TRENT REZNOR Discusses CHRIS CORNELL Feud, Decision To Stop Touring

In a brand new interview with Toronto, Ontario, Canada's Eye Weekly, NINE INCH NAILS mainman Trent Reznor was asked about his heavily publicized Twitter feud with Chris Cornell earlier this year (Reznor stated about the former AUDIOSLAVE/SOUNDGARDEN singer's "Scream" album, "You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus.")

"I really have no personal issue with Chris at all," Trent told Eye Weekly. "The thing I said on Twitter… it goes deeper than what have may appeared on the surface. We were on [Interscope]. And I have had Jimmy Iovine, the president of that label, come up to me on every record from 'With Teeth' onwards saying I should do some sort of urban thing — it was Timbaland for a while, then it was Pharrell for a while — because 'that's how you sell records.' The idea seemed so preposterous and insulting.

"I'm not talking about 'let's go make a record with Dr. Dre,' because that would be kind of cool. What he's talking about is making your record sound like what's on the radio, whether it's appropriate or not. And that's what Chris did. I think that when somebody who is respected like he is goes that route, it sends the message that it's OK to give up any kind of core values you had to be the fashion of the moment. I don't think that's OK. I think it's harmful. If I have one major fight in the world of the music business, it's trying to keep art first and commerce second."

Regarding Reznor's decision to retire NINE INCH NAILS as a touring entity, he said, "I got into this because I felt that I had something to say; it wasn't to get rich and it wasn't to get famous. But in the climate today, there are people nudging me towards, 'OK, you've made some money, let's make more money.' And you make money touring. But I find that, as a 44-year-old man, that's not really what I want to do all the time. I'm not saying I don't enjoy playing shows, but I don't need to do it for a year, living the same day over and over again. My time would be much better spent creatively, rather than sitting on a tour bus because it's a money-making machine."

He added, "I don't ever want NINE INCH NAILS to be a responsibility. Well, it is, I guess. It's my whole life. But I don't want it to be something that feels like a job, or an obligation that punishes me. I don't feel that NINE INCH NAILS is out of ideas. But it is starting to feel comfortable. And I want to throw myself into something that feels uncomfortable and risky and see what happens."

Read the entire interview from Eye Weekly.