'' “...for the first time in my life, I wanted to break away from the idea of opening up my journal and transferring that into song lyrics. And I really thought about what was at the forefront of my concern, and, at the state I'm at right now, at the age I'm at, just the state of being an American citizen, a lot of concern I have about the direction the country's headed in, and uh, kind of the erosion of freedoms that seems like we're experiencing, and the way we treat the world and our own citizens felt like something I needed to comment on.” '' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr8FXnur5Z4]
A subsection of [[nin.com]], [[yearzero.nin.com]], was created and contains various things Year Zero-related. A An alternate reality game was constructed by Trent Reznor and [[Rob Sheridan]], then run in partnership and developed by [[wp:42 Entertainment|42 Entertainment]] to provide listeners with a greater understanding of the album's concept. Reznor paid for the ARG himself, trying to keep it a secret from his record company as much as possible[http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_args], stating: ''"What you are now starting to experience IS 'year zero'. It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride."'' The game ran from roughly February 12, 2007 to May 2007, beginning when a string of mysterious websites has also been was discovered around the internet related to the album; the game has since been nominated for two Webby Awards[http://www.theninhotline.net/news/#1207737486]. Learn more at the [[Year Zero Research]] page and view the [[Timeline of Year Zero Discovery|timeline of discovery]] for a general overview an explanation of how things unfolded, also, 42 Entertainment has a complete overview of the project [http://www.42entertainment.com/yearzero/ here].
==Trent Reznor on ''Year Zero''==