Nine Inch Nails - Hurt I Singer Reacts I 

It's amazing how Trent Reznor wrote about his struggles as a young man so perfectly. But his song also worked so well with Johnny who was at the end of his life. Love both versions.

Don't get me wrong, Johnny Cash did an incredible job covering this song, maybe one of the greatest covers of all time. But to me NIN is the better version, Trent Reznor lived this song and the emotion is unmatched.

The thing about Hurt is - it came almost at the end of "The Downward Spiral" - a lot of the previous tracks were outright expressions of anger, frustration and loss, then this comes along.. For me it will always be part of the "story" of The Downward Spiral, it's like the feeling you get when you've cried so much that all the anger and frustration is suddenly gone and you've found peace

This song has been there for me at some of the toughest points in my life. The death of my childhood friend. The death of my daughter. The death of my girlfriend. Times I nearly joined them. It's been there to share my pain and remind me to live my life. Three of the five times I've seen NIN live they played this song and every time is seared in to my memory forever.

This song is so much more powerful when you realize it is about drug addiction. Trent was pretty badly addicted to Heroin around the time he wrote this song.

There is an absolute gem of a video on youtube of David Bowie joining Trent to sing Hurt. Just spectacular. Even with how sad the song is, you can tell how happy and excited Reznor is to be joined by a legend he admires.

Trent is also one of those musicians that writes pretty much everything himself, all the music and all the lyrics, then has a band that plays with him live.

Have seen NIN live a handful of times and every time this song gets played the audience becomes quiet. Like imagine crowd of 1000s of people settling down, raising lighters and just listen at first and (sometimes) after the buildup join in singing the lyrics. This is sooo powerful and sooo emotional. Each time I end up in tears and so are hundreds more. For many people this song is not 'just' a song, it's so much more, as well as for Trent as you can clearly tell by his performance.

Trent gives those emotions every show. He is a perfectionist. He is one of those once in a lifetime artist. From another planet

"Hurt" and "And All That Could Have Been" are the only two NIN songs they hit me right in the heart to near tears. They were the soundtrack to one of the darkest times in my life. 💔A time that is thankfully far behind me but the scars are still felt when I hear these songs.

The live version of this with David Bowie is something otherworldly and you should absolutely listen to it. It has a pretty different arrangement. For some background, Trent Reznor has talked about 'how it felt having his greatest musical influence up on stage with him singing a song he wrote in his bedroom'. David Bowie would later help Trent get clean. Hurt is a song about losing yourself to addiction and was deeply personal for Trent, though he has thankfully been in recovery for a long time. After he saw the video that Johnny Cash made, he said now the song belongs to Johnny. I'd like to think that's because Trent is no longer in such a dark place.

Another sad and very emotional NIN song with raw vocals is "Something I can never have (Still version"). Trent puts is soul into that one too. you would like it

When I saw this live it was amazing. NIN was one of the best shows I've ever been to.

Yea Cash did a whole album of covers including "Rusty Cage" by Chris Cornell. Another great song by NIN is "Something i can Never have." You should check that out sometime.

One of the amazing things about Trent reznor and nine inch nails is that you get his all in every live performance. I have heard hurt live 12 different times and every time it’s like it takes a part of his soul it’s so raw and powerful and it’s almost always the last song of the show. Great video, thank you

Song means so much to so many people, even Johnny Cash. It always takes something out of Trent to perform this, because it's true and how he felt and still feels

The song is so painfully self-aware. NIN has been the soundtrack of my life since 1995. I don't know what that says about me. At least I have always felt there has been someone that understands. Thanks for sharing this.

He is like this every night in concerts for every song. I’ve been a fan since 1990 and have never looked back. I’ve seen him in concert 3 times and I wish it was more. He gives it everything always.

Absolutely love this song. Often he ends a show with this song so I'm sure he's exhausted but also this song is meaningful

Trent's songs and emotions make up a part of me whether I like it or not. I lost my dad in 2013 to alcohol and grew up listening to NIN/seeing them live. He gave up and would constantly play their live performances at home towards the end. No matter how hard I tried to help, I couldn't. I really miss him. Anyone who loves their music and can relate, I'm right there with you and you're loved/not alone.

Uh, that breathy vocal. Just stunning. I love Trent Reznor.

One of the best written songs I've heard. Love NIN from all my heart! I appreciate you reacting to this. I'd recommend sticking to the more raw and emotional songs from NIN for now because I think you'd find more meaning in them than some of the more industrial metal stuff. I'd say next ones could be The Great Below, And All That Could Have Been, Right Where It Belongs and Something I Can Never Have.

I love the Johnny Cash cover but the Nine Inch Nails Quiet Version is my personal favorite version of the song, I can't say why that particular version is the one that gets me the most but it does, it's such a relatable song I hadn't heard this Live performance before but I love it

Another great reaction, Rachel. Such a powerful version of an already powerful song. One everyone can relate to.

Seeing Nine Inch Nails is something else. I saw them the first night of Woodstock 94, and i was on 4 hits of blower acid, and i seriously thought I was in a post apocalyptic world where everyone fended for themselves. I was tripping BALLS. And with NIN onstage, it really sold that total hallucination I was going through.

He's talked a little about it why it's so draining. The album this is from The Downward Spiral was what he later said was written in a time when he was teetering on the edge of addiction and mental health issues. He wrote Hurt one morning when no one was around and had nothing to distract his thoughts. He later said he didn't intend on the album predicting what would happen to him, but it did. He was very flattered about Johnny Cash's cover which is very well documented, but personally I think he was far more ecstatic when his icon David Bowie invited him to headline a tour with him, and they proceeded to duet Nine Inch Nails and Bowie songs together the whole time - Hurt included, which is on youtube if you want to ever watch that. Bowie also ended up playing an instrumental part in getting Reznor out of his addiction problems by showing him he was allowed to be a famous musician and live to an old age and have a life outside music.

With trent you can really feel all the emotions. This is what music is about. True masterpiece.

I would highly recommend the whole Pretty Hate Machine album. Its one of if not thee best album ever produced. It's similar lyrically writing to this song but not so slow. Every song WILL hit you, like he reads your thoughts and feeling and wrote the songs to express you, the listener.

Beautiful analysis. Would love to see you do more Nine Inch Nails reactions! Into the Void and We're In This Together from The Fragile (1999) both have really impressive vocal performances IMO.

I'm absolutely loving the reactions to the songs/band that I "grew up" listening to so far. It's nice seeing someone who'd never heard of NIN before, (I just came from the video of The Hand That Feeds which you said was the first you'd heard of them), appreciate and jam out to them. And I'm absolutely for sure going to be subscribing, cause I've already seen some other songs and bands recommended that I love/grew up listening to that you've reacted to and I gotta check them and the new videos out when they come out. Also, theres a song by NIN you should check out that's one of their most popular and also the most vulgar, called Closer, if you can deal with the subject of the song, it's worth the listen 😂😂.

Keep up the great reactions to great music and expanding the variety of music you listen to and also learning "new" music from these reactions. It's always nice to see someone not only reacting to overly popular songs but actually willing to react to "older" music and like i said, expanding the variety of music you listen to. Also if you don't mind listening to like really old music, there's a song that I always recommend to people who do reactions (tho 99.999999999% of the time the comment either never gets seen or they just choose to not give the song a chance), but it is a wonderful song I promise and not vulgar at all 😂. The song is called Blue Moon by The Marcells and it's such an amazing old school DooWop love song with a "mix" of doo wop mixed with like sort of "acapella" or maybe it could be considered heterophony really, cause its 4 or 5 different guys all singing in different tones and it's been one of my favorite songs since i was about 6 when my Papaw first started playing me DooWop music he grew up on when we'd take our trips to the home football games we'd go to every weekend back in the day. It would just be so awesome to finally see someone I watch finally react to this amazing song and to be able to see someone I enjoy watchings first time hearing such an amazing song. If you like older 50s love songs and such, you will definitely enjoy Blue Moon 100% guaranteed.

I love this so much and the Johnny cover. A little detail that always intrigues me, is the guitar melody in the verses, it has this slight off kilter feel to it, it gives the song a nice, subtle edge to complement the lyrics. Great reaction, thanks.

This song is heroin addiction in a nutshell-feeling hopeless and forever stuck in a vicious cycle of abject horror. I'm so lucky and grateful to be alive and clean today. I just want to say to those who are currently stuck aimlessly wandering-please don't ever give up; you can get clean. And to all who were never able to find their way back home, RIP! 💔🤘🏻❤️♾️

that was awesome!!! more NIN

Trent said anytime he sings the songs from pre 2000 before sobriety it takes him to a dark place….. he’s hands down my favorite artist of all time no one will surpass him

After so long ive still got chills!!

so good. The hesitation marks album isn't covered as much but is absolutely outstanding btw.

I guess that’s why I’ve always loved and identified so much with NIN. They were singing and talking about things that were going through my head things I was experiencing. It’s made it feel like I wasn’t alone.

johnny cash's last few albums had a ton of good covers on it. nine inch nails has been my favorite band since i was 11 and my uncle played me their cassette in 94. beloveddddddddd

This song has so much meaning for folks. Definately different from those with holes and those without. Reminds me a bit of King of Pain.

its such a personal song. this nin song, among a few, make me cry. listen to the studio version, if you have time. its the feeling of just trying so damn hard, and doing all you can do.... and having the person you tried so hard for just walk away.... its soul wrenching to me. i was mad by cash's cover, until i realized its from two completely different perspectives.... his (cash's), now in my mind also amazing. (also your hair is fucking fire, dont stop)

The entire music industry is like that. Some artists write their own, some don't. Trent is an extraordinary song writer!

NIN is a good band and the fact that Johnny Cash covered it definitely left a huge statement in music because he is a frickin’ legend. RIP Johnny Cash ❤ Amazing reaction as always ❤

NIN was my older brothers favorite band. I remember he picked me up from high school and we went to see Marilyn Manson together and I got to party with his college friends. He let me borrow this awesome Nirvana Bootleg called Outcesticide, before the internet was really going and you can hear everything. Unfortunately, I still have it. He overdosed and I never saw him again.

Saw NiN on that tour in 2013. Still the most awe inspiring audio/visual experience of my life

Pls do more NIN. It’s my fav and you do such a good job of lyrical analysis and feeling of the music. I say this as a 30 year fan of NIN. I’ve hated other reactors because they didn’t give bands what they deserved.

Great great performance! Nice reaction.

One of my favorite parts of this song is the background drone/distortion that morphs as the song progresses. They also played with some deep thrumming bass here, which I really felt made it land harder.

After Cash did the cover Trent said it's a Cash song now

Greenday good riddance hits different acoustically just like this does ,both timeless and both awesome!

I bawled when I saw this live

Also check out David Bowie and Trent Reznor doing this song. In the 90’s Bowie and NiN did a tour together where they performed all their songs together. So Trent is singing Bowie songs together and Bowie is singing NiN songs. It was so beautiful

After Johnny Cash did that song Trent Reznor said it was Johnny’s song after that.

This song is so beautiful! I branded myself with a hot scissor listening to it when I was 16

Trent allowed Rick Rubin (producer) to let Johnny cover the song. When he heard the finished product, he admitted it was like "kissing your sister". But when he watched the video, he admitted that Hurt was now Johnny's song, not his any more. I trust you've seen the Perfect Drug video? If not- hop to it! Amazing song and video.

When my sister introduced our parents to this new song she'd heard from a country singer called Johnny Cash, they were like "country's not our thing, don't really know his music, but know of him" and as soon as the song started I was like "oh I know this song" and my sister - knowing the truth - said "oh, did you hear it yesterday? Because that's when it came out" and I said "no I've been listening to it since the 90s" Our parents, of course, insisted that I must be misremembering and that Johnny Cash was a country singer and would never cover a song from one of *MY* favourite bands. So I got my old CD out, checked if they recognised it, let them confirm it's the right CD to match the case, then put it in the CD player and skipped to the right track. Their expressions - and my sister's laughter - were priceless. She only admitted she knew about it in advance and baited them after the fact xD (I fell for it too).

This concert is one of the best live gigs on the internet, I've watched it sooooo many times. ❤

Huge Johnny cash fan fun fact Johnny cash has a lot of covers such as I won’t back down by Tom petty I’m so lonesome I could cry by Hank Williams sr and so many more Johnny cash started in officially the 60s and kept singing and writing till he passed away in 2003 when he covered hurt he put it more into the eyes of a elderly person but in my opinion I can relate more to the original version of hurt NIN because I do believe he wrote it about doing drugs I have lost a good amount of people to drugs and this actually happened to them

The way he was bowing after the song, it looks like the end of the show. If you know much of the rest of his work, he's been belting and screaming his ass off for a couple of hours, then comes out and does the delicate one last. Can't be easy, I'm sure you know.

I remember when I told my nephew that Johnny Cash covered this song from NIN and he said, "You mean NIN covered Johnny Cash." I said, "Nope!" He looked to me incredulously and I knew he didn't believe me, but I let him look it up on his own. So many people who were not around for the tidal wave that was the original just assumed it was Johnny's and now it pretty much is! Even Trent essentially said the same thing. He stated it was like seeing your ex with another guy - it still has meaning and a special place in your heart, but it's his now! That is such a powerful admission by Trent, and you can tell he was both honored and blown away by what Johnny had done. It also shows that you should not limit your musical listening. Think about what NIN was doing in the '90s. Johnny Cash had to have heard that song and said, "That's heavy. That song has tremendous meaning. I want to remake that." A country music icon and legend was listening to a rebellious industrial metal album and was moved to recreate the song. I love that! Good music is just good - expand your horizons and your mind!!!

Masterpiece

I saw them on the With Teeth tour, this stage setup looks like what I saw. Incredible live sound.

Reznor is so good not playing songs too much, which I love. I don't know if he has ever played Perfect Drug live.

Good music gives me the tingly feeling that people describe feeling from ASMR. NIN has always been able to hit hard. Trent is amazing despite past mistakes and struggle.

One of the best songs ever written. Trent Reznor is a genius

Welcome to discovering Nine in Nails. This is not improvised, sounds exactly how the song was recorded. Driving i would listen then flip my cassette, flip it back over to hear play it again. ❤

Trent Rex or is possibly one of the best artists of a generation. When I watch a film I know instantly he has scored it without having to see credits The soundscapes full of emotion tension are just sublime Even the score for Soul which was a little bit more upbeat for him still had you sense more of mystery behind the emotion

It's CRAZY how the same song can be SO different maintaining the same lyrics, just with some changes in the notes and the voice behind.

This song resonates with any depressive issues. Please!!! spot any signs of addiction your loved ones may be experiencing that relates to the NIN version. How fulfilling will it be to save someone close from an early end. Johnny Cash's version is more personally sung, knowing an end is going to hurt both him and his loved ones. Thank you Trent Reznor for a song that is universally applicable! 💯🤘

I would love for you to get into more NIN.

It feels weird to say this, but thank you for choosing to react to this. So many people only react to Cash's cover, which is great cover, don't get me wrong. Many are even aware that it's a cover, but never go listen to the original which is just as powerful in different ways.

The original song is about drug addiction, and how it affects all near him. Johnny covered this, and made it into a goodbye anthem. Both hit hard, and deep

Here is cool story behind Johnny Cash cover. His producer is Rich Rubin is super famous. Co-founder of Def Jam. Producer of Beastie Boys and Run Dmc also LL Cool J. He call Trent and ask if it cool to do the cover. Trent said after he watch the video. It's not really his anymore. Cause of Johnny's history. Which is pretty cool. If you understand the complicated life Johnny live.

This was one of the many songs I saw at the first concert I ever saw.

I first heard this song in 1994 after I bought the Downward Spiral album. I was shocked to say the least. Well when I first heard NIN 2 years prior when I got their 2nd album Broken I was shocked because the pain and anguish that he is singing about yea I was going through that and I could so identify with Trent Reznor. Their music made me feel like I wasn’t alone when at the time at age 14 or 15 I felt alone in a room full of people. I had found drugs like Trent had. And thank god I did. They kept me from killing myself until I could get some help and get on the good drugs like Prozac.

OMG beautiful

I would be absolutely sobbing if I was physically there

There are interview quotes that speak to Reznor's reaction to the cover. It wasn't until after he saw the video and the broader reaction to the song that ultimately he's even quoted as saying "That song isn't mine anymore." (Obviously just speaking to Cash having found such a profound take on what had been a very intimate song for Reznor.) The video is what really sells it--the timeliness of when it was recorded, with June Carter Cash before both she and Cash passed away not long after. Such an intense video. For me it's not like, say, "All Along the Watchtower" where my opinion is Hendrix's cover is now primary and Dylan's original a clear secondary. Reznor's Hurt and Cash's reinterpretation can coincide.

This song was a very personal song for Trent Reznor, which is why you can just feel his pain when he sings it.

I have heard this song more than a thousand times in both versions. But only the Nine Inch Nails version makes me cry.

I will let you down I will make you hurt! I wear this crown of shit upon my liars chair full of broken thoughts I cannot repair. Beneath the stains of time the feelings disappear . You are someone else.. I am still right here.. ugh..... He is basically calling himself what someone made him feel. He is confused by them and wants to die because he should have known better than to trust the other person. It hits home hard for me.

cash covered a lot of songs, he seemed to enjoy doing gospel, and songs from bands miles younger than him. heart of gold and rusty cage are cool too.

Heroin is a hell of a drug. The needle tears a hole. The old familiar sting..

Johnny Cash did a LOT of covers in his later years, all of the American albums (American Recordings through to American IV: The Man Comes Around) are mostly covers. Highly recommend listening through these works in your own time! That last album is from 2002 and has Hurt on it. It is on my top 5 albums of all time, and Hurt is not even my favourite song on it. The whole thing is a masterpiece of folk tunes.

I was at the concert that the original video was shot at.

If you want to have fun with a cover going the other way, Nine Inch Nails covered Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire

Welcome to NIN

From what I understand Trent Reznor ends every show with Hurt. Ive seen NIN live a few times and he ended with hurt each time. It’s like he’s diving deep into his soul and using every ounce of his emotion and energy. Friggin amazing experience!!

You should react to Nirvana Something In The Way. Cobain literally sang the entire song as quiet as he could laying on his back on a couch in the studio. Kinda like this song.

Cash was working with Rick Ruben on his last albums and I believe introduce Johnny Cash to the song.

A little context about the snake...Nine Inch Nails fans aren't just a bunch of weirdos who cheer loudly every time they see a snake. The footage playing behind the band was the original background footage from the 90s. Since then, they used either no background video or different video. So, when they brought back this original background video for this tour in 2013, it felt like a wink and a nod to the older fans.

❤❤❤ you should check out the 94 live version , its black & white ' it's like the back ground he had there

Never heard of Johnny Cash, will have to go check out his version. Love this song

It’s Trents tune. Been listening to them for 30 years. He’s simply the best. Sad folks have no idea it’s Trent

Having been raised by an H-addict...you have no idea how truthful and haunting this song is.

No one comes close to Trent. He’s a genius. With the rawest of emotion. Since listening to him from 1989 until now. So thankful for his tunes. Nothing is better than NIN. Cash covered Soundgarden as well.

I heard this song when I was a teenager in the 90's. You get it.

Ray, you should check out their Former Guitarist band, *FILTER* Check out their song: *FILTER - WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE* That song will make you feel.... something.... 🖤

Cash's version just seems to ooze "sad old man" vibes, while Reznor's gushes with the emotions of relatable trauma. Maybe when I'm past middle-ages Cash's cover will be more relatable. Interesting (and quite the honor to Trent's work) that Cash's career and life finale was a cover of this song.

I've seen them live 3 different times in 3 different states