1000 Homo DJs - Trent Reznor's Involvement

Trent Reznor's Involvement

The nature of Trent Reznor's contribution to 1000 Homo DJs' records has been debated. What is certain is that Reznor recorded the original vocals for "Supernaut." This performance was not officially used because Reznor's label TVT Records refused to allow his appearance on the release. Reznor's version would ultimately be released as "Supernaut (Trent Reznor Vocal Version)" by TVT four years later on the retrospective Black Box - Wax Trax! Records: The First 13 Years after TVT's purchase of Wax Trax!.

Jourgensen's immediate response to TVT's ultimatum is uncertain. An oft-repeated story tells that instead of recording new vocals, Jourgensen merely ran Reznor's performance through a distortion effect to mask its identity. According to this story, every WaxTrax! recording of "Supernaut" contains Reznor's vocals. However, a dissenting group claims this is an urban legend, and that Jourgensen did record new vocals for the EP—albeit in a similar style to Reznor's initial performance.

Statements made by both Reznor and Jourgensen seem to confirm the latter view. In a 1992 Prodigy post regarding "Supernaut," Reznor said,

finally told Al to redo it without me. The version that Wax Trax put out is Al, the version on the NIN single is me.

Reznor refers to the two-track Suck bootleg, which contains the recording of "Supernaut" that later appeared on Black Box. Jourgensen made a similar statement in a 2003 interview. When asked whose vocals appear on "Supernaut," Jourgensen replied,

That would be me on the original, on WaxTrax! The later version released on TVT was Trent Reznor... then the remixed version had my vocals on it.

referring to the WaxTrax! EP, Black Box, and Greatest Fits versions, respectively. This corroborates that only the Trent Reznor Vocal Version contains Reznor's performance, and Jourgensen in fact sings on most versions of the song.