He's the type of person that never truly dies. He changed music and pop culture forever and will always be remember. But it still is hard to believe.
Folks, there will be no semi-detracting statement made about Mr. Cash today. I simply won't stand for it.
A great musician and a great man. If there's an afterlife, he needed June more than we needed him. Rest in peace.
I remember seeing that ad in Billboard when it came out and thinking, "This is one of the greatest advertisements ever." I was in HMV at the time, and walked right over to Unchained and bought it. Where does Johnny rank among the all-time greatest American contemporary musical artists? I'd say about #3 -- Elvis and Orbison definitely in front of him; Dylan, Buddy Holly, Bruce, and Ray Charles are all in the pack with Johnny.
Only Elvis and Dylan had as much influence (Cash influenced country, rock, folk, and even hip-hop - he was the first gangsta rapper after all). Dylan (who was a close friend of Cash's, BTW) and Ray Charles are on Johnny's level, Elvis is ahead. That's it. Orbison was supremely talented - that voice! - and very much a legend in his own right, but Cash's longevity, influence, and productivity puts him ahead. Holly's career was much too short. Springsteen is brilliant, of course, but - as influential as he is - he's nowhere near as influential as Cash, and he also hasn't been as productive. Louis Armstrong is the greatest and most important American musical talent of the 20th century. Then there's Gershwin and Duke Ellington. After that, there's Elvis, Dylan, Charles, and Cash. Then again, that picture was my avatar a month ago, so I'm obviously in the tank for Johnny.
I was never into Cash cause I guess he's not the "hypest" person to people my age. I guess hes's along the lines of Elvis and the Beattles as being your "Mom's and Dad's" band. But I gotta say that when I saw that hurt video I really got ineterested with a QUICKNESS! The more I hear the more I wonder what the hell I was doing all these years not listening.
Well, if we're talking all of the 20th C., you'd have to put a bunch of people before anybody who hit after 1957 -- Ellington and Gershwin, for sure, but also Richard Rodgers, Benny Goodman, Woody Guthrie, and Sinatra. Right now I'd put put all of them with or above the post-'57 group. But it's probably not fair to have songwriters like Gershwin and Rodgers alongside bandleaders like Ellington and Goodman, alongside pure singers who never wrote anything like Frank. Eh, this should just be its own thread.
People think Elvis is ahead of Cash? No *@#*@#*@#*@#ing way. Unless I'm mistaken, Elvis never even recorded anything he wrote. He just sang it. He sang like a mother *@#*@#*@#*@#er, true, but he didn't write the stuff. Cash was a songwriter, a singer, a poet, a storyteller, and a pistol-fighting son of a bitch.
Metro - get into him. Do you like punk? Rap? Hard rock? Country? Folk? Cash was massively influential in all these genres, not to mention basically every other major musical genre. He was much more than just a badass, but he was the ultimate badass - hardcore before there was hardcore. He was 2Pac before 2Pac was born, Johnny Rotten before there was a Sex Pistols. And you could combine all the icy power of every hardcore line ever written by NWA, Pac, Biggie, and DMX, and it still wouldn't be as coldblooded as "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die".
Folsom Prison Blues I hear the train a comin'; it's rollin' 'round the bend, And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when. I'm stuck at Folsom Prison and time keeps draggin' on. But that train keeps rollin' on down to San Antone. When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son, Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns." But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry. I bet there's rich folk eatin' in a fancy dining car. They're prob'ly drinkin' coffee and smokin' big cigars, But I know I had it comin', I know I can't be free, But those people keep a movin', and that's what tortures me. Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine, I bet I'd move on over a little farther down the line, Far from Folsom Prison, that's where I want to stay, And I'd let that lonesome whistle blow my blues away.
Or "I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down" and "I can't forget the day I shot that bad bitch down". (Cocaine Blues)
When I was in college in the early 80s, I wasn't into Cash for the exact same reason that Metro wasn't. Then one day I hear him on the tape player in the locker room before soccer practice. "Ring of Fire." I couldn't figure out who put him on...usually the Canadians and Americans would get there first and put on punk or new wave, but if one of the Jamaicans got their first, it would be reggae. Turned out it was the Jamaicans. They were into him. Cash hung out in Jamaica and had a home near Bob Marley's. The fact that he and Marley hung out gave him credibility to the Jamaicans, which did likewise for me. Once I got older and got to know my parents better, I could see why Cash meant a lot to them, too.
As nasty as this poster is, there's one that I think is just as good, if not better. I can't find any images of it online (not even through Google), but if you've ever been to Hatch Show Print in Nashville, you'll know the one I'm talking about - they sell reproductions of it. It's very simple, just a block print concert poster from what must have been a show in the early 60's (I'd guess) in Minneapolis (if I recall correctly). It's a young Johnny Cash, looking both lean and extremely mean, simply standing with his guitar at his feet and staring with what must be one of the coldest, hardest looks I've ever seen. There is no way to tell if he is about to play the guitar or bludgeon you with it.
Hello, I'm (not overrating) Johnny Cash. He was a damn good baritone that was a middlin songwriter. Knew where to find the help, though. Produced one great album in the past 35 years. Better than most. June Carter saved his life and ruined his music. Personally, I would have preferred he come out with one more masterpiece circa 1970 -- then flame out. June Carter be damned.