Hurt

Nine Inch Nails landed in my lap when I was 15. I guess every teenager has their NIN phase, so I was just another stereotypical teenager in that regard. I remember first listening to Pretty Hate Machine when I was over a friend’s house doing homework. Kasha was my lab partner and a great friend at the time, we were both a part of a small clique of loyal friends trying to survive the wilds of High School. And that is where I first heard “Hurt”. Something about the song evoked a powerful emotional response that I still feel today anytime I hear the song.

Then a couple years ago, I heard the Johnny Cash cover of Hurt, and it took that emotional response up a notch. I didn’t think it could go higher, but I was wrong. Johnny Cash’s guitar and the somber age and timber of his voice turned it into something so much more powerful and core shaking. I listen to this song today, and it immediately releases a flood of memory and emotion. It’s one of those odd triggers that everyone has. For some it is a smell, or a sight, or a name… but for me it is “Hurt.”

And it is just as moving today as it was 13 years ago in Kasha’s basement.