I am dust and analogue

Gary Numan's resurrection from post 80's gloom continues to rise. After his long period in an exile of "use to be a pop star" the recent album 'Splinter' has placed this affable man right back at the centre of the charts. It's a good thing that class will out. It doesn't always happen but it couldn't happen to a nicer guy... and you can also be sure he's sick of hearing that. Thing is being a moody bastard aint Gary's style even though his recordings are dripping with moody emotions.
This latest single I Am Dust" taken from of his 'Splinter' is one of the best tracks on the album. Produced by a genuinely moody bastard Trent Reznor, Numan's voice lifts the familiar Reznor synth heavy ostinato beats from a cry of desperation into yell of celebration. There's always been an echoe of Berlin era Bowie triumphant freedom with Numan's vocals and it always sounds so bloody uplifting. It might be a familier sound in Numan's music but it's not one anyone else can or does touch. It is simply Gary Numan's sound.

The video for "I Am Dust" has had extra attention too, and in direct contrast to the state of the art sound this has been made from an analogue source -

Directed by Logan Owlbeemoth with effects by Omebi Velouria, this video was made using a Tachyons + video glitch synth effected live via a HI-8 camera and a CRT television to create triply, blurry, VHS-style images of Gary Numan as he sings the song. In a nod to Gary's analogue roots, no computer post production was used in the making of this video.

But then Gary was always from the MTV generation of artists and this suits the whole thing perfectly, and also in keeping with the present psychedelic retake that's being seen more often.
It must all be giving the man an enormous boost to his confidence. Still relevant after all these years. Couldn't happen to a... (stop that ! - ed)

trent reznor's hurt

In Steve Chick's 2005 interview for Kerrang! magazine, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) reflected on his self-destructive past: ."There was a persona that had run its course. I needed to get my priorities straight, my head screwed on. Instead of always working, I took a couple of years off, just to figure out who I was and working out if I wanted to keep doing this or not. I had become a terrible addict; I needed to get my shit together, figure out what had happened"

In 1994, Nine Inch Nails had completed The Downward Spiral album and Reznor's resulting collapse began a 5 year battle to rehabilitation.
Of all the songs included in the albums scream of pain 'Hurt' stands out as an image of a gun to the head in bottomless despair to a final end.
The song went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award as best Rock Song in 1996.

In 2002 Johnny Cash was to record his version of 'Hurt' for the album American IV: The Man Comes Around. If his fans were to be taken aback by his decision to cover Reznor's tale of self destruction it was nothing compared to the fact that Cash would be making this song the final statement to his own life. It would become virtually a self written obituary or epitaph.

The resulting video that accompanied the track was directed by former Nine Inch Nails collaborator Mark Romanek and in it he captured Cash both in his youth and older years.
In a montage of shots of Cash's early years the imagery of fruit and flowers in various states of decay symbolises both his legendary past and the hard reality he saw as his present life. His final days.
At the age of 71 Cash had serious health problems which can be seen in the video and he died just 7 months later on September 12th, 2003.
Also seen in the video is his wife, June Carter Cash who was to pass away just 3 months after her husband.
The shooting of the video was done in their home of 30 years, and as if a foreseen hand of fate would complete this poignant tale the house was destroyed by fire some 5 years after their deaths.

The story of 'Hurt' is moving and compelling. To date a staggering 91 million viewers have seen the video on You Tube.
The final words go to Reznor (for Alternative Press. September 2004) on Cash's 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"