Pigface to Reznor: Here’s what you’ll find in Chicago’s new industrial rock museum

Chicago is home to world-class cultural institutions like the Field Museum, The Art Institute and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They’re grand buildings filled with priceless art and immaculately displayed historical artifacts, but one of the city’s newest museums has taken a decidedly different approach.

For our latest installment of the Sense of Place series, the World Cafe team dives in to the music scene in the Windy City. In this episode, you’ll step inside one of the Chicago’s newest cultural institutions: The Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music.

Trent Reznor’s handwritten lyrics to Pigface’s “Suck.” The song was later recorded and performed by Nine Inch Nails.
Kimberly Junod/WXPN
Museum creator and curator Martin Atkins spent decades playing in bands like Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Killing Joke, Nine Inch Nails and the supergroup Pigface. The museum, which opened in 2021, pulls from Atkins’ personal collection of memorabilia, photos and other rarities.

He says Chicago was the perfect place for a museum celebrating post punk and industrial music, thanks to its rich history, including being home to record labels like Wax Trax and Chicago residents like Trent Reznor and En Esch.

World Cafe producer Miguel Perez contributed to this post.