10 Good Songs That Were Made AMAZING By Their Music Video
1. Hurt - Johnny Cash
As the millennium turned a corner, Johnny Cash had nothing to prove to anyone. For almost half a century, he had been the face of outlaw country music, with his notorious Man in Black persona being synonymous with the modern American rebel. By the time he got to making the video for "Hurt," we saw a different character come to fruition.
Originally written by Nine Inch Nails, Cash truly made the song his own with its stripped-back instrumentation subdued vocal delivery. The way that Cash inhabits the song about a man dealing with his regrets seems all the more potent when spoken through his gruff baritone.
The song is already an emotional powerhouse on its own, but the video Cash made for it was even more poignant. As the camera connects different periods of Cash's life together, you realize that you are looking at a man who has lived more lifetimes than much of us can even hope for. The tragic sense of loss in the tune is made all the more pointed once you realize that Cash passed away shortly after this was filmed. "Hurt" may not have been a Cash original, but the way this video depicts him makes the song feel like the ideal sendoff for the Man in Black.