Max Rieger just wants to make a living, but he’s fast becoming an underground Rick Rubin. To Max Rieger, Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails were a musical awakening. As a teenager, these artists made Rieger understand that music can trigger so many more emotions than the pop he’d heard on the radio in Esslingen am Neckar in southwestern Germany. Moreover, it planted the seed for his future career: Their albums, Rieger says, made him realize the impact of a good producer. “With Marilyn Manson, I thought two of his albums were totally awesome, but I didn’t like the others that much, and I didn’t get why — until I found out that those two were by the same producer,” he says. The producer? Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Today, the 26-year-old is one of Germany’s most sought-after producers. The jury of the “Prize for Pop Culture” nominated him in the “most popular producer” category (though he didn’t win), while German media touts him as the country’s underground Rick Rubin, having worked with artists spanning from melancholic singer/songwriters to new wave, post-punk, pop and indie. | 
