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Hurt (Nine Inch Nails song)

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For other songs with the same name, see Hurt (song).
"Hurt"
Song

"Hurt" is a song written by Trent Reznor, first released on Nine Inch Nails' 1994 album The Downward Spiral. In 2002, "Hurt" was covered by Johnny Cash to critical acclaim; it was one of Cash's final hit releases before his death. Its accompanying video, featuring images from Cash's life and directed by Mark Romanek, was named the best video of the year by the Grammy Awards and Country Music Awards.

Single

Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" was never produced as a commercial single for the public. However, a promotional single was distributed, containing censored and uncensored mixes; the main difference being the line "crown of shit" is changed to "crown of thorns" for radio purposes. The disc, Interscope Records PRCD 6179, is labeled "Halo Ten," like the earlier "Piggy" promotional disc. Neither is considered an official Halo, Further Down the Spiral being the official Halo Ten.

Track listing

  1. "Hurt" (Quiet version) Clean – 5:04
  2. "Hurt" (Live version) Clean – 5:15
  3. "Hurt" (Album version) Clean – 6:16
  4. "Hurt" (Quiet version) Soiled – 5:21
  5. "Hurt" (Live version) Soiled – 5:15
  6. "Hurt" (Album version) Soiled – 6:15

Chart positions

Music video

The music video for "Hurt" is a live performance that appears on Closure and the DualDisc re-release of The Downward Spiral. The audio portion appears on the UK version of Further Down the Spiral.

A scrim had been dropped in front of the band on stage, onto which various images, such as war atrocities, a nuclear bomb test, survivors of the Battle of Stalingrad, a snake staring at the camera, and a time-lapse film of a fox decomposing in reverse, were projected to add visual symbolism (depicting various images of death, destruction and loss) to the song's subject matter. A spotlight was cast on Reznor so he could be seen through the images. Compared to the live renditions performed on future tours, this version most resembles the studio recording with its use of the song's original samples.

There are also official live recordings on the later releases And All that Could Have Been and Beside You in Time. Each version features distinct instrumentation by the varying members of the band in the respective eras.

Live performance

During the Dissonance tour in 1995, when Nine Inch Nails opened for David Bowie, Bowie sang "Hurt" in a duet with Reznor, backed by an original melody and beat. This served as the conclusion to the dual act that began each Bowie set.

During the Fragility tours, the progression was performed by Robin Finck on acoustic guitar rather than on piano.

Since the 2005–06 Live: With Teeth tour, Nine Inch Nails has been playing "Hurt" in a more toned-down style, featuring only Reznor on keyboard and vocals until the final chorus, when the rest of the band joins in.

The song was brought back to its original form during the Lights In The Sky tour in 2008, before returning to the toned down style on the 2009 Wave Goodbye Tour.

Johnny Cash's cover

"Hurt"
Song
B-side"Personal Jesus"
"Wichita Lineman"

Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" was released on his 2002 album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Rick Rubin, producer of Cash's American series and a friend of Reznor, suggested the song to Cash. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help) The line "crown of shit" was changed to "crown of thorns", like Reznor's censored-for-radio version, not only removing profanity from the lyrics, but also more directly referencing Christ. The cover was posthumously released on a single with the B-side "Personal Jesus", a cover of the Depeche Mode single.

Reznor said that when Rubin first asked if Cash could cover his song, he was "flattered" but worried that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky." He became a fan of Cash's version, however, once he saw the music video.

I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.[1]

The cover was given the Country Music Award for "Single of the Year" in 2003. It ranked as CMT's top video for 2003, #1 on CMT's 100 Greatest Country Music Videos the following year, and #1 on the Top 40 Most Memorable Music Videos on MuchMoreMusic's Listed in October 2007. As of September 2009, the single occupies the number one spot on Rate Your Music's Top Singles of the 2000s.[2] The song is also Cash's sole chart entry on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, where it hit #33 in 2003 [3]. In June 2009, the song was voted #1 in UpVenue's Top 10 Best Music Covers.[4]

The music video won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. The house where Cash's music video for "Hurt" was shot, which was Cash's home for nearly 30 years, was destroyed in a fire on April 10, 2007.[5]

In July 2009, this version of Hurt was voted in at number 60 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of all time, Australia's largest music poll.

Track listing

  1. "Hurt" – 3:38
  2. "Personal Jesus" – 3:21
  3. "Wichita Lineman" – 3:06

Other covers

"Hurt" has been covered by other artists in addition to Cash, including the following.

  • Peter Murphy, on some live performances.
  • Tori Amos frequently sang three or four lines of the song as an introduction to other songs during her Dew Drop Inn tour in 1996, most frequently "Caught a Lite Sneeze", and then again in 1998, as an improvisational bridge.
  • Breaking Benjamin
  • Sheryl Crow covered the Cash version on the television special Tribute to Johnny Cash.
  • Matthew Good, acoustic tour 2006.
  • Gregorian arranged the lyrics into a medieval Gregorian chant.
  • Kermit the Frog is featured in an unauthorized parody called "Sad Kermit".
  • Aaron Lewis of Staind covered the song during his 2007 Have Guitar, Will Travel solo acoustic tour.
  • Luna Amara
  • Jeff Martin did a full cover in an acoustic set at the W2 in Holland. He also reversed the lyrical point of view and implemented in to mixed track that consisted of his songs Psychopomp and Requiem which he released on the "Live at the Corner" record.
  • Montezuma's Revenge
  • Placebo, at the House of Blues in California in 2003.
  • Damien Rice, by inserting lyrics from the song into his live performances.
  • Underoath played it acoustic live.
  • Sevendust did a cover as a tribute to Johnny Cash on their Southside: Live Double Wide CD/DVD.
  • Westside Connection sampled the main riff for their song "The Gangsta The Killa and The Dope Dealer".
  • Anathema have covered the Johnny Cash version several times live, including during their appearance at the 2007 Download Festival.
  • Eddie Vedder covered the Johnny Cash version live on his 2008 solo tour.
  • Absurd Minds covered the song on their 2006 EP The Cycle.
  • Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas played an acoustic cover of the song, for a BBC Radio 2 session. Although originally by Nine Inch Nails, the arrangement was based on Johnny Cash's. Later appeared on a Napster Sessions EP.
  • Christy Moore performed a live version on his DVD Christy Moore Live in Dublin 2006 with Declan Sinnott, again based upon Johnny Cash's cover.
  • Fightstar played it on a radio 1 rock show session based on the Nine Inch Nails version.
  • The New Shining covered the song on their Album Supernatural Showdown
  • Portuguese fado singer Mísia covered the song on her album Ruas (2009).

References

  1. ^ Alternative Press #194. September 2004.
  2. ^ "Top Singles of the 2000s". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  3. ^ Billboard - Artist Chart History - Johnny Cash
  4. ^ "UpVenue's Top 10 Best Music Covers". Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  5. ^ "Fire destroys Johnny Cash home". Retrieved 2009-08-23.

Further reading

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