I like everyone else, is sad to hear about the death of Johnny Cash, he was a great performer. He started his career in Memphis, Tennessee, my home town. My father (the same age) said that Cash used to sell vaccum sweepers for Sears.
How did Johnny Cash get involved with diverse acts like Nine Inch Nails and Glenn Danzig? I wouldn’t think his tastes reached that far into the spectrum so it surprised me when he and Danzig were doing music together. he also did a cover of “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode! How did Cash get into Generation Y music and the Industrial sound?
I heard George Jones (another country hero) listens to the Stones to listen to Kieth Richards, but that’s another story. Imagine George Jones and Johnny Cash at a party together. How many of us would survive?
I think producer Rick Rubin was probably heavily involved. He produced Cash’s four albums of cover versions, “American I-IV”, but has also been active as a producer and record label boss in the metal and rap worlds, so I’m assuming he helped bring songs to Cash’s attention. It still shows a lot of Cash’s qualities that he was prepared to listen to these songs and work them over in his own way.
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that his tastes weren’t that diverse. I don’t know about Cash in particular, but from reading interviews with other notable musical personalities then I know that many have pretty broad tastes – certainly much broader than those of much of their fan base. I can think of several 1960s rock gods who’ve expressed an interest in rap music, so it wouldn’t stun me to learn that Johnny Cash had some interest in industrial music.
Also, remember that JC’s music ranged from “I’m going to kill my father.” to gospel. We tend to lump music of an era together when in all fairness he pretty much spanned the spectrum in his day.
I’m more confused about why you’d call Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Danzig “Generation Y” than concerned about Cash’s music tastes. I mean these guys were performing while Generation Y was still in diapers. Danzig was in the Misfits in the 70s. Speak & Spell was released in 1981. And Trent Reznor is 38, hardly Gen Y.
It could be as simple as people in the music industry bumping into each other from time to time. From looking at the coverage on CNN’s website, it would appear that Hank Williams Jr and Kid Rock arrived at Cash’s funeral at the same time…if they got to talking with each other, who knows what could come of it (shudder).
The American Recordings aren’t all covers, BTW. The best track on the first one was the Cash original “Delia’s Gone,” for example.
Cash always had wide-ranging tastes. Before ever working with Rubin, Cash had collaborated with Dylan, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Elvis Costello, U2, and Paul McCartney, and covered songs by Joni Mitchell, the Rolling Stones, Springsteen and Ray Charles.
I heard a snippet of an interview with Rosanne Cash on NPR sometime in the last three months or so that might shed a little light on it. She had a song that she asked her father to do with her as a duet. His response was – let me hear it and I’ll see if I think I can do it (paraphrased of course).
Her explanation of this followed along these lines:
He always wants to be sure he can bring some integrety to a song – if he can emotionally and as a performer bring some honesty to it.
I think that explains some of it. He really connected with the songs he did. Rubin didn’t just say – hey, why don’t you record “Hurt”? Insead they would review songs and choose.
BTW: I’ve loved Delia’s Gone since I first heard it and I’ve been singing it for three days now (off and on). Get that stuck in your head and mumbling singing to yourself in the line at the grocery “First time I shot her/shot her in the side/hard to watch her suffer/but with a second shot she died” You get the oddest looks.