After being nominated three times, Nine Inch Nails have finally locked down a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
“A sincere THANK YOU goes out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame voting body – it always feels great to be recognized for your artistic efforts and I am honored," said the industrial rock outfit's leader Trent Reznor.
It hasn't been announced who will do the honors of inducting them, but Billboard has a few suggestions. Canadian industrial rockers Skinny Puppy influenced NIN early on their career, especially their 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine. The LP, which peaked at No. 75 on the Billboard 200, gave a special tribute to Public Enemy in the liner notes, making the hip-hop group another great contender.
Reznor also noted English singer-songwriter Gary Numan and dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem as significant inspirations in the group's more recent years, as their 2005 single "Only" mimics the synthesizers Numan used in his 1980 No. 9 Billboard Hot 100 hit "Cars" and their Cold and Black and Infinite Tour from 2018 was partially inspired by an LCD Soundsystem concert at the Hollywood Palladium.
Last year, Reznor and frequent co-composer Atticus Ross (who became an official NIN member in 2016) got songwriting credits on Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" — the longest-running Hot 100 No. 1 song in the chart's history, at 19 weeks — because the $30 beat the young rapper purchased online sampled NIN's 2008 instrumental cut "34 Ghosts IV." So it might be time for Lil Nas X to pay his respects at the induction ceremony.
Reznor was definitely on a roll when Netflix's Black Mirror had Miley Cyrus' lavender-haired alter ego Ashley O perform her pop-gloss single "On a Roll" with rewritten lyrics of NIN's industrial rock breakthrough single from 1989 "Head Like a Hole." Cyrus can take a backseat and let Ashley O do all the talking during the induction speech, if she's chosen to do the honors.
So who should induct Nine Inch Nails into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2020? Vote below!
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