Trent Reznor + Atticus Ross Release Cover of John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ Theme
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails have proven themselves to be one of film's best duos in soundtrack scoring, creating incredible soundscapes for movies like The Social Network, Gone Girl, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and more. As part of these soundtracks the duo will once in a while cover songs by other artists or composers, giving a strangely beautiful takes on familiar songs. Today, the duo has released one such cover that excels: one of John Carpenter's iconic Halloween theme.
The song offers an incredibly ominous build up, completely shrouding the sound in noise and feedback through the music's initial progression. Right when it seems as though things are going to hit a peak, the noise drops for a synthy take on the original's keyboard section. The rest of the song is a nice nod to Carpenter's original composition, incorporating the base of the score with a good helping of electronic noise and static, culminating in an end take that's terrifying, catchy and totally fitting.
Carpenter's original work on Halloween remains one of the most acclaimed horror soundtracks of all time. It helped establish him as one of synth music's forefathers, helping shape the world of music in his later scores for Escape From New York,Halloween III, They Live and much more. One need to look no further than current television shows and movies like Stranger Things and It Follows to hear Carpenter's influence, and of course the music of Nine Inch Nails.
Speaking of soundtracks, Nine Inch Nails have remained very present these past couple of months. Back in September, it was revealed David Lynch initially turned down the band's first contribution to the newest season of Twin Peaks for not being "ugly" enough. “We wrote a different song initially, and [Lynch] said, ‘How about something less Twin Peaks-y sounding, and more aggressive and ugly,’” Reznor said. Collaborator Atticus Ross added, “I think he said, ‘Make my hair stand on end.’" In the interview, the pair also revealed the song "She's Gone Away" from Not the Actual Events was written specifically for their Twin Peaks appearance.
The duo recently scored the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick documentary series The Vietnam War, which aired last September. The two recorded over 90 minutes of new, original music.
Hear Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' take on Halloween above!
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