Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
My blood was blacker than the chambers of a dead nun's heart
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds was formed in 1983 by Barry Adamson (bass), Blixa Bargeld (guitar), Hugo Race (guitar), Mick Harvey (bass, drums, guitar, keyboards) & Nick Cave (keyboards, saxophone, vocals). During their active years, from 1983 to 1989, they had 1 other band member: Thomas Wylder (drums).
They were The Birthday Party. What are they doing now? down here for your soul... still!.
associated bands: The Birthday Party & The Boys Next Door.
recommended listening:
Links: official website. wikipedia.
They were The Birthday Party. What are they doing now? down here for your soul... still!.
associated bands: The Birthday Party & The Boys Next Door.
recommended listening:
- From Her to Eternity (LP)
- The Firstborn is Dead (LP)
- The Singer (single)
- The Mercy Seat (single)
- Tender Prey (LP)
- The Road to God Knows Where (video)
- The Ship Song (single)
- Good Son (LP)
- Live at the Paradiso (video)
- Straight to You / Jack the Ripper (Acoustic Version) (single)
- Henry's Dream (LP)
- go to Recommendations »
Links: official website. wikipedia.
Gods & Alcoves Blog
Blog entries for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:- “Nick Cave: pass the sick bag”
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, live at Stache’s, Columbus, OH, 27 June 1984 (rare video)
- “A Rookie’s Guide to Nick Cave, Our True Prince of Darkness”
- “Elvis Jesus & Johnny Cash”
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds live on ‘Austin City Limits’, November 2014 (video, 54 minutes)
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Tender Prey” retrospective
- Mute announces Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds vinyl reissues
- “Cheer up, goth”
- PJ Harvey covers Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand”
- Einsturzende Neubauten’s “soulful of first World War”

After goth pioneers the Birthday Party called it quits in 1983, singer/songwriter Nick Cave assembled the Bad Seeds, a post-punk supergroup featuring former Birthday Party guitarist Mick Harvey on drums, ex-Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld.
With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk, although in a more subdued fashion than his work with the Birthday Party. Cave also allowed his literary aspirations to come to the forefront; the lyrics are narrative prose, heavy on literary allusions and myth-making, and take some inspiration from Leonard Cohen. Cave's gloomy lyrics, dark musical arrangements, and deep baritone voice recall the albums of Scott Walker, who also obsessed over death and love with a frightening passion. However, Cave brings a hefty amount of post-punk experimentalism to Walker's epic dark pop.
Cave released his first album with the Bad Seeds, From Her to Eternity, in 1984, which contained a noteworthy cover of Elvis Presley's "In the Ghetto," foreshadowing much of Cave's style and subject matter on the follow-up The Firstborn Is Dead. Kicking Against the Pricks, an all-covers album, broke the band in England with the help of "The Singer," which hit number one on the U.K. independent charts. The album also strengthened Cave's reputation as an original interpreter and a vocal stylist of note. Following 1986's Your Funeral...My Trial, Cave took a two-year hiatus from recording, partially to appear in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire, and then returned with Tender Prey, which featured Cramps guitarist Kid Congo Powers and Cave's strongest vocal performance up to that point.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Steve H
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds