The NIN game

Trent Reznor.... Genius. Not just because I'm a fan of NIN, but because the man is a genius. The music he produces is genius - which is up to debate with some people, because I guess its an acquired taste, but the way he is releasing his new album.... *wow*.

It all started with a tour T-shirt. While touring Europe, on the back of tour T-shirts there were dates - like a regular tour shirt, but there was a hidden code on the back with the dates and cities. If you notice, some letters are lighter than others, which put together a phrase. If you put a 'dot com' (.com) on the end of it, you get a website.

I'd also like to point out though, that he doesn't call this a marketing ploy. He isn't doing this to try and get people to buy his album. When reading all about this, its hard to believe that, thats not what he's really trying to do. After researching a bit more, and reading article upon article about this game he has created, I now believe him in that he isn't trying to get more people to buy. If you like the music, your going to buy it. Just because you may get hooked on his game, doesn't mean that all the sudden your going to be a NIN fan. I just think that it basically gets people excited, and intrigued by the whole thing. It's cancerous. I've told friends all about this, and they are now all interested in it. Trent Reznor is an artist, and whether that be in music or via internet, he's producing an artform. This time, with a different agenda, and a different meaning.

If you get caught up in the whole thing, your opinions may change, and his harsh view of the world in 15 years is pretty messed up. None-the-less, its all pretty cool, and all very interesting to get invovled in. If you want to try and solve all the puzzels, start with anotherversionofthetruth.com . If you want to just view some of the stuff, and see what its all about, visit either nin.com , or wiki NIN, and go from there. There are phone numbers, posters, and tonnes of websites. Rolling Stone Magazine just put out an article describing this very thing. As well as Alan Cross of 102.1 the edge, in his blog, more than once references the whole year zero game.

Anyways, aside from being a big fan of nails, I just wanted to put it out there, that he's changing the way fans interact with their favourite artists. In a time when one hit wonders are the best thing since sliced bread, and all the record companies care about are number one hit singles, there are still some artists that create, produce and release a true art form. If your not into it, thats cool, but at least respect the fact that there are still people out there that really care about music, even after they've won a grammy, and sold millions of records world wide.

Kudos to Trent Reznor,

And thanks for all the great music!

p.s. my favourite site of them all is freerebelart.net - enter your name and number and follow the prompts. Pretty cool