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"
