Nine Inch Nails problematic connection to Columbine Massacre

The Downward Spiral, the second studio album by Nine Inch Nails, is undoubtedly one of the more interesting additions to the band's discography. The project conceptually explores the story of a man at the point of total self-destruction who begins a downward spiral into a world of misanthropic behaviour and ends up at a suicidal breaking point.

At the time of release, the album set Trent Reznor's band apart from their contemporaries, and several people in the industry consider it one of the most important works of the 1990s. Its dark themes were particularly pertinent to several listeners suffering from depression. However, sensationalist media outlets also criticised the album for bringing light to acts of human depravity. With that, The Downward Spiral brought about its fair share of controversy, most notably surrounding the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre. The perpetrator of the shootings, Dylan Klebold, had made several references to songs featured on the album while writing in his journal in the years leading up to the incident.

Klebold had suffered from profound depression and identified with a number of the themes that Trent Reznor had expressed throughout the record. He wrote two years before the shooting: "Another form of The Downward Spiral … deeper & deeper it goes. to cuddle w. her, to be one w. her, to love; just laying there. I need a gun. This is a weird entry… I should feel happy, but shit brought me down."

However, Klebold was not the only Columbine Shooting perpetrator who referenced Reznor in his journal entries. Just five months before the incident, Eric Harris, the second shooter, penned the words: "Who can I trick into my room first? I can sweep someone off their feet, tell them what they want to hear, be all nice and sweet, and then fuck ’em like an animal, feel them from the inside, as Reznor said."

It was on April 20th, 1999, that Harris and Klebold murdered 12 students and one teacher by gunfire at the Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. Shortly after, the pair committed suicide on site. Along with the 13 victims, 24 other people in the school were injured by gunfire.

The Columbine shootings have appeared to inspire the several high school shootings that have happened in the proceeding years. At the time, it was the deadliest high school shooting in the United States and the word ‘Columbine’ has been used as a byword to describe shootings of a similar kind. Nine Inch Nails drew high criticism for The Downward Spiral, but what happened was, it goes without saying, never Trent Reznor's intention.

It ought to be stressed, after all, that The Downward Spiral is primarily an examination of the darker recesses of Reznor's consciousness. The success of Nine Inch Nails had propelled him into a position in which he lost himself to drug abuse, and in no way do the lyrics of the album suggest that anyone ought to take out their mental issues on other people in a violent manner. Reznor addressed the connections in 1999: "I’d like to have some faith in people," he said. "Society can't treat people like sheep. They need to make up their own minds. I don't feel that I’m irresponsible." So while Klebold and Harris both referenced Reznor in their journals, Reznor himself is in no way actually responsible for what happened at Columbine.

In some ways, the connection echoes the fact that The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’ drew criticism when it was used as the "anthem" for Charles Manson and his family cult. Yet, the song itself contains no implication that it ought to be related to any heinous activities nor cultish behaviour.

Evidently, both of the Columbine perpetrators were experiencing high levels of depression. They were naturally drawn to music that was simultaneously popular at the time and expressed what it was like to live with the affliction. Yet to tarnish Nine Inch Nails’ and Reznor's reputation with any suggestion that the music was responsible for such a tragedy would be completely unjustified.