I love the different styles of Cash’s version, nine inch nails, and the Eric Whitacre choral version. They all bring out different parts of the text, and the comparison is fascinating.
I just don’t get the appeal and have never figured out what his version brings to the table…he wasn’t exactly a tortured artist and the music video is half him looking sad at a piano, half archival footage of all the cool things he did in his life.
I feel like if Johnny Cash wasn’t The Man In Black, that recording would have stayed in the studio.
[Edit] I know he had struggles, that’s not what a tortured artist means. If you’re gonna reply at all, address my opinion on the quality. What does it add other than a self-aggrandizing Jesus comparison? Would the song have any recognition if not for the singer?
I was a big fan of his earlier stuff growing up and know all about him. He wasn’t a manic depressive and he received recognition immediately when he started his music career. Any struggles he had in his life are kind of undercut by the montage of cool shit in the music video. No reference to amphetamines or painkillers, just his long and storied career.
Context aside, he just doesn’t sound good in the song. He sounds like any old man singing…which is why I said nobody would be gushing over it if it were not him.
Unrelated but I hate his lyric change in Hurt almost as much as what Cee Lo did to Imagine.
I’m not a huge Cash fan but dude had some rough times with addiction. Alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates…
It likely cost him his first marriage and he struggled with it his entire life. The movie “Walk the Line”, about Cash, features his substance abuse quite prominently.
Throughout their marriage, June attempted to keep Cash off amphetamines, often taking his drugs and flushing them down the toilet. June remained with him even throughout his multiple admissions for rehabilitation treatment and decades of drug addiction.
Dude also died less than a year after filming the music video, shortly after his (second) wife, June.
Reznor and Cash both struggled with addiction and guilt for the damage their addiction caused to those they cared about.
I think the perspective is very valuable. When Trent wrote the song, he was still young. It gives time to atone, to grow, to do better. When Cash covered it, it was near the end of his life. He doesn’t have the luxury of time to make up for his shortcomings. It’s a lot more fatalistic.
To answer your second question, no. I don’t think it would be as big without his name attached. Johnny Cash was so big, so iconic, that of course anything attached to him would get more attention. And the fact that more people are familiar with his life story and why this song would resonate so deeply with him definitely helped to spread the cover as well.
To answer your unasked third question, personally I prefer the original. I do appreciate Cash’s cover though, and am glad he made it.
I just can’t shake the feeling that the only way Johnny Cash COULD find any relevancy was to cover am edgy song. The Johnny Cash version just sounds like an old man trying to be cool, it’s really lame.
Holy cow, that one brain cell you have is working overtime. How about you lookup the history of that album, which was produced by the legendary producer Rick Rubin.
It still sucks though? If he had anything meaningful to say he works have written a new hit song. Who gives a fuck who produced an album anyway? Like somehow that means it’s good?
This is good context, thanks for sharing that. I guess it’s kind of like Annie Lennox covering “No More I Love Yous” in a full on album of cover songs. Knowing that it wasn’t Johnny Cash thinking he could do a better job than Trent Reznor makes it much more palatable.
Akshually, the song ‘Hurt’ is originally from Trent Reznor / ‘Nine Inch Nails’.
There we go, that didn’t take long
Yeah, if that’s what Johnny Cash was talking about, then what was Trent Reznor talking about?
His empire of shit. Probably fertilizer, creating a healthy garden.
Edit: see below. I remembered wrong.
The empire is DIRT. The crown is SHIT. Get it right
You’re right. That’ll teach me to comment while sober. I’d have remembered that if I were drunk.
Sober is Tool, try to keep up.
Empire = dirt Crown = thorns/shit (JC/NIN) Chair = liar’s
Who knows
My wife is gonna appreciate the meme, but yeah, she’s gonna roll her eyes about who the song is attributed to… all the more reason to send it.
I’m pretty sure it’s the worm thing.
Is the NIN version of Hurt about worms though?
That’s what I thought…
Maybe, but both artists didn’t necessarily think about the same.
I love the different styles of Cash’s version, nine inch nails, and the Eric Whitacre choral version. They all bring out different parts of the text, and the comparison is fascinating.
I just don’t get the appeal and have never figured out what his version brings to the table…he wasn’t exactly a tortured artist and the music video is half him looking sad at a piano, half archival footage of all the cool things he did in his life.
I feel like if Johnny Cash wasn’t The Man In Black, that recording would have stayed in the studio.
[Edit] I know he had struggles, that’s not what a tortured artist means. If you’re gonna reply at all, address my opinion on the quality. What does it add other than a self-aggrandizing Jesus comparison? Would the song have any recognition if not for the singer?
You sure? Do you need to learn more?
To me that album was a man facing his mortality and impending death.
I was a big fan of his earlier stuff growing up and know all about him. He wasn’t a manic depressive and he received recognition immediately when he started his music career. Any struggles he had in his life are kind of undercut by the montage of cool shit in the music video. No reference to amphetamines or painkillers, just his long and storied career.
Context aside, he just doesn’t sound good in the song. He sounds like any old man singing…which is why I said nobody would be gushing over it if it were not him.
Unrelated but I hate his lyric change in Hurt almost as much as what Cee Lo did to Imagine.
I heard the song before knowing who Johnny cash was and loved his gravelly voice. Its a good cover imo.
I’m not a huge Cash fan but dude had some rough times with addiction. Alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates…
It likely cost him his first marriage and he struggled with it his entire life. The movie “Walk the Line”, about Cash, features his substance abuse quite prominently.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash#Personal_life
Dude also died less than a year after filming the music video, shortly after his (second) wife, June.
Reznor and Cash both struggled with addiction and guilt for the damage their addiction caused to those they cared about.
So what does his cover bring to the table? And do you think it would be as big as it is without his name attached to it?
I think the perspective is very valuable. When Trent wrote the song, he was still young. It gives time to atone, to grow, to do better. When Cash covered it, it was near the end of his life. He doesn’t have the luxury of time to make up for his shortcomings. It’s a lot more fatalistic.
To answer your second question, no. I don’t think it would be as big without his name attached. Johnny Cash was so big, so iconic, that of course anything attached to him would get more attention. And the fact that more people are familiar with his life story and why this song would resonate so deeply with him definitely helped to spread the cover as well.
To answer your unasked third question, personally I prefer the original. I do appreciate Cash’s cover though, and am glad he made it.
While we’re at it I’d like to mention this bardcore version I found that’s pretty good
https://youtu.be/g4UZRYShjYU?si=aqVJzqlpx7eVhV6U
Well that’s an immediate subscribe from me.
Well that was quite the rabbit hole. 2 new subscriptions out of it.
Hell yeah! Glad I could help you find something you like, same thing happened to me when I first ran across that channel a few months ago lol.
My favorite version is NIN with Bowie
True, but like Watchtower by Hendrix, the covering artist to the original’s lunch money, and now that song is his.
I just can’t shake the feeling that the only way Johnny Cash COULD find any relevancy was to cover am edgy song. The Johnny Cash version just sounds like an old man trying to be cool, it’s really lame.
Holy cow, that one brain cell you have is working overtime. How about you lookup the history of that album, which was produced by the legendary producer Rick Rubin.
https://www.loudersound.com/features/it-really-upset-me-and-it-really-affected-me-the-story-of-johnny-cashs-haunting-hurt
It still sucks though? If he had anything meaningful to say he works have written a new hit song. Who gives a fuck who produced an album anyway? Like somehow that means it’s good?
Rick Rubin on convincing Johnny Cash to cover Hurt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-7_loqsEWY
This is good context, thanks for sharing that. I guess it’s kind of like Annie Lennox covering “No More I Love Yous” in a full on album of cover songs. Knowing that it wasn’t Johnny Cash thinking he could do a better job than Trent Reznor makes it much more palatable.