I'm sure you know the guy, "The Man In Black". I've been listening to quite a bit of Johnny Cash lately. I only have a couple of albums, but they are truly excellent. While I see him often labeled as straight country, I've always seen him as a country musician/storyteller. Anyone else a fan?

I haven't really say down and listened to Johnny Cash but I know what he stood for and how much of an impact he had...I have listened to At Folsom Prison...

I know only some songs but I like all songs what I know

His cover of "Hurt" (by NIN") is one of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

I listened to lots of folk last summer... Melanie, early Bob Dylan and of course Johnny Cash... all hail redneck music!

Written by Stigmatized on 19.02.2008 at 23:22

His cover of "Hurt" (by NIN") is one of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

I agree, Trent's cover was the perfect ending to the desolation of The Downward Spiral.
I like a few songs by Cash but could never fully embrace his voice.

Written by Introspekrieg on 19.02.2008 at 23:59

Written by Stigmatized on 19.02.2008 at 23:22

His cover of "Hurt" (by NIN") is one of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

I agree, Trent's cover was the perfect ending to the desolation of The Downward Spiral.
I like a few songs by Cash but could never fully embrace his voice.

I personally dislike NIN and the original version of Hurt. I think Johnny Cash's voice fits the tone of the song better.

Written by Stigmatized on 20.02.2008 at 00:03

Written by Introspekrieg on 19.02.2008 at 23:59

Written by Stigmatized on 19.02.2008 at 23:22

His cover of "Hurt" (by NIN") is one of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

I agree, Trent's cover was the perfect ending to the desolation of The Downward Spiral.
I like a few songs by Cash but could never fully embrace his voice.

I personally dislike NIN and the original version of Hurt. I think Johnny Cash's voice fits the tone of the song better.

Wow, I was under the impression that "Hurt" was originally a Johnny Cash song, learn something new everyday. All respect to Johnny Cash for his decent choice.

Far as I know, someone recommended that Johnny cover the song. Since the song fit some of the hardships Johnny himself faced in life, it was a good fit. It's especially popular due to him making the cover shortly before he died. Trent Reznor was supposedly mad about the cover at first, since it was a personal song to him, but after seeing the video Cash made for the song, he said it wasn't his anymore.

His live performance at San Quentin prison is one of the best live performances ive heard regardless of genre. and hurt is a TURBO depressive song. my friends wrote a parody to that song and dedicated it to me and my self destructive habits.

All i can say is i've only heard his cover of Hurt, originally by NIN, and i really prefer his version to the original. the original is kinda boring, same tempo all throughout it so i actually stopped it befroe the end of it. but Cash's version o the other hand is pretty nice, imo. it starts 'speeding' up slowly and somehow he manages to give the song the feel it requieres because of the lyrics, so i really liked that. probabaly that's why i like it so much

I have one album by him (I don't know is that real album or some 'the best') and I am listening him all time this few days and he is really great.I like song 'A boy named Sue' great song.

I don't really like to consider him 'country'. Mainly because if I accept him as country then that means there is a country artist that I actually don't mind. That being said, it seems to me that there is a big difference between Folk guys like Cash and the putrid sounds spewing forth from pop/country stations. Differences like: Talent, playing ability, and songwriting.

Written by Introspekrieg on 20.02.2008 at 00:14

Written by Stigmatized on 20.02.2008 at 00:03

Written by Introspekrieg on 19.02.2008 at 23:59

Written by Stigmatized on 19.02.2008 at 23:22

His cover of "Hurt" (by NIN") is one of the most powerful pieces of music I've ever heard. Check it out if you haven't heard it.

I agree, Trent's cover was the perfect ending to the desolation of The Downward Spiral.
I like a few songs by Cash but could never fully embrace his voice.

I personally dislike NIN and the original version of Hurt. I think Johnny Cash's voice fits the tone of the song better.

Wow, I was under the impression that "Hurt" was originally a Johnny Cash song, learn something new everyday. All respect to Johnny Cash for his decent choice.

really really really late response to this...

wikipedia on Trent's response to the cover:

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. 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.

The music video was directed by Mark Romanek who sought to capture the essence of Cash, both in his youth and in his frail older years. In a montage of shots of Johnny's early years as an icon , twisted imagery of fruit and flowers in various states of decay, seem to capture both his past and the stark reality of the present.

Romanek had this to say about his decision to focus on the House of Cash museum in Nashville.

"It had been closed for a long time, The place was in such a state of dereliction. That's when I got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of Johnny's health, as candid as Johnny has always been in his songs."

At the time of filming Cash had serious health problems and was 71 years of age. His frailty is starkly evident in the video, and 5 months later he would die.[1]. Hurt is now considered Cash's epitaph.

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."

Written by Got Mayhem? on 10.05.2010 at 14:58

I don't really like to consider him 'country'. Mainly because if I accept him as country then that means there is a country artist that I actually don't mind. That being said, it seems to me that there is a big difference between Folk guys like Cash and the putrid sounds spewing forth from pop/country stations. Differences like: Talent, playing ability, and songwriting.

This actually made me laugh. I'm reading Cash's autobiography at the moment and, aside from it being a nice read, it's funny how he states several times that he grew up on country music, wanted to play country music, enjoyed country music above anything else and wanted to be considered a country artist, and although he doesn't say it properly, he makes it very clear that it pissed him off when people mentioned that he wasn't a country artist (anymore). Don't you piss the man in black off, young man

Am I the only person here or in the metal world that totally hates all of Johnny Cash's music?

I really love the fact loads of metaller LOVE folk but say they hate country... country is just a sort of American folk, nothing more, nothing less.

Well, you're the person with the worst taste in music outside of metal like, evah, so it's not surprising you don't like him.

I agree with the second part of your post though. I guess a lot of people like Johnny Cash only because of his work on the American recordings. I wonder how many would still not despise the guy had he only made his old country stuff.

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.05.2010 at 17:48

Well, you're the person with the worst taste in music outside of metal like, evah, so it's not surprising you don't like him.

99% of all mui outside of metal sucks

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.05.2010 at 17:50

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.05.2010 at 17:48

Well, you're the person with the worst taste in music outside of metal like, evah, so it's not surprising you don't like him.

99% of all mui outside of metal sucks

No, you suck. And doom metal sucks too. So do The Village People.

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.05.2010 at 17:52

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.05.2010 at 17:50

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.05.2010 at 17:48

Well, you're the person with the worst taste in music outside of metal like, evah, so it's not surprising you don't like him.

99% of all mui outside of metal sucks

No, you suck. And doom metal sucks too. So do The Village People.

But you like doom metal

Did I say I thought The Village People were any good? nope. Yes, I have some of their work. Btw, Donnie & Mary Osmond RULE as do Anita Ward and Donna Summer

And that proves my point three posts up

Be very careful with what you say lest the fanboi in me rises up and starts spamming again.

Country might very well be an Americanization of folk, or rather a twist on it. Of course, America has plenty of it's own more traditional folk as well. Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, and a whole bunch of other performers for whom i don't have any interest.

Johnny Cash was, undoubtedly, country.

Johnny just occupied an odd place in the market, which is perhaps why the Country establishment never totally embraced him. On one hand he was a patriotic, God-fearing Christian. On the other hand, he was part outlaw, connected/empathized with in a level with the "dregs" of our society, and even did some time himself for a drug addiction.

i think those same reasons are why he is so popular, aside from his actual talent itself. he can appeal to both the upstanding citizens as well as the rebels.

And Collin, I think the American recordings with Rubin helped function as a gateway, drawing a new crowd in... but i think that most like his old stuff as well. His best songs are the old ones... "Folsom Prison Blues", "I Walk The Line", "Ring of Fire", "Boy Named Sue", "Ghostriders In The Sky" amongst others.

Written by Deadsoulman on 27.05.2010 at 16:12

Written by Got Mayhem? on 10.05.2010 at 14:58

I don't really like to consider him 'country'. Mainly because if I accept him as country then that means there is a country artist that I actually don't mind. That being said, it seems to me that there is a big difference between Folk guys like Cash and the putrid sounds spewing forth from pop/country stations. Differences like: Talent, playing ability, and songwriting.

This actually made me laugh. I'm reading Cash's autobiography at the moment and, aside from it being a nice read, it's funny how he states several times that he grew up on country music, wanted to play country music, enjoyed country music above anything else and wanted to be considered a country artist, and although he doesn't say it properly, he makes it very clear that it pissed him off when people mentioned that he wasn't a country artist (anymore). Don't you piss the man in black off, young man

I'm sure he'd be fuming if he were to be reading this . I suppose, for Mr. Cash's sake, that I will concede that I do in fact enjoy a country artist, just not a pop country 'artist'.

Written by Got Mayhem? on 28.05.2010 at 03:01


I'm sure he'd be fuming if he were to be reading this . I suppose, for Mr. Cash's sake, that I will concede that I do in fact enjoy a country artist, just not a pop country 'artist'.

yeah, country has gone "pop" in many regards, but there has always been a dark undercurrent associated with it that metal and punk musicians should be able to appreciate.

i remember reading Al Jourgenson of Ministry (and a country project, Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters) recalling a country star, Hank Williams, once wanted to hit the "local" bar for a social few with his buddies. his wife took the keys, as he was drunk... so he fucking hopped on his ride on lawnmower and drove 20+ miles into town.

that's PFR and \m/ at the same time.


********* CORRECTION! **************

was not Hank Williams, but George Jones. quoth his wiki page:

One of the best known stories of Jones' drinking days happened when he was married to his second wife, Shirley Corley:

" Once, when I had been drunk for several days, Shirley decided she would make it physically impossible for me to buy liquor. I lived about eight miles from Beaumont and the nearest liquor store. She knew I wouldn't walk that far to get booze, so she hid the keys to every car we owned and left. But she forgot about the lawn mower. I can vaguely remember my anger at not being able to find keys to anything that moved and looking longingly out a window at a light that shone over our property. There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition.I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did."

In her 1979 autobiography, former wife Tammy Wynette recalled waking at 1 AM to find her husband gone:

"I got into the car and drove to the nearest bar 10 miles away. When I pulled into the parking lot there sat our rider-mower right by the entrance. He'd driven that mower right down a main highway. He looked up and saw me and said, 'Well, fellas, here she is now. My little wife, I told you she'd come after me.'"

Jones later jokingly sang of the lawn mower incident in his 1996 single "Honky Tonk Song", and parodied his arrest in the music video.

Not really a fan, but Ring of Fire is an awesome song. So is his cover of Hurt.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 27.05.2010 at 17:00

Am I the only person here or in the metal world that totally hates all of Johnny Cash's music?

If we ever meet face to face, you will be slapped.

Johnny Cash was the man. I love his voice.

I previously knew only the "God's gonna cut you down" song, but now i've also listened to "Ain't no grave" which is a pretty similar track and JC nails both, i love how sincere and "real" his voice is. whatever his intention was with the lyrics as they are quite ambigous, this is definitely the real shit going down right here. those 2 tracks also have this sort of primal, extremely simple rhythm to them and create a really great atmosphere together with the lyrics and make you "connect", there's something raw and gritty as hell to them.

Amusing anecdote... when Mrs COld and I were tromping around the Roman Forum this past fall, we're standing there near the Curia, looking at 2000 year old ruins and i hear this familiar shuffling riff out of the background.

boom-chick/bom-chick/boom-chick/bom-chik

at first i think i'm just hallucinating it, but as we continue to move towards Julius Caesar's grave, it's unmistakable now. there was a band set up on the street above playing "Folsom Prison Blues". i had to wonder if they changed that immortal line of the song to "But I shot a man in Roma just to watch him die."

Hehe.

He's not my favorite country/folk artist (he's been pretty prolific with all kinds of styles, so I can see why people wouldn't call him country all the time), but he's pretty great. I got At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin. The new American stuff is good too, I'm particularly in love with When The Man Comes Around and Solitary Man, the songs. Both superior to Hurt, IMO.

My favorite classica country artist is probably Willie Nelson. The Highwaymen did some great work, too. There's plenty of great alternative country out there today, though. The Handsome Family, 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand particularly.