In 2003, Johnny Cash released a cover of Nine Inch Nails’ song “Hurt.” Cash’s version reinterpreted the industrial-rock song as a stark, intimate meditation on regret, aging, addiction, and mortality.
Nine Inch Nails originally released “Hurt” in 1994 on the album The Downward Spiral. Johnny Cash recorded his version for American IV: The Man Comes Around, his 2002 album produced by Rick Rubin. It was issued as a single in 2003 and became one of the final major recordings of Cash’s career. Instead of reproducing the original’s abrasive electronic atmosphere, Cash used a restrained arrangement centered on piano, guitar, and his weathered voice.
The accompanying music video, directed by Mark Romanek, contrasted archival images of Cash’s life with footage of the aging singer at home and in a museum-like setting. June Carter Cash also appeared in the video, filmed shortly before her death in 2003. A common mix-up is assuming Cash wrote “Hurt”; the song was written by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. Cash’s cover became so closely associated with him that many casual listeners encounter it before the original.