"Hurt" - NIN vs. Cash
 

To comment on this you obviously need to have heard both versions - the Nine Inch nails one, and the Johnny Cash cover.

Which do you like better?

I heard the Cash cover first..and I really liked it. But I have to say, after hearing the original, I think it's superior. Not vastly, but quite some.

I made this a non-poll so people will write instead of just vote. Am interested to hear your opinions.

I've got to go with the original version, but the Cash remake is about as good as they come. :up:

If we're just going by the song itself, I would pick the original NIN version.

However, if you throw the video into the equation, then I might give the edge to Johnny Cash. His Hurt video is incredibly moving.

The Hurt video (Cash) is very moving and I love the NIN version but the soul that Johnny put into his recording is haunting. truely an amazing record.

Both are great. No need to make a competition out of it.

I think my favorite version of the song might be the Live version on the Ann All That Could Have Been cd. The video of the Cash version however is amazing however. So auditorily I give the win to NIN but visually The cash/Romanek version wins.

http://www.monkeyouttanowhere.com/qu.../12_11_15.html

In Other Words: Trent Reznor : Rolling Stone

Original is great and Cash sang it like it was his song.

I read in an article that Trent will never sing Hurt again in concert because he thought the Johnny Cash cover was perfect.
he said, there's no way he could put feeling into like Cash did.

Sad Kermit. All the way.

The Cash version (especially the video) just seems like one of the most emotionally moving songs I have ever heard. I would have to go with it.

First thing I thought of.

But I like NIN.

I love NIN, but Cash's rendition, you could feel the 'pain' much more. I dunno, it made it so much more real.

So I say Cash.

NIN period... especially the 5.1 version on the dvd audio or the sacd!

I'm not sure when this article came out, but he's played it at pretty much every concert up to their most recent one, a few months ago. I do know he's stated it's "not his song anymore", but I don't think he's ever said he wouldn't play it live again. He did say he wouldn't ever play With Teeth live again, which I believe. That song is terrible.

NIN's version is better to listen to, Cash's version is better with the video.

same as many others:

song - NIN
video - Cash

both are GREAT.

Hurt was always my least favorite track on "The Downward Spiral". For me, the Johnny Cash version was a revelation.

Well, I think he's wrong in that statement. I don't doubt that he's paying some lip service to Cash with a statement like that. Reznor's version of Hurt is just as compelling to me, actually more compelling because it's about his own life.

We all love Cash and it's sad that he died. If he were still alive, I doubt this would even be a topic.

Cash's cover is so painful I can't watch the video without tearing up ... and that was when he was alive.

The track itself, NIN is the one to beat.

But as for the video, since NIN didn't actually put out a Hurt video (was a live video, if I recall) the Cash one is definitely up there. Makes me tear up every time I watch it.

Ok, again: Song: NIN, Video: Cash

Not to take anything away from NIN, but Cash's version is the best.

Johnny Cash.

It always seemed like just another song until Johnny Cash made it so much more than it was.

Cash

I have to go with Johnny Cash here. Trent Reznor's version (which I do like) was essentially a teenage song of despair. Cash turned it into a personal elegy and invested more emotion into it than Reznor has been able to up to this point in his life. Who knows, when Trent is older he might be able to come close to Cash's version.

The original is the best, since, you know, Trent wrote it and all, and I grew up on NIN. That said, Cash's is still good.

I like both versions but after watching the video for Cash's I was hit with one thought... he is ready to die and is watching his life go before his eyes.

Then I forget how much later (half-year or so?) I hear that Johnny passed away.

I agree that Cash's version is the better of the two. When NIN released the Downward Spiral, I was 25 and one year away from hitting rock bottom with my alcoholism and drug use. The song did have some meaning for me and I connected with the song. However, it wasn't until I watched the Johnny Cash video did I truly connect with the song in a deeper way. Seven years into my sobriety, I could reflect with a clearer head how my addictions "hurt" myself and others around me. I could see how other people my age - and even younger - have all passed me by in achievements and career because I was too busy getting high and drunk. I believe I cried the first time I saw the video.

The Nine Inch Nails version has always been a killer song to me, but it's hard to top Cash's version. I still choke up whenever I watch the video or listen to the song. Not many artists can take a newer, well-known song and make it a whole new living creature, but Cash did.