Song Showdown: When Gamecats Cry

"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures) 02/08/2016 at 13:00 • Filed to: Song Showdown, To Break A Gamecat

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You knew it was coming. No, seriously. You knew it was coming.

First a quick recap of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of Song Showdown, where Bob Seger attempted to defend his song “Turn The Page” against Metallica. Man, people were passionate about this one, with a whopping 90 votes in all. Bob led from the get go, but Metallica did manage to keep it exciting, at one point trailing by just three votes. But in the end Maximum Bob took an 18-vote victory over the cover. Special mention to Party-Vi for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! though.

Now to the round at hand. While we will (probably) visit Down in It and Wish later in our subseries “how to break a Gamecat,” we’re starting off with the obvious one and pitting Nine Inch Nails against Johnny Cash for the better version of “Hurt.” The Nine Inch Nails original is one of the band’s most powerful songs (especially !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), despite being the virtual opposite of their standard loud, fast, and aggressive sound. Cash’s cover though is so haunting it even moved Trent Reznor upon his first listen.

“I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore...”

This one’s a tough one, folks.

Nine Inch Nails - 1995

Johnny Cash - 2002

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And if you haven’t voted in the Iron Maiden civil war you have two hours until the polls close on that one!

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Nibbles > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:10

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Hard fuckin’ sell. I think The Man in Black wins though, if just by a hair.

Stapleface > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:10

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As I said before (sorry Gamecat), I dig the NIN version. But Hurt is now Cash's song. No one will top his version.

HammerheadFistpunch > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:11

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Sorry gamecat, but cash’s hurt rocked my world something fierce.

CalzoneGolem > HammerheadFistpunch 02/08/2016 at 13:15

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The whole American Recordings series was epic even by Cash standards.

CalzoneGolem > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:16

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I’m not sorry. Cash is the best and this song represents some of his best output imo.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:19

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Johnny Cash’s version is the only song up to this point in my life where I’ve sat in a “wow” silence after listening to it. Even Trent Reznor agrees. The sheer power of his emotion coming through kind of makes you lose yourself for a little bit.

Shamoononon drives like a farmer > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:22

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I voted Metallica last time, but this time I have to go with the old guy. Really, NIN?... No no no.

Xyl0c41n3 > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:26

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Depends on the mood... If I’m feeling angry hurt, then NIN’s version. If I’m feeling existential hurt, then Johnny Cash’s version. But the seesaw teeters more heavily towards Cash’s rendition, because FUCK! It’s amazing.

Sorry, Gamecat.

The Transporter > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:32

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Hands down, Cash’s version of both this and Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage”.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:44

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Sorry, Gamecat.

spanfucker retire bitch > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:45

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Nine Inch Nails, without question.

Birddog > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 13:58

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Cash all the way. It’s deep enough to be bone chilling.

Ike > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 14:02

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I love NIN but I have to say Johnny cash’s version of this song is just a little better. Even Trent said that its “Johnny Cash’s song Now” -source my one way to into NIN friend. So grain of salt

NIN -9.8 out of 10

Cash 9.9 out of 10

Wacko > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 14:13

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NIN hands down.

It’s the original, It’s the one That I would listen to on my walkman and car tape player, then cd-player then on mp3.

It’s the album I listened to when i started driving in 1995.

Cash is a good tribute version.

Wacko > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 14:25

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Also NIN with David Bowie

RallyWrench > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 14:55

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They’re both great, but the man in black kills this one, and I think Trent agrees.

Dusty Ventures > Wacko 02/08/2016 at 15:01

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I almost used this version

FKA-RacecaR > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 15:43

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I was just listening to Downward Spiral yesterday/last night/this morning. I had forgotten how good of an album it is. I was wondering if Hurt had ever been one of these song battles on here. I figured it had just happened while I wasn’t around. Guess I was wrong.

I listened to that album on repeat when it first came out, and much after. Then I even got down to listening to a few songs only on repeat (Hurt, A Warm Place, and The Downward Spiral mostly). That whole album got me through A LOT.

Now as for Hurt, after hearing Mr. Cash sing it, it was like a brand new song. After multiple listens, I came to the conclusion that when Mr. Reznor wrote this song years and years ago, he was writing it for Mr. Cash, he just didn’t know it.

I am a huge fan of the original, but the Johnny Cash version wins hands down.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 17:01

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Cash. NIN is great and all but cash killed it. It’s also fun trolling rednecks by telling them that Cash is the original emo and referencing that song.

Hoccy > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 18:10

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Johnny Cash was an expert in singing songs with sad lyrics and a humble melody, that could fit in both if happy or sad. Hurt is not one of those songs. It is a lived life, carefully and emotionally wrapped into a song. The song was written by someone else, but Cash turned it into something that touches you everytime you listen to it, something with more depth. Comparing with NIN, that version seems more like a scratch in the surface. It’s not completely too late.

fhrblig > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 18:42

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I like both versions equally, but for completely different reasons. It’s a draw.

RTeeJay > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 18:48

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Johnny Cash by a mile. If I wanted to listen to a guy talk in that breathy, quiet tone, I'd be watching a skin flick right now.

DrJohannVegas > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 20:33

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I gotta disagree with gamecat, which hurts me. You oughta know that I spent some time thinking about this one.

“Hurt” is Trent’s song in a way that no other NIN track is, and nothing Cash covered on American Recordings was for the respective artist. At the end of a album full of autobiographical misery, “Hurt” is the abrasive punctuation on an album full of pain. The old man puts in a legendary performance, and on the whole, it may be the better one in isolation. Any cover version of “Hurt” is going to come up short for me.

Full Disclosure: Downward Spiral is one of a handful of albums I’ve splashed out for on SACD, like a rube. No regrets.

Dusty Ventures > DrJohannVegas 02/08/2016 at 20:39

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If you’re team NIN then you’re agreeing with Gamecat, not disagreeing.

DrJohannVegas > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 20:44

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Yep. You’re right, and I am illiterate. Doesn’t bode well for attempts to do a bit more work tonight, it seems.

edit: Also, if I hadn’t borked it, my clever word games at the top would have been harder to craft.

Agrajag > DrJohannVegas 02/08/2016 at 21:27

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gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 22:21

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nest week who did it better

Gamecat235 > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 22:30

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I just need to spoof 29 IP addresses to swing this vote back to NIN.

Curse you Dusty! Also, like I told the others, I understand why Cash’s version is as amazing as it is. And why most people would elect to pick it as their favorite. But it’s far too personal to me, and I spent far too long living with The Downward Spiral for it to lose anything, and though the myriad arguments for Cash’s cover are legitimate and hard to rationally argue, this isn’t a rational decision for me. This is passion. And Hurt, in its original, and live forms, are simply perfect. And until that feedback closing simply washes over you while a goddamn video montage destroys your brain, after you are exhausted from a concert of epic highs, you might not see it like I do.

Gamecat235 > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 22:32

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Well, time to start banning people.

Dusty Ventures > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 02/08/2016 at 22:40

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You know Vanilla Ice owns the rights to both songs now, right?

Busslayer > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 23:38

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I voted for Cash as well. This song made me a Johnny Cash fan. I don’t have any love for country music otherwise. It is cliche, but he has soul.

I also like his version of DePeche Mode’s Personal Jesus.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dusty Ventures 02/08/2016 at 23:57

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just the publishing rights. Queen and bowie estate still are the owners get 50%. Though it kinda makes me

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dusty Ventures 02/09/2016 at 00:02

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hey some future ones. respect Otis redding aretha franklin,

behind blue eyes, the who,

hero

all along the watch towers

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Dusty Ventures 02/09/2016 at 20:16

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I think what is tough is that these two songs are are so different.

Xyl0c41n3 > DrJohannVegas 02/11/2016 at 19:37

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No ragrets!

Gamecat235 > Dusty Ventures 03/02/2017 at 19:01

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What if I just randomly banned all the people who voted for Johnny Cash here? Without warning, notification, or fanfare? How long would it take to figure it out? I’m going with... never.

Dusty Ventures > Gamecat235 03/02/2017 at 20:05

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I have a solution. If you ban everyone you can guarantee you’ve successfully banned everyone who voted for Cash

Gamecat235 > Dusty Ventures 03/03/2017 at 02:23

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