The Greatest Cover Song of All Time?

music isn't as simple as a songwriter getting one message across to the listener of a song people bring their own backgrounds their own viewpoints their own opinions to form their own interpretation of a piece of music Born in the USA can be a patriotic American Anthem to some and it could be an anti-war song to others but rarely does it become so obvious where two versions are the same song can have entire different meanings 1994 Trent resner produced a deeply dark and disturbing piece of music that reflected his mindset at that time it was a bleak look into the psyche of a young man desperately struggling with identity drug addiction and depression a few years later came a cover of the song but it wasn't another young up-and-coming rock band with their own version it was a man near the end of his life a man who had largely faded from being the country music icon he once was what was unexpected was the new meaning this man brought to Trent's original lyrics and even more so how much extra weight and emotion this man added the man was Johnny Cash and it became his own interpretation of the song Hurt [Music] by the early 90s Johnny Cash had fallen from Grace he spent much of the 1980s increasingly marginalized chasing Trends instead of setting them and ultimately Colombia his record label of 25 years dropped him at the same time he was recovering from a drug addiction relapse and health problems started creeping in Johnny's future in the music business was looking Bleak it was after a show in 1992 where Johnny was approached by a young and hot record producer with an idea to help Revitalize his career Def Jam records co-founder Rick Rubin was at that show and saw a still vital artist who didn't deserve an early Sunset Reuben offered to sign him but Johnny was cynical at this point why would Johnny sign with this rap rock producer well Rick had an idea and he said what I would do is let you sit down before a microphone with your guitar and sing every song you want to record and I said you're talking about a dream I had long time ago but came in the relationship was the spark that led to a set of four albums throughout the 90s and early 2000s known as the American recordings they were all critically acclaimed and gave Johnny relevance to a new younger generation Johnny's wish to record any song he wanted meant that he did a lot of covers and by the early 2000s him and Rick had developed a method in which they decided to gather which ones they would end up recording now instead of like CD at 20 songs or 25 songs I had hurt on one of the ones that I sent him and he didn't respond to him usually if he didn't respond we didn't go back to it you know and that one I remember I sent it again and I put it first on the next on the next CD when he listened to CD again he didn't respond I said check out that first song and I really feel like that one could be good that song Rick was so insistent on was from Nine Inch Nails it was their hit from 1994 hurt in the early 90s Trent rezner rented out a Los Angeles house to write and record a new album it was the famous house where Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered by the Manson family in the 60s rezner was not in a good spot emotionally he was struggling with his Newfound Fame and his sense of identity to cope with his depression he wrote a brutal depiction of self-loathing and emotional numbness that begins hurt myself today to see if I still feel resner later called the song A Valentine to the sufferer he sings the verses quiet and intimately followed by the chorus where it feels like Trent's releasing all the pain he feels inside of him The Bleak chorus was a reflection of how Trent valued his self-worth at the time and his deep loneliness I've always had a sadness and a sense of Abandonment I think haunting me and never feeling like a fit in anywhere and always feeling like an outsider it's not rational it just happens often when Trent was later approached with the idea of Johnny Cash covering the song he was understandably unsure Not only was heard an extremely vulnerable Peak into his insecurities but having an old country music singer doing it might feel gimmicky ultimately Trent was still flattered a man of Johnny's stature would do it so he gave the go-ahead Johnny's version was more Bare Bones acoustic guitar with tasteful touches of organ and piano allowed Johnny's aged and weathered voice to cut through but it's clear that age didn't take anything away from Johnny's greatness his weakened voice allowed him to convey emotion in a deeper way and you believe the wisdom he's espousing when you're 20 years old talking about regret it's heartbreaking but it's heartbreaking in a different way because you have a whole life to figure it out when you're looking back over your life at the end of your life with regret it's Brutal by the end Johnny's vocal becomes distorted as you feel them get louder and more passionate about regret his weakened voice becomes shaky if I could start again would change the meaning of hurt and what would lift it to a whole other level was the music video directed by Mark romanick it unfolded like a mini biography blending archival footage home movies and a performance as strong as the song itself aware that he had little time to shoot the video Mark flew to Tennessee to meet Johnny and found the perfect location at a cane Museum built in Johnny's honor the house of Cash Museum in its Mark uncovered stacks of old footage a light bulb went off when one of the first reels he watched showed a young Johnny riding a train there was something about the footage of Johnny as a young vibrant man cut to him near the end of his life in a weathered old Museum that was powerful it really upset me and it really affected me and I thought it was beautiful but it was so unlike any video I'd seen before and so extreme that it really took my breath away and not in a good way it I I didn't know how to handle it three months after the video shoot Johnny's wife June Carter Cash died Johnny himself died months later just under a year after the release of that album with hurt on it it would end up being Johnny's first album to achieve gold status in the U.S in more than 30 years but it's hurt that has continued to stun listeners to this day hurt is a prime example of how powerful music can be what was originally intended to be morose insecure and intimate was a song juxtaposed with the country legend that was beautiful emotional and introspective even though an industrial rock band like Nine Inch Nails penned this dark song that read like a suicide note it transcended genre to prove that ultimately the song Only deals in one currency genuine heartfelt emotion at the end of the video cash silhouetted by a harsh yellow light closes the lid of the piano and rests his wrinkled hands on top of it at that point Trent's Valentine to the sufferer became Johnny's swan song what I wasn't prepared for was what I saw and it really then wasn't my song anymore you know I would find a way

Channel: Loudwire

Views: 3,605,697

Keywords: greatest cover song, loudwire, johnny cash, hurt, nine inch nails, johnny cash hurt, nine inch nails hurt, hurt cover, best cover songs, trent reznor, hurt song, rock, metal

Id: 2Z9pB4yI-BQ

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 22 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/krokus_headhunter]

No, it's still All Along The Watchtower.

But Johnny is great don't get me wrong.

[u/Patrecharound]

It’s in the top 2 or 3, for sure.

[u/AutoModerator]

Your submission was removed because it looks like you're posting music without a correct title.

The correct format is:

Artist Name - Song Name [genre] (optional year) Optional extra text

Check your post now. Does it have spaces around the dash " - ", and does it have the [genre]?

Forgetting these points are almost definitely why it was removed.

An example of a correct title:

 Damu the Fudgemunk - Tea Thyme [instrumental hip-hop/funk] (2010)    

You will need to delete this post before submitting again (click on delete above).

---

If you are not posting music, please resubmit with the appropriate tag in the title:

{non-music audio} for audio submissions that are not music
{non-music video} for video submissions that are not music

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/LoveCats-]

Yes, along with Tainted Love and Sweet Dreams.

[u/snackcake]

Faith No More - Easy