Lil Nas X released his rap country song "Old Town Road" in 2018 as part of a challenge on the social media platform TikTok. The song has since been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Of America (RIAA) with over 1,475,000 sales and sales equivalents. The song samples Nine Inch Nails' 2008 track "34 Ghosts IV" from Ghosts I-IV, which the band's mastermind Trent Reznor doesn't mind (and didn't originally understand the magnitude of).
All these things have culminated in probably one of the weirdest headlines Nine Inch Nails will ever be involved in – Reznor has won a Country Music Award. Reznor and Lil Nas X beat such competition as Blake Shelton, Maren Morris, and Garth Brooks to win the Musical Event of the Year award. The whole thing does seem to go against Reznor's wishes of having Lil Nas X be in the spotlight, but that's showbiz.
“The reason I haven’t stepped in to comment anything about it is, I don’t feel it’s my place to play any kind of social critic to that. It was a material that was used in a significant way and it turned into something that became something else, and those guys should be the ones the spotlight is on…. They asked if I wanted to do a cameo in the video, and it was flattering, and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but. I say that with complete respect.”
If you're not familiar with the song or fantastic music video for "Old Town Road," or "34 Ghosts IV," check 'em out below.
