Johnny Cash Refutes “Conservative” Persona in Surprisingly Revealing 1988 Interview

When we think of Johnny Cash, we often think of his brooding and conservative country persona of the Man in Black. But the musical legend had many sides to him, some of which he kept closer to the chest. His place in the traditional country music genre and tumultuous past with addiction, relationship troubles, and run-ins with the law garnered him a unique and intriguing reputation.

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Cash was an Everyman as comfortable speaking to prisoners as he was parishioners. Whatever a fan wanted Cash to be, there was a part of his persona that allowed him to fulfill their ideal. However, this inevitably led to misinterpretations and false assumptions about the singer, some of which he addressed in a 1988 interview with Steve Turner.

Johnny Cash Was A Traditional Patriot, But Only To A Point

Country music, gospel, and patriotism often go hand in hand. Even if their music isn’t inherently sacred, country musicians often have close ties to the church and a healthy following of religious fans. As someone who performed both sacred and secular music, Johnny Cash was certainly no exception. His extensive background in the church and southern U.S. upbringing led Cash to build the reputation of what he described as “a conservative country singer who lives down in the South somewhere. The misconception is that I’m regional.”

“They might even sometimes imply that I’m a redneck,” Cash continued. “Heaven forbid, a bigot. But I’ve been everywhere, and I’ve seen almost everything.” The idea of a “conservative country singer” also comes with its fair share of assumed patriotism, which Cash said was also often misinterpreted by the public. “I spent four years in the USAF, but I’m not military-minded at all. Our government scares the daylights out of me. They swooped down and raided poor little Grenada and then Libya. We should defend ourselves in the Gulf, I guess, but that scares me, too.”

Cash worked to balance the love of his country with his compassion toward the victims of war. He clarified that what he loved about the United States was “the family unit, the home, our freedoms. The pioneer spirit, which still prevails in a lot of the country, is precious to me. The spaciousness of the country. I love the West. The American West.”

His Music Tastes Were Anything But Conservative

Another byproduct of a conservative, ultra-Christian persona is an assumption that someone like that wouldn’t enjoy heavy metal music. As one of the pioneering figures of classic country, Johnny Cash doesn’t necessarily scream “heavy metal fan.” But in his 1988 interview with Steve Turner, he revealed a love of heavy rock bands like Metallica and Twisted Sister. “It feels good,” Cash said of watching this kind of music live. “I like the way it feels in your liver. The vibrations.”

“Having experienced the craziness while working with Elvis and then seeing the Beatles, I couldn’t believe it was going to be that much different at a heavy metal concert,” he continued. “And it wasn’t, except that it’s a little louder, and the lighting systems are better than we had back then. All I saw was a bunch of kids having a great time, letting off steam in a good, safe atmosphere.”

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