KRT CAMPUSCountry legend Johnny Cash, known worldwide as the Man in Black, died Friday at age 71. He passed away as the result of respiratory failure three days after being discharged from Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee following the case of pancreatitis that kept him from attending the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month, where he had been nominated in several categories for his latest video, a haunting cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.”
Johnny Cash is one of the legends of country music and also of early rock and roll, having recorded at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. His early work with the Tennessee Two was a study in powerful minimalism, his distinctively gruff voice over stark backing. His earliest singles, “Hey Porter” and “Cry Baby Cry,” failed to chart to his liking, but were followed by the top five country hits “So Doggone Lonesome” and what is perhaps his most well-known song “Folsom Prison Blues,” containing one of the greatest lines in the history of popular music-“Killed a man in Reno just to watch him die.”
Johnny Cash earned his nickname at his first performance at the Grand Ole Opry, where he and his backing band dressed in all black in an era where spangly rhinestone getups were the order of the day. His attitude was proven-Johnny Cash did things his own way.
After his early work with Sun, Cash jumped ship to Columbia Records, where in the late fifties and early sixties he released a series of successful singles and albums. After problems with drugs, he fell out of the public eye, divorcing his first wife Vivian. Converting to Fundamentalist Christianity, he married the love of his life, June Carter of the folk all-stars Carter Family, who would remain by his side until her death earlier this year in May due to complications from heart surgery. June Carter Cash nursed him through his addictions and as his faith was cemented, his comeback was sealed by one of the most successful albums of his career, “Live at Folsom Prison.”
There, the Man in Black performed in front of hardened lifers and death row inmates. Few musicians could have commanded such respect from such outlaws, who cheered the most loudly for “Folsom Prison Blues.”
Throughout the rest of his career, Cash hosted variety shows, made an innumerable amount of albums in many different styles, starred in films and television shows, and toured constantly. Surprisingly, though, he did not win a Grammy until his second comeback, which was championed by American Recordings/Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin. “American Recordings,” released in 1994, introduced the Man in Black to a whole new generation of fans with covers of such diverse artists as Leonard Cohen and Danzig, as well as standards like “Long Black Veil” and “Delia’s Gone.” “American Recordings” won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Cash thanked the record establishment by issuing a trade ad with the caption “Johnny Cash and American Recordings thank you” with a picture of Cash giving them the finger. Even in his sixties, the Man in Black still did things his own way.
Cash released three more albums with Rubin-“Unchained,” “American III: Solitary Man,” and “American IV: the Man Comes Back Around.” “Unchained” produced an unlikely hit with a cover of Soundgarden’s grunge anthem “Rusty Cage,” while the title track to “Solitary Man,” a cover of a Neil Diamond tune, won Cash another Grammy. “American IV” produced Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” the video of which, directed by Mark Romanek, depicts Cash and his wife in all of their old age, intercutting past glories in effectively. Though the video did not win at the Video Music Awards, it is a haunting document, all the more so after the deaths of Cash and his wife. His rendition of the song is incredible.
The fact that Cash made relevant music and videos at 71, just before his death, confirms his legend for all time. Nearly every rock subculture claims the Man in Black as its own. Punk rockers love his attitude and disdain for the music industry. His early work with the Tennessee Two was minimalism at its finest and would influence groups like the Velvet Underground. Rockabilly would not have been the same without him nor would mainstream country. Outlaw country and the recent alt-country movement also could not have existed without the precedent set by Cash’s mixture of country and rock attitudes. Even rapper Wyclef Jean has cited Johnny Cash as an influence, performing one of his songs in a country version as a tribute to Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” on his VH1 Storytellers special.
The Man in Black’s music touched many people. The music world is less complete because of his loss, but his contributions will live on forever.