Nine Inch Nails was founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides their influence in rock (they popularized electronic instruments and processing in that genre), they also did a revolutionary step in the convergence of games and music: the Quake Score and Soundeffects.

Around 1993 Reznor was just working with his Mac, never touching the PC world. But after someone showed him Castle Wolfenstein 3D, “I went out and bought whatever it was at the time, 386, 486, and we got hooked. The sense of being immersed in the game really struck a chord with me. And when we were rehearsing for the downward spiral tour, Doom came out, and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’” So after meeting the id-guys, he did the music and the sfx for the original Quake (1996) not for the money, but for his love to the game.

The music itself was, as you could expect from the game and in contrast to the edgy, metallic weapon-sounds, dark, deep and kinda damaged, mostly atmospheric. “What I was hoping to achieve with the Quake music was not so much some adrenaline-pumping , ‘let’s go kick ass’ kind of music, but more like the music in films John Carpenter - the tension and uneasiness – or David Lynch, the dissonance or sound as atmosphere enhancement.”

Reznor didn’t want to view the music as a lost NIN album, but his fans did. The packaging had a ‘New Nine Inch Nails Music’ label and to hear the soundtrack, you also could insert the disc into a regular CD player. This two facts led many people to the game and gaming in general. Looking back, a Fan said: “I can’t recall exactly why I tried Quake in the first place, but Trent’s work on the music really made me love it. Quake was the reason I bought my first Windows-based system.” However we also have these guys: “We heard the music, and tried it out in a CD player and i think it actually spent more time in audio racks than in computers.”

The huge success of the game, the advertising with the band and the technical possibilities to include CD music contributed to made it trendy to involve well known bands in the soundtrack. However, Quake was his one and only project, although the ex-drummer of NIN, Chris Vrenna, did the music for Doom 3, Quake 4, American McGees’s Alice, Enter The Matrix and some more.

Two nice facts at the end:
One: You can hear Nine Inch Nails everywhere in the game, but they also have a visual manifestation: The ammunition box of the nailgun has the NIN-logo on it. And two: He said some nice things about creativity and its relation to games: “[..] video games are a healthy way of distracting your mind. I’ll often reach a brick wall, where I just can’t find the right line or the right melody. But what we’ve done here at the studio is create a bunch of distractions so you can step out of what you’re doing and change you head space. You can play a video game, then you can come back, and often the problem has gone away.”

Interview: Incite #7, June 2000, by Paul Semel: “Pretty Quake Machine”
Photo: Mykal Burns