TRENTNESS

Trent Reznor says he isn’t going to be on Twitter or any of the other internet social networking sites now. He’s had enough:

http://forum.nin.com/bb/read.php?9,731489

Trent is the well-regarded musician behind Nine Inch Nails, best-known for 1994’s big-seller The Downward Spiral. He constructed an innovative sound that blended industrial, metal, and punk genres with enough of an accessible pop sensibility to get the band noticed. He is unafraid to try novel approaches to creating and distributing his music, which I applaud wholeheartedly. I’m a fan. But this needs saying.

My Open Letter To Trent Reznor:

Dear Trent,

Hello. WELCOME TO THE GODDAMN INTERNET, DUDE! Where the hell have you been? Did you imagine you’d find lots of cool laid-back awesome people to chat with on Twitter? DUDE! DUDE! DUDE! I shake my head. You should KNOW what’s out there, especially being in rock ‘n roll for so long. DUDE! How can you bitch like this??:

The problem with really getting engaged in a community is getting through the clutter and noise. In a closed environment like nin.com a lot of this can be moderated away, or code can be implemented to make it more difficult for troublemakers to persist. It's tedious and feels like wasted energy doing that shit, but some people exist to ruin it for others - and they are the ones who have nothing better to do with their time. Example: on nin.com, there's 3-4 different people that each send me between 50 - 100 message per day of delusional, often threatening nonsense. We can delete them, but they just sign back up and start again…Back to Twitter. I approached that as a place to be less formal and more off-the-cuff, honest and "human". I was not expecting to broadcast details of my love life there, but it happened because I'm in love and it's all I think about and that's that. If this has bummed you out or destroyed what you've projected on me, fair enough - it's probably time for you to leave.

Well, no, people aren’t going to leave and they aren’t going to change. The internet provides the perfect outlet for trolls to live out their dreams by being able to say WHATEVER THEY LIKE to ANYONE, including the extra-awesome thrill of being able to crap on a celebrity and have it seen by EVERYONE. You feed them extra-helpings of crunchy delicious fantasy POWER, Trent, by getting all pissy and whiny and butthurt over their words on a screen. How can you still be so raw?? Also, periods go inside quotes, by the way.

I bet people have been leaving crappy comments about your fiancé, your music, your…well your anything whatsoever, and it doesn’t feel great to read, especially in REAL TIME like Twitter where you have no control over content. However, may I remind you that you are no stranger to making rude public comments about others. Let’s revisit a few recent ones:

Looks like the Metal Sludge contingency has discover Twitter! Finally! For those of you that don't know what this is, please let me explain. Metal Sludge is the home of the absolutely worst people I've ever come across. It's populated mainly by unattractive plump females who publicly fantasize about having sex with guys in bands.

You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell’s record? Jesus.

(Marilyn Manson) is a malicious guy and will step on anybody’s face to succeed and cross any line of decency. Seeing him now, drugs and alcohol now rule his life and he’s become a dopey clown.

I’m not Prince or Rivers Cuomo, who brags about having hundreds of great songs. And to that I would say, ‘Prince, if you have a hundred great songs or a thousand, how about picking a few and putting them on your record that you’ve put out, because your last several have sucked.’ Same for you, Rivers. I say that constructively, you know.

Fair is fair, man. You want to speak plainly, good for you. I am all for it. But you aren’t the only one allowed to speak, no matter how right you think you are or may in fact be. You fling shit, others are going to fling it back. You set yourself up. You have the rare luxury of having a voice that gets attention: you say something and someone will report to the world whatever it is you wish to communicate, whether that’s about a new musical project, your frustrations with the rotted music industry, how much you love your girl, or that you think a former friend is now a massive tool. Why waste your bandwidth on bitching about other people, then further waste it by bitching at their bitching about you? Unless you just want the press, regardless.

Trent. You are just three years younger than me. Not too much should surprise you at this point in your life, and you have seen a whole universe of ugliness and waste and perversion and sadness already. You want things to move forward, then you have to be the one to step up and be the person to not WHINE LIKE A BABY, but do something positive about it. You let the trolls drive you off rather than take it for what it’s worth, which is zero point zero. But if you can’t handle it, then running away is the right thing to do. I’m not saying you have to subject yourself to a daily shitstorm; I am saying you gotta think where it is coming from and why, and just do your thing.

Love, Marianne

PS. Your arms look real good but your gut could stand a little work. Maybe clean up the language a bit. Kiss kiss.