Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor has revealed that hearing Johnny Cash‘s cover of his song ‘Hurt’ for the first time felt “like someone kissing [his] girlfriend”.

Reznor added that the 2002 cover matters much more to him than industry accolades like the Grammys.

Speaking to The Sun‘s Something For The Weekend, the frontman said: “[Producer Rick Rubin] called me to ask how I’d feel if Johnny Cash covered ‘Hurt’. I said I’d be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.


“Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive.”

Reznor also hailed Cash‘s cover as a great honour, saying: “Having Johnny Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, want to cover your song, that’s something that matters to me. It’s not so much what other people think but the honour that this guy felt it was worthy of interpreting.

“He said afterwards it was a song that sounds like one he would have written in the 60s and that’s wonderful.”