Today’s NYT Magazine profiles noted record producer Rick Rubin who Sony has put in charge of Columbia Records in an effort to reinvigorate their music business. Though for much of his career Rubin produced hard core metal and some rap albums, he has also achieved notice for his work with Tom Petty and the Dixie Chicks (and received several Grammys for the latter). He produced the first Beastie Boys album, and helped create Audioslave (and also produced a well-known criminal procedure fact pattern song).
One of the most interesting aspects of Rubin’s career (at least to me) was his work with Johnny Cash. Rubin virtually re-invented Cash, helping reintroduce Cash to a new generation of listeners, with albums that were stark and authentic. Among other things, Rubin encouraged Cash to cover songs by artists outside of his oeuvre. Perhaps the most notable of these was Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” As with many of the Rubin-produced singles, Cash made the song his own (something that was not lost on NIN’s Trent Reznor once he heard the song). A video of the Cash version is here. A taste of the lyrics is below.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everythingWhat have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
The original NIN version is here.