Johnny Cash and Trent Reznor

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it is normal for young artists to do old songs.(Christina Aguilera) it is also normal for old artists to do dead man’s songs. (Rod Stewart) Christmas and Eid songs dont count. it is a fine thread to tip toe on because it isnt easy.

hence my admiration for their efforts that might have ultimately bombed (west life) or succeeded (harry connick jr). and i am talking about critical success here.

however there havent been old people doing young people’s song. well not too many at least. Tom Jones once did. it was admirable. ok, maybe i am being a bit frugal here. it was good considering a few flabby generation gap factors. however it was more gimmicky.

meanwhile in 1998 (i think) Herbie Hancock released an album called The New Standards. it is an exercise that calls for a revision of the Fake book, the Quran of Jazz music that documents popular music. hence in comes Nirvana, Prince, the Eagles, Simon and Garfunkle etc. it was a philosophical exercise in music and doesnt even touch the scent of gimmicks.

hence there was a vacuum, that is, until Rick Rubin, the music producer, and Johnny Cash came along.

contrary to neo-conservative American Bush philosophy and policies, America is a country built by rebels. the religiously persecuted (Salem Massachusets), the adventurers (gold rush and Theodore Rosevelt), Einstein (Jewish-German exile), Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X(civil rights movement), Muhammad Ali (jailed for refusing military draft), Luke Skywalker and Han Solo (Jedi Knight and Smuggler)… the list goes on.

however, the most important rebellious figure of all is George Washington, the first American President. his role is a bit more complicated but it is safe to say that he was the pain in the British Royal Army’s ass. and my god, it was a bloody american birth.

Johnny Cash epitomised the rebeliousness in music. he is the ultimate MAN.

Country music had turned back on the people who defined the genre and had gone too ‘pop’ for his liking. instead of retaining the essence, with all due respect to her overesposed fanny, they have become Britney Spears-like in its music.

cue Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash.

the result of that collaboration was eclectic and electrifying. mostly stripped down to the bare musical essentials (piano, acoustic guitar, percussions, a sprinkle of drum) out churned covers from the likes of Depeche Mode, U2, Tom Petty, Sting, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails etc. yes you read it right.

it is pop music gone country wrong and pretty much goes into Debbie Does Dallas territory.

the defining moment is in the song Rusty Cage by Soundgarden. on Soundgarden’s original, at the end of the song, Chris Cornell would scream ‘i wanna break my rusty cage’ in the usual metal-rock wail. in Cash’s version, he goes two octaves lower.

different modes. same conviction. same rebellious rage. back of the hair stands.

so give it a listen. it is an experience that you’d never forget.

his liner notes in one of the American Recordings series (the collaboration with Rubin) contains that infamous middle finger picture photograph . although it was taken way back, during the Folsom Prison gig (i think), it subscribes to his long standing policy rebeliousness and the turning back of country music towards the pioneers of country music.

come to think of it, it is much unlike American policies, domestic and foreign at this time.

so to all of ya, in the spirit of Mr Johnny, here’s a double edged ‘fuck ya.’

Album of the day: American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cage

Finger Acrobatics Perfomed by Avloomat at 1216Hrs

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