Johnny Cash — 'Hurt' Music Video, House of Cash, Hendersonville

Johnny Cash's music video for 'Hurt' (2003) — his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song — was filmed at the House of Cash museum in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and at Cash's home on Old Hickory Lake. Directed by Mark Romanek, the video shows a visibly frail 71-year-old Cash surrounded by decaying memorabilia from his career, intercut with archival footage of his younger self. June Carter Cash, who would die three months after the video was filmed, watches him from a staircase. The video is widely regarded as the most emotionally devastating music video ever made.

The House of Cash had been Cash's personal museum, housing decades of memorabilia, gold records, and artefacts from his career. By the time of filming, the museum had been closed and was in disrepair — a circumstance that Romanek incorporated into the video's imagery of faded glory and mortality. The footage of Cash's trembling hands pouring wine over a banquet table of uneaten food, juxtaposed with clips of his commanding younger performances, created a meditation on ageing, regret, and the passage of time that transcended the music video format entirely.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has said that seeing Cash's version made him feel the song was no longer his own. Cash died on September 12, 2003, four months after June's death. The 'Hurt' video won the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video and is consistently ranked as one of the greatest music videos in history. The House of Cash building in Hendersonville was severely damaged by fire in 2007.