Initially, when it was announced that Nine Inch Nails were to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, only founder Trent Reznor was set to be honoured.

It has since been revealed that six additional members of the pioneering industrial act will be inducted alongside Reznor. Atticus Ross, Robin Finck, Chris Vrenna, Danny Lohner, Ilan Rubin and Alessandro Cortini — will all honoured at the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

It is common for band members who have left a band, or were not part of an act during their most influential period, to be excluded from the Rock Hall. What criteria the five other members of Nine Inch Nails met in order to earn the induction remains unclear.

The 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was initially set to take place at the Public Hall in Cleveland on May 2nd. Obviously, the coronavirus lockdown period was in full swing then and the ceremony was canned. Instead of a live event a television special will air on November 7th on HBO.

Alongside Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brother, and T.Rex are all set to be honoured at this year’s ceremony.

“I’m pretty freaked out,” Trent Reznor revealed to Rolling Stone upon finding out that the band were to be inducted. “I’m quite in shock. When I look back at how Nine Inch Nails are received, it always seems like we fall between the cracks.

“I don’t know if it’s a defence mechanism, but I just assumed we’d stay in that category, so I’m pleasantly surprised to see us acknowledged. It feels pretty good … I’m allowing myself, for a limited period of time, to feel good about this.”

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