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Nathan Davis

Dr. Freeland

English Composition 2

February 20, 2021

“Hurt” Essay

A song on Nine Inch Nails’ 1994 album, The Downward Spiral, called Hurt, was written

by Trent Reznor, the frontman of the alternative industrial rock band. The band started in 1988

and performances/concerts have been likened to that of a theatrical performance with specialized

lighting, visual and dramatic events. The music video for Hurt, like their concerts, contained

many of these elements with a focus on being alone, sad, or struggling. Later in 2002, Johnny

Cash recorded a music video for the same song, Hurt, for his album “American IV: The Man

Comes Around.” Johnny’s health was rapidly declining and it is believed that the song’s

reference to depression resonated with Cash at this time. Hurt has the same words yet different

meanings towards different generations. One exploring the sadness of aging and death after a

fruitful and joyful life and the other exploring the complications of youth and depression.

Reznor wrote and performed Hurt during a time in his life when he was depressed and

references self-harm and addiction. Some feel the song “acts as a suicide note written by the

song’s protagonist, as a result of his depression, while others claim that it describes the difficult

process of finding a reason to live despite depression.” The video was done at a live performance

that was recorded in Nebraska. Many visuals, a time-lapse film, a spotlight, and a scrim were

used in making the video.

The second video was done with Johnny Cash as the artist, after gaining permission from

Reznor, who thought the “idea sounded a bit gimmicky.” This video was done using vanitas, a
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symbolic work of art showing one’s life and that death is imminent. It shows a montage of shots

from the past and present, of Johnny Cash in his youth and his later years. The video was shot in

Johnny’s house where he lived for nearly thirty years and also showed flashbacks of his museum

in Nashville.

The earlier recording is done by a young Trent Reznor who was 29 years old at the time

with a great deal of his life still yet to come. He admitted to struggling with depression, social

anxiety, and writer’s block. He had been suffering from alcohol and drug addiction as well. The

video shows war atrocities, a nuclear bomb test, and survivors of the Battle of Stalingrad, all

things that to him and his generation of people were “bad” at the time. He was young, writing

the song in his bedroom. and not liking himself. In contrast, Johnny Cash was 71 years old, in a

“radically different era/genre”. Johnny sang the song after a time in his life where he was able to

look back at the things he had done and not just see the “bad” but also glimpses of the joy. For

example, you see his wife June in the video as well as pictures of him from his youth when he

looks happy. These two videos show that what could be happening to one in his early years can

be similar to what may happen later in life as well.

The feeling of being alone was prevalent in both videos. Reznor reveals that he was

“totally isolated and alone” while in his room writing the words. This alone is about how he is

feeling, depressed. His grandmother had just passed and he felt alone in the world. He felt alone

in where he was living, and needed to get out of small-town America and to somewhere bigger

or where things were “happening”. He is not alone in the physical sense in the video as the rest

of the band is with him, but the spotlight is on him directly giving the viewer the sense that he is

the only one present. Johnny Cash is also alone or feeling that way as he reminisces about those

things that he had in his past that are no longer with him. The video shows a picture of an
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elderly lady, possibly his mother. He too is singing without others around and yet, his wife

makes a cameo appearance, giving the sense that there are others, like with Reznor.

In contrast to Reznor, Johnny’s video version has joyful moments or vanitas within the

montage of video clips. Johnny is able to reminisce about his past and in many of the clips, the

smile on his face is uplifting. For example, he is smiling while with his wife when they are

younger, laughing on a train, and smiling by a riverbank. He can look back on his life and know

that there were times of happiness. Unlike Reznor, he has yet to see any of those joyful times as

his life has not yet had time for many happy memories. Hopefully, the joy is yet to come for

Reznor and after seeing how Johnny Cash’s video portrayed this, he too can see that even though

he was once depressed, there were times that he could look back on now and see some joy.

“The song is about realizing consequences and regrets, wishing things had been different

and we could change past choices that we made” and the videos for both artists portray this.

These videos are emotionally appealing with the use of pathos for a wide range of audiences. In

Trent Reznor’s video, he appeals to his audience with the use of the war scenes, dying soldiers,

and the exploding bombs. In Johnny Cash’s video, he too uses pathos but also a bit of ethos.

Ethos is credibility and it shows in the video with flashbacks to his past and what made him

famous and iconic. The emotional appeal is done with the flashbacks as well, but more

importantly with the use of him sitting at a large dining table set for many without anyone else

present. Audiences drawn to these two videos, therefore, are from a wide variety of ages and

with a variety of life experiences.

Both videos, made at two different times in each man’s life depicted a unique vision into

how each was feeling. They were both in pain and hearing these words, “My empire of dirt, I

will let you down, I will make you hurt” let us know that. Reznor’s pile of dirt at his time was his
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addiction and depression. Johnny Cash’s pile of dirt was his legacy that was now ending.

However, unique to Johnny’s video were those moments of joy that Reznor has yet to

experience. Both videos sharing the same words, with obviously different audiences and distinct

times in their lives.

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Works Cited

“Be a Global Citizen.” Subscribe to Read | Financial Times, Financial Times, 29 July

2019, ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/hurt.html.

Goodman, Paul. “Johnny Cash: ‘Hurt’, The Story Behind The Video - Spinditty - Music.”

Spinditty, Spinditty - Music, 22 Feb. 2011, spinditty.com/genres/Johnny-Cash-Hurt-The-

Story-Behind-The-Video.

“Hurt (Nine Inch Nails Song).” Culture Wikia, 17 Apr. 1995,

culture.fandom.com/wiki/Hurt_(Nine_Inch_Nails_song).

“Trent Reznor Age, Hometown, Biography.” Last.fm, 2021,

www.last.fm/music/Trent+Reznor/+wiki.