Pick a Day

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) is born Michael Trent Reznor in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Reznor develops a passion for playing classical piano as a child, before going on to lead one of the most influential industrial rock bands and launching a career as an award-winning film composer.

Producer, songwriter and musician Atticus Ross is born in London, England. In the early 2000s, Ross begins a long-running collaboration with Nine Inch Nails and the band's frontman, Trent Reznor. He eventually becomes an official member of the group in 2016.

Nine Inch Nails release their debut album, Pretty Hate Machine. Frontman Trent Reznor writes, sings and plays every instrument on all the songs on the album, which he also co-produces. The album includes the enduring NIN tunes "Head Like A Hole" and "Down In It."

The investigative news show Hard Copy runs a story about an FBI investigation into film footage found on a Michigan farm showing what appeared to be a ritual killing. The "victim" turned out to be Trent Reznor; the footage was shot for the Nine Inch Nails video for "Down In It" using a Super 8 camera attached to weather balloons that flew away.

The very first Lollapalooza music festival is held in select locations throughout North America. Bands and artists include Jane's Addiction, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice-T, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes and Fishbone.More

Nine Inch Nails win their first Grammy Award, when "Wish" is awarded the Best Metal Performance honor. The song is from NIN's 1992 EP Broken, the band's first release to come out on frontman Trent Reznor's Nothing Records label.

Two seminal albums from the '90s are released: Soundgarden's Superunknown and Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral. They enter the albums chart at #1 and #2, respectively.More

In London, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails overdoses on China white heroin that he believes is cocaine. Reznor, who has been battling addiction throughout the '90s, redoubles his efforts to get sober and eventually does a few years later.

Nine Inch Nails' fourth album, With Teeth, becomes the industrial rock band's second consecutive studio effort to debut at #1. Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl plays drums on six tracks and percussion on one other. The album also is NIN's first release to feature future member Atticus Ross.

Nine Inch Nails release their sixth album, an almost entirely instrumental Ghosts I-IV, as a free digital release - a concept they will revisit with their next album, The Slip, in July. Physical copies are sold at a regular price a few months after the digital releases.

To thank fans for years of support, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) posts the album The Slip for free on his website.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor foots the bill for the band's seventh studio album, The Slip, which is released digitally on their website for free with the tag, "This one's on me." Fans wanting a physical copy, however, will have to shell out their money for a limited-edition CD two months later. (NIN also did this four months earlier with the free digital release of Ghosts I-IV, an album made up of almost entirely instrumental, unnamed tracks.)

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and frequent collaborator Atticus Ross win an Academy Award for Best Original Score for their work on The Social Network.

Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden launch a co-headlining tour at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Former Nine Inch Nails keyboardist James Woolley, who played with the band from 1991 to 1994, falls from a ladder at his Illinois studio and dies from resulting neck injuries at age 49.

The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because of coronavirus, the ceremony is virtual and there are no performances.

Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, along with Jon Batiste, win an Academy Award in the Best Original Score category for their work on the animated film Soul. Reznor and Ross also won an Oscar for Best Original Score in 2011 for The Social Network.

Nine Inch Nails and German electronic-music producer Alex Ridha (known professionally as Boys Noize) release a collaborative album titled Nine Inch Noize. The 12-track collection features various remixes, including versions of older Nine Inch Nails songs, a tune by the Trent Reznor side project How To Destroy Angels, and a cover of British synth-pop duo Soft Cell's "Memorabilia."