Trent Reznor rode into pop music mythology on "Pretty Hate Machine," powered by Futurist industrial pistons and covered in ice-spiked synth hooks shined by new wave robots. Then there was his voice. Whispered verses and screamed hooks - before Kurt Cobain patented the formula - suggested things teens weren't supposed to be thinking, but were. Reznor's brooding prince in PVC persona became the mall goth archetype that still pervades America, over a decade on. Daphne Carr interviews dozens of NIN fans, and gets to the heart of Reznor's very personal
appeal.