Trent Reznor with a mullet
January 29, 2006 8:10 PM Subscribe
Long before Nine Inch Nails and Pigface, Trent Reznor was in a new wave group called Option 30... Here are two videos (flash, youtube) of live performances. Trent's voice is unmistakable in this song, but this cover of "Eyes Without a Face" may make you wish you had a face without ears.
I happened to find somebody hosting MP3's of the album last year (I'd link, but don't have it bookmarked and don't find it on quick search) and, yeah, it's kind of embarassing.
(I'm seeing NIN live in a couple weeks and now I'm worried that those Option 30 songs are all I'll be able to think about during the show.)
posted by aaronetc at 8:33 PM on January 29, 2006
(I'm seeing NIN live in a couple weeks and now I'm worried that those Option 30 songs are all I'll be able to think about during the show.)
posted by aaronetc at 8:33 PM on January 29, 2006
Wow! He does a spot-on Joe Jackson.
posted by sourwookie at 8:38 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by sourwookie at 8:38 PM on January 29, 2006
Reznor's voice was fine, I thought, but the other "singer" in that "Eyes Without a Face" video has gotta go. Dayum.
Kinda seems like thought he was Iggy Pop, in the other one.
posted by Gator at 8:39 PM on January 29, 2006
Kinda seems like thought he was Iggy Pop, in the other one.
posted by Gator at 8:39 PM on January 29, 2006
(I'm seeing NIN live in a couple weeks and now I'm worried that those Option 30 songs are all I'll be able to think about during the show.)
And I'm sure there'll be someone in the audience yelling "Play 'Eyes Without a Face'".
posted by bobo123 at 8:44 PM on January 29, 2006
And I'm sure there'll be someone in the audience yelling "Play 'Eyes Without a Face'".
posted by bobo123 at 8:44 PM on January 29, 2006
Aha, thanks - I must confess I didn't know it was a cover of Joe Jackson's "Look Sharp" - hearing the original now, I agree, his voice is spot on...
Oh, and lollerskates at bobo123's comment. If nobody else does, I'm sure aaronetc will have to now.
posted by hypersloth at 8:53 PM on January 29, 2006
Oh, and lollerskates at bobo123's comment. If nobody else does, I'm sure aaronetc will have to now.
posted by hypersloth at 8:53 PM on January 29, 2006
Ok, Google, I guess it was within the year after highschool.
posted by dgaicun at 8:54 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by dgaicun at 8:54 PM on January 29, 2006
Wow. That's an awesome find. Something mebbe Mr. Reznor might want suppressed by any means necessary.
posted by xmutex at 8:57 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by xmutex at 8:57 PM on January 29, 2006
That's the biggest piece of shit... Oh wait, wrong thread.
posted by Rothko at 9:24 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by Rothko at 9:24 PM on January 29, 2006
The first word that came to mind was "cute" to describe Trent in these videos -- Now I'll always imagine him as some character in a Sixteen Candles-like 80's movie whose heart was broken, and thus had to dedicate himself to a life of angsty darkness. Sixteen Candles of Darkness? The Breakfast Cult? Pretty in Black?
posted by VulcanMike at 9:43 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by VulcanMike at 9:43 PM on January 29, 2006
And here we see the lovely 80's counterpart Tori Amos with a horrible white piano and... good lord.....stolen panties.
Cue "The Big Picture"
posted by Viomeda at 10:26 PM on January 29, 2006
Cue "The Big Picture"
posted by Viomeda at 10:26 PM on January 29, 2006
Your favorite band sucked when they were in high school.
posted by Banky_Edwards at 10:27 PM on January 29, 2006
posted by Banky_Edwards at 10:27 PM on January 29, 2006
He was also in a band called Lucky Pierre I think that played around Cleveland.
posted by Falconetti at 12:03 AM on January 30, 2006
posted by Falconetti at 12:03 AM on January 30, 2006
Oh man, I'd love to hear their version of Der Kommissar.
posted by Eideteker at 4:47 AM on January 30, 2006
posted by Eideteker at 4:47 AM on January 30, 2006
Skallas, I've been a NIN fan for years, and I think it's pretty funny. Not "ha ha look at the loser" funny, not "ha ha funny like a clown" funny, but "hah, I would not have expected that out of Trent Reznor" funny.
My NIN fan friends agree.
posted by secret about box at 5:35 AM on January 30, 2006
My NIN fan friends agree.
posted by secret about box at 5:35 AM on January 30, 2006
Hootie and the Blowfish started out as an REM cover band. That was the last time, apparently, Hootie and the Blowfish demonstrated having anything resembling good taste. York, PA's own Live also started out as an REM cover band, which is slightly more believable.
The Rolling Stones started out as a Chuck Berry cover band, the Beatles started out as a skiffle band, and I know I have seen home movies of a very young and shaggy Billy Corgan playing "Eruption" and "Running with the Devil", though I can't seem to locate them online.
posted by psmealey at 5:38 AM on January 30, 2006
The Rolling Stones started out as a Chuck Berry cover band, the Beatles started out as a skiffle band, and I know I have seen home movies of a very young and shaggy Billy Corgan playing "Eruption" and "Running with the Devil", though I can't seem to locate them online.
posted by psmealey at 5:38 AM on January 30, 2006
And oh yeah, Liz Phair was a stuck up, preppy rich girl at New Trier high school back in the day.
posted by psmealey at 5:43 AM on January 30, 2006
posted by psmealey at 5:43 AM on January 30, 2006
gotta brag, I've got an Option 30 CD that was mentioned in a "weird record of the month" column in CMJ about 8 years ago. Der Komissar is probably the best cover they do. It's pretty funny to hear the start of Reznor's career in a band doing new wave covers. It explains the cover of Adam Ant's "Physical" on his Broken EP.
posted by inthe80s at 6:43 AM on January 30, 2006
posted by inthe80s at 6:43 AM on January 30, 2006
Option 30 played at my high school in Hermitage PA in 1984. I vaguely remember the performance. They were a slightly better version of pop song cover bands that were circulating around the area.
Option 30 played my junior prom. Reznor had graduated from Mercer High School (about 10-15 miles away) in (I believe) 1982.
I knew a guy who was in one of his early bands...
They were not bad but pretty unremarkable. I was blown away when I first heard "Pretty Hate Machine" and then found out that that was the guy who played at my school.
posted by orbis23 at 9:22 AM on January 30, 2006
Option 30 played my junior prom. Reznor had graduated from Mercer High School (about 10-15 miles away) in (I believe) 1982.
I knew a guy who was in one of his early bands...
They were not bad but pretty unremarkable. I was blown away when I first heard "Pretty Hate Machine" and then found out that that was the guy who played at my school.
posted by orbis23 at 9:22 AM on January 30, 2006
It's pretty funny to hear the start of Reznor's career in a band doing new wave covers. It explains the cover of Adam Ant's "Physical" on his Broken EP
As a child of the 80s myself (who also went on to play in industrial bands in the late 80s/early 90s), I'm not sure why you would find that at all surprising. Everyone in my high school (81-85) with a keyboard (from Casio, to Korg, to Moog) was playing new wave songs in garage bands... nearly all of them moved over to harder edge stuff as the years went by. This was never more true in 1988, when Ministry crossed all the way over with "the Land of Rape and Honey". All the Flock of Seagulls, Human League posers seemed to become freak industrial rockers almost overnight.
posted by psmealey at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2006
As a child of the 80s myself (who also went on to play in industrial bands in the late 80s/early 90s), I'm not sure why you would find that at all surprising. Everyone in my high school (81-85) with a keyboard (from Casio, to Korg, to Moog) was playing new wave songs in garage bands... nearly all of them moved over to harder edge stuff as the years went by. This was never more true in 1988, when Ministry crossed all the way over with "the Land of Rape and Honey". All the Flock of Seagulls, Human League posers seemed to become freak industrial rockers almost overnight.
posted by psmealey at 12:17 PM on January 30, 2006
Sixteen Candles of Darkness? The Breakfast Cult? Pretty in Black?
Someboday make these, dammit! Yesterday!
posted by Sparx at 12:26 PM on January 30, 2006 [1 favorite]
Someboday make these, dammit! Yesterday!
posted by Sparx at 12:26 PM on January 30, 2006 [1 favorite]
Black Sabbath started out as the Polka Tulk Blues Band...
I'm with psmeasley on the new wave/industrial evolution - Ministry changed everything for me (no thanks to the first album "With Sympathy" - yikes, thank jeebus that changed).
One day I was listening to Depeche Mode, and the next it was Front 242, Front Line Assembly, ClockDVA, A Split Second, etc... and of course NIN.
posted by hypersloth at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2006
I'm with psmeasley on the new wave/industrial evolution - Ministry changed everything for me (no thanks to the first album "With Sympathy" - yikes, thank jeebus that changed).
One day I was listening to Depeche Mode, and the next it was Front 242, Front Line Assembly, ClockDVA, A Split Second, etc... and of course NIN.
posted by hypersloth at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2006
*er psmealey
posted by hypersloth at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2006
posted by hypersloth at 2:00 PM on January 30, 2006
My unimpeachable source informs me that "Look Sharp" is Option 30, but "Eyes Without a Face" is another band he was in called The Urge. Other bands he was in: The Exotic Birds, The Innocents, and the Slam Bam Boos.
posted by dhartung at 6:58 PM on February 5, 2006
posted by dhartung at 6:58 PM on February 5, 2006
« Older The Punny Adventures of Nick Bounty | cross fade, video mashup Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by hypersloth at 8:18 PM on January 29, 2006