Though pianist Mike Garson has been an integral player in some of the best rock recordings of all time by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, Mick Ronson, and, most notably, David Bowie, he cut his teeth as a classically-trained jazz cat in New York City, long before he joined the aforementioned artists on world stadium tours.

One listen to KFAI’s brilliant new interview with the man and you certainly won’t wonder why Trent Reznor introduced him as “the most inspiring musician [he’s] ever come across” at last year’s final NIN show. In fact, Garson was both honored and surprised by that statement, as he describes to DJ SLT: “I really, hardly know [Reznor].”

Sure, we’ve made our fair share of Grammy mentions around here (only in the name of O!), but as the award show’s broadcast hour grows nigh, the irrelevance of this thing is coming painfully into focus. Perhaps the best way to enjoy this corporate theater, though, is to give a bit of love to those who hate on it. Enter: Trent Reznor (honorable mentions: Thom Yorke and [possibly] Wilco).

Certainly not every tweet from the NIN mastermind is news, but even we have to admit that tonight’s return to microblogging deserves a headline: “Grammy asshole weekend in LA,” Reznor wrote. “Yuck.” Hmm… care to go on?

The Grammys = the old guard / old media propping up their puppets trying to convince the outside world (and each other) they’re relevant.

Before hearing Nine Inch Nails, I had no idea who Skinny Puppy, Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, or The Cure (save for “the hits”) even were. It isn’t that I was close-minded or anything; it’s just a generational thing perhaps. Fact is, I was relatively young upon first hearing “Closer” on MTV’s (was it called “Buzzworthy”?) commercial clips. I’ve since grown up, of course, become a huge fan of said bands and learned that these people were/are not only brilliant (or more brilliant as the case may be) in their own right, but they were/are also massively obvious influences on NIN mastermind Trent Reznor. Okay, that’s a convoluted overshare of an intro to a very simple story…

LA Weekly’s West Coast Sound blog reports that The Posters Came from the Walls, a forthcoming (and apparently great) documentary about über Depeche Mode fans features footage of people hailing from “Bucharest to Berlin to Tehran,” not to mention Muscovites celebrating [frontman] Dave [Gahan] Day on Russia’s national military day. All docs could use a little star power, though, and NIN frontman/”Depeche-ist”/fanman Trent Reznor answered the call.

Reznor provided a “sizeable interview,” saying “a lot about California and Depeche Mode,” according to co-director Nick Abrahams, whereas co-director Jeremy Deller simply added that he has “some compromising pics of [Reznor] so he had to agree.” More compromising than this or this? I kid, I kid.

For more info on The Posters Came from the Walls, go here and here.

You may have heard that the Department of Justice approved the merger between ticketing goliaths Ticketmaster and Live Nation this week. We here at TwentyFourBit are more than skeptical after having been gouged time and again for the privilege of printing our own tickets, but we’re in good company: Bruce Springsteen and Trent Reznor, among other Important People like Senator Charles Schumer, have both decried the merger.

Wait, I take that back, because Reznor’s camp has apparently changed its mind after Ticketmaster and Live Nation played nice with Reznor/NIN manager, Jim Guerinot (whose other clients include No Doubt and the Offspring): “I’ve gotten a tremendous amount of cooperation from them on fan-oriented programs to prevent scalping and lower ticket prices,” Guerinot told the L.A. Times. Okay, sure, but these anti-scalping measures remind me of that Chris Rock bit about congratulating yourself for something you’re supposed to do in the first place, you know, like trying to protect your customer base from scammers.

Oh, who am I kidding—it’s the economy, stupid! Guerinot continues:

If these two companies don’t survive, it’s all a moot point. If they do survive by merging, the question becomes, are they better equipped together to maintain a legitimate business model while creating a better opportunity for consumers. How is it going to be better for consumers? It has to be A) a business that is viable and B) one that grows the pot.

Despite Johnny Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” being considered among most to be in the canon of music history’s greatest cover songs, I must confess that I’ve never been too crazy about it. It’s a brilliant performance, for sure, not to mention Mark Romanek’s epic music video, but I’ve always felt that other Cash covers, like “Personal Jesus” or “I See a Darkness”, were more suited to producer Rick Rubin’s sonic aesthetic.

To be clear, I’m not going to say that this cover by the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer from New Years Eve is better—or even on par—with Cash’s, but there is something about the Boston Pops Orchestra’s arrangement that gets under my skin in the same that Trent Reznor’s original so perfectly punctuates The Downward Spiral.

Watch it here or below:

New Years is almost here, you guys, but more bits have arrived before the countdown begins. We’ve been holed up in the snowy northeastern U.S. of late and a plane ride back to CA beckons, so we’ll be back to regularly scheduled posts soon.

• Radiohead fans unearthed a new Thom Yorke soundtrack project recently; a documentary on Tibet called When The Dragon Swallowed The Sun. What’s more, Damien Rice (who’s making a slew of TFB headlines nowadays) is also set to contribute, not to mention Philip freakin’ Glass (?!) as well. Seriously, check this out (via At Ease).
• We already knew that Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy and Trent Reznor were bros, but the pair (seen candoodling here), are taking it to another level with today’s release of Murphy’s “Hurt” NIN cover on itunes.
• As we reported late last night, Avenged Sevenfold drummer Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan has died at the shockingly young age of 28. An autopsy has since been conducted and his official cause of death has been ruled “inconclusive” until the results of “toxicology, microscopic and laboratory tests” have been received.
• Perhaps I’m late to the party on this one, but Paul Westerberg has his own signature guitar! Whereas Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo’s Fender Jazzmasters will cost you a pretty penny, the former Replacements frontman’s “punk rock plaid” First Act axe is available for under a hundred bucks.

When Nine Inch Nails auctioned off spare Banjitars and other equipment on eBay recently, many thought the move signaled that the band had not only retired from touring, but were planning a hiatus from releasing new material as well. Not to mention, Trent Reznor has been oddly absent from the Internet of late—save for a few random tweets. We now know, however, that NIN aren’t going to let Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and a slew of other rockers completely pwn 2010 alone.

“Sorry I haven’t been around much lately, I’ve been working on not working for a couple of months, which for me is hard work,” Reznor posted on NIN.com just before Christmas. “2010 has a number of things planned including new material from nine inch nails and something else that isn’t nine inch nails.”

In one of our first posts, we reported that shock-gother Marilyn Manson was set to reunite (sorta) with both ex-collaborator/friend Trent Reznor and ex-wife Dita Von Teese in a court of law amid a lawsuit filed by former keyboardist Stephen Bier, aka Madonna Wayne Gacy.

According to Southern California Public Radio (via these rockers), the pair have settled out of court over the alleged misappropriated purchase of Nazi paraphernalia, ex-wife Dita Von Teese’s engagement ring, a stuffed grizzly bear, a pair of baboons, and the skeleton of a 4-year-old Chinese girl.

For more on what went down, go here.

Meanwhile, Manson has taken to his MySpace page for a couple rants about the settlement and “the person that stood behind a keyboard—pretending to play music other artists in this band wrote.”

Four electric guitars, four acoustics, two basses, and one banjitar (?) used on various tours and in recording studio sessions by Nine Inch Nails have been posted on eBay by Trent Reznor and company. No specific reason for the auction has been given (is Trent clearing out a spare room in his house for a nursery?) aside from a statement that they are “no longer in need” of the items. Yeah, I suppose the novelty of a mutant banjo/electric guitar wears off eventually.

Reznor does have a habit of smashing keyboards, so there are no Nord Leads or Minimoog’s up for auction just yet, but this first batch of eleven steel-stringed axes is only the beginning of the NIN yard sale: “We will be listing hundreds of items over the next several weeks,” a statement reads on the official site and within the eBay description. “Guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, [and] pedal boards,” are on the way.

I understand the impulse for a diehard fan to own an item used when magic was made on stage or in the studio (I own a couple effects units of the late Elliott Smith), but if you’re not a NIN fanatic, you may as well grab a banjitar at the retail price.