Johnny Cash Trivia

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During his early shows the "Tennessee Two", he would frequently make mocking introductions of his bandmates. He would introduce laconic guitarist Luther Perkins, who was secretly terrified of performing in public, and add either that he was in "rigor mortis" or that his pulse had been checked beforehand to make sure he was still alive. Then he would introduce bassist Marshall Grant, who would usually hop around and dance with great energy as he chewed gum at shows, as "playing the chewing gum." (imdb.com)

The video for "Hurt", from the album "The Man Comes Around" was voted greatest music video ever made accoridng to a panel assembled by the UK newspaper "The Guardian". (imdb.com)

Is portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line (2005). (imdb.com)

Stepfather-in-law of Nick Lowe. (imdb.com)

Brother-in-law of Ray Liberto. (imdb.com)

His older brother (the sibling Johnny was closest to as a child) died in a horrible accident involving a buzz saw when Johnny was young, and it was never clear whether it was accidental, suicide, or even murder. Wracked with guilt, Johnny, by most accounts, never got over the death (it was a little-known, personal obsession of his to investigate the incident) and it is widely thought that his dark world view was shaped by it. (imdb.com)

He had assumed in his younger days that he was mainly Irish and preferred to think he was at least partially Native-American. However, upon researching his ancestry, he found he was of completely Scottish heritage. As a matter of fact, he found records of direct ancestors in Scotland who shared the name "Cash" dating back to the 16th century. (imdb.com)

Backed by the "Tennessee Two": Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins. Later named: The Tennessee Three, with W.S. Holland (drums) added. After Perkins' death, he was replaced by Bob Wootton. (imdb.com)

Cash and "American Recordings" posted a "thank you" to the Nashville country music industry in Billboard Magazine after winning the Grammy for best country record for "Unchained" in the form of the infamous photo of Johnny angrily giving the middle finger to the camera taken back in 1969 during his San Quentin prison performance. Cash did this because he was enraged by Nashville having pretty much left behind him and other aging "country" artists who had defined the genre to make room for the more pop-oriented new country artists, like Garth Brooks. (imdb.com)

Father of John Carter Cash. (imdb.com)

2001: He was awarded the American National Medal of Arts from the National Endowment of the Arts. (imdb.com)

The band Coldplay were supposed to record a song titled "Til Kingdom Comes" with him for their album "X&Y", but Cash died before that. They added the song as a hidden track and dedicated it to Cash. In their current "Twisted Logic Tour" they are playing this song in all the venues in addition to playing a cover of Johnny Cash's famous song "Ring of Fire". On the two nights(6 & 7 September 2005) at Madison Square Garden, New York they also dedicated the song "Til Kingdom Comes" to the victims of hurricane Katrina. (imdb.com)

Along with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, he was a member of celebrated "The Million Dollar Quartet". They got that name because they were money-makers for Sam Phillips' Sun Records Label. (imdb.com)

10/24/03: Stepdaughter Rosey Nix Adams, a country music singer, died. Cause of death was accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from six heaters on her bus. She was 45. (imdb.com)

Father of Kathy Cash. (imdb.com)

He was given the name J.R. on his birth certificate, because his parents couldn't agree on a name, only on initials. He adopted John R. Cash as his given name when he joined the Air Force, which did not accept initials. (imdb.com)

His album, "The Man Comes Around", features his rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt". NIN's frontman Trent Reznor admitted that at first he was angry about the cover, as he wrote it from a deeply personal point of view. However, when he heard the song and saw the video for the first time, he was deeply moved and found Cash's cover beautiful and meaningful. (imdb.com)

He was friends with every U.S. President starting with Richard Nixon. He was least close with the last two, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, because of a personal distrust for both men and because of his declining health. He was probably closest with Jimmy Carter, who was actually a very close friend and distant relation of his wife, June Carter Cash. None of these friendships were about politics, as he never particularly supported any administration but was just friendly with the men. (imdb.com)

Contrary to popular belief, he never served more than one night in prison (he was held in jail overnight once after being caught smuggling 1,163 amphetamine tablets across from Mexico). He actually wrote "Folsom Prison Blues" after seeing the documentary Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951). (imdb.com)

He went through much of the 1970s on a sanctimonious cloud, having associated himself with evangelists, turned his shows into gospel performances where he encouraged people to accept Jesus Christ and condemned blatant sexuality and violence in culture. Cash said in the 1990s that, although his faith remained as strong as ever and many of his songs expressed this, his attitudes had changes and he found his 1970s overzealousness distasteful, having learned to respect that people should have their own beliefs. (imdb.com)

Johnny's "Hurt" was the theme song of WWE's Raw Tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero. The song plays while Guerrero's memorial is playing. (imdb.com)

Mentioned in the song "Life Is a Rock But the Radio Rolled Me" by Reunion. (imdb.com)

He was often at odds with his producers after he had discovered with his first producer (Sam Phillips) that his voice was better suited to a stripped-down musical style. Most famously he disagreed with Jack Clement over his sound, Clement having tried to give Cash's songs a "twangy" feel and to add strings and barbershop-quartet-style singers. His successful collaboration with Rick Rubin was in part due to Rubin seeking a minimalist sound for his songs. (imdb.com)

Cash's career was at an all-time low in the 1980s and he realised his record label of nearly 30 years, Columbia, was growing indifferent to him and wasn't properly marketing him, so to kill the relationship with the label before they did, Cash recorded "Chicken in Black". An intentionally awful song about Johnny's brain being transplanted to a chicken, it ironically turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. However, it wasn't long after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways. (imdb.com)

Father of Cindy Cash. (imdb.com)

His album "Ring of Fire" (1964) was the first country album to ever reach the top of the US pop charts. (imdb.com)

Great-uncle of Kellye Cash. (imdb.com)

When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1972, President Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a Merle Haggard song that negatively portrays youthful drug users and war protesters) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song that derides the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash refused to play either song (he apparently found both songs morally reprehensible) and played a series of his own more left-leaning, politically-charged songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about a brave Native- American World War II veteran who was racially mistreated upon his return to Arizona) and "Man in Black" (which contains angry, anti-war lyrics, which Cash almost certainly wrote about the Vietnam War). (imdb.com)

Stepfather of Carlene Carter. (imdb.com)

Was ranked #1 of the 40 greatest men in country music. (imdb.com)

Among "The Highwaymen", Johnny was old friends (or "blood brothers" as he put it) with Waylon Jennings. Kris Kristofferson idolized Cash and the two become close friends while in "The Highwaymen". Cash was least close with Willie Nelson, but the two were always friendly, despite the competitive eye they kept on one another. (imdb.com)

January 2006: His long-time lakeside home in Hendersonville, TN, was bought by a corporation owned by The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb. (imdb.com)

Brother of Reba Hancock and Joanne Cash Yates. (imdb.com)

In his song "Man in Black" he explained that he wore predominately black clothing to honour and remind others of the suffering of the world's poor and oppressed. (imdb.com)

Is mentioned in the Danish band Nephew's single "Superliga". (imdb.com)

He was voted the 31st Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone. (imdb.com)

His guitarist, Bob Wootton of The Tennessee Three, acted as Cash's stunt double anytime there was a scene that required him to ride a horse because he had a fear of horses. (imdb.com)

Father of Tara Cash (imdb.com)

Although he could bear it, he disliked being defined as a "country" artist, feeling that his music wasn't really genre-defined and noting that he often stood well outside of the Nashville mainstream (particularly towards the end of his career). Technically, his music contains elements of rock 'n' roll, folk music, bluegrass, blues and gospel as well as country-style music. (imdb.com)

Recorded over 1500 songs throughout his career. (imdb.com)

Was a friend of Elvis Presley. (imdb.com)

In the 1980s he found love letters to wife June Carter Cash from Elvis Presley in their attic. Upon finding these, he burned them. (imdb.com)

Godfather of John Keach, the son of Jane Seymour and James Keach. (imdb.com)

Proposed to wife June Carter Cash over 30 times before she finally said "Yes". (imdb.com)

Founded his first band called "Landsberg Barbarians" while being a radio operator of the US Air Force in Landsberg am Lech, Germany. (imdb.com)

Apart from his performances at Folsom Prison and San Quentin, Cash also performed at Österåkeranstalten (The Österåker Prison) north of Stockholm, Sweden in 1972. The recording was released in 1973. Between the songs Cash can be heard speaking Swedish which was greatly appreciated by the inmates. (imdb.com)

His good friend Kris Kristofferson admitted that he wrote his well-known and not-entirely-flattering "Pilgrim" about Cash. (imdb.com)

After his good friend Carl Perkins fell from grace due to a crippling car accident and alcoholism, Johnny took him on a touring guitarist and supported Perkins by performing songs written by him. (imdb.com)

Kingsland, AR (pop. 477), is also the birthplace of Paul "Bear" Bryant, one of the greatest football coaches of all time (University of Alabama). (imdb.com)