Quote:
Originally Posted by Traditional_Ale
Trent Reznor realized that before any of us knew really what a computer was, and used it to make music that in and of itself was of high calibre, but demonstrated a way for an entire generation of musicians that other wise would not of had the chance to realize their musical ideas in medium to let go of many standardized conventions in the name of realization through the full exploitation of the tools at hand. In this case, a "computer".
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Was he really all that innovative for using a computer, though? MIDI has been around since 1982 and was definitely used in pop music both at that time and in the years since. Synths, drum machines, and sampling were obviously huge in the early 80s. Maybe you want to talk about computers specifically instead of gear (although I think the difference is negligible - consider the Fairlight CMI)? As lame as an example as it is, Herbie Hancock's album Future Shock, was sequenced entirely on Apple IIs via MIDI, in 1983.
I personally don't think Trent Reznor was very innovative for using computers, and the argument could probably be made that his sound wasn't even all that original. But what I think he did was bring his pop sensibility to "industrial" music, which was pretty original (or, at least, hugely successful). He also wrote some great tunes, IMO.