POISON Is The Reason NINE INCH NAILS Didn’t Hire Guitarist RICHIE KOTZEN

Guitarist Richie Kotzen was once a member of the hair metal band Poison, and that was apparently a problem in the world of Nine Inch Nails.

In an interview with Hot Metal, Kotzen reveals that he once got a call from then-Nine Inch Nails bassist Jeordie White asking him to come down and try out for the band. Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor loved Kotzen‘s audition, and said the band’s management would reach out shortly.

“I was friendly with the bass player from Marilyn Manson [Jeordie White] who was playing in Nine Inch Nails. He said to me, ‘Listen, you’ve got to come down. We’re having a hard time finding a guitar player.’ So I went down to Third Encore and I spent the day. Trent told me, ‘You’re by far the best guy that we’ve tried. I would love to have you in the band. I’m gonna have my manager reach out to you.’ And I left that day thinking, ‘Wow, okay, I’m gonna join another band.”

But the call never came. Why? Because Kotzen used to be in Poison, and Reznor decided he didn’t want headlines saying that an ex-Poison member joined Nine Inch Nails.

“And then a week went by. And then another week went by. And I ran into Jeordie and I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, basically, [Reznor] said he didn’t wanna open up Rolling Stone magazine said see ‘Nine Inch Nails gets former Poison guitar player Richie Kotzen‘. He didn’t want the association with a hair metal band in that camp.

“And, you know, aesthetically, when you think about the fanbase and you think about how people would read into something, I can kind of could see that; I could see the point. So I jokingly said, ‘Hey, I’ll do it under an alias,’ ’cause I wasn’t doing anything at the time and I think he’s, you know, a genius and I would have loved to have worked with him.”

I can see where Reznor is coming from, but eh… Kotzen was a member of Poison between 1991 and 1993 and played on one record called Native Tongue. It’s not like he was in Poison when they were absolutely massive in the ’80s. I’d argue Rotzen is way more known for his solo work – the man has dozens of albums out under his own name.

Speaking of Kotzen bands, he’s got a new one with Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith called Smith/Kotzen. Check out their new record right here.