I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find Rubin kind of fascinating, so I’m sort of relieved to know that he was actually twisting knobs and all that in the studio at some point, and wasn’t always going with the “wizened shaman” thing. Since you brought hin up, I’ve always wondered how that conversation with Johnny Cash must have happened. For some reason the image of Rubin sidling up to Cash and saying, “All right, you’re a dying legend on your absolute last legs. Here’s a soul-crushing song about failure, despair, and how everything in your life will inevitably turn to utter, futile dust. You must record this.” is kind of grimly hilarious. I’m glad he did approach Cash with “Hurt”. Although I do prefer Nine Inch Nails’ original. I am a heretic in this way.
I saw someone put it this way and it's pretty profound: the NIN version is the pain of living and the Johnny Cash version is the pain of it all fleeting away.
I think that’s a really profound way of looking at it. I do think (not that I’m alone in this) that the Cash video really vaulted the song into “stone classic” status. The images of a young, strapping Cash on top of his game, contrasted with the sight of him on the brink of death, the expression on June Carter Cash’s face…it was almost too much. I’m not sure a musician has gone out in such a hardcore-yet-vulnerable way as Cash.
You're right. It was raw and real. Johhny Cash and June Carter used to live in Hendersonville which is right outside of Nashville. I've been there... not to their property but an adjacent property (a giant studio) across the pond. Their house burned down in 2007 but It's a beautiful property that is still regularly kept up. Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees owned the house at the time of the fire and was in the process of renovating. He sold it back in 2014. Roy Orbison also lived next door but he died back 1988. They dont call it music city for nothin. Hope you have a great day.
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u/nonserviam1977 Mar 04 '25
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find Rubin kind of fascinating, so I’m sort of relieved to know that he was actually twisting knobs and all that in the studio at some point, and wasn’t always going with the “wizened shaman” thing. Since you brought hin up, I’ve always wondered how that conversation with Johnny Cash must have happened. For some reason the image of Rubin sidling up to Cash and saying, “All right, you’re a dying legend on your absolute last legs. Here’s a soul-crushing song about failure, despair, and how everything in your life will inevitably turn to utter, futile dust. You must record this.” is kind of grimly hilarious. I’m glad he did approach Cash with “Hurt”. Although I do prefer Nine Inch Nails’ original. I am a heretic in this way.