He did add, however, that he was still working, and the stuff he was doing was more “around storytelling”. Either way, we hope to see you soon too, Trent!

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