Cash's Later Years / "Hurt"

His problems with drug addiction were mostly confined to his youth, but he did still suffer when he went his addictions started again in the 1980s. His dependancy during the majority of his life left him fearful of all medications, and he was diagnosed with a neuro-degenerative disease in 1997, as a result of all his years of drug misuse. 

He fought the disease and still produced music in the form of American Recordings, and his other American albums, which flourished in mainstream popularity after his prominent performance at Glastonbury festival in 1994. Once again breaking all the rules and boundaries in place by conformist genre, he covered the Nine Inch Nails song, "Hurt" in 2002, putting his own powerful spin on a traditional rock song, removing profanities and replacing them with references to his devout Christianity and relationship with religion. The video was intended to capture Cash throughout his life, in youth and in his elder years. The metaphorical decaying fruit in various stages epitomises his legendary life, and the reality of him as a icon. As one of his last songs, he is seen as very frail in the video, and looking back on his life the video and song in itself suggests Cash's saint/sinner binary, and his paradoxical nature.

While he did all he could to fight the disease and keep going he eventually died in 2003. This was four months after his wife June died, and it's highly believed that he died of a broken heart. His previously recorded unheard music still gets released, with his most recent example being 2014's, Out Among The Stars.