A World of Hurt Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Downward Spiral

The album was released in 1994 during a period when Reznor was fighting demons of depression, substance addiction, bouts of writer's block and a compulsive quest to achieve perfection in the recording studio. Eerily the opening lines of the song "Hurt", "I hurt myself today. To see if I still feel", and the album's title, "The Downward Spiral" combine to become a reflection of this. If this is by design by Reznor it is remarkable. One cannot begin to imagine the battle and the frustration of having writer's block in one corner and a quest for perfection in the other. In moments like these it wouldn't be too difficult to want to place anything on paper or vinyl or disc, so to succinctly nail the moment in two brief sentences speaks volumes of the man's artistry. If you don't look hard enough it would be easy to identify only the despair in the track, however, "Hurt" proves to be a song of hope. "You can have it all, my empire of dirt" implores Reznor as he paints a picture of a man looking to shed his shackles of sadness and seek a reason to face another day.

"The Downward Spiral" and the band's subsequent "Self Destruct" tour to support it would launch the band to a much wider audience. Initially critics were not enamoured with the album's layered soundscapes and extended song structures but history has been much kinder to it and it is now seen as one of the most important releases of its time.

Answer: It was nominated but did not win

The Grammy honour for Best Rock Song that year went to Alanis Morissette and her breakout single "You Ought to Know". Though NIN did not release the song as a single it garnered enormous popularity and the attention of the Grammys through significant radio airplay. Its reputation may have also been enhanced by the visual symbolism provided by the music video that accompanied the song. These images include the reverse decomposition of a fox, nuclear bomb tests and the devastating consequences of war and its aftermath.

The other contenders for that year's Best Rock Song Grammy included the Bob Dylan track "Dignity", U2 for the song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" and Neil Young for his performance on "Downtown".

Answer: Sharon Tate

Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon moved into 10050 Cielo Drive, Benedict Canyon in February of 1969. Six months later Sharon and four other guests were murdered by the Manson family. Reznor, the house's final resident, moved in in 1992 and immediately set about building a recording studio, which he dubbed "The Pig", on the premises.

The name was a rather macabre reference to Susan Atkin's supposedly scrawling the word pig on the front door of the mansion in blood. Trent was attracted to the solitude that the property presented and he used this environment in which to craft the song "Hurt" as well as the other tracks to appear on "The Downward Spiral".

The significance of the property and the moniker that he'd attached to the recording studio were both lost on Reznor until he'd had a chance encounter with Sharon Tate's sister who accused him of exploiting Sharon's death.

This hit home and Trent soon moved out of the house citing that "there was too much history in that house to handle".

He took the front door with him and installed it in his new studio to serve as a permanent reminder not to take things for granted. Two months later the mansion was demolished and a new one, the Villa Bella, was erected in the site and it now bears the street address of 10066 Cielo Drive.

Answer: David Bowie

The 1995 "Dissonance" tour was a series of dates between Nine Inch Nails (NIN), David Bowie and a support act. For NIN it formed part of their "Self Destruct" tour that promoted their album "The Downward Spiral" and for Bowie it was also the launch of his "Outside" tour.
The show's format would see the support act take the stage first and they would be followed by the Nails. As their act reached a conclusion Reznor would remain on stage and perform five numbers with Bowie and his band, which would provide the opening to Bowie's set to finish off the night. The duets between Reznor and Bowie would generally feature the Bowie tracks "Scary Monsters" and "Hallo Spaceboy" but they would always close out their set with a version of "Hurt". Whilst the concept was quite innovative it didn't really work. NIN and Bowie were a strange pairing with each band's fan base struggling to come to grips with the other performer's sound. Reznor, for his part, was like a kid in a candy shop having idolised Bowie for years and admitting to being influenced by the British genius.

(Postscript) For the fans a live version of the duo performing "Hurt" can be found on Nine Inch Nails' 1997 VHS "Closure". All the other artists above have also had moments with scary monsters; Warren Zevon was notable for his "Werewolves of London", Rob Zombie informed us about "Werewolf, Baby!" and Alice Cooper told us to "Feed My Frankenstein".

Answer: False

When initially asked if Cash could record a version of the song Reznor advised that he was flattered but that this soon gave way to concern that the cover would turn out be something "gimmicky". He began to fear that it would cast a song that was near and dear to him in a negative light. Granting his permission was Reznor's sole involvement in the process with Cash.

There was no collaboration in fact he never even got to meet the man. Two weeks later he received a CD in the mail from Cash, slipped it into a player and listened.

His first thought was one of invasion. It felt like "someone else kissing your girlfriend", that the song was no longer his. Once he got the opportunity to view the video he was moved to say that it was "a powerful piece of art", that it "felt like a warm hug".

Answer: Crown of thorns

Cash installed the word "thorns" in place of a profanity that Trent Reznor had originally written into the song. The profanity did not sit comfortably with Cash but by changing a single word he manages to alter the context of the phrase and uses it to help deliver a different shade to the song. Whether or not Cash deliberately references Jesus Christ with his use of the line is debatable and this writer won't venture an opinion on the matter, however, in light of Johnny's devout Christianity it is not difficult to see how pundits can be drawn to that conclusion. Regardless of how you see that argument the use of "crown of thorns" certainly adds weight to Cash's meditation of regret as equally as Reznor's use of a profanity added a richer texture to the tale of suffering and dark humour that he was projecting.

Answer: True

I could add that it topped the list conclusively by polling twice as many votes as its nearest rival. Liz Kershaw's run-down of the Top Forty revamps had Cash well ahead of such illustrious efforts as Jimi Hendrix's take on Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", The Clash's rendition of "I Fought the Law" and Joe Cocker's update of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends". Polls such as these are fraught with danger and, unless they're viewed against some other form of control data or research, should be taken with a pinch of salt. Matters that could skew these results include immediacy of the song i.e. how recently was it released, how wide the base is that voted, the demographic of the voters and a range of other variables. Cash's version, I dare say is held in high regard as, along with the others mentioned above, it has consistently polled well in tables such as these. An "Observer" poll in 2011 had it at number five, "The Guardian" placed it at number two in 2014 and "Rolling Stone" magazine at number two in 2011.

By the way, that last poll had "All Along the Watchtower" at number one by a "gigantic" margin. Fickle indeed.

Answer: The clip for "Hurt" won Video of the Year

Video of the Year that year was taken out by Missy Elliott for "Work It". Justin Timberlake, whose clip for "Cry Me a River", also beat out Cash for the Best Male Video Award in his acceptance speech declared the result was a travesty and demanded a re-count. The video for "Hurt" was put together in a short space of time by Mark Romanek, who, ironically, had been a long time collaborator with the Nine Inch Nails, and it is a tour de force of Johnny Cash's life. Photographs and footage of a young lad are interwoven with clips of the present day man.

A virile young stud is posted alongside a frail guitar player who appears beaten up by his past. It was filmed in the House of Cash Museum which was in decay at the time. No attempt was made to clean it up, no make-up was applied to Cash, it was a warts and all delivery that was as candid as the man himself.

The end result proved to be a clever juxtaposition between a young bull, the world before him, standing shoulder to shoulder with a fading legend delivering his final confession.

It is a powerful piece of footage that was made all the more poignant by Cash's passing a short time later. The power of the clip was endorsed by the song's creator, Trent Reznor, who stated that it had given him goosebumps and brought him to tears.

Answer: Leona Lewis

The gap between Lewis' second album "Echo" (2009) and her next effort "Glasshouse" (2012) was starting to be too long in the eyes of her management so that they urged Lewis to put forward an EP of covers to maintain the momentum she had generated to this point. Along with "Hurt" Lewis would also record versions of the Goo Goo Dolls' song "Iris" and "Colorblind", originally by the Counting Crows. Lewis manages to give "Hurt" an almost anthem like quality, which makes it suitable for stadium size performances.

In the process, however, she has divided critics and fans. The magazine "Digital Spy" called it "spine chilling" while NME labelled it formulaic and called it "pretty". Leona defended her right to cover the song in the manner she chose. That the song "spoke to her" and that the process of recording it had drawn her out of a dark place that she was in at the time.

Her performance of the song is powerful and she certainly installs some emotive forces into her rendition, however, by delivering it to the masses in such a manner she seems to have diminished the gritty integrity given to it by Reznor and the soul that had been injected by Johnny Cash.

Answer: Progressive (Prog) Rock

Colin Carter formed Flash in 1971 in collaboration with former Yes guitarist Peter Banks. Ray Bennett (bass) and Mike Hough (drums) made up the rest of the line-up. Better known for their touring they had moderate success for two and a half years before going their separate ways late in 1973. A number of attempts to get the band back together during the 1980s and 1990s failed to get off the ground. Bennett and Cooper made an appearance as a duo at the Baja Prog Festival in 2005 and the experience led them to a reformation, with the full band making an appearance in 2009. Their album, "Flash Featuring Ray Bennett & Colin Carter", was released in 2013 and received strong reviews. Surprisingly, their rendition of "Hurt" works really well. Bennett's guitar work is both fluid and aggressive, while Cooper's vocals, lacking the bombast of forty years prior, provide the song with sincerity and warmth.

From Nine Inch Nails' original industrial rock attack to a country styling to a prog rock adaptation it goes to show, not only the resilience of Trent Reznor's creation, that music in many respects is a work of art - it can be interpreted in so many different lights, reveal alternate facets to individual listeners and, if well constructed, can live forever.