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Trent Reznor's Taco Bell theory is pretty, uh, interesting

October 25, 2017

[Photos by: Taco Bell/Instagram, John Crawford]

Make a run for the border: Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor is envisioning an alternate past wherein Taco Bell has laid waste to the '90s music scene. (Perhaps Reznor's theoretical dystopian future looks like Demolition Man?)

As pointed out by Munchies, Reznor and NIN's Atticus Ross recently sat down with Juxtapoz for an interview. The conversation finds Reznor waxing taco-apocalyptic about a figurative '90s music scene where none other than alt-rock godfathers Sonic Youth are derailed by appearing in a hypothetical Taco Bell ad.

The speculative conversation was prompted by Reznor's discussion on the “ability as an artist to make money” in today's marketplace, with the veteran musician lamenting the reliance of artists on “corporate sponsor(s).”

“I think relying on the corporate sponsor, the benefactor, has become more important,” Reznor says. “We were just talking about how, in the early '90s, Sonic Youth would not be in a Taco Bell ad. That would have been the end of Sonic Youth. The equivalent of Sonic Youth today, they could be in a Taco Bell ad. They could be sponsored by any number of things that might be distasteful, but it’s also perceived as kind of okay.”

Of course, Sonic Youth broke up in 2011, after a booming 30-year career, but maybe an alliance with Taco Bell would've pulled the rug out from under them earlier? (Munchies notes that Reznor doesn't “offer any evidence that Sonic Youth was, in fact, approached by Taco Bell to appear in an ad campaign.”)

But funnily enough, Reznor isn't that far off the mark when it comes to imagining rock icons subjectively sullied by fast food partnerships. For some IRL examples, just take a look below at Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson living más in their cringeworthy early-'90s commercials for Taco Bell.

We're really craving a fourth meal right about now.