All my fellow edgy 90s goth/headbanger friends: "He called it 'Nine Inch Nails' because that was the size of the nails that were used to nail Jesus to the cross"
Then watching an interview with Trent in a documentary 20 years later: "I just thought it sounded cool at the time".
Type o negative was supposed to be subzero. They got band tattoos already when they found out there already is band called subzero so they had to think something that would fit the tattoos
It's been like twenty years but I think Animorphs did this joke. I will say that KA Applegate made a good bet on which edgy teenage band would still be at least somewhat relevant decades later.