Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor Says David Bowie Helped Him Defeat Drug Addiction

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor Says David Bowie Helped Him Defeat Drug Addiction

2013-08-12

Story by Charles Ken

Nine Inch Nails singer Trent Reznor says musician David Bowie helped him overcome drug addiction in the ‘90s

When Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor tour with David Bowie back in 1994, he got more than advice about how to sustain a career in the music business. Apparently, Reznor also got some important advice about how to get over his deep drug addiction from Bowie.

“I was in the throes of [my former addiction]…when we toured with Bowie, and this was the Bowie that had come out the other side and was happily married,” Reznor told The Guardian. “I was nearing the peak of my addiction, and his role to me was kind of mentor, big brother, friend, and also he’d give me kind of shamanish advice.”

Reznor says remembering his lengthy road to recovery made for some great inspiration when writing songs for Nine Inch Nail’s upcoming, eighth album, “Hesitation Marks.” “I’ve learned to recognize…that I’m wired wrong in certain ways, the chemical balance of my brain is off in terms of depression a little bit,” he said. “[Hesitation Marks] was written as the other side of that journey. The despair and loneliness and rage and isolation and the not-fitting-in aspect that still is in me, but I can express that in a way that feels more appropriate to who I am now.”

“Hesitation Marks” will arrive on Sept. 3.

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.