Especially if that artist just happened to spring up at the right time (using sound ideas that were already in practice).
I liked NIN for a very long time, and I still love Downward Spiral.
My only disagreement is how the music industry paints NIN to be the genesis of industrial music.
Cabaret Voltaire were truly making brilliant/heavily nuanced music (during the early to mid '80s), but pop culture hadn't caught up yet. By the time it did, CV had missed their boat. I guess it helped that Trent was young and fit into the "look".