Music

Trent Reznor doesn't like 'Reflektor' and Arcade Fire's "year-long rollout"

by Mark Teo

When it comes to marketing an album, Trent Reznor made one thing clear: He’s a fan of minimalism. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Nine Inch Nails singer weighed in on who’s promoting their music correctly in 2013—and who’s failing. Predictably, he was a fan of David Bowie’s no-hype surprise album drop for The Next Day, a tactic used by everyone from Beyonce to Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Less predictably, though, he lashed out at the bizarre, invasive marketing behind the Arcade Fire’s Reflektor.

Reznor indicated that he appreciated Bowie’s hands-off marketing tactics, which allowed listeners to interpret their own conclusions about the album.

“I’m still unraveling the riddle that [Bowie] presented. I’m still getting new meanings out of the lyrics. What I thought was conservative production now feels forward-thinking,” Reznor said. “Like any great album, it’s revealed itself to be something that wasn’t what I initially thought. The marketing, too, felt like a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t like the Arcade Fire album [Reflektor] and its yearlong rollout, where it was like, “OK, I get it. You’ve got an album out, you’ve played every TV show in the world.”

Reflektor, meanwhile, seems to have had an opposite effect on Reznor. Through sometimes convoluted interactive videos, half-enforced dress codes at their concerts, and graffiti that some called vandalism, the Arcade Fire often felt overly controlling over how Reflektor would be received. It rubbed plenty, including Noel Gallagher, the wrong way—the Arcade Fire’s zeal to control the messaging around Reflektor led to criticisms that the band was pretentious and arrogant.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Reznor hates the Arcade Fire. Quite the opposite, in fact. After The Suburbs took a Grammy in 2011, Reznor heaped praise on the band. “I think [their Grammy win is] great, and I think Arcade Fire is a great band,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “And if that helps expose them to a new audience, and it makes them feel good that they’re doing something that has integrity, all my props to them.”

So, in Trent’s words: Use awards to attract eyeballs, not overstuffed, invasive marketing campaigns. That’s a sentiment we can get behind.